Benedictine Volunteers Describe Their Experiences
in Tanzania,
Newark and Rome
Select any photo below for a larger version of it.
Photos of the Benedictine Volunteers at Hanga Abbey, Tanzania.
< < < Lew Grobe looks both suprised and impressed when some of his students at Hanga School present him with a live chicken. It is a great honor for a person to receive a chicken, so obviously the students like Lew.
Above: Paul Conroy, Nick Kleespie, and Derek Johnson relaxing with friends. At right, Lew Grobe with Tanzanian pupils in the garden.
^Tim Serie with a student during a math class.
^Nick Kleespie with a student, working in the garden. All students in the Hanga schools help in the gardens that provide their daily food.
^Nick Kleespie, teaching English.
^Nick Kleespie, left, Paul Conroy, right. Working in the garden with students at the Hanga schools.
^Nick Kleespie, English teacher extraordinaire.
Nick Briese reports below on his life as a Benedictine Volunteer in New Jersey.
>At St. Benedict's Prep, Newark, NJ: Nick Briese in front row middle, and David Sadder, top right.
I'm in Newark at St. Benedict's Preparatory School. My normal day varies a bit but usually involves substitute teaching if a teacher is away. I also taught a section of the criminal justice class here for a month while the regular teacher was recovering from surgery. In addition to the subbing, I work with two periods of a research and writing class called Newark Studies every day. In Newark Studies I'm usually busy pulling kids out of class for one-on-one help with their writing skills.
After school, I've been helping to coach the water polo team. That's involved mostly working with seventh graders to improve their skill in the water. These youngest kids at the school have little or no experience swimming.
In the evenings, I spend two to three hours in one of the two student dorms (about 80 of 580 kids live on campus) helping them with their homework or just "hanging out." A smaller number of the students stay on campus over the weekend, and I will sometimes accompany them if they take a daytrip somewhere. We took a group out to the monks' property in rural northern NJ for a Saturday, for example.
Part of the program also involves participating in the life of the monastery here. I have a room in the monastery where I live, and I have meals with the monks (and usually once or twice a week with the students). I also go to monastic prayers at least once a day, usually midday (11:50 AM) or vespers (7 PM) and sometimes daily mass.
I decided to volunteer generally for a few different reasons. One was to get out of school for a while. I'm planning to go to medical school, but I didn't want to jump right in after college (20 consecutive years of school didn't sound too appealing). Volunteering seemed like a great way to do something other than be a student. The other big reason is that I wanted to serve in some way. I've been ridiculously fortunate in my own life, so making a major service commitment was something I felt almost compelled to do to give back for what I've been given.
I decided on the Saint John's Benedictine Volunteer Corps and St. Benedict's Preparatory School specifically because of the nature of the program and the nature of the work. When I first heard about the program from Br. Paul, I actually wasn't too interested in it because of the monastic component. I'm not an overtly religious guy as far as formal prayer goes, so the part about praying daily with the monks didn't immediately appeal to me.
The idea slowly grew on me, though, and now I really appreciate being able to take some time out of the day to slow down and reflect during prayer. Another big draw for me was the location out here in Newark, about half an hour away from New York City. I'd never been to the east coast before, so it's been fun getting to know the City and adjusting to life in a new place. Probably most importantly, I was really impressed by what I heard about the school. The students are predominantly black and Hispanic (quite a change from Minnesota and CSB/SJU) and many of them come from underprivileged families and have had pretty scary experiences growing up. I knew I could really broaden my experience out here.
Overall, I've been really impressed with everything here. The students are great kids, and it's fun working with them. The big challenge is to get some of them to realize the benefits of studying and getting an education; some aren't too motivated in the classroom --understandably, when one considers their backgrounds.
Five graduates of St. Benedict's Prep started at Saint John's this year, and I've talked to several current students who are thinking about going to SJU as well. The two Johnnies who volunteered here last year, Andy Dirksen and Michael Hahn, are working here this year in one of the dorms as faculty residents, and Nick Bancks, another volunteer from two years before, is the librarian at the school. It's great having them here to show us the ropes around the school as well as the surrounding area, how to use the subway, etc.
The photograph above shows Dave Sadder (gray sweatshirt, top right) and me (striped polo shirt, sitting in the middle of the couch) with some of the students in one of the dorms. I think we're taking some more photos tonight, so we'll send those along as well. If there's any other information you'd like, please don't hesitate to ask. Have a good day!
Nick