Global Routes Blog

I’m not the betting type, but I would theoretically wager a lot of  money that at least 90% of those of you reading this blog have watched Invisible Children’s video about Joseph Kony and the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army). Through an incredible demonstration of the power of Facebook and other media, almost 100 million viewers have watched (or at least linked to) the video since its release on March 5. The purpose of the video is to bring the atrocities of the LRA and it’s elusive leader, Joseph Kony, into the spotlight and ultimately create a movement of activists so strong that the collective force sways the U.S. government to take actions that lead to Kony’s arrest and trial before the ICC (International Criminal Court).

This video really caught my attention for a couple of reasons. Continue reading →

 Last week I returned from spending 10 days in Morocco. I had had a great desire to go since I heard lots about the country from Julia Flum-Stockwell, a woman who as a high school student 20 some odd years ago had done the Global Routes Zimbabwe program, and now years later had gone on to become a teacher and live in Morocco for four years.

 So, I had just spent six days in France with my thirteen-year-old daughter. We boarded a plane and three hours later disembarked in Marrakech. I noted four men, very clearly Orthodox Jews, who were in line in front of us at Passport Control. Being Jewish myself, and having not yet decided to what degree I was going to broadcast that fact, I was very curious to see how these four gentlemen would be received. A bit to my surprise, they were immediately received as mini-celebrities. The chief immigration officer at Passport Control pulled them aside and engaged in a lengthy and jovial conversation with them; handshakes and smiles were exchanged and off they went. How very reassuring, and indeed I would find many times that people were very curious about my Judaism and found many analogies with their own practice of Islam. Continue reading →

2011 Ecuador Galapagos students: Thanks to your generous donations last summer two schools in the Otavalo area recently received a wonderful surprise! At the request of the schools’ directors, your funds were used to purchase gym uniforms for the students you visited in Padre Chupa and to contribute to new school supplies for students at a school in Huachinguero.

New Uniforms in Chupapadre

School Supplies in Hauchinguero

Delivery!

 As the bus drove away, these simple English words were all my host family could express through their overwhelming sobs, and they are still the words I hear during our regular fumbling Skype conversations. American English Translation of  “Full Feeling” = “I am very sad. I miss you.” Entering the small village of Belchawedi in Southern India, I felt empowered to know I would be helping a community through various service projects. However that empowerment felt like arrogance as I realized the true joy derived from creating relationships with incredibly compassionate, inspiring people. Trudging through language barriers, I was able to establish a connection so strong it erased my embarrassing and oftentimes offensive cultural mistakes, transcends borders and time zones, and allowed me to find so much comfort amidst so much disorientation that I had never felt more at ease with myself. In doing so, I made a fool out of myself in every way possible- crying at the perplexing gender roles, dancing the Macarena, and futilely attempting to explain who I was in an incomprehensible language. But it wasn’t my academic or leadership accomplishments that could be translated, only the love, energy, and attitude I exuded could be.

Months after arriving back in the states, every time I hear any member of my vast Indian family excitedly ask, “Oota ita?” (Have you eaten dinner?), I am reminded of what truly matters. After a poorly executed math exam threatens college acceptance or a particularly disastrous fight with my dorm counselor about regulation room decorations, I Skype with my sister-in-law, brother, niece, or neighbor in our own special mixture of languages, sounds, and laughter that my roommates regularly mock. “Full feeling” has now become a personal mantra. It no longer represents the painful distance between myself and Belachawedi, but rather a token that every relationship and action should evoke the fullest extent of emotions. The fullest extent of who I am.

As his lucid blue eyes begin to squint and his mouth begins to contort into another warm, joyful smile, I know that Carlos is happy. His face worn from 62 years of strenuous work, wrinkled by the difficulties of struggling in Peru, and a simple smile with a deep-bellied laugh makes me realize why I travelled so far and abandoned the United States for five weeks. As I continue the joke about our pig, Api Senca, tears roll down the cheeks of this kind, sweet man. With laughter, we shed out backgrounds and cultural differences to unite in our brotherly bonds of humanity. Though I am pleased by my ability to control the foreign language to entertain my host family, I am more proud of discovering the fountain of joy within this loving Peruvian and letting the water pour over me. After the last chuckle with silence imminently approaching, I steal another gaze at the face. Never have I been so moved by a physical feature of another human being and never will I again.

          A simple smile possesses unfathomable power: it can uplift a sullen friend or, in my case, it can alter a mentality. After persistently witnessing such warmth, I have unconsciously transformed from a mundane teen into a more confident, kinder human being. While most would assume that I, bringer of funds and motivated but unskilled laborer, would have a significant impact on the home stay family, they would be wrong. Material possessions can be acquired or lost; they are temporary. The impact of receiving the loving comfort of a wise, soft smile for twenty straight days will endure for longer than any adobe brick in the world. I never would have imagined prior to the excursion that the most meaningful event during the whole five-week adventure would be witnessing a simple, well-intended smile.

Jonah Hahn is a junior at Northampton High School in Northampton, MA and a two time Global Routes alum