2011-03-18
Before I start I would like to clear the air: no, I do not have a Senegalese girlfriend, nor a Senegalese wife, nor do I plan on getting married while I am here, nor do I plan on taking more than one wife. Why the litany? Every few days I have déjà vu. I meet...
Read More2011-03-18
I am always renewed and inspired in the presence of these young girls.
Read More2011-03-18
On January 15, I think I learned more about Nova Suica in one day than I did over the course of the two months prior. It began when I arrived at the settlement school to greet a group of Brazilian university students who were arriving for a 10-day program. I found the school empty but...
Read More2011-03-18
What I now see for the first time is the mechanism by which fear destroys intelligence, the way it affects a child’s whole way of thinking about, and dealing with life. So we have two problems, not one: to stop children from being afraid, and then to break them of the bad habits into which...
Read More2011-03-17
I looked out over the fields of Nova Suica, empty but for the occasional bull, the lights of the houses glowing in the distance. The night chill had already set in, but I resisted putting on my jacket for fear that when it got colder, I’d be out of options. And it would almost certainly...
Read More2011-03-17
We were at the health post, handing out bottles to those who were interested in buying. “10 reais for one liter? Really?” “You kidding? Smell it. Flavored, washed with spring water, mashed by hand—and with an American helper? How often does that happen?” This was the basic negotiation going on—I was being used as part...
Read More2011-03-17
I distinctly remember the afternoon last spring when I shocked my guidance counselor by marching into his office and announcing that I would not be attending university in the fall. I was opting instead, I told him, to join a young program called Global Citizen Year. That conversation seemed a long time ago as I...
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