The Gift of Joy

By Bill Diskin, Director of Admission & Financial Aid

Editor’s Note: Rob Hammock and Caroline Chambre-Hammock are the father and stepmother of Cannon alumnus Jackson Hammock ’21. In 2020, Caroline Chambre-Hammock approached Cannon’s admission office with the idea of having two middle school twin girls from Burkina Faso in Africa apply to Cannon. Now, six years later, the twins, Carolle and Caroline Kaba, are Cannon School graduates and proud members of the Class of 2026!

Burkina Faso is a small, landlocked country located in West Africa.  Formerly a French colony, the country gained its independence in 1960 and officially became known as Burkina Faso, meaning “The Land of Honest People,” in 1984.

Cannon alumni parent Caroline Chambre-Hammock moved to Burkina Faso in 2002 as a Peace Corps volunteer. “I have always had a lifelong love of travel and exploring new places and cultures and had lived in France for a year in college,” she says.  “So, I decided when I was 28 years old to quit my job and join the Peace Corps.”

It turns out, life in Burkina Faso was not like the New York City life she left behind.

“I was placed in a small remote village in the southwestern part of the country, Hammock explains. “No running water, no electricity, no phone, definitely no internet.” Little did she know at that point, the two years she’d spend in this remote village would alter the trajectory of her future in ways she’d never imagined.

Through the Peace Corps program, Hammock was assigned a local partner and counterpart. “My counterpart was Segrim Mathias Kaba,” Hammock says. “In addition to working with him at the village health clinic, I lived next door to him and his wife Fatimata (Fati) Coulibaly, and their one-year-old son.” 

Fortunately for Hammock, Kaba and his wife were familiar with the efforts of volunteers from abroad. Kaba (he goes by his last name) had previously worked in another village that had had a Peace Corps volunteer. “He thankfully already had a really positive view of Americans,” Hammock recalls. “And he was HUGELY welcoming and helpful in teaching me about the culture, the community, dos and don’ts, the health care system, etc.”

At the same time, Kaba’s wife was helping Caroline adjust in other ways to life in a rural African village. “Fati taught me how to live and survive!” Hammock exclaims. “Everything from how to get water from the well, how to wash my clothes by hand using a washboard, how to haggle at the weekly market, to how to keep my produce fresh despite no refrigeration.”

Looking back, Hammock acknowledges the significance of Kaba and Fati’s support. “I am not sure that I would have survived (and thrived) in the village without their care for me. They basically became my African family.”

Over the years, this family continued to grow. Hammock returned to the United States in 2004 but stayed in touch with Kaba and Fati. A couple years later, she was one of the first to hear that Fati was expecting twins!

When the twin girls were born in 2007, Kaba and Fati reached out to Hammock to let her know that they had named the twins after her mother (Vivienne) and her. As Hammock notes, “the girls' names ‘twin’ just as their faces do: Ange Vianey Caroline Kaba and Angela Vivienne Carolle Kaba.”

“Having a child, or children, named for you is a HUGE honor in Burkina Faso,” Hammock says. “And I’ve always felt a desire to support them as I could.”  It took a few years, but Hammock eventually made her way back to Africa. “I went back to Burkina for a visit in 2010 when the twins were three years old. I met them for the first time and immediately fell in love with them. Even at that tender age, they were bright, curious, and confident!”

Fast forward eight years to when Carolle and Caroline visited the United States for the first time. “In 2018, we invited the girls and their older teenage brother (the one that was just a toddler when I served in the Peace Corps) to come to the U.S. for the summer,” Hammock recalls. “My thinking was that it would be a great cross-cultural exchange for them as well as for our own children.”

Hammock also saw this as an opportunity to show her appreciation for her African family. “I also wanted to repay Kaba and Fati in some small way for the amazing way they had taken care of me while in the Peace Corps.”

The following summer, the twins visited the U.S. again, this time without their brother.

“Both summers, it was magical to watch Carolle and Caroline experience so many “firsts” in America—first time eating pizza, first time seeing most indoor appliances (they were super fascinated by our washing machine!), first time seeing retractable doors going into a store, first time on a roller coaster, the list is endless,” Hammock recalls. “They were fearless in trying new things and even though they didn’t speak English, their fun and funny personalities always shone through.”

All that magic gave Hammock an idea.

“Towards the end of their 2019 summer visit, we were just hanging out one day in the backyard, and I randomly asked the girls what they wanted to be when they grew up,” Hammock explains. “They talked about different careers (nursing or medicine for Carolle, teaching or “helping” in some way—her words—for Caroline) and I just remember thinking clear as day: ‘These girls could be anything, they could DO anything, if only they had the right educational foundation.’”

