After I got back from my quick trip to Chicago for the memorial, I went to Athens, Ohio to do some good work with 13 strangers. I went on an organized 'Alternative Spring Break' trip that held weekly orientations so I had met all of the people before but I hadn't really gotten to know anyone until we left.
During the week I got to do so many amazing things- from having meals with those who were struggling with homelessness or poverty and other crises situations; to powerwashing decks, varnishing wood, tilling fields, drywalling, cleaning up an old lady's home, and shoveling manure- I feel like I did everything! These were all really awesome experiences and the gratitude shown by the people we helped (along with frosted lemon poppy seed muffins!) improved my sense of accomplishment.
The highlight of my week however, was the people I went with (we ended up calling ourselves Team Warrior Clan) and the relationships we got to build. By the time we had gotten to Athens on Sunday evening, 13 strangers were starting to become friends. The roadtrip was great. We discussed key concerns common to humanity, sang along to all kinds of different songs, and heard a great solo- which was to become the TWC group song: Africa by Toto. The only other group of people that I have interacted with so quickly and became so close with was group 34 of Teach and Learn with Georgia during our weeklong orientation in Tbilisi and we were all planning on living in that country for the next few months. Everything about this trip went perfectly so I've got to give major props to our trip facilitators, Sana Singh and Sharon Singh for picking great bonding activities and perfectly organizing every aspect of our trip. I can't imagine how they could have facilitated a better experience for everyone involved. We all got really lucky with the other participants who got to join our trip. Every single person was so fascinating, unique, and had so much to contribute. I have never even heard of a group of people where everything took place so seamlessly and everyone cooperated and went out of their way to make sure that each one of us had a great trip.
One of the things that the TF's did to make this trip so successful was have our mid-week reflection be 4 minute life stories.
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