Meghan Moulton '07 brought a glimpse of Africa to the Hamilton campus on August 25 when she presented a slideshow of photos and a discussion of her student-led service trip to Uganda earlier this summer. Moulton led seven other Hamilton students on the trip in collaboration with Soft Power Education to refurbish local schools in Jinja, teach lessons to the children and organize recreational activities.
Moulton traveled to Uganda with her family in 2003, and ever since then has wanted to return to volunteer with Soft Power. She brought the idea of a student-led international service trip to Hamilton, and worked during the spring semester to make it a reality. The fact that it is a student-led trip "offers a different experience," said Moulton. The group of eight students, called Athari, met weekly to prepare for the trip, and held several fund raisers to cover travel expenses and supplies for the school they would be working at. Besides Moulton, the Athari participants were Alastair Cairns '05, Meghan Horman '07, Meghan Morrissey '07, Maria Nieto '07, Ben Norland '07, Tess Patalano '07 and Jessica Tepper '07.
The
group arrived in Uganda on May 21 and spent the first few days at Soft
Power headquarters, becoming accustomed to the area and learning about
their project, before moving into a house in the village of Jinju. They
worked at the Lukolo Primary School, which had seven classrooms with
100 to 120 children per class. Athari's task was to refurbish the
school to meet government standards and build additional classrooms so
that classes could be made smaller. Early in the trip, they visited a
school that had been completed by Soft Power, which Moulton found
encouraging. "We knew that was what we were working toward for Lukolo,"
she said.
In addition to painting and building at the school, the Hamilton students were each responsible for teaching one lesson a day to a class. Moulton's class was "P5", the equivalent of fifth grade. She and Tess Patalano '07 taught the students English words and supervised art projects. After school, they arranged games and a school-wide "song contest." Moulton also arranged for the third grade class at Lukolo to exchange letters with a third grade class at Clinton Elementary School. At the end of their stay in Jinju, the school held a party for the Hamilton students, which was attended by most of the village, and at which they received letters and gifts from the students.
On the weekends, the group took some time to explore Uganda, taking rafting, hiking, camping, and safari trips, led by a guide from Soft Power. Moulton said that the trips were important to the well-being of the group, as it was taxing to live under the conditions of the village; they faced stomach bugs, a case of jiggers, and barn fowl laying eggs in their beds. "The weekend trips were crucial to our well-being. It was really hard to be in the middle of the village, and it really energized us for the next week [at Lukolo]," said Moulton.
The group was scheduled to leave June 21, but Moulton decided to stay by herself for another month to lead other groups for Soft Power. In an e-mail home she wrote, "I didn't want to leave Uganda just when I got used to African time, so I figured I might as well stick around!"
In her presentation, Moulton said her goal for this year is to make the Athari trip an annual event, and hopefully put together a program that can be supported by Hamilton. While Moulton herself will be studying abroad this spring, she hopes to find someone else to lead a trip next summer, and look into making the trip a service-learning component to a Hamilton course.
2005 Athari participants had this to say about their experience:
"The
trip teaches one to give up daily living, to work as a group, to
compromise, and most importantly, to appreciate everything we are
fortunate enough to have here in America. The trip was an incredible
learning and bonding experience that truly offers a new and worldly
perspective on life."
-- Meghan Horman '07
"It was one of the most rewarding and fascinating experiences of my life." -- Maria Nieto '07
"...I
believe more importantly my experience in Uganda caused me to reflect
to a great degree about my own culture, upbringing, life in America and
what that means in terms of my role in the world." --Benjamin Norland, '06
"Although you don't attend classes, the trip teaches you more than any class can."-- Tess Patalano '07
-- by Laura Trubiano '07
