As part the relationship established last year during Joe Loftin’s (Wasatch Academy, Head of School) trip to India, six Wasatch students and two faculty members recently returned from a trip to India to visit Welham Boys School (WBS) during their winter break.
WBS students and faculty hosted and gave context to their Wasatch brethren.
Wasatch faculty and students kept a great travel log of the journey. I won’t spoil their work and thoughts. I’ll simply add that it’s a nice read and touch on my favorite part.
Service was a designed component of the trip and when the time came, Wasatch students jumped right in and grabbed the bull by the horns.
“…The group spent the first few days in the mountains touring the villages. They also visited the site of the horrific mudslide. ‘It was very emotional to visit the site of the school that was demolished by the mudslide,’ says [Wasatch faculty member] Hopkins. ‘To see the destruction and to know that 18 children were killed there six months ago, and then to meet their parents and siblings was very sobering.’ Hawk [Wasatch faculty member] concurs. ‘To see the date and the last lesson on the chalkboard in the destroyed schoolhouse… It was indescribable,’ he says. The students immediately and instinctively set out to assist the workers who were on the site already. ‘Our kids jumped right in to help. They wanted to do something right away,’ says Hawk. ‘It was pretty amazing to see.’ The site of the old schoolhouse will be made into a monument.
The group also had a chance to tour the site of the new school they would help build over the course of the week. They were charged with the task of digging a grid and laying the foundation for the new building. ‘Building in the mountains of India isn’t like the advanced [building] technology that we have,’ Hawk explains. ‘The kids made use of the tools they had, even though some were falling apart.’ They would also walk down to the riverbed and shuttle rocks from there to the site of the new school. The students had considerable interaction with the people living in the village on their many trips back and forth. ‘[The villagers] would stop and pat us on the back, and say ‘Namaste’ and ‘Thank you,’ Hawk recalls. ‘It was really special.’
Near the end of the week, both groups of students were able to meet the young children who survived the devastating mudslide. ‘I was struck when we walked up to the temporary school site and saw a sea of little red sweaters and hats sitting in perfect rows,’ says Hopkins. ‘They were singing their morning chats to the goddess Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning and knowledge: Peace to me. Peace to my family. Peace to this village. Peace to the country. Peace to the world. To see the children, who seemingly have so little think so big about others was moving.’”(WA)
It’s all about perspective.
