Welcome to Bridge Southern Africa 2008! We are very excited to be taking you through parts of Southern Africa on what will likely be one of the most important trips of your life. No doubt you have signed up with the awareness that many of your experiences in Africa may challenge your current beliefs. We hope that you will welcome such challenges and the insights they provide. Just so you know a little about who is taking you on this adventure we have included a brief synopsis about each of us.
James Evans- This will be my 7th year working for Windsor Mountain International, having come from Australia in 2001 to work at Windsor Mountain Summer camp I just haven’t been able to gat away with past travel programs taking me to Alaska, Bequia, and last year Southern Africa. It is with great pride I return for another year. In the past 4 years I have completed degrees in Psychology and Outdoor Education, lived in Eugene Oregon on exchange, led International aid expeditions to Vanuatu and parts of Southern Africa while working for Clowns Without Borders in the process, no that’s not a joke. Check them out on the web. I currently live in Melbourne, Australia as a teacher in Outdoor Education for a secondary school. Lastly, I have just signed up to begin study in a Master’s in International Development, as that is what I am truly passionate about.
Susannah Malarkey-This will be my first time leading a Windsor Mountain International trip! I am very excited to participate in this program…After graduating from Seattle University in 2003, with degrees in Economics and International Studies, I completed two years with the Peace Corps in Ghana, W. Africa, working mainly on small enterprise development projects. I had done a fair amount of traveling before the Peace Corps, in Europe and Central America, but I had never lived in a foreign country for more than a few months. Peace Corps provided that opportunity! It also changed my life for the better in SO many ways…after completing my service, I returned home to Seattle WA for a few months and then moved to Wyoming: first to work on a dude ranch in Moose, and then to work several interesting jobs in Jackson. I currently work with at risk teens in Jackson and I love it! Bridge Southern Africa will be a great opportunity to combine my love of working with youth and my love for Africa. I look forward to meeting you all and to exploring Southern Africa together!
Thatcher Glode -Greetings from San Jose, Costa Rica! My name is Thatcher Glode and I will be a part of the awesome 3 leader team that will help to make up our amazing program this summer. I am wrapping up 3 weeks of travel that found me in Costa Rica, Panama, and Nicaragua and I am chomping at the bit to get to South Africa. I am originally from Colorado and am an avid skier, fly fisherman, experiential educator, and general outdoor and travel enthusiast. I have had the great fortune of leading the Bridge Hawaii program for each of the past two summers with Windsor Mountain International. I studied International Relations at Colorado College and participated in the Semester at Sea study abroad program. During this program I lived aboard a refurbished cruise ship and visited 18 different nations throughout the world: it was an amazing experience and got me fully hooked on the experiential educational and travel adventure! It is truly amazing what we can learn when we open our eyes and hearts to nations and people vastly different than our own.
Entering into this program it is important to be thoroughly prepared. You should be equipped with everything you need to be physically comfortable while travelling. The packing list has been carefully put together by past leaders based on feed back from students. Please pay it close attention and remember to pack light!!.
We have a few ideas of things you can do to get ready for this summer:
1) Find a journal, notebook, or something that you will be able to write on for this summer. Take a few moments and try to sketch out some of your goals for this summer. What do you hope to contribute to our program? What do you think some of your biggest challenges might be?
2) Have an open mind, seriously. When traveling flexibility is imperative. Sometimes a sleeping arrangement isn’t ideal.... a bus, plane, or train runs late... a fluke storm dumps rain for 3 days. These are all part of the experience and often times lead to some of the better stories and memories that we will share.
3) Do the readings and some of your own research on South Africa... if you take even a few moments ahead of time to educate yourself you will enhance everyone who works within our program’s experience... it will be worth it!
A large portion of our program will include working with many young children at orphanages. It is highly recommended that you learn or make yourself familiar with games to play with kids, the less instructions the better. Think about communicating with children that may not speak English too well.
Perhaps now more than ever it is imperative that we begin to work to understand the world around us and we thank and congratulate you and your family for coming with us on our voyage this summer! Until we chat on the phone or meet you at the beginning of the Bridge Southern Africa 2008 journey, may you be happy and excited for your near future!
We will sign off for now with an excerpt from last year’s leader journal “…pretending to be athletic I awoke early one morning from my luxurious sleeping bag to go for a run through the mountains of Lesotho. Frost still lay on the grasses as I passed through the gates of our accommodation, during the run I passed a lone hut where two boys under the age of ten huddled in a hut. They were by themselves without warmth for the night. It was a reminder of how lucky our students were inside their huts, although we see it every day we are still so unaware of our surroundings”
All of our best,
James, Susannah, and Thatcher
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