September 29

Tonight we visited the Blue Moon cafe. Sitting on a hill facing the stage, we ate, chatted with some of our new friends, and heard from local artists. The musicians, many of them alumni or even students of our host school, played a mix of their own music (in a South African style) and songs we knew and could sing along to. We also had the experience of looking up at the South African night sky, free of light pollution. This enabled us to see all of the stars in their full glory – there are, after all, different constellations in the Southern Hemisphere.

So far, I believe I can speak for all of us when I say we are having a blast. We’ve all made friends from the four corners of the globe, listened to speakers on a range of topics on the theme of coexistence,  and participated in a range of adventure  and service-based activities. Personally, my baraza group (a sort of discussion group) includes two Canadians, a Bermudian, three South Africans, a Brit and two Indians. Our speakers have included an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, a motivational speaker and the first African to climb the Seven Summits (he has also made an unassisted trek to the South Pole). We also had an “adventure day,” where we participated in our chosen adventures and made even more new friends, since we weren’t in our barazas or our school groups.

We have had amazing sessions with the Jump! Foundation, a group which encourages participation in leadership. In one activity, our right hand became our “heart,” and our left, our “sword.” The objective of the game was simply to survive. By the second round, we learned to band together in groups of 2-4, and the third round featured people in groups of 30. We eventually learned to follow the objective to the word : there really isn’t a need to kill each other at all to “win” at the game.

We’ve had an amazing time, and Tuesday will definitely be a sad day, as it is the last time we will see many of these people. — Andrew Hamilton ’13