By Eden Morris I Reporter
The Keston Center Fall Lecture, held on Tuesday in Armstrong Browning Library, highlighted the groundbreaking work Baylor University is doing in Pakistan, promoting conversations of unity and relationships across different faith backgrounds and cultures.
The panel consisted of members of the Waco and Baylor community who shared their expertise and work on this project. Each panelist played a part in a year-long grant in Pakistan to help promote women’s sports in Pakistan.
Hina Abel, a dissertation fellow in Higher Education Studies and Leadership, shared insight on how Baylor has been supporting these women.
“Women are severely marginalized in Pakistan. Women’s sports in Pakistan are not recognized and they are not acknowledged,” Abel said. “What Baylor did was hugely impactful. The start is huge for Pakistan and for these women’s sports teachers and athletes.”
Brooke Ramsey, a local Waco school leader, praised her longtime friendship with Abel and shared about her time living in Pakistan before she moved back to Waco to serve as the Head of the Grammar School at Valor Preparatory Academy.
“Interfaith dialogue is possible because we were all made in the image of God, and the image of God is not particular to any one religion” Ramsey said. “It’s by nature of our very being created by God, and so it will find the image of God in every human person on the globe. And it’s that image of God that allows us to develop friendships and to focus on our common humanity.”
Marshall Magnusen, associate professor of educational leadership, described the different sports they taught women in Pakistan, such as baseball.
“That was a tremendously helpful, narrative and perspective wise, for the young ladies to get how powerful sports can be and encouraging them to be involved in sports,” Magnusen said.
Meredith Frey, a Master of Arts in School Leadership Fellow, was also on the panel and had the opportunity to teach Pakistani women the importance of movement in the classroom via Zoom.
“We serve a God of movement and a God that is alive,” Frey said. “And so when we think about our classrooms, we want classrooms that are living and moving and alive with activity.”
Director for Campus Ministries & Church Connections and Associate Chaplain Charles Ramsey and Chair and Professor of Educational Leadership William Sterrett both said that they are hopeful for the future of promoting more change across the globe stemming from this project in Pakistan.
“The hope of today is not to report on what it was, but hopefully to plant some seeds, and to cast some vision for what we do,” Ramsey said. “It took a team to get this far, and it took a team to move ahead.”
Austin junior Eliot Jones attended the lecture as a sports strategy and sales major representative. Jones said the panel was educational regarding Pakistani culture, specifically how it influences women.
“I thought it was really interesting integrating women’s sports and faith all in one panel because those are three of my passions,” Jones said. “I thought all of the panel had very different experiences so it’s really interesting hearing a lot of different perspectives.”
