Diplomacy Week photos

Here are some photos of the students serving at a primary school and the Amy Biehl after school program in a local township!

Our last bit of Cape Town

Diplomacy Week

We all loaded the buses heading for either a primary school or a high school. We were all excited about getting to interact with more children and to get to play with them. My community group went to a primary school. When we arrived we were told that the students were in the middle of exams and we were shown a room to sit in and wait. It gave us some time to ask a few questions to try to find out as much about the students and how we could be most effective in our short time. We were finally shown to the classroom of students that we would be working with and we all introduced ourselves. There were about eighty students sitting in the classroom eager to meet us. Next we took them outside and divided them up into two groups. We tried the human knot game and several others but it was hard to do with such a large group. We then told them to circle up so that everyone could take turns showing us a dance. All of the children loved this idea and before we knew it they had each of us in the center of the circle joining them.
We finally headed back into the classroom with the students. Once back inside we spent time answering some of their questions. A lot of them had questions about America and about of feelings about South Africa. We also asked several of the children what they wanted to be when they grew up. It was so exciting to hear all of the big dreams that they had for their futures. We tried to encourage them to stay in school and to not give up their dreams in order to make their dreams come true. We also asked the children who their role model was. Several of the children chose American celebrities but several children said their teachers. It showed how important these teachers are to these children and how much they look up to them. We explained to them a little about the Global L.E.A.D. program and several of the children thanked us for coming. The children all sang their national anthem for us and it sounded so beautiful that when they asked us to sing I was a little nervous. It finally came time for us to leave and as I was walking away from the school I realized that I may have come to the school thinking I could teach the children something but I definitely walked away having learned a lot from them.

-Anna Carroll

Diplomacy Week

We all loaded the buses heading for either a primary school or a high school. We were all excited about getting to interact with more children and to get to play with them. My community group went to a primary school. When we arrived we were told that the students were in the middle of exams and we were shown a room to sit in and wait. It gave us some time to ask a few questions to try to find out as much about the students and how we could be most effective in our short time. We were finally shown to the classroom of students that we would be working with and we all introduced ourselves. There were about eighty students sitting in the classroom eager to meet us. Next we took them outside and divided them up into two groups. We tried the human knot game and several others but it was hard to do with such a large group. We then told them to circle up so that everyone could take turns showing us a dance. All of the children loved this idea and before we knew it they had each of us in the center of the circle joining them.
We finally headed back into the classroom with the students. Once back inside we spent time answering some of their questions. A lot of them had questions about America and about of feelings about South Africa. We also asked several of the children what they wanted to be when they grew up. It was so exciting to hear all of the big dreams that they had for their futures. We tried to encourage them to stay in school and to not give up their dreams in order to make their dreams come true. We also asked the children who their role model was. Several of the children chose American celebrities but several children said their teachers. It showed how important these teachers are to these children and how much they look up to them. We explained to them a little about the Global L.E.A.D. program and several of the children thanked us for coming. The children all sang their national anthem for us and it sounded so beautiful that when they asked us to sing I was a little nervous. It finally came time for us to leave and as I was walking away from the school I realized that I may have come to the school thinking I could teach the children something but I definitely walked away having learned a lot from them.

