Eyes Wide Open: Botswana and Haibara

It`s not a stretch to say that a group of Middle School students and a group of Upper School students will never look at world studies the same way. During spring break, a Middle School contingent traveled to Haibara, Japan marking the School`s 20th year of participating in an exchange with the region. And in a Hawken first, a team of Upper School students visited Botswana to kick off a new exchange with the Maru-a-Pula School, a independent school in Gabarone, the capital city of the African country. Upper School Humanities teacher Julia Griffin and Lower School Science teacher Todd Webster joined the group of students who visited Japan. Webster said that at times the experience must have been challenging for the students. For one, many of them lived with host families that didn`t know the English language well, which meant communication was difficult. Webster said the students were initially taken aback by the barrier, but soon embraced it, throwing themselves into the journey. On the other hand, the students couldn`t get away from the fact that they were unlike most if not all of the people that surrounded them in the country. Webster said that he visited a mall and never once saw a Westerner. But that perhaps is one of the points of the trip that he called \"immersive.\" \"You learn culture isn`t a fixed thing, but that it`s created,\" he said. In the end students returned from the trip invigorated by their experience and the friendships they formed. Sara Mierke `84, Director of Community Partnerships and Service Learning, traveled to Botswana along with Upper School English teacher Cris Harris and eight Hawken students. The group spent its first four days camping with the Kalahari Bushmen, who walked them through the experience of living in the Central Kalahari Desert. From there, the students went on a Khutse game drive, to an environmental education center and then on to the Maru-a-Pula school (MaP), where Hawken junior Aaron Kohn is spending a semester. For a week the students lived in the school`s dorms and were paired with MaP students, who escorted them through a week of classes. Traditionally MaP students leave classes in the early afternoon each day for community service and on three occasions, the Upper School students visited one of MaP`s community service partners, the SOS Children`s Village. The Village is a haven for over 200 orphaned children, some of whom are HIV positive. Hawken students spent time painting a playground, planting a garden, helping a kindergarten class and making connections with the children. Click below to view photos from the two trips. Botswana Haibara