Back from Africa

Dear TTS12 Parents and Friends,

What an amazing time we had with your girls over Thanksgiving in Namibia. After 2 ½ days jam-packed with adventures, trying to retrace the steps of the girls’ 10 days in Cape Town, Laurie Stopher (Grace’s mom), David Pitser and Amy Barnhardt (Mallory’s dad and grandmother) moved on to Namibia, for the much anticipated reunion with their girls. We were able to spend two nights camping with the group at the Cheetah Conservancy. What a treat -- watching the girls interact with each other, their teachers, Japhet and Crispin, and those who worked at CCF.

We arrived on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and the whirlwind of activities began. We were able to join the girls on a game count safari ride. Filling up three safari vehicles, we took off through the CCF's land with binoculars, count sheets and started our work of sighting and counting wildlife we encountered – red hartebeests, kudu, eland, wildebeest, wart hog, gemsbok among others. On the return trip, we were greeted with the biggest swarm of flying insects most of us had ever encountered. The one group who had initially felt happy with their open-air jeep, found themselves swimming in bugs. The rest of us were able to shut our windows and watch the spectacle of bugs from a safe vantage point. We all had a good laugh about it later as the girls picked the bugs out of their hair and shook bugs out of their clothes.

We ate meals with the group, enjoyed the presentation of the upcoming schedules with the "Chieflets" aka pairs of girls who act as chiefs-in-training—we watched as this job was passed along to Ginny and Emmy. These girls work with a teacher so they may begin to experience what it takes to organize classes and activities for the group. We watched and participated in evening ritual at dinnertime each night where the girls shared their ideas, poetry, journal entries and other talents with each other.

I was impressed by how close the girls had become with their driver, Japhet and cook, Crispin. Japhet lectured the girls about cleanliness, respect for their elders and even presented a history class on the politics of Zimbabwe, his home. The girls lovingly called him Papa and vied for his attentions and advice, saving a seat for him at dinner or interviewing him for class assignments. Crispin was a role model for the girls with his ever clean and neat appearance and disciplined work ethic. He fed the group cheerfully, helped the girls with their understanding and use of his native tongue, Shona, and worked tirelessly preparing three nutritious meals a day for the group of 23 with various eating requirements, likes and dislikes. The girls cheerfully helped out with the chores and enjoyed Crispin's quiet calm presence in the group.

Thanksgiving Day was special, but not your typical eat turkey and watch parades on TV holiday. The girls started early with a lecture about conservancies in Namibia and the work of CCF. Next, the group spent three hours on a service project -- clearing Acacia (thorn tree) volunteers from a cheetah enclosure for the Hogwarts cheetahs (Harry, Hermoine, and Ron -- the cheetahs were waiting nearby in another pen), painting fencing, digging weeds, and clearing a run so these amazing creatures can stay fit despite captivity. Then, it was time for another lecture on identifying predator attack marks and learning more about why so many cheetahs are being killed by farmers in Namibia and other parts of Africa and what the CCF is doing to educate local farmers about the benefits of cheetahs and other wildlife to their own lives.

Finally, it was time to start the preparations for Thanksgiving Dinner. All the girls were involved in the preparations. Katie and McKenna helped Crispin BBQ the meat. There were decorators headed up by Ginny, pie-makers under Leah's direction -- Nilsa learned to make pie crusts by hand and Ellie mixed the pumpkin pie ingredients and worked her magic to make the pies presentable (there were 8 of them). We had mashed potatoes and yams, green bean casserole with Taylor's southern expertise, cranberry sauce and stuffing (thanks to Susan Mallory, Emily's mom who brought these treats from the States) and much more.

Before dinner, Grace started us off with some beautiful readings about giving thanks and then everyone dug in. The dinner table was full with the 33 of us stretched along the tables under the CCF covered patio. As we enjoyed dessert, the group began to share readings they had chosen from their semester or written especially for Thanksgiving to share. Melissa wrote a poem about the group based on "Oh, the Places We'll Go" by Dr. Seuss. Mallory shared two poems she'd written dedicated to her grandmother, Amy who was visiting from NC. Quinnie and Emmy shared entries from their journals and Shannon read and translated a poem in Portuguese. There were tears and also much laughter as teachers, parents and students all shared in the entertainment and the evening wrapped up.

