trote

so once a year, when new students enter the university, they must participate in trote. upperclassmen make the freshmen paint their bodies, shave their heads, dance on the sidewalks, and beg for money in the streets. the money is used as a fee for admission to the parties later that night. the freshmen are basically at the mercy of the upperclassmen...

chris, ethan, jeffrey, and i had planned to spend some time on the streets during trote next week. we would make a video, asking students the meaning behind this tradition. we would then give each student access to a website where the videos would later be posted with information on how they could get connected with us. but today as we were leaving campus, we noticed several college students running around on the streets with their bodies painted. we knew it had to be trote, so we hurried over to them and spent some time talking with several different groups. luckily, ethan had his video camera, so we were able to catch a lot of it on film. i really enjoyed being able to talk with the students, and even got to pour mustard on some girl's head! i really believe simply being where the students are in situations like this will open opportunities for purposeful relationships. here are a few pictures from the day...