The cohort of students and staff from Charlotte Latin School traversed 13722 km and 6 time zones to extend their Cultural & Comparative Leadership curriculum for 17 days into an environment very different to the one they knew. Coming from a humid subtropical climate in North Carolina, they might have felt some similarity between Durban and their home town, but, in most other ways, they found the two vastly different. The school’s Director of Student Leadership Development, David-Aaron Roth, commented: “Leadership is one of our school’s core values and a cornerstone of our current strategic plan, “Latin Leads.” Our students were challenged to analyse and compare leadership approaches across different South African cultures and in relation to their own concept of what leadership is.”
The group spent time with the team of The Domino Foundation who gave them insights into challenges facing Durban and South Africa and how the NPO is working toward the greater good in the local community. The visitors were split into four groups where they were given broad overviews of Domino’s seven programmes and how those are meeting immediate needs but also empowering beneficiaries to become tomorrow’s change-makers in this country. This chimed in well with the American students’ learning to view leadership through a new lens, building new mental models of leadership, citizenship, and culture.
“What really made an impression on me was how Domino is actively involved in communities on the ground,” said Grade 11 student, Sahana M. David-Aaron’s colleague, Jessica Lee, added, “From a leadership perspective, The Domino Foundation offered our students a clear vision of what is meant by “servant leadership.” They saw leadership in action, and our entire group left feeling inspired by Domino’s mission and purpose.”
Domino’s Marketing Manager, Karen Brokensha, said the time spent with then overseas visitors had been very stimulating for everyone and that she hoped that it would be the first step in building an ongoing relationship spanning the thousands of Atlantic kilometres between the two groups. “Leadership is something we major on in much of what we do so that people impacted by our programmes move from the victimhood so many of them find themselves in to becoming victors able to lead others out of deprivation and dependency. It’s what we call the #DominoEffect.”
