More Pictures!

After beginning the day with a leisurely breakfast at the guesthouse we met the Orkeeswa students at the corner of the Sunday market. We split up into groups with about 3-4 Orkeeswa students per Groton student, and meandered through the various wares being sold and displayed at the marketplace. We discovered fierce bargainers in our Orkeeswa buddies, and came home with lots of goodies, including kangas (an African form of a sarong), traditional Masai jewelry, and beaded ties. Before the end of the afternoon, many of us began to feel like a real and welcome part of the community, as opposed to simply tourists. We saw a busload of tourists departing with packed bags of interesting stuff, whereas we had spent the day with our Orkeeswa friends, had been introduced to their sisters and brothers, parents and uncles, and really felt part of the community. After exploring the market, we let our Orkeeswa students choose a place for lunch in town (for most a luxury and a first, as they usually have a small lunch at school with ugali (a combination of corn flour and water). During the meal, we got to learn more about the students’ personal lives, and deepen the relationships that began when we first arrived at the school. As we shared our favorite foods from home around the table, a wonderful Ms. Miller quote came to mind: “Do you know what this is called? Globalization!!” So true! We’ve loved getting to know the Orkeeswa students, and can’t wait for our final week of work.
Love,
Julia and Kaly <3

p.s. We beg all of our families to record the world cup final for us to watch upon immediate return because our small hotel t.v. just broke!! (- Chloe)

E Viva Espana!

There is something deeply affirming and exhilarating about viewing the historic World Cup final from a small television in the heart of rural Tanzania surrounded by good friends old and new, and a Masai elder for good measure! It is a fantastic coincidence that Africa and South Africa are in the spotlight this summer as hosts for this fantastic global event for the first time and our trip in its own way is an expression of the growing and powerful links between Africa and the world in general, and Orkeeswa and Groton students in particular.

Our first week has been characterized by a joyful and playful reaching out toward each other expressed through the universal languages of sport and music. The hackneyed term ‘globalization’ assumes a new and fascinating aspect here when you observe Orkeeswa and Groton students dancing to the music of the Black-Eyed Peas in unison with a boma, a traditional Masai family compound, just off in the distance. But today on this misty morning atop the hillside upon which the Orkeeswa Secondary School sits, I am most interested in considering perhaps an even more compelling universal language; one that is all the time felt, but nearly impossible to describe. I have been most humbled to observe how fluent these students are in the language of compassion and the heart. In the perfectly ordinary activities of digging a pitch for a new basketball court or breaking up a concrete floor the finest qualities of humanity are displayed and affirmed among us. Sometimes with humor, caring, or just silent yet eloquent support after a hard job well done or perhaps only nearly done, our work has brought us together in the most subtle and compelling ways that no number of endless hours of ‘skyping’ could. The processes of bonding and connection I see, for example, with our inimitable foreman, Michael, and his student apprentices I am at a loss to describe.

In our time together in this remote place, I have felt such deep pride in our students, both Groton and Orkeeswa alike. For in their genuine openness and willingness to give of themselves two Truths have been discovered: that it is in giving that we always receive and that when we learn we also teach. What else would explain the alacrity with which our students appear for breakfast each morning and the excitement and zeal with which they describe their daily experiences each night? So, it is this indescribable alchemy of two seemingly different worlds that I am pleased to struggle to understand as we begin our second week at Orkeeswa. I can think of no more important form of globalization and expression of human interdependence than the one I am witnessing here in Monduli, Tanzania. Well after the memory of Spain’s victory of its first World Cup title begins to, fade, I hope that we will be celebrating our friendships and relationship with Orkeeswa School.