This post features student writing.
On our beautiful first Friday morning I began my day at the school construction site “curing,” or pouring water on the stone and mortar wall. Thanks to our head fundi, Peter, I learned that this process is crucial to preventing cracking, making sure the mortar and the blocks are settled and stick together.
After speaking to Peter more, I found that we were not only two workers, but also two students. Peter studies engineering at the Arusha Institute of Technology just outside of the small, remote Maasai village we reside in now. Aside from building, Peter spends his time studying so that he can one day build on a larger and more impactful scale. After asking me what grade I was in (I am an incoming senior), we discussed what I hope to study at university: journalism and social anthropology. When he asked me why, I first thought to say, well because I like to write. But first I paused and thought, I want to write because of smart, motivated people like Peter, and about beautiful, unique places like Tanzania; I want to use words to connect people.
I answered him: “Language is the most powerful tool.”
Here we are, an ocean, continent, countries, thousands of miles, and time zones apart. We come from different backgrounds, cultures, privileges, struggles, educations, and influences, but we are still very much the same. We did not need the same upbringing or native country to see that we are the same, and that is the power of any species.
People are often quick to assume that because someone grew up in a war zone, in poverty, were heavily religious, or deeply privileged, that somehow they cannot be the same.
Granted, we have our differences, but Peter and I are very much the same.
We both want to make an impact on our family’s lives, our communities, maybe even our country, and possibly, if we can, our world.
And as it turns out, we even have the same friends, as I discovered that Peter knew my neighbor from a Putney program three years prior.
Peter and I are siblings to brothers and sisters, children of parents, students of teachers, employees, hard workers, dedicated friends, and dreamers and doers.
It’s a small world, and the more I travel, the truer this becomes.
— Madeline P.
