By Olivia Metsala

I watched Alter’s feet in front of me carefully as we treaded down the valley. Mountains bigger than anything I’ve ever seen loomed above us and a trail of shifting rocks stood below us. Each rock he stepped on felt like a warning to me. It was easy to get caught up in my own head as I tried to avoid the very real possibility of slipping into stinging nettle, or worse, sliding down the valley to the river below. But as I kept my eyes on the path and Alter’s hiking boots, my thoughts wandered to the people whose feet formed the path I walked on. I saw footprints of sandals and rubber boots, cows and mules. Generations and generations of people making the same journey we were. Adults being followed eagerly by children watching the backs of their heels the same way I was. They memorized the journey through the jungle by watching the adults, carefully learning which ferns were the ones they could eat and when to harvest the mushrooms on the huge fallen trees hundreds of years older than them. The deep connection and care for the world around them seeping in with each careful observation and step. Back in the village the children learn another kind of connection. They run around the village while groups of women are in the fields gathering crops for dinner and men are working together to build a house for their neighbor. They mimic their mother’s motions to shape the chapati and help make dinner. In school they aren’t taught how to stand out or know the most for their own individual success, but instead they are eager to learn how to care and be a part of the community that surrounds them. They know it keeps them safe and will keep the next generation safe too. The children of Agora literally watch and learn. They grow to care about what they see the adults around them care about.

Back at Christchurch I remember looking around and asking myself, “why don’t these people care anymore?” I watched the kid next to me cheat on their test with a phone in their lap and a whole classroom full of people talk about how they didn’t feel like writing the essay due in a week so they planned on using ChatGPT. I saw groups of kids get sucked into their phones when they were sitting in a room full of their peers and memories waiting to happen. They’re told repeatedly to stop these behaviors, but they don’t know why they should care. Maybe this happens because we’re taught to strive for individual happiness instead of working for the good of our community, and without that pure form of community like what is present in Agora it is hard to find care being passed to the next generation.

I wish I knew the magical answer to unravel that part of our society that is quickly getting out of hand, but I don’t. The one thing I do know is that it is experiences where the adults in the room truly care that shapes a kid’s connection with their world. Naturally, Global Ed trips are one of these experiences. The adults here with us that so carefully guide group discussions and make sure we’re all doing okay aren’t here because they’re getting some bonus for dragging ten kids across the world to India for 18 days. They’re here because they care about the world around them, they care about being global citizens, they care about sharing their ideas and values with us, they care about giving us this experience. And there is absolutely no way it is easy. But I am actively watching the kids on this trip follow in their footsteps. The enthusiasm of the adults sparks deep conversations among the whole group and really makes us think about our values and what we care about. 

Alter’s feet stop in front of me. I glance up and I see the piles of rocks and rushing water that make up the Assi Ganga River and the huge valley that surrounds us. I can hear and feel the power of the river and the bounty of the surrounding jungle. I can sense the footsteps that head out into the infinity of the world as it exists here. Following Alter’s footsteps brought me to India, it showed me a new way to think, it made me find my love for exploring the world, it made me think about this very topic, and it got me safely to the bottom of the valley. May it always be so.