The Return

Ward Mailliard Program Leader

The final act of our journey is the Washington, D.C. Assembly where we invite our school community, families, and friends to hear the experiences of the returning students. This act of witnessing allows the community to understand and appreciate the growth each of the students has made as they talk to those assembled about what they learned on their journey. This is an important moment for both the community and the students. It is the, frequently neglected and yet very significant, “return” stage of the journey. Often there is emotion and pride, and even tears as parents witness their children and their classmates demonstrating new depth and capacity as they enter into a new stage of maturity,. When that happens both the students and the community that has supported them are validated. We all know that something important has occurred.

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We are very happy to announce that we are completing work on a number of projects. Please click on the Interviews link to see new interviews with His Holiness the Dalai Lama from our 2007 Project Happiness journey to India, and our interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu form our Ubuntu Project to South Africa in 2009. We are also completing work on the videos those interviews plus an interview with filmmaker George Lucas.

His Holiness

Archibishop Desmond Tutu

Ubuntu Project Book Now Available at Mount Madonna School

Ubuntu

The African phrase Ubuntu in its essence means “I am because you are,” or stated another way “I am a human being through you.” It is a statement of interdependence and interconnectedness. It also calls us into of our highest human attributes such as sharing, empathy, respect and compassion.

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Journey to Africa

By Ward Mailliard, Project Leader

“At Philani Child Health Project I was given the gift of touring the township of Khayelitsha and being exposed to poverty I had only witnessed as numbers and statistics, and my heart never felt heavier. I remember standing in the home of a family slowly dying of AIDS – but looking into their faces I saw hope, a hope in the form of an intense, enduring strength and will to persevere. I found myself turning away from their eyes in an effort to hide the feeling of helplessness and sorrow I felt for them. I wondered why I couldn’t locate that feeling of hope they had for themselves in myself. Has my society taught me that hope is unrealistic? Is my natural reaction to doubt the good and only see the bad? It was then that I realized that these people were the ones I wanted to define me. These were the kind of people who believed in compassion and a hope for the future. If the world would learn to see like this, our visions of our lives and ourselves would no longer be blurred by selfish desires and needs, but rather a belief in the strength of the community to help us succeed.”

The above was written by 11th grader Anneka Lettunich after returning from our recent journey to South Africa to interview Archbishop Desmond Tutu. (more…)

Washington, D.C. - 2008

The Values interview trip to Washington, D.C. in May of 2008 was on of the most exciting in the history of our program which goes back to 1989. For those who have interest we hope you will take time to visit the blog. Here the students told the story as it unfolded and it give some idea of the excitement and discovery that were a daily part of the experience. We take this unusual journey to the nations capital every other year. By good fortune, hard work and many friends.