News from our Student Sailor
This is the latest news from our favorite student sailor,
Elizabeth Sherfey, granddaughter of friend Jean Monroe, who is aboard the Harvey Gamage participating in an Ocean Classroom. Elizabeth and
the other students who are doing a "semester at sea" on the Harvey
Gamage spent three days helping at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.
Check out their blog to read what the students wrote about it.
From the blog
Stateless
Can you imagine being
born without an identity? In a world where people are barcodes on a global
grind, not having an identity takes on a whole new meaning. Stateless children
are Haitian children born on Dominican soil. The Dominican Republic will not
recognize them and their parents’ (or grandparents’, or great grandparents’)
homeland, Haiti, will not accept them. The fact that this situation exists is
beyond ridiculous, it is unacceptable, but as it is not immediately relevant or
important to people with the ability to change it, it continues.
Emi is a stateless orphan. She is six years old and a beautiful girl with an
amazing, insuppressible smile. She is shy but if you let her in she’ll talk
your ears off even though she knows you don’t understand her. When I first met
Emi I was attempting to dig out a big glass bottle but I didn’t have one of the
few shovels available and was getting pretty annoyed moving the dirt around.
One moment it was two dirty white hands shoveling away, the next it was two
dirty white ones and two small black ones.
Emi had not been one
of the many touch-starved orphans to launch themselves at me upon our arrival
but had waited until she had my undivided attention. From that bottle shard on
Emi did not leave my side. She walked miles around her village with me, not
complaining when her friends got piggy-back rides and refusing to let anyone
carry her small bag because I had told her it was “bonito”. Besides being one
of the most deserving, kind-hearted kids I’ve met Emi is an amazing artist.
When I brought out my colored pencils she forwent the typical flower-sun-scribble
and drew me her home. She drew a landscape of spirals, mountains and waves. She
drew a gorgeous world, a dreamland which was unmistakably magical. Looking at
her art (it was art in the purest definition of the word) I couldn’t help but
compare her to myself at six. I was a spoiled child who resented the art
classes my parents gave me, who refused music lessons and ditched FLY (French
group). This girl had a world of potential, but unlike me, she was not going to
have any opportunity to cultivate it.
I will never choose to
live in guilt, but Emi is never going to leave me. Today, I have a world of
opportunity. I could be anything I want, Emi can’t and in her current situation
she will never be able to. People tell me that I can change the world. I am not
sure how realistic that is, but whatever I end up doing it will change Emi’s
life. I won’t forget her.
-Libby
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