Charlie Sosnick
Editor of Online Content
While countless students spent their summer months soaking up the sun on a sandy beach or gaining job experience in flashy internships, a few used their free months to help others halfway across the globe.
Through school clubs such as Hope for Ghana and BuildOn, students journeyed to Ghana and Malawi respectively to volunteer in developing communities this past summer, offering assistance to people in need.
Junior Aidan Tuttle, co-president of the Hope for Ghana club, traveled to an orphanage that his family has been supporting for six years. “When we first got there they had no water, no food, no kitchen, no caretakers, and the conditions were miserable,” Aidan said. “We’ve since raised money for a well, a kitchen and dining area, and we expanded the school.”
A particular focus of Aidan and his family in Ghana was helping to provide essential care for the orphans during their stay. “We helped with medical examinations because they don’t really get enough attention,” he said. “We brought over a lot of clothes, school supplies, and other necessities to donate.”
According to Aidan, the Hope for Ghana club has helped foster connections between students from New Canaan and Ghana. “Hope for Ghana raises money to sponsor two [Ghanaian] students through high school,” he said. “We have the kids from Africa write letters and many of the students in Hope For Ghana have pen-pals at the orphanage.”
Despite the progress made this summer, Aidan’s experience there reminded him of what still has to be done for the orphanage. “The goal this year is to get more people involved in the club and to raise enough money for the next year for the two students we’re sponsoring,” he said.
But Hope for Ghana’s work won’t stop there. “The goal is to focus on education,” Aidan said. “We’ve been working with the teachers and staff, making sure the kids get the attention they need. We’re making sure that the kids who can excel in higher-level education have the funds to do so.”
Senior Sara Musicco journeyed to Malawi this summer with the BuildOn club to help with the construction of a school. “BuildOn raises money to build schools in developing countries around the world,” Sara said. “So last year we raised 27 thousand dollars to build a school in Malawi.”
The BuildOn participants made connections with the people of Malawi during their stay. “Although we are there to work,” Sara said, “it’s much more about building relationships with the community and your host family and why bringing education to this place will bring it out of poverty.
For Senior Alex Dobbin, who also went on the BuildOn trip, the need for a school was made clear through his interactions with village elders. “The night before we left, they asked us, ‘How far is the walk to America’” Alex said. “It was very apparent that the school was necessary.”
Alex believes the new school will have a positive effect on the Malawi community. “As a school is opened in an area, neighboring areas are more likely to get schools built as well,” he said.
For Alex, the village in Malawi was strikingly different from New Canaan. “It was completely different from the ‘real world’,” he said. “We brought our cameras and took pictures of them and when we showed them the pictures it was the first time they saw their own faces.”
For Sara, one of the most memorable experiences was on the last night of the trip, when the BuildOn group gave gifts to thank their host families. “Usually, it’s not customary for the family to give us gifts as well, but they gave us all our own Malawi wrap skirts,” she said. “That was so memorable because you feel the whole time that you’re invading their house almost, but it showed us the difference we were making.”
Sara found that the trip opened her eyes to the way people live around the world. “Going and seeing and living in that poverty shows you a completely different side of the world that we forget even exists,” she said. “It’s a truly humbling experience.”