-Anna Carroll

Our return to St. Lowry's Pass

Today goes down as one of my favorite days in Cape Town! The weather was perfect; there was not a cloud in the sky, and we were able to wear shorts and flip-flops. Our group was going back to Sir Lowry’s Pass, the township where we spent the infamous twenty-four hours. We were going to spend the afternoon in the township and cook our families lunch. It was exciting to be a part of a service project where you got to see the people you connected with for a second time. Everyone on the bus was reminiscing about each township family, and we were all anxious to see what they had been up to since our last visit. Right as I stepped off the bus, my mom, Cheryl, met me with a big hug and smile. The moms and kids in front of the school were so excited to see us again! I asked Cheryl how her son, Duncan, did on his drawing test that he had taken the morning after our first visit, and she was interested about the details of our trip to Kruger National Park. It was just like catching up with old friends. Duncan and Candy, Cheryl’s oldest daughter, were at home waiting for us, and when they saw our bags filled with ingredients for tacos, they told us they had never eaten them before. They were such a hit; and the cookies that Meghan made after were even more of a hit!
After lunch, we walked with all of the kids to the rugby field past the train tracks. Pictures don’t do this scenery justice. The kids get to play underneath the shadow of Cape Town’s Table Mountain everyday, and seeing all of the kids running back and forth across this landscape gave me great peace at that moment.
At about four o’clock, it was time to go. Everyone took his or her time saying goodbye, not wanting to take the first step onto the bus. We knew this would be the last time, at least on this trip, that we would see our township families. Cheryl gave us her contact information, and the five of us students waved at her through the bus window until we couldn’t see her face any longer.
The service aspect of Global LEAD came alive for a lot of us today. We are making relationships here, and the people we met in Sir Lowry’s Pass are moms, husbands, sons, and daughters that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

-Caroline Dwight

Kruger National Park! 5 Day Safari

Our Kruger experience started on a charter bus- surprise!- that we took to the airport dark and early on Monday morning. Check-in went astoundingly smooth for the sixty or seventy collegians and alum. We stopped and grabbed a quick breakfast, yummy toast and eggs and tomato, the entirety of which I proceeded to spill into my lap. We boarded our appropriately colored Mango Airlines plane and landed in Johannesburg a mere two hours later. Then we took a charter bus- surprise!- to Kruger, which was about five hours away.

The lodges at Nkambeni were pleasantly tented and rather open to the wilderness of Kruger. They were very clean and nice, but I couldn’t actually sleep all week for fear of a spider in my sheets or lizard in my pillow. A cool experience overall, though! The food was also awesome- I don’t think anyone had any complaints, as long as you didn’t make the mistake of asking for a grilled cheese. Global LEAD's first safari experience was on Tuesday. Our wake-up call was a loud knock and “hello” at the tent door. Everyone was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, no doubt expecting to be stupendously mauled by one of the thousands of anticipated lions first thing that morning! It didn’t quite work that way, though. We crowded comfortably into a fleet of thirteen-passenger Land Rovers, making our way quietly toward the African bush.

My group immediately spotted a rhino in the distance, and a myriad of other fascinating creatures were unveiled throughout the day including: wildebeests, giraffe, crocodiles, impala, elephants, warthogs, meer cats, impala, buffalo, hippos, birds of all sorts, impala, kudu, rock jumpers, zebra, mongooses, and even the rare but beautiful impala. A few groups of lucky dungheads even spotted a Leopard! By the end of the first day, we were all well on our way to seeing the Big Five.

On Wednesday we took mini buses to Chimp Eden, a fascinating reserve sponsored by the Jane Goodall Institute. A woman named Sophie showed us around, feeding the chimpanzees and telling us some very disheartening stories about how our furry friends had been saved from the cruel hands of circus and pet-owners over the years. We learned that chimps should never be kept as pets, as they are naturally very aggressive and five times stronger than the average human male. A full-blown male chimp fight, for example, involves removed testicles, faces, and limbs. Yikes!

Our nighttime safari drive was Wednesday night! Again excited at the prospect of seeing a lion or leopard hunting prey in the cool, misty twilight, we bundled up and crept along the evening route. My group waited patiently in one spot until we finally saw a Serval, which is an extremely rare, nocturnal, cheetah-like feline. Wikipedia declares that the serval is “reputed to be the most effective hunter of all mammals in the animal kingdom.” Even our guide Jaques was quite excited that we saw it!
By Thursday, I was starting to doubt the very existence of lions, let alone the prospect of us actually seeing one in person. But as we spotted a few more animals throughout the morning and the sun appeared for the first time since 1972, our spirits lifted and lion sighting rumors spread before lunch! Joanna stood over our guide as he scarfed down a sandwich and we were off again, desperate to find the lion before the rain let loose! We finally found two gorgeous lionesses lounging in a humid, grassy opening. They were sound asleep and barely glanced up as our vehicle parked next to them; lions clearly have nothing to fear! We filmed and photographed, thrilled to have finally concluded our lion hunt and big-five sightings. We even saw a male lion in the distance less than an hour later on our way back to camp.