Before we left for Etosha on Friday, the group still had time to enjoy more of CCF. After an early morning game of soccer, the girls listened intently to Japhet's lecture about his country, Zimbabwe. The girls had read and learned about the political situation in history. The lecture was based on Japhet and Crispin's firsthand experiences in their country and how they had been affected by the inflation, the decline in the educational system, and lack of work opportunities.

Next, the group had the opportunity to spend a few hours with Laurie Marker, CCF founder and awe-inspiring role model for us all. They girls’ eyes twinkled as they sat enthralled, listening to Laurie's story. She took us to meet Little C, the new ambassador cheetah of CCF. We walked around with Laurie and Little C, following him to his favorite tree. The girls surrounded him, petting and getting licked by his rough tongue. Little C led us around his enclosure, stopping for photo ops when he felt ready. The girls closely followed both the cheetah and his master, Laurie with the same reverence and affection.

After a Language class with a CCF worker about tribal languages spoken in Namibia, the group had lunch and began their journey to Etosha National Park. The parents and I went in our own vehicle and met the girls later at their campsite. We were able to spend three more days with the group in Etosha. We joined in on safari drives in the park, where we watched an old, injured lion, guard its zebra kill on the side of the road, viewed herds of zebra, springbok as well as giraffe lumbering alongside the roads. Since the rainy season had begun, the watering holes did not draw in the wildlife; the best place for viewing animals was driving through the park.

We also joined in on classes, watching the Math Applications class presenting their game of life identities in character and sharing the real life lessons they learned from them. Evelina explained to the group what she learned from her character, Ronda, about the dangers of depending credit cards. Maggie, as the billionaire, Reggie, shared her riches and opportunity with others less fortunate.

We watched a student-produced awards ceremony, which started with a skit where KD starred doing an accurate impersonation of Japhet telling the group what he though on various topics. McKenna, KD, Katie and Nilsa presented the coming week to the group and then the weekly awards were presented. Quinnie won the teacher's Academic Award, the group in the buggy open-air truck won the Happy Traveler Award, and Sarah won the coveted African Queen Award presented to the girl who takes advantage of her surroundings and interacts with locals the group encounters throughout the week. This student is encircled and the group serenades her with their African Queen anthem.

We traveled to our final night with the girls and enjoyed Crispin’s Shepherd’s Pie for our final dinner with the group. Cheyenne and Nilsa reflected on the positive aspects of their leadership over the past few days and what they wanted to improve upon in their next round in charge of the group. Kara and Grace, the new chieflets, shared their plan for making Lala’s birthday memorable on the next day. They went over the schedule in Spanish, gave Lala the to right to pick all the music on the truck for the entire next day. They also declared Lala’s birthday be an opportunity for everyone to dress as their favorite revolutionary (everyone knew that Lala would dress as Che Guevara). As the girls filed off for study hall, the quiet surrounded the parents, as an indication of how different the rest of our trip would be without the girls, their songs and lively banter.

We had time for our final farewells the next morning as the girls ate breakfast and finished packing the truck. With our tearful goodbyes, the girls loaded up the truck and waved to us as they departed the campground. The parents and I took a final game drive through the park and drove back to Windhoek for our departure the next day. We reminisced about our favorite moments with the girls and looked forward to the holidays when everyone would be reunited with their daughters.
We searched for words to describe how incredibly special it was to spend a few days with TTS12 and have a glimpse of what our girls have experienced this past 3 ½ months. How could we bring back to you how much we enjoyed being with your daughters and see how amazing they are and how much they’ve grown? Hopefully, our words and photos will give you an idea of what we were so lucky to experience.

Thank you for sharing your girls with TTS and in turn with us. We are all so lucky to have had the opportunity to travel to Africa and share in the group’s experiences.

Happy Holidays. Get ready for the girls!

Jennifer