From the March 25, 2005 Issue of The Cape Codder

Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School News

Exchange with Tanzania

By Karl Thompson
Friday, March 25, 2005

Last November, more than 20 members of the Roots and Shoots program at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School in Orleans put together a small package of American-culture based items to send to a partner school in Tanzania. Some of those items included buttons, yearbooks, newspapers, pictures and school essays.

Jessica Rimington, a former student, brought the box with her on a trip to Tanzania and gave the packet to a school in Arusha, which is located in the northeast section of Tanzania, near Mount Kilimanjaro. While on her trip, Rimington took hundreds of photographs and videos of Tanzania as she toured the area. Before Rimington left Tanzania, our sister school prepared a box of more than 30 items, including a music CD, beads, cards, newspapers, woven mats, more than a dozen pieces of artwork, jewelry, tiles, shells and pictures.

The Tanzanian students found many items to send back with Rimington to the charter school, including skirt wraps, clay pots, brooms, spoons, artwork and a water ladle, most of which were packed in a box decorated in elaborate and ornate art, drawn and painted by the students in Arusha.

The sister school program aims to broaden the communication between countries around the world. The Roots and Shoots students look forward to continuing the relationship with students of other cultures. The items sent from Tanzania will soon be put on display at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School for all students, staff and parents to see.

Karl Thompson, a member of Roots and Shoots, is an eighth-grade student at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School.