Stephen F. Austin State University

Several students sat as still as statues as their fellow classmates slowly and methodically applied papier mâché to their faces.

Soft, soothing music played in the background as those in the chairs waited patiently for the first application of sticky, wet strips to their skin — then the second application, then the third.

Eventually, papier mâché covered every inch of the students’ faces, except for their eyes and nostrils. The estimated time to dry: 20 minutes.

The first part of the exercise was a lesson in trust, as those in the chairs allowed someone else to be in complete control of their situation. The next part of the exercise was a lesson in diversity. Once the masks were completed, students painted them to reflect an ethnicity other than their own.

Wilma Cordova, assistant professor in the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Social Work, leads her students in this exercise each semester.

While working on the other side of the world in South Africa, Dr. Emmerentie Oliphant led her students in a mask-making experiment with a different intended outcome.

The lessons Oliphant sought to teach her students revolved around oppression, marginalization and disempowerment.

Same exercise — different lessons.

Similarities and differences are issues social workers learn to scrutinize to help them gain a better understanding of the people they serve. A diversity among SFA social work faculty members helps facilitate that study.

Oliphant joined the SFA social work faculty last fall, coming from the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. She had worked internationally and previously guest-lectured at the University of Kentucky and at Kentucky State.

She said she eventually decided to relocate to the United States, because she wanted to be part of this country’s progress on the social work front. She also wanted her son to experience life in another country.

In South Africa, Oliphant worked with rural communities and families.

“South Africa is extremely diverse,” Oliphant said. “There are 11 official languages, 21 African tribes, a large Indian population, and many religions including Muslim, Christian, Hinduism and Buddism. The African tribes also have their own religions traditions.”

Oliphant learned to speak several languages, because it was necessary for her to be able to communicate effectively.

“There is poverty here in America, but there more than half the population lives in poverty,” she said. “Many people have less than $1 a day to live on.”

HIV and AIDS are prevalent, and many children are orphaned at a young age, Oliphant said. This means some households are led by children as young as 12, she said.

Oliphant said in South Africa it wasn’t unusual to see children digging through trash bins looking for food.

“When you would see a mother looking through the garbage for something to feed her family, it made you think,” she said. “Even some of our university students had no electricity and studied by candlelight.”

Social workers in South Africa focus largely on “squatter camps,” or groups of people living with extremely limited resources and facilities, Oliphant said.

“We work to empower them,” she said. “But it is very dangerous.”

Under the apartheid form of government, which was abolished in 1994, certain groups had rights and opportunities and others did not, Oliphant said. The gap between the haves and the have-nots has only grown, she said.

Social work is dangerous in South Africa, and many students who complete their coursework there leave the country to go to the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, or elsewhere, Oliphant said.

At SFA, Oliphant teaches research and generalist practice. She said she was amazed when she arrived to see that SFA students were using the exact same textbooks her students had used in South Africa.

In that way, studies are the same in the two countries. But she also sees differences.

“There is less diversity and fewer religions and languages here,” she said. “I come from a city of 5 million people. I appreciate life in a small town.”

Oliphant’s exposure to many cultures has motivated her SFA students to ask questions of her about the rest of the world, Oliphant said. She said other professors in the SFA School of Social Work also have worked internationally, seeing “many people in many circumstances,” and believes the insight they provide their students is invaluable.

Oliphant also is involved with a research and consultant business, and said she played an important role in the transformation of the South African government by serving on different councils.

“I can apply what I learned there in the rural context, as I work here,” she said.

Oliphant recently participated in the mask-making exercise with Cordova’s students. As the students viewed their three-dimensional profiles for the first time in their lives, Cordova noted that it’s an uncanny feeling to “see yourself as others see you.”

Cordova and Oliphant said the mask-making exercise teaches students innovation and creativity — two traits they will need when they become social workers, particularly if they work with children.

Cordova said students benefit from having diverse faculty, because they learn about different values, beliefs, rituals, customs and gender issues.

The masks are on display at the ArtSpace at Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital.