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Dickinson to Durban » Entries tagged with "Valley of 1000 Hills"

My Week with Makaphutu

By Sam Pollan ’14 Working with the Makaphutu Trust in the week following our time at the COP was an incredible experience. After two weeks of dawn-to-dusk attendance of the conference, I was expecting things to slow down in the Valley of a Thousand Hills. This, however, was not the case. Our time and manpower was put to work at the Makaphutu Children’s village where we efficiently sorted dozens of boxes of clothes and food for distribution. In addition to the sorting, which would have taken days had only the Makaphutu employees been working, we also painted a building that was going to be a new dorm for the children. And of course, throughout the process the children were hanging all over us. Although it wasn’t quite the same time commitment … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change

“The Last Destination…” -Pico Iyer

“The Last Destination…” -Pico Iyer

By: Anna McGinn ‘14 “The last destination isn’t the final place on the itinerary, but what happens when you get home and try to make sense of it” -Pico Iyer Over the past few weeks, numerous people have asked me to share with them the highlights of my time in South Africa- What will I most remember about the trip? What were some of the most interesting things I learned? Usually, I respond by explaining that although … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Justice, Environmental Politics, Mosaic Action

Reflection on our time in the Valley of 1000 Hills

Reflection on our time in the Valley of 1000 Hills

By: Anna McGinn ’14 Many people we interacted with while in the Valley of 1000 Hills could never imaging the comfortable lifestyle we all returned to after our time in the Valley was complete.  Despite the fact that the children we played with at the orphanage and the people we distributed food to have very little, they were proud and happy with what they had.  It was extremely humbling to see the sustained smiles on their … Read entire article »

Filed under: Mosaic Action

Reversing the Cycle of Poverty

Reversing the Cycle of Poverty

By: Anna McGinn ‘14 While in the Valley of 1000 Hills, we witnessed the reality of poverty in rural South Africa. Children playing along the side of the highway, one room houses often with patched or collapsed roofs and crumbling clay walls, and outhouses next to most houses characterized the communities we travel through as we distributed food and clothes on behalf of the Makaphutu Children’s Village. The need is stark and the resources are scarce. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Environmental Justice, Mosaic Action