The safari taught us a lot about animals, extinction, and the circle of life, but our biggest lesson manifested in learning quiet patience between animal sightings. I think we learned a lot about each other during those intervals, anticipating the next animal and entertaining ourselves with games like “Jelly Tots.” I’ll always remember how exhilarating it was to look for and observe these beautiful animals, and I hope that preservation efforts of their natural habitat continue to succeed. WE SAW LIONS!!!! So cool. ☺

Carter Coyle and Joanna Harbin

Wrapping Up Education Week

Today marked the end of our eight mandatory class meetings and no person could have ended it better than one of the “Ten Outstanding People in the World” – our own Garrett Gravesen. Most of us know Garrett for his completely over-the-top, loud, go-getter personality, but today he showed us all a different side. Garrett opened with the statement, “You can be anything you want to be.” I have heard this statement thousands of times in my life, but for some reason this time it really hit me. Over the past three weeks, we have all had the opportunity to hear from speakers such as Dr. Betty Seigel, Mr. and Mrs. Dooley, and Kevin Chaplin. All of these people throughout their lives have become something great by reaching out and making themselves vulnerable, just as Garrett did six years ago when he came up with the crazy idea of creating HERO. Being great is a choice, and all of these people chose to find their passion and motivation in life to be what they wanted to be.
Garrett told us the story of his visit to Harvard University his freshmen year. While speaking with his girlfriend and some of her classmates, he asked them what it took to get into Harvard. After answering with, “I got a perfect score on the SAT” and “I am the number one flute player in the United States” they asked him “what are you good at?” At that moment, he stepped back and realized that he was not actually great at anything.
The message Garrett delivered to us today is a message that everyone can learn from. There is a difference between being great and being great at something. True greatness is to use great skills and help other people. Do not worry about expectations and boundaries. Follow a passion and be what you want to be. If you do this, you will be great no matter what.
Before ending, he posed the question, “What does it mean to be great on a day-to-day basis?” I thought for a while and realized that the answer to me was pretty simple. Being great on a day to day basis is staying true to yourself. I know that many of us get caught up in being involved with something great without actually being great. I challenge myself and the rest of the Global L.E.A.D members to go home after this trip and find out what makes you “great”.
--Jenny Harvey

Wrapping Up Education Week

Today marked the end of our eight mandatory class meetings and no person could have ended it better than one of the “Ten Outstanding People in the World” – our own Garrett Gravesen. Most of us know Garrett for his completely over-the-top, loud, go-getter personality, but today he showed us all a different side. Garrett opened with the statement, “You can be anything you want to be.” I have heard this statement thousands of times in my life, but for some reason this time it really hit me. Over the past three weeks, we have all had the opportunity to hear from speakers such as Dr. Betty Seigel, Mr. and Mrs. Dooley, and Kevin Chaplin. All of these people throughout their lives have become something great by reaching out and making themselves vulnerable, just as Garrett did six years ago when he came up with the crazy idea of creating HERO. Being great is a choice, and all of these people chose to find their passion and motivation in life to be what they wanted to be.
Garrett told us the story of his visit to Harvard University his freshmen year. While speaking with his girlfriend and some of her classmates, he asked them what it took to get into Harvard. After answering with, “I got a perfect score on the SAT” and “I am the number one flute player in the United States” they asked him “what are you good at?” At that moment, he stepped back and realized that he was not actually great at anything.
The message Garrett delivered to us today is a message that everyone can learn from. There is a difference between being great and being great at something. True greatness is to use great skills and help other people. Do not worry about expectations and boundaries. Follow a passion and be what you want to be. If you do this, you will be great no matter what.
Before ending, he posed the question, “What does it mean to be great on a day-to-day basis?” I thought for a while and realized that the answer to me was pretty simple. Being great on a day to day basis is staying true to yourself. I know that many of us get caught up in being involved with something great without actually being great. I challenge myself and the rest of the Global L.E.A.D members to go home after this trip and find out what makes you “great”.

