1 0 YEARS
OF
SPINNING
THE GLOBE
F
OR OUR Spin the Globe
section, we choose a
destination at random and
send a writer there with
as little notice as possible.
For some writers, that’s stressful enough.
Now imagine if you were a writer who’s
blind. Then imagine if the destination we
picked was, well, a little unstable...“My editor called my wife and
said, ‘Look, I don’t want to
assume he can’t go, it’s just
that the place has some issues
right now, so maybe you should
have a conversation.’ He told
her where I was going, and
she practically fell on the floor
laughing. She picked me up
from my office that day and
asked me, ‘What are your deal
breakers?’ I was like, ‘If we’re
having this conversation,
I’m not going where they’re
sending me. I can’t even find a
water bottle in New York. It’s
not like they would send me
to the Arab Spring!’ When she
started laughing, I knew where
I was headed.”Read Ryan Knighton’s story about
traveling to Eg ypt in April 2011 at afar.com/
Eg yptSpin.“Throughout middle
and high school, I didn’t
accept myself for being
deaf. I’m also gay and
had just come out during
my junior year. My self-
identity as a whole was
kind of a mess. On my trip
with No Barriers, right
before I started college,
we went to Peru. There, we
visited a couple schools
for the deaf. Seeing thedisparity between the
United States and Peru
was astonishing, but
also encouraging on a
personal level. These
kids didn’t have cochlear
implants or special
education, and they were
still happy and thriving.
I realized that the deaf
and hard of hearing
community is worldwide,
and there’s so muchroom for development.
Afterwards, I became
a much more active
advocate for the deaf
and hard of hearing
community. I served in
student government and
was able to make a lot of
changes in that position.
I attribute my mind-set
and motivation to what I’d
learned on my travels.”
—BOBBY MOAKLEY,
Learning AFAR alumnus,
Boston, Massachusetts“Seeing students come
back from these trips, I
see how their perspective
has broadened. Now when
things pop up in the news,
they understand even
better. A while after we
returned from China, the
artist Ai Weiwei got his
passport back [from the
Chinese government]. The
students saw that in the
news and knew what it
meant. That filters out to
having a curiosity about
what the rest of the world
is doing and having a
personal tie to a different
place. They become more
aware that there’s a world
outside of East Oakland.”
—AMY BOYLE,
assistant principal at
Coliseum College Prep
Academy, in Oakland,
California. Since 2009, 70
Coliseum Prep students
have traveled on Learning
AFAR trips.Learning AFAR is a nonprofit program
that sponsors travel for young people who
cannot otherwise afford it. The program,
operated in partnership with No Barriers
USA, has sent more than 1,300 students
on experiential trips.Youth from New Orleans
mentorship program
Son of a Saint volunteer
during a 2018 Learning
AFAR trip to Costa Rica.CL
OC
KW
ISE
FR
OM
TO
P^ R
IGH
T:^ T
HE
VO
OR
HE
S,^ C
OU
RT
ES
Y^ O
F^ A
ND
RE
W^
BU
I/N
O^ B
AR
RIE
RS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 AFAR 93