Hammock knew that, in Burkina Faso, education is not a high national priority.  Their educational system is vastly under-resourced.  At the same time, though, Carolle and Caroline were consistently ranked as the top students in their classes throughout primary and middle school.

Wondering how the twins would react to seeing an American school, Hammock arranged a visit to Cannon. “I noticed their eyes get bigger and bigger as they saw The Mill, the small classroom sizes, the dining hall, and finally the Cindric Performing Arts Center,” Hammock remembers. When invited to go up onto the stage in the otherwise empty CPAC, the girls didn’t hesitate. “Totally impromptu,” Hammock recalls. “They acted out a scene from The Princess Bride.”

“I keenly remember driving away from Cannon thinking that you couldn’t just take any two girls from such a vastly different culture and continent, who didn’t speak English, and place them in a U.S. school and expect them to thrive,” Hammock recalls. “But these two girls? They could do anything they set their minds to if you just gave them the chance.”

So the Hammocks gave them the chance!

They set the wheels in motion to explore the feasibility of bringing the twins to Charlotte, hosting them in their home, and enrolling them at Cannon School.

Looking back, Hammock recalls her husband Rob’s initial reaction to her idea. “Rob says that his most vivid memory of the idea of hosting the twins is that ‘It just felt right. It should have felt crazy. But it just didn’t.’”

Next, Hammock presented the idea to Kaba and Fati. “After Rob was on board, I pitched it to the twins’ parents,” Hammock says. “I think at first there was disbelief that it could happen. Lots of people in Burkina dream of opportunities to move abroad for a better life, but having a viable pathway (or an approved visa) is not easy. I think they were not convinced it could be possible.”

At the same time, though, Kaba and Fati saw the benefits of what the Hammocks were offering. “Overall, they were very supportive and grateful,” Hammock says. “In their culture, it is not uncommon to send your kids to live with a relative for school or better opportunity. So the concept was not entirely foreign. It was just on a far greater scale than what they might have imagined.” 

Finally, it was time to ask the girls.

Carolle recalls having a very positive reaction to the idea. "I was very excited,” Carolle remembers. “The idea of not just coming to the U.S. but also having the opportunity to study here was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I remember not being able to sleep the night that my parents brought it up to me because I was so happy. Back then, it didn’t really register to me that I would be leaving the rest of my family for a longer period than I ever had in my life.”

Caroline’s reaction was equally positive. “I was extremely excited,” she recalls. “Prior to my moving for school, I spent two summer vacations in the U.S. and absolutely loved everything about it. When I learned that I would be moving here for school, I was ecstatic because I was aware of just how many opportunities it was offering me.”

After a year-long effort to get all the necessary enrollment applications and visa documentation in place (including navigating COVID-19 travel restrictions), Carolle and Caroline travelled to Charlotte and enrolled in Grade 8 at Cannon.  At the time, there was not necessarily a long-term plan in place. The Hammocks set up their home to host the girls, not sure what to expect!

“For me, the overall experience has been humbling and filled with so much pride and joy,” Hammock says. “Just before the girls left Burkina in 202, while standing in the airport with their parents, their dad looked at me and said, ‘These are your daughters now.’ Then he looked at them and said, ‘She is your mother now and Rob is your father now.’ That was like a punch in the gut. All of a sudden it fully hit me that we weren’t just educating these girls, we were now raising these girls.”

Rob Hammock also recalls the weight of the responsibility they were taking on. “This wasn’t just fun and games for the summer. We now had a deep and awesome responsibility to care and guide for these girls as their American parents,” he recalls. “In that moment, I was honestly terrified, wondering if this was the right thing to do after all. I also was struck, and have continued to be through this entire experience, at the huge sacrifice their parents were making, sending their girls so far away for better opportunity.”

The rest, as they say, is history!

Over their five years as Cannon students, Carolle and Caroline have experienced the full range of human emotions.  Overall, though, they both speak fondly about their opportunity to be in the United States.

"My experience at Cannon has been very broadening and loving,” says Carolle. “I got to experience and learn many things that I wouldn't have known about otherwise. Cannon puts a big emphasis on diversity and getting out of our comfort zone, so thanks to that I really got to experience many new things. I met many new people, tried new things, and had fun experiments in class. Additionally, Cannon has created a very strong community. Thanks to that, my experience has been filled with a lot of joy and love. Everyone is very kind, friendly, and approachable so I have always felt seen and loved."

Caroline shares similar sentiments. "As expected, my experience was full of highs and lows,” Caroline says. “Initially it was hard because I had to learn the language but also adapt to the culture and traditions. But as I adapted, I grew to love it here, I found lifelong friends, teachers that have deeply impacted me in the way I see the world, and my mindset on many things has been changed.  So overall it was a very positive experience."

