Bottles for Balls
	Andy Mondino '11 started this project last summer, motivated by his passion for the game of soccer and his desire to reduce the environmental footprint of our community. He remembers, "Watching the world cup, I saw the importance that sports have in transforming societies in many poor countries around the world. My idea was rather simple: I would collect recyclable bottles and cans in public spaces and parks around town and use the proceeds from recycling them to buy soccer balls and bring them to Latin America." Andy's objective was to buy 50 soccer balls, a task that required recycling about 7,000 cans and bottles. During Christmas 2010, with the help of his International Relations teacher, Victor Llanque (who kindly carried them), the first batch of 25 balls arrived in La Paz, Bolivia. Professor Llanque brought some of the balls to “Fundación La Paz”, an institution where street kids fleeing their homes because of domestic violence and extreme poverty recover and learn to make handcrafts. In the spring, Andy will re-start his project, collecting bottles and cans and, hopefully, sending the next batch of 25 balls to Latin America before he graduates and moves on to college.

	The Twiga Kilt Story
	Have you ever heard the fable about the dragon and the giraffe? Likely not, because the story is still in the process of being written - its characters yet to be determined and its resolution unimaginable at this date. It has a clear beginning, though. While traveling in East Africa, the Leslie family discovered a women's cooperative in Uganda, making school uniforms for local schools. The family asked if the women would consider making kilts for GFA, setting into motion an unprecedented social enterprise. Using local cloth and materials from Uganda and Kenya, the co-op is comprised of mostly women, many who have lost their husbands to AIDS or political turmoil. The organization, School Outfitters Ltd, also employs young women who have had to drop out of school in order to earn money. Our dragon and the giraffe enter into the story on the kilts themselves. A dragon appears on the outside waistband of each kilt to represent GFA while a Twiga, Swahili for giraffe and the brand name for the women's line of uniforms, is on every inside label. In some African cultures, the giraffe is renowned for both its gracefulness and its visionary capabilities, due to its long neck. Giraffe tail was used traditionally to make special necklaces and bracelets for brides. After receiving a sample kilt last summer, Janet Hartwell and Wendy Nixon have arranged for the GFA School Store to sell the kilts. A shipment of grey kilts has just arrived and an order for plaid kilts has been placed. The second part of this story of a global partnership is ready to unfold and new characters from our community about to be introduced into the plot!