By: Shomari White and Emme McGlasson

           

    Today the students walked through a local village led by Tim, our leader, by the Freedom Lodge, where we are staying. On the way, Shomari and Lindsey helped make bricks from clay and sand. They also initialed their bricks. On the walk we met many locals and saw a little bit of their everyday life. We went to a family’s house (hut) and helped clean corn in order to make the cornmeal and corn milk.    Next, we went to the tribunal court for the Rawanda Genocide. We did not get to see the court in session, but we had a tour of where the trials take place. Once we got back to the Freedom Lodge, Emme and Shomari, the Leaders of the Day, performed a skit with Mr. Smith and our leader Susan. The purpose of the skit was to explain to the students the phases of group dynamics that we will be experiencing on the trip, 1. Forming and Norming, 2. Storming, and 3. Performing.

               After dinner, we journaled about our fears and goals for the trip. Next, we played A-N-C-H-O-R. A is for appreciation, N is for news, C is for concerns, H is for hopes, O is for obscurities or observations, and R is for readings. This was the last activity for the night before all students went to sleep.

Shout-Outs- Blaire and Andrew, Ms. Losey, Dariel, Kate, Shomari’s Sugar Foot ReJean Rouse, Pootie and Sahara, Brother Clayton, The Scanlan Family, Joel McGlasson, and all the other parents and families.

Thank you to Mrs. Dingess for your words of wisdom, “Be a fountain, not a drain!”

Yours Truly,

Emme and Shomari