As the Team Leader how did you come to be
involved with BuildOn?
Last May 2015, I was asked as a cinematographer to
follow another buildOn team from Los Angeles to
southern Malawi as a part of a documentary their team
leader (Travis Van Winkle) was putting together along
with Wayfarer Entertainment on service work with
buildOn. it aligned with the work I love to be a part of
and was very excited to be a part of the adventure.
With your first experience being in Malawi, why
aren’t you building there with this team?
Malawi was unbelievable. I’m not even exaggerating that.
I went into it thinking I had a good idea of what I was
Scott Simock
going to experience. TK, the director of the film has been
there before. Travis was there too. I had a good group of
Team Leader
people around me that had their own badass experience.
My experience there was a opening to a part of myself I
didn’t know existed. It will always be special to my heart.
“Team NepALLin"
I really wanted to build a school there. That’s where I fell
in love with Africa – or ‘Africa light’ as some of the locals
joke about. I made some new friends that I still keep in
touch with from Malawi and I know it will be really good
to see them again. When you make a bond like that, you
know you’re going to have to go back someday. It will
happen – just not now.
If you really think about it – it’s pretty damn amazing. When I
I didn’t want my previous connection to Malawi decide
brought my concerns with the weather with the team, they
where we were going to build as a team. From the very
first meeting I expressed to our team that I wanted them
were all on board. We knew that ALL of the regions buildOn
works in needs their su pport. To us, we didn’t find it
to have the fullest experience possible. I knew we were
going to be putting the next year of our lives into this. To
necessary to judge who needs it the most. Maybe there’s
someone out there with the job that is responsible for pulling
break that down further, buildOn gave me an average
in the information necessary to get to an educated conclusion
estimate of 8-12 months for a team to complete
fundraising. Using my very below average math skills,
for ‘who needs it most’ – but it’s not our place to do so. So –
we stuck to just what made the most sense and decided as a
counting with my fingers in front of our team at our first
meeting, I saw that would place us somewhere between
team that Nepal would be the best fit to go after their
monsoon season.
May and September. Then I looked deeper into how
certain season’s effect each of the regions build On is
working in, and we narrowed it down…. Malawi and
What will be your personal motto for this trip?
Nepal made the most sense. The weather would be right
in either place. Attraction to a region is naturally a part
“Darling, I am here for you.” I’ll be fully present for Carlie, for
our team, for the villagers, and myself.
of this process. It’s also totally a privilege we have as
Americans to choose where to build a school.
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THE CONE - ISSUE #8 - WINTER 2016