First, we will soon announce a major scholarship programme aimed at students from Africa. How can we be a truly global school without African inclusion? This programme will provide access to a TGS education for African kids. In fact, this week, I’m interviewing a student applicant from Africa.

Second, I have worked hard over the past couple of months to forget alliances in places such as Ghana, Botswana, Swaziland and South Africa. I’ve even had a conversation with one of Richard Branson’s charitable arms that runs a leadership academy in SA.

Finally, yes, we are very open to having an African city as a TGS host city. I had some concrete discussions about that recently in Berlin and I’ll drive that forward.

So, again, you’re absolutely right and, I hope, we have that base covered.

Aron

Keep on keepin’ on.

I hope that being “a good guest” also includes a lot of listening and working to understand different cultures’ basic assumptions, perspectives on life, core values. I disagree that being a good guest is synonymous with being a leader. Being a leader may come later, but a good guest packs out what he/she packs in and leaves the place or the item in better condition than when he/she first arrived or took possession and notices, acknowledges, and is grateful for the qualities of the place or item.

Mr. Solomon is a gifted storyteller: painting vivid pictures while inspiring the listener (in this case, me) to do a little better in life.
Seth, what a great project. A breath of fresh air and inspirational, to boot! I would love to know, though, when these people knew and/or how it came to them that they needed to do the work that they do; from what core philosophy or guiding principles do they operate?

So very true. Scary, rewarding, empowering and interesting at the same time.

Thanks for yet another very good blog post, Seth. And thank you Aron for sharing your wisdom.

My first time venturing outside the US as a freshman in college changed my life – seeing the world open up yet shrink at the same time is a feeling I will never forget. Can’t say enough about how great a concept Think Global School is – particularly the emphasis on empowering responsible world citizens. Best of luck!

Great post thank you Seth!

And thank you Aron, really enjoyed the anecdotes about your time in China.

Thanks for being charitable with my ramblings – you’re a good man, and this project is truly amazing.

As my work in China is a central theme here, I’m providing the link to the blog I kept on the China relief project:

http://solomonchina.blogspot.com/

In looking back at the earthquake and the infinitely small role I played in the relief work in China, I’m drawn to this, the final two paragraphs of one of the most personal postings of my blog:

I can’t help but be drawn tonight to one of my favourite novels of all time, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. My mind drifts to Nick Carraway’s stunningly brilliant narrative first lines which, I would humbly opine, wrap up this blog entry quite well:

“In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages you’ve had.’ While reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope, I’ve come to admit that my tolerance of human behavior has its limits.”