My Lifetime Gift To My Grandchildren
The joyful expressions of delight and glee on the faces of the five grandchildren accompanying my husband, Tom, me, and their parents glimpsing the family of elephants next to the runway on the Mara Mara savannah in June of 2012 were just the beginning of what was to become a lasting adventure of a lifetime. I knew we were off to a great start when one of my grandsons turned, gave me a broad grin, a thumbs up and said, “You got this right Grammie!”
As most educators are aware, nothing teaches like experience. As the noted educational philosopher, John Dewey, wrote: “Children learn by doing”. From the perspective of an educator and administrator for almost half a century, I had noted that truth time and time again with hundreds of students; the advantages of outdoor hands-on learning opportunities being a key to building knowledge. And so it was, that I committed to provide a feet-on-the-ground African experience for my grandchildren. The personalized touch was apparent from the first meeting with Carolyn Tett. My ideas for engagement with schools and their children, villages, and other opportunities to provide a well-rounded cultural and animal safari experience were supported and thoroughly, professionally woven into a tapestry encompassing more than I could have ever imagined. This well-rounded personal itinerary provided the fruition of our desires to truly experience Africa.
One never knows what impact a trip like this might have on a child. In response to a prompt of “Share an experience that had an impact on your life” on an application for admission to a high school in 2016, my granddaughter, Lulu, wrote about how this African journey forever changed her perception of the world in opening her mind to other ways of seeing and understanding.
For my grandson, Marco, then nine years old, our trip to Africa instilled a lasting interest in human rights and animal conservation, leading him to extract a promise that I would take him to visit the mountain gorillas one day. We still recall his delight in learning that he, his siblings and cousins were going to be able to adopt an orphan elephant from the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage during our hands-on visit in Nairobi. Marco’s concern over how we would get his elephant home on the plane was heartfelt and precious.
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Of course, there was nothing to equal our visit to a local school in which our grandchildren had established pen pals over many months and then participated with them in their respective classrooms and throughout their day. Visits to other villages and schools clearly demonstrated to our children that not everyone lives like we do here in the United States. These experiences raised questions about why there were such differences and led to very thoughtful family conversations. Following my passion for promoting education, I was so impressed by one child at a local school that I arranged to help further fund his continuing education and we regularly corresponded with each other throughout the years.
In sum, each of our grandchildren readily recognized that a smile communicates in any place, in any language. The smiles and memories generated by such a lifetime gift to one’s children and/or grandchildren are truly priceless.
Article by Sandi Passalacqua
For additional information about our Family Safaris please email carolyn@tettsasfaris.com or call 877-536-1700.
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