Subscribe in a ReaderAnother update from Regional Director, Brooke Johnson, as she’s scouting locations for our Hawaii adventures this summer!
Known as the Garden Isle, thoughts of Kauai bring to mind lush tropical forests and white sand beaches. Knowing this, you may think that I took a quick side trip to Arizona and the Grand Canyon to capture this shot. This shot was actually taken from the rim of Kauai’s Waimea Canyon. Although Waimea Canyon is only a fraction of the size of the Grand Canyon (it is only 10 miles long and 1 mile wide) it certainly rivals its beauty.
One of my favorite ARCC memories was on the last night of the Hawaii trip last summer. We stuffed ourselves with the celebratory final feast, and then played games until we collapsed under a sky of stars on the beautiful deserted beach. Our group grew to be more than just friends over the course of the trip, we were family, and nobody could bring themselves to say goodnight, knowing this would be our last time all together listening to the sound of the ocean and feeling the warm breeze of a Hawaiian night.”
“The amazing group of teenagers on my Ecuador Service trip was excited but anxious for our service project in Pioculin, a remote Amazonian village. We were the first of the four ARCC groups to work on the project of building the school teacher a home. The teacher had to walk two hours each way to and from school before our groups built him this home! The four days we spent building in Pioculin were surreal, our already tight-knit group grew even closer, and as we leveled the ground and put up the frame for his house, the sound of laughter, teamwork, and encouragement resonated throughout the air. It was truly amazing and inspirational to see what happened in the four days our group was there, and all of our students felt extremely proud of their accomplishments. The village and teacher’s appreciation for our hard work was not unnoticed and they thanked us with a festive party full of Ecuadorian desserts and music. It was a night I am sure nobody will ever forget.”
“One of my favorite ARCC memories was trekking up over an Alaskan tundra pass. We were greeted by a herd of caribou and views of glaciated river valleys below. We looked down to see the highlight of our adventure, a snowfield. Our group spent the afternoon glissading through this snowfield, laughing all the while. Traveling off trail for the past six days, it was clear that we had this playground all to ourselves.”
“One of my favorite ARCC memories comes from a night we spent in a remote Maasai village in Tanzania where one chief, his 32 wives, 128 children, and 100+ cattle lived. We had arrived a few hours earlier, and after a truly cultural experience of slaughtering a cow with some of the warriors, followed by a hearty dinner of… cow meat, we were swept up by the whole village into an evening of song and dance. The image that will always stick in my mind is watching across the fire pit as, hand-in-hand with beautifully robbed and jeweled Maasai women and men, my teenagers hopped in the traditional Maasai dancing to the singing voices. There couldn’t have been a greater cultural divide between the people gathered, but in that moment, even language couldn’t separate the smiling faces.”
“One of my very favorite ARCC memories took place during our last night on Amantani, a remote inhabited island in Lake Titicaca, Peru. We had grown close to our host families there, and our entire group was sad to say farewell to the beautiful men, women, and children whom so graciously shared their lives and customs with us for three nights. For our final celebration, our hosts dressed us each in authentic and colorful Andean attire and put on a spectacular dance and music show, giving us the taste of real Peruvian culture. Our entire group beamed with smiles, realizing that this was an experience most are not lucky enough to experience in a lifetime.”
“My group was preparing to go to the tiny Fijian island of Nawaisomo where we would live with the local community and complete a service project. My students were definitely a bit nervous about the cultural differences, but as our small, wooden outboard boat chugged up to the island, we saw the entire village crowded on the beach waiting for us, waving, with the biggest smiles I have ever seen. Their warm welcome was just the beginning, and, for the next two weeks, we felt like this remote South Pacific island was home.”