Students Practice Global Citizenship on Simunye Project Service Trip
From South Africa’s informal settlements to its suburbs to its wild savanna . . . a team of nine Principia seniors is strengthening and applying the critical thinking, collaborative, leadership, and global citizenship skills that a Principia School education aims to develop.
As part of the Simunye Project service-learning trip, our upper schoolers (along with a group of 25 Australian students) have already helped repair, rebuild, and paint the premises of a community service organization on the outskirts of Soweto. They’ve fed, rocked, and played with orphaned and abandoned infants and toddlers in an adoption home in Johannesburg. And they’ve visited the impressive stadium that hosted the 2010 Soccer World Cup and the home (now a museum) of former South African President Nelson Mandela, hero to many around the world.
In the process, they are meeting and working with modern-day heroes—like Susan Rammekwa and her team, who run the Tshepang Project, which supports over 300 orphans and vulnerable children and their families.
Upper School Assistant Principal Peter Dry met Rammekwa several years ago and, deeply impressed by her courage and commitment, started Simunye (Zulu for “we are one”) as a way to empower young people “with the skills and attitudes to make a real difference in their global community.” The Simunye Project connected Tshepang with students from Huntingtower, a Christian Science-based school near Melbourne, Australia, where Dry was working at the time. With his move to Principia last fall, the opportunity to participate is now open to Upper School students, too.
Dry and his wife, Samantha, both originally from South Africa, are chaperoning the trip, along with Brad Warrick, the School’s director of experiential education. As the trip leaders explained in a parent communication, “The Simunye Project endeavors to provide hands-on opportunities for young students to develop themselves in a setting that stretches them personally. It is a wonderful chance to be completely selfless and work together on a team of like-minded people.” In fact, students were required to raise $350 each to go toward donations for the projects they will be supporting.
For the parents of one of the participating seniors, “Simunye has been a remarkable opportunity” for their son. “He’s learning that love has no boundaries and that helping others is deeply satisfying. Whatever [our son] does with the rest of his life, we know that he will carry the lessons he’s learning from the Simunye experience with him.”
The students are now working with a primary school and a day care center in rural areas that border the world-renowned Kruger National Park, where they will also get to view and learn about African wildlife. To share in the joy and discovery of our students’ global learning experience, follow them on Twitter.