One world community
CHRONICLES OF
Quaker Education
FA L L 2 0 1 3
International partnerships strengthen Friends education and students around the world Quaker education inspires us to learn about and care for the people and resources of the world. This issue of Chronicles of Quaker Education focuses on collaborations that Friends schools have created around the world. A few of the many Friends school global partnerships are highlighted herein.
A drawing from the ten-day diary of a 14-year old Topchi student in Afghanistan that was sent to her Carolina Friends Middle School pen pal.
The Afghan Sister Schools Partnership (ASSP) of the Carolina Friends School (Durham, NC) grew out of a desire to offer students a response other than war to the events of September 11, 2001. Activities focus on the Topchi School, now a K-12 coeducational school located in a small village in Bamiyan Province west of Kabul. The heart of the relationship is a pen pal letter program, through which more than 60 letters are swapped twice a year. Other facets of the cultural exchange span pre-K through 12th grades and have included class electives, guest speakers, and sharing handmade gifts. Carolina Friends raises CFS Middle Schoolers wit h a peace sign of origami more than $7,000 annually for Topchi School, which allows hearts being sent to their Top chi pen pals. them to purchase necessary items such as school furniture, library books, and computers. The aim is to help students become global citizens aware of their ability to change the world, one letter, one student, one school, one community at a time. Carolina Friends School is currently producing a video profile of the Sister Schools Partnership, funded in part by a grant from the Friends Council on Education.
“ Having another family in a different culture feels great. Knowing that someone is thinking about you and loves you in a different country is amazing.” “ Over the exchange, I learned to be brave. I feel that I can do more since I have been to Mexico. I learned that if I need help, it is OK to ask. The exchange is important because kids need to understand other cultures and learn life skills.” These words, from fifth graders at Plymouth Meeting Friends School (Plymouth Meeting, PA), speak to the heart of the school’s 40-year-old Mexican Exchange Program. PMFS students partner every year with Mexican students in an international exchange, each child spending two weeks living with a host student and family. The direct experience of being both traveler and host provides the students with a better understanding of themselves, as well as a greater sense of independence and their own ability to handle challenges. In tandem with this growing sense of self comes a strengthening and expanding of community — both within their cohort, and among their new friends. As one student put it, “I felt like all of us were one class, and I really liked that feeling.” mon B. at the Jordan D. and Si ihuacan Mexico. pyramids in Teot
Open minds, open hearts By Michael Zimmerman Head of School at Friends School Haverford There was so much that was new for the sixth grade students from Friends School Haverford (Haverford, PA) during their recent visit to our sister school, Escuela Altos de San Luis, in a relatively impoverished area of Costa Rica. It was their first extended period away from home, first time in another country, first time on an airplane, first time immersed in a language not their own, and first in-person encounter with their Costa Rican counterparts. Ironically, the newness of it all seemed excellent preparation for maintaining open minds and hearts in the face of an onslaught of novel experiences. For our hosts, our arrival was an annual occurrence. The Costa Rican children knew language would be no barrier to games and activities. They were excited to meet this year’s friends, this new crop of individuals. We also raise some $3,000 a year for Escuela Altos de San Luis, which made it possible to bring running water to the community of our sister school. One of our students, a Katrina refugee, told me Costa Rica so reminded him of his native New Orleans that he felt very much at home and was determined to come back. The value of this life-altering experience was not limited to the student participants. As I was putting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a bag for lunch, I couldn’t help but wonder whose life was “impoverished.” Haverford student from New Orleans (right) with his Costa Rican partners.
A Publication of the
Inspired by her JEM trip to the rainforest in Ecuador, Michaela Godshall, Buckingham Friends School Class of 2009, will be spending a “gap year” in Ecuador working on a local service project.
Unique to Buckingham Friends School (Lahaska, PA) is the Joint Environmental Mission (JEM) founded in 1991 by a collaboration of Russian and Buckingham Friends teachers. The program has grown to encompass permanent partner schools on all continents including Russia, India, China, Australia, Ecuador, Hawaii, and Kenya. The JEM partner school students engage in yearly home-stay exchanges. Every five years, Buckingham Friends hosts a two-week Earth Summit, inviting student and teacher representatives from all of the JEM partner schools to come together. The next Earth Summit, April 2014, provides a rare opportunity for children to develop cultural understanding and tolerance for different points of view as they collaborate on projects, engage in simulation games, and discuss their fears and hopes for the future. (continued on page 2)