Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento, California, (CBHS) and the Meki Catholic Mission School in Meki, Ethiopia, are participants in the Twinning Program that links Lasallian schools in different Regions. In Sacramento, art instructor and religious studies teacher Findley McIntosh and Christian Service Coordinator Stephanie DeBenedetti-Emanuel enlisted students in a creative way of connecting with their fellow Lasallian students across the world.

“We asked Brother Betre Fisseha, FSC, the headmaster at Meki, to send us photographs of his students," says Stephanie, “so that our students could paint portraits of them that could then be sent back to the students at Meki to keep as their own.”

In their painting classes, CBHS students under McIntosh’s instruction labored to create portraits of the African students based on their photos. “One of the most difficult tasks in art is creating a recognizable likeness of someone,” says Findley. “So our students undertook some real learning in art while also learning something about the needs, and rights, of children elsewhere in the world.”

“Given the economic situation of the Meki students,” says Stephanie, “they often have few personal keepsakes. The purpose of the portraits is to provide them with a special memory of their youth and to help honor their heritage and identity.” The students in Sacramento also created compact discs of favorite music to send to their twinned counterparts, writing liner notes and creating original cover art for the cd cases. Says Findley, “The students really took a lot from this project and really emotionally connected with the Meki students while doing the portraits.”

The art and music, carefully packaged, have been shipped to Ethiopia and the staff and students in California are waiting hopefully for a reply. Meantime, Meki headmaster Brother Betre Fisseha sent Stephanie the following e-mail and photo in mid-August:

"Dear Lasallian family and friends -- Greetings and best wishes in Christ!

I would like to inform you that yesterday, August 11, 2007 we officially inaugurated the Alumni Association at the graduation gathering of the university graduates of this year. The graduation ceremony was held for the first time. More than 60 students graduated this year with more than 10 different fields and about 30 were able to come together and begin this historical event in the history of the school for the first time. Beside, establishing the Meki Catholic School Alumni Association at the gathering of the graduates, it aims at minimizing the cost when every graduate prepares party at home, creates an occasion to bring the parents, teachers and the graduates to celebrate their common success story, and above all think about what they can do for their school in the future.”

University-level graduates and alumni at Meki, August 2007

After the graduation, the Meki group planted trees on a piece of property adjacent to the school that had formerly been used as a dump for dead animal and other waste. Recently acquired as part of the school, it has now had two thousand trees planted on it by the Meki Catholic Mission School community.

Brother Betre told his Lasallian friends in Sacramento, California, “You are cordially invited for the next graduation ceremony. Thank you for your support and your honorable participation in the life of Meki Catholic School.”

Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento, California, is one of the schools of the De La Salle Christian Brothers’ District of San Francisco. Its web site is www.cbhs-sacramento.org.

To know more about the Twinning Program in the U.S/Toronto Region of the De La Salle Christian Brothers, go to www.cbconf.org and click on ‘Twinning Program.”