Final Thoughts

August 20, 2012

Escuela de la Calle, Guatemala
Alyssa Hoyle

I have been back in California for a week now, and I find myself having a hard time adjusting to what seems to be the most normal parts of everyday life. I must admit, some of these adjustments I am enjoying: hot showers with water pressure, the convenience of driving to a grocery store for one-stop shopping, and the ability to heat up left-overs in a microwave. However, while sitting around with friends the other night I couldn’t help but notice how I was the only one without one eye on an iPhone, and I missed Guatemala. There is something about a stripped-down life that makes it more vibrant, a brilliance that comes only with simplicity. This ability to truly listen and participate fully in life, whether in the mundane...

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Soludos! Saludos! A Friday Afternoon at the AGC Schoolyard Marketplace.

August 20, 2012

Summer Camp 2012 at AGC themed the Global Marketplace. Through applied math, science, language and visual arts, rising kindergarten through fourth graders explored the economics and aesthetics of the global marketplace. Campers harvested homegrown organic greens, tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, melons, and herbs each week which became math tools as we weighed, packaged and priced each item in preparation for the community market. Campers explored the vocabulary of enterprise through experience: consumer, producer, value, profit, value –add, entrepreneur, company, marketing, market audience, etc.In addition to the schoolyard produce, campers created their own products including recycled jewelry, natural toothpaste, applesauce, and recycled crayons.Thanks to an Omprakash connection with the New-York based shoe company, Soludos, AGC received a generous donation of 40 pairs of trendy...

Mateo harvests tomatoes for the market!

A walking fieldtrip to invite local businesses to our schoolyard farmers' market!

Kindergarteners welcome you to our schoolyard market!

Soludos, a math tool (and bargain!) at the schoolyard marketplace. Thank you Omprakash!

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PhotoPals at AGC

August 20, 2012

 Coming soon :)

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An Inquiry into the Dance of Cross-Pollination. Set on the AGC Garden.

August 20, 2012

#Taller de Paz #Hug it Forward #Health INC #Academy for Global Citizenship #OmprakashAn Inquiry into the Dance of Cross-PollinationCHICAGO, IL, USAIn the role of Community Engagement Coordinator at an environmental elementary school called the Academy for Global Citizenship (AGC), I have the privilege to actively seek out and build relationships with local and global change-makers: individuals and organizations ardently committed to a more compassionate humanity. One day last October 2011, I met a youthful, eloquent social justice activist named Alex on the AGC playground. He came to learn about our urban garden as a vehicle for food justice and community empowerment. His hope was to collect ideas and insight that he would take to Taller de Paz, a grassroots organizing initiative he co-founded with fellow Swarthmore grads in Bogota, Colombia.Our...

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Wenger Whereabouts Newsletter #1

August 19, 2012

,
Ben Wenger

 Wenger Whereabouts Newsletter #18/15/12Only now, midway through August, am I getting to slow down and reflect upon my last two weeks in Brazil. Our female and male Sports Reach teams, made mostly of NCAA Christian basketball players, have returned to the United States and left me for a semester abroad in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil. Tomorrow I start my internship and research in an NGO called Instituto da Infância (ifan.com.br). But reflections describe the past, not the future.As most of you know, I spent my summer in Columbia, Missouri working for the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service. This internship afforded me the opportunity to co-create wetland conservation easements while learning about soils, forestry, environmental engineering, land acquisition, other conservation agencies, and the federal government. I not...

Family - (I'm 2nd from left)

Sportsreach.org

Female Team - Basketball Clinic in Schools

Men's team Champions Fortaleza - 5th International Tournament

Translation

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SKIP - Supporting Kids In Peru

August 18, 2012

SKIP - Supporting Kids In Peru, Peru
Katie Fisher

I am incredibly sad that I have to leave SKIP.  I came to Trujillo thinking I could only do English teaching and left as the teacher of an entire class of beautiful, hilarious, and insanely energetic children.  Teaching that class was an incredible challenge for me, but the fact that I was truly able to call Group 4 my class at the end of my time at SKIP has been the greatest reward.  In addition to allowing me to realize my capabilities as a teacher, SKIP has also provided me with a chance to not only experience the country of Peru but also to experience it side by side with volunteers and now friends from all over the world.  Now I have an excuse to visit Denmark, the UK, Switzerland,...

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SKIPn Around

August 16, 2012

SKIP - Supporting Kids In Peru, Peru
Kaya Ceci

 Although I was warned at the outset by veteran SKIP volunteers of how quickly my time here would come to its inevitable end- here I sit, utterly incredulous that within days I will be running through a customary human-tunnel of volunteers until I am out the door for good. But considering the impact these last two months have made on my young adult life, something tells me that isn't quite true.I have been genuinely inspired by the philosophy and objectives of SKIP, and am confident that my work in trying to ensure that marginalized children have access to an education and are supported by economically and emotionally stable families will not end here or now. Working in the Psychology department here at SKIP has allowed me the opportunity to explore...

SKIPn Around

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Final reflections...........For Now

August 13, 2012

Peace Humanity International, Ghana
Sue Gonzalez

I’m sitting on my comfortable bed in my home in San Francisco; going over the hundreds of pictures I took in Ghana, listening to hi-life Ghanaian music while trying to find the right words to express my thoughts about this trip.I feel as if life is kicked up a few notches in Ghana. The colors are more vibrant, the music is livelier, and the human connections are felt much more deeply. There is a certain rhythm to life in Ghana that can be heard and felt everywhere. Mornings begin with the sounds of the roosters, the swish of the broom sweeping the compound and the beat of footsteps of people walking to their morning jobs. Afternoons are filled with the rhythm of the pounding of fufu, the laughter of children...

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PASA Workshop #1 - We're taking off!

August 13, 2012 | 1 comment

Honduras Child Alliance, Honduras
Katherine Olden

In terms of immediate results, the first day of workshops was a success. Out of 29 teachers registered, only 16 showed up, but they were involved and excited to not only engage with the material offered but to work with it at the level of analysis and application.It was apparent from classroom observations and informal discussions with teachers that the need and interest was high but that a general enervation permeated many teachers’ response to the workshop invitations. Collecting survey data from the participants helped to shed some light on the possible reasons behind workshop turnout being low. The same survey data also drives home several points about the importance of undertaking workshops such as these.PARTICIPANTS Demographic data on the 16 participants, 15 female and 1 male, showed that the average...

PASA Workshop #1

PASA Workshop #1 Lunch

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Article from Teachingtraveling.com

August 12, 2012

Peace Humanity International, Ghana
Sue Gonzalez

Here is a link to an article about my teaching and traveling experiences. I hope that it will motivate more people to volunteer abroad!  http://www.teachingtraveling.com/2012/08/06/sue-summer-ghana-volunteer-travel-through-teacher-grants/

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