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QSI Quintile • Issue 37 • • • 39

VieTnAm

QSI International School of Haiphong

QSI and Cultural as director and counselor. QSI International School Even more amazing was the amount of money
exchange—thinking of Haiphong has long been a school with a soul, raised—almost VND 80 million! This is the
Globally, Acting locally but the Mudds put a name on it when they brought equivalent of close to $3,500—enough to fund the
their “QSI has Heart” campaign from Shenzhen. interception of at least 35 girls and young women
Of all the many advantages of working for To prove it, they invited the staff to participate in a at the Nepalese border, thereby saving them from
QSI, perhaps the greatest is the opportunity for global 5-km run to help stem the illegal trafficking lives spent in virtual slavery and abject misery.
cultural exchange. This occurs in the classroom as of young girls from Nepal. Eight students singlehandedly solicited enough
we instruct (and are instructed by) children from pledges to rescue one or more girls and Tram Anh,
many nations, in the host countries where we live, Organized by the Australian NGO Captivating a 13-year-old from Haiphong, raised close to VND
sometimes for decades, and among the almost 40 International, and dubbed STOP the Traffick!—this 20 million—enough to save at least nine of her
schools in the QSI family. Often, this exchange has is where I added my tuppence. In 1996, Jim Gilson Nepalese sisters!
wonderful consequences. handed me a flier from the WWF promoting its
annual Walk for Wildlife. He thought I might want Our Walk to Stop the Traffick! combined an
By default, educators have a lifelong love of to organize one at Sanaa International School. I liked aspect of QSI Shenzhen culture with an historic
learning. What could possibly be a better place for the idea, so I did. Eventually, the walk became such an tradition from the QSI “mothership.” The resulting
a teacher to work than a room full of eager, effusive important fixture on the school calendar that we kept synergy empowered our students while giving
children who know so much that the teacher it going for eight years after the WWF discontinued them a tangible means of exemplifying virtually
doesn’t? Our students take us to places where we its walk in 2006. Remembering the popularity of the all of the Success Orientations. It also provided
may never otherwise go, and show us things that we Sana Int`l School walk and its potential for raising them with an opportunity to truly “think globally
might otherwise never have known existed. money, I suggested to Mrs. Mudd that we organize a and act locally.” Consequently, a cohort of girls in
Walk to STOP the Traffick! for the school here. She Nepal now has a future, and here in Haiphong we
I’ve spent all 22 of my QSI years in Asia, yet liked the idea, so we did. With help from Mr. Mudd can proudly say, “We have heart!”
it would be difficult to find three more divergent and our PSG (Parent Support Group) we quickly sold
cultures than those in the Central Asian foothills the concept to the school community in a manner
(Bishkek), the “rooftop of Arabia” (Sanaa), and that was to have touching results.
a major Southeast Asian river delta (Haiphong).
Nevertheless, I have assimilated something from The day of the walk, October 6th, dawned to
each of these places and now know how to erect a torrential rain and fear that the event would be
yurt, reflexively say insha’allah at least ten times washed out. However, by 3:00 p.m. when the walk
daily, and eat most of my meals with chopsticks. Yet officially started, the weather was much kinder.
no matter where in the QSI network one teaches, A thick blanket of clouds blocked the blistering
it is the culture of the organization that bonds us. Haiphong sun. A light, warm, but refreshing mist
QSI is a culture with some immutable boundary fell, cooling the walkers and energizing them to keep
conditions, but it is also a culture of sharing, in going. Parents showed up in droves, cheering their
which profitable exchanges freely occur. During kids on and in many cases walking and running
chance encounters in the corridors, scheduled with them. Everybody on our staff participated,
meetings, and within the context of professional walking and running with the students or recording
development, we exchange memes that make us their laps. The effort that some of these kids made
better teachers—and our schools, better schools. was truly astounding. One secondary student and
two middle schoolers walked and ran 20 or more
This process often flourishes when people move 800-meter laps each. Three of our 5- to 6-year-olds
within the organization. A great example of the totaled 10 laps each, and one 6-year-old walked and
synergism that can occur when new blood enters ran an astonishing 13 laps! All told, the 57 students
the system happened in Haiphong this September, who participated covered more than a cumulative
soon after Jon and Alyssa Mudd assumed their roles 430 laps in just two hours.