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DARIEN, Conn. Working 6,000 miles from home with a crew that didn't speak his language, Darien teen Clay Baxter built a canoe this summer that will help thousands on the small African island of Idjwi receive medical attention.
"I had my whole summer planned out. This happened really, really suddenly," said Baxter, 16. He was working as an office assistant for Sandra Campos at Cynosure Holdings in New York when he was introduced to Jacques Sebisaho, founder of Amani Global Works. Sebisaho runs a clinic on Idjwi, which is located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
"He mentioned that he was having trouble transporting people to the clinic, because there aren't really any cars on the island." Baxter has an interest in woodworking and had built a kayak that won best in show in a regional contest this year. The doctor and the high school student came up with the idea of transporting patients around in a canoe.
On July 7, Baxter was off to Idjwi. It was his first time out of the country besides some vacations to the Caribbean. He stayed in a concrete house with dusty sheets and no electricity, waking up at 4 a.m. to work on the canoe while also helping around the clinic. Not speaking a word of Swahili, he found himself dependent on Sebisaho at first to communicate with the workers who helped him build the canoe.
"It was very confusing at first, but we were quickly able to develop our own form of sign language," Baxter said. After some trial and error, he and the workers were able to understand key phrases in each other's languages.
It took about 12 days to build the 18-foot canoe, using only hatchets, chisels and adzes. Baxter learned a lot about other cultures during his short time on the island. "It was great to get out of the U.S. bubble and see that a lot of people aren't as lucky as we are in the U.S."
Along the way, he made friends with the crew, picked up a little Swahili and taught some local children how to play basketball. He says he definitely wants to go back next summer.
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