--Jenny Harvey

Reflection on a dollar a day -- life in the townships

On Monday after our speaker, they told us we had an hour to prepare and pack before we departed to the townships. We were to go and live with a family and truly experience what it would be like to live off a dollar a day. I’m glad that this was not a planned event. It caught many of us off guard and brought people slightly outside their comfort zone which I think is healthy.
It didn’t really sink in what was happening until we got off the bus in the township. We were immediately greeted by many people and children with smiling faces. We split up into groups and met the mother of the family we would be staying with. Our mother was incredibly welcoming as she showed us around and took us to her home. I was immediately surprised how nice her home was equipped with a basic kitchen, three small bedrooms, bathroom, living room and even a television. Nonetheless, the square footage of the home was probably equivalent to some of our parents’ living rooms back home.
I spent the day outside interacting with the children in our area. After a couple playful games of rugby, I learned some other games they played involving string and marbles. I though it was amazing that although these kids have close to nothing, they are still so joyful and full of life. Our mother walked us around to other houses of her relatives and friends. We would walk in and see anther group of LEAD students singing or dancing with the people. It was very apparent to me how much these people valued friends and family and are content with what they have. One may say ignorance is bliss, but I think these people really know what life is all about. This experience will likely be one that many of us take the most away from.

--Jordan Drake

Education week continued...

Today was the third day of education week for the Global L.E.A.D. program. The speakers for the day were Louis and Leone Van Der Linde and one of the many students they have impacted with their pay-to-read program. Though there are similar programs in the states, none I have heard about have been able to make such an impact, on so large a level. To be able to motivate a mass of students to read these books and actually incorporate what they have read into their everyday lives is truly amazing. Being able to hear first hand how the program was able to make such a strong impression on one of the students helped our group understand what the program was about. The program works to take some of the school’s most troubled students and transform them into the schools best.
Apart from speaking about the book program, Leone spoke about the power of giving and not only how it makes a difference in the lives of those you give to, but on yours as well. She spoke of the power of dreaming and always doing your own thing. The moment in her speech that stuck out the most personally was when she said that you should give like a tree. “The tree does not discriminate between the rich or the poor, it gives unconditionally.” What a way to live, you don’t think about giving, you just give to those who need it most. Leone then moved on to speak about our overnight trip to the township, which we learned she coordinated. Before we arrived in the township and even after we left, none of us knew where the food that the soup mothers provided the children came from. Today we learned that all the food came straight from the Van Der Linde’s. I cannot begin to express the inspiration I felt coming out of the speech this morning… I can only hope that one day I can make an impact somewhat similar to theirs.

--Josh Green

Seven day Victoria Falls off week trip

During our off week, twelve of us had the opportunity to spend seven days visiting four countries: South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. Along the trip, we had tons of opportunity for adventure and exploration within the communities and interaction with the locals. Personally, my favorite part of the trip was the couple of days spent in Zimbabwe.

Our first fully day in Zimbabwe, the boys and girls split up for some adventure activities in the morning. The girls made their way toward the falls to go gorge swinging while the boys made their way to the Zambezi river for some fishing. Gorge swinging was incredible! I partnered with Jenny and we volunteered to go first, luckily, as we soon figured out its a lot scarier to watch then to actually gorge swing!

 In the afternoon, we all met back up to see the Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. They were truly amazing and beautiful to see! Unfortunately, a camera can't come close to capturing the scenery or majesty of this natural wonder, although part of me is glad that I experienced it for myself and not through a camera lens.

After walking out of the falls completely soaked by the mist, we returned to the backpacker to change for our Mighty Zambezi Booze Cruise. The Zambezi river splits four countries, two of which we had the opportunity to visit, Zimbabwe and Botswana, and one of which we made a short stop to on our cruise, Zambia. During our cruise, we saw elephants bathing in the river, hippos peering just over the water and alligators watching from the banks. We also had the chance to watch a purple/orange sunset unseen in the States.

