Midlakes High School - Reflections Yearbook (Clifton Springs, NY)

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was the main city from which the Roman Empire was operated. It currently exists as a tourist at- traction as well as a monument to the past. Kairouan exists as the major carpet producing city in all of Africa, and it also contains the largest and oldest Islamic mosque outside of Mecca. Furthermore, in Tunis, the capital, I witnessed a political riot full of passionate screams of revolt and felt the an- ger during the aftermath of several terrorist bombings. Currently, the country of Tu- nisia is a Democratic Republic controlled by by the Habib Bour- guiba. Bourguiba is eighty-four years old and deteriorating rapidly. Time” magazine has published several articles on the internal strife experienced between dem- ocratic supporters and communist revolutionaries. It is fairly likely, upon the death of Bourguiba, that political activists will fight for the control of the government. For the most part, I was openly accepted into a family with strict Islamic values. I was treated equal- ly as a sister and thus grew to love my family. Nothing is as valuable as being a member of two com- pletely different worlds and view- ing the similarities of the values which belong to them. Further- more, in order to experience these worlds, there is the need to learn communication; whether it be through physical signals or verbal expressions. As an example, I learned to speak French fluently and acquired common Arabic ex- pressions. All in all, the main goal AFS has in mind, when sending students abroad, is the value of commu- nication. The main problem ex- isting between nations today is a lack of communication. Through the skills I learned, I found out that the average people of the world have the same general expecta- tions of life, to be happy and se- cure without the fear of being dominated or ostracized by others. “Rafting continued from pg. 11 Hey! It sounded simple enough; sit down, hold on and paddle! I had a wetsuit, a helmet, gloves, and a paddle. I was set, right? We piled into the raft and practiced a few strokes and commands. Piece of cake ... Then came the rapids! The first three rapids were easy. Everyone was given the chance to leave the trip. Courageously, no one declined. It this is all there is to it... How surprised we all were when we hit Knife's Edge! Our guide complimented us on our rafting skill. Boy, we were thinking now! Joe-rafter, baby! Our guide warned us about the next set of whitewater. The Brothers and the infamous “Holy Mary’s Tomb” awaited our strokes. A sheet of water shot over my head — I watched it fall, drenching the heads of the strug- gling rafters; and as my eyes fol- lowed my paddle down into “Holy Mary's Tomb,” the swirling mass of water came closer! I had lost my bearings and I had been thrown from the raft! I had managed to catch hold of the safe- ty rope, and realizing struggle to be both futile and dangerous, I clutched my paddle and waited for rescue. Before I realized the dan- ger I was in, our guide had pulled me back into the raft and we were floating gently in an eddy of the river. As we geared up for the next rapid, my group saluted the run with a paddle-chink, comparative to a group high-five. Everyone cheered the swimmer, now I was a veteran ... Five minutes later, I realized the chill of the Black River in October, and I was as grateful as anyone for the hot chocolate. We were now ready for some seriously intense rapids. We were advancing towards a set of white- water appropriately entitled “Rocket Ride. As we watched the group ahead of us drop out of sight, we could not help but gasp. Next it was our turn. It was touch and go, but something went wrong — a fluke of a wave, a tumultuous crash spilling people as we hit the side of the rugged cliff. The raft flipped, and was trapped as white- water swirled from every direction about my head. I did not panic, but thoughts of drowning spurred me onward to escape. All of us made it out, sustaining only scrapes and bruises, but we had stories to tell! Also an amazing realization of the worth of life. S.A.D.D. continued from pg. 11 The goals of S.A.D.D. are as follows: 1) To help eliminate the drunk driver and thus save lives; 2) To conduct community alcohol awareness programs, 3) To alert and inform students of the dan- gers of alcohol and driving, and, 4) To organize a peer counseling pro- gram to help students who may have concerns. Some events that the chapter has in mind are a Sock Hop, guest speakers to talk to the student body, a Mock Trial with the Red Jacket Chapter, and sponsoring the production of Half-Way There.” Everyday 14 teenagers die in the CI.S.A. in alcohol related ac- cidents according to the S.A.D.D. National Office in Massachusetts. A teenager is injured in a drunken driver accident every 10 seconds nationwide. The accident and fatality sta- tistics represent only a tiny slice of the problem. The pervasiveness of teenagers drinking and driving can be seem better in the arrests for driving under the influence of al- cohol last year: For drivers age 15, 24 arrests; age 16, 171 arrests; age 17, 476 arrests; and for age 18, 1864 arrests. Michele Conklin is President, Phil Beniamino is Vice-President, Melanie Curtis is Secretary, and John W. White is Treasurer of the Midlakes S.A.D.D. Chapter. El Kharawn. Tunisia 15