For their part, Kaba and Fati can see that their sacrifice has been worth it. “During the five years spent in the USA, the twins undoubtedly gained a wealth of positive experiences, particularly in terms of their interactions with other students at school,” Kaba says. “Beyond the academic knowledge they have acquired, we have noticed during their summer visits home that they have gained an enhanced sense of wisdom and respect for others.” 

Of course, there are certainly things the twins have missed about their lives back home. Not surprisingly, it mostly comes down to friends, family, and food!

"I miss my family and friends,” Carolle says. “Although I get to talk to them on the phone often, I still miss their presence. I also miss the tight community. In Burkina, there is a strong sense of community and connection, and I miss how involved everyone was in each other's lives through support, love, and laughter.”

“I miss the community and the mangoes,” Caroline says. “I miss being in a neighborhood where everything is wide open and where everyone could consider one another their friends. I also miss the hide and seek at night whenever the power went out (again) or the outings with my friends towards no specific destination. I also miss mango seasons in Burkina when I would climb up the mango tree in my yard to fetch dozens of perfectly sweet ones which I would quickly devour."

“I also miss the food,” Carolle chimes in. “Although there are certain dishes that I can make in the U.S., there are still some dishes that I can only have in Burkina Faso, and I wish I could eat them."

In the end, though, both Carolle and Caroline reflect fondly on their experiences in the United States and at Cannon School.

"I love all the support I got from my teachers,” Carolle notes. “I could never truly describe with words how much my teachers have helped and supported me throughout my journey at Cannon. They showed me so much love and patience. They have always made themselves available to talk to me when I needed guidance and support. They took the time to reach out to me and know me not just as a student but also as a person that they cared about. The second thing I like about Cannon is how it puts a big emphasis on student empowerment. Even though we still had to follow a certain curriculum, Cannon made sure that students were still the leaders of their own education. Through the many projects and research papers we have to write, I felt like we got to take agency over our learning.”

“The thing that I love about my experience at Cannon are the connections that students can form with their teachers,” Caroline adds. “I appreciate how teachers genuinely care about their students and beyond academics want to know them personally. Small things like walking down the hall and joking with a teacher about the recent internet meme makes my day.”

Over the past five years, both girls have noticed differences between their home country and what they’ve experiences in the United States. "I really like how diverse and vast the U.S. is,” Carolle states. “Even though it is one country, every state and town is very different from the other. Traveling to different states feels like traveling to different countries all together due to the cultural differences. I like how I can experience every part of the world just in one country.”

The American education system also caught Carolle’s attention. “I also like the educational system of the U.S.,” she says. “Having the opportunity to look into different paths and experience them a little bit before having to commit to them is something I really love. I especially like how it allows people to always back out of a certain path and change their career if it is not the right fit for them.”

For Caroline, the U.S. offers a level of freedom that she appreciates. "I love how in the U.S. I can freely express myself,” she says. “In the way I dress, what I say, or how I act, without the fear of being shut down by adults around me who disapprove of any act of nonconformity."

Jackson Hammock ’21 has enjoyed his perspective as Carolle and Caroline’s host brother. Though he’s been away at college much of the time the girls have been at Cannon, Jackson has had the opportunity to notice their growth over the years.

“The thing I have enjoyed most about being a host brother is watching Carolle and Caroline grow and learn about themselves,” Jackson says. “In the small things, like finally braving the brisket sandwich over the hamburger, learning how to bake exceptional macarons, or discovering a passion for volleyball. Or in the big things, like deciding which college to go to and choosing colleges in different places, away from home and from each other (and in climates much different from Burkina Faso). It was really special to be at their graduation party and see the strong friendships they have formed.”

Now that Carolle and Caroline have graduated from Cannon School, and had life transforming experiences along the way, all the parents involved can look back and feel good about the decisions they made back in 2020.

“We have had absolutely no issues nor any worries about them going so far away from us to build their future,” Kaba and Fati share. “Quite the contrary. It is a wonderful opportunity for them, and they know it well. Many children in Africa, and particularly in Burkina Faso, dream of having access to this kind of educational path but never get the chance. When we first learned of their admission to Cannon School, we were filled with immense joy—a joy that has never left us, right up to this very day."

Looking back, the Hammocks are amazed by how well Carolle and Caroline have navigated the challenges they’ve encountered along the way. “They have been hugely successful academically, but more importantly, they have retained their core values and personalities—joyful, kind, creative—while integrating into a whole new world.”

Without hesitation, Caroline Hammock expresses appreciation for the whole experience with Carolle and Caroline. “Everyone who meets the twins comments on their joyful nature, which is a major characteristic of being from Burkina Faso,” Hammock says. “Their joy has been a gift to our family for these past five years.”