On second day in Zimbabwe, we woke up early for a walking elephant safari. We all paired up and hopped on our elephants with a personal guide. At the end of the excursion, we were able to feed the elephants through their trunk as well as their mouths. It was so much more than I ever expected! Also, at the end of the safari, we were able to purchased a footprint of our elephant in order to fund efforts to reduce poaching, which many of us did.

After the safari, we finally had the chance to shop at the market, which was truly an eye-opening experience. Vendors wanted to negotiate prices and trade things with you. The items at the market were extremely impressive, all hand-carved figurines of the big five, bowls, bracelets, etc.

Visiting Zimbabwe was an amazing experience that I personally will never forget! The people, the scenery, and the adventures offered in the town surrounding the falls is unmatched by anywhere I have visited previously. I hope to some day return to Zimbabwe and give back a fraction of what I have taken away from my two or three days in the country!

-Brooke Ray

Education Week -- a life application

Monday June 1^st kicked off Global LEAD’s education week.  Our group was fortunate enough to have Kevin Chaplin, the executive director of the Amy Biehl foundation, come speak to us on the importance of “The Power of Living.  The Power of Giving.”  He was an inspiring and relatable speaker – he mentioned many practical aspects of the business world and how one can be ethical and socially responsible while also running a successful business.  When he took over the Amy Biehl foundation in order to try to save it from going under – he had to personally fund the program for a while but he knew that in time, things would turn around, and they did.   

            After Mr. Chaplin’s talk Garrett “the Rule Breaker” Gravesen (better known as GG) stood up to close out our day.  Instead of breaking into our community groups to discuss our speaker’s lecture, as we have done before, Garrett announced that we would all be leaving in one hour for the slums.  He announced that we were going to spend 24 hours in the slums in order to see what it’s like to live off a dollar a day.  There were mixed emotions from the group at the news – some were very excited, some were apprehensive – no one knew what to expect.  We were told that we would be safe and that we’d be splitting into small group to sleep in the soup mom’s houses.  Soup moms are ladies who go to the school and cook for hundreds of children. 

            Stepping off the bus to children holding up notebooks to get my autograph isn’t the way I expected to be welcomed.  The purpose of this visit was for us to get a glimpse of what their lives are like on a daily basis.…. to put on their shoes for a while. I wanted to help with chores and they wanted to treat us like celebrities or royalty of some kind – that part felt pretty wrong.  Although a huge group of us just rolled up on a bus to invade their space for a bit I think that the intention of our visit was obvious – we came because we care and we would like to continue to bridge the racial, socioeconomic gap that plagues their country and ours too.  We want to learn as much as we can while we’re here.  Seeing the children (and adults) without teeth, proper health care, shoes, clothes, and other everyday essentials will hopefully weigh on the hearts of the group so that when our time here is through we’ll be able to give back… whether it’s in South Africa or Clarke County.             

            The experience was very interesting and also extremely overwhelming.  I’ve seen poverty and worked with poor people my entire life but I haven’t been able to put myself in their shoes like I tried to over the last 24 hours.   My group’s soup mom is Charmaine Steyn.  She was wonderful and treated us like her own children.  Her daughter Janine and her friend Jeremy walked us around the township and made sure we felt at home.  Janine wanted to show us all the pictures from her 21^st birthday and Jeremy is a talented guitarist and played for us.  My group of four went to church with Janine and Jeremy which was different than anything we’d ever experienced.  There is a major emphasis on family in the townships – everyone takes care of everyone else.  It’s not uncommon to have grown children living with their parents, usually it’s for financial reasons but they operate as a strong unit in what most would consider dire circumstances.           

            My only regret about the entire trip is that because we had no notice about the overnight stay – we didn’t have substantial food to bring with us.  We were only given two loaves of bread and some milk to give to our family.  Next time, and hopefully we’ll get to visit over the next weeks that we are here, I’d like to bring more food and prepare a nice meal for them instead of using their food and having them prepare food for us.   These 24 hours were important and I will never forget them.  This time grounded the group and brought us back to why we are spending this time in Cape Town.  

 --Liz Gaughf