August 29, 2006
As a special program onboard the 54th voyage, eight American youth from the organization Global Kids in New York City joined us from Mombassa to Chivitaveccia. They consisted of two coordinators (Courtney Killingswoth and Tiffanie Lewis) and eight high school students (Dewayne Baker, Kashif Caldwell, Namita Chand, Aneka Hewitt, Ana Jaquez, Samora Mitchell, Shareef Swindell, and Ebanesha Williams).
Global Kids as an organization was founded in 1989 in New York City. It is a leadership program developed for a diverse group of New York City teenagers, many considered at-risk youth, to provide them with the tools to become globally aware citizens who can think critically and speak for themselves. All participants of the program respect three guidelines. The first is open mic – when someone is speaking, everyone else is attentive. The second is to provide a safe space – you agree to disagree. The third is participation – the more you put in the more you get out of it.
Onboard, Global Kids shared four workshops with participants. They included a workshop on American culture (and culture in general), the positive and negative effects of tourism, American Imperialism, and a conflict resolution workshop. They also gave a number of lectures including a discussion about their experiences as people of color in the United States and their impressions of post-9/11 US. They also joined a number of tours at ports of call.
While the high school students enjoyed the unique opportunity to lead lectures and presentations in front of a large group of participants, they particularly enjoyed their smaller workshops focused on cultural exhcange. Bringing their passion and knowledge from their lives in New York City, the kids lead participants in a series of lessons concerning their interests. Shareef led workshops on tap-dancing, a form of street dance that was started in Ireland by young people from low-income families trying to make money on the street. The dance is now popular with youth in New York. Ebanesha did a series on hair-braiding, an activity with an important stylistic and social role in the African-American community. Aneka performed and taught passengers a dance style known as "Steppin," a fast-paced rhythmic beat that is popular with African-American fraternities and sororities in the United States. Finally Dwayne and Samora led a "basketball camp", teaching other passengers of all ages some of their favorite moves on the court before organizing a small tournament on the deck.
The Global Kids reveled in all aspects of ship life, from conversations about US politics to dance competitions. Their creative final presentation was a collaborative performance piece including theatre, slide shows, video, dance, music, and poetry. Their skits represented their expectations before arriving, their experiences on the ship, and their thoughts and hopes for their lives when they returned home. One thing was certain: their lives had changed forever, and they had grown so much from the experience of interacting with new cultures and countries. They will miss their many Japanese friends on the boat, and look forward to bringing the messages of peace they encountered on their journey back to their communities in New York City.
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