Bienvenidos a Promesa!

April 17, 2012

VE Global, Chile
Isabelle Kraus

 So much happens every day at the hogar-- it’s so hard for me to keep up with this blog and include everything I want to share slash have reordered for my own purposes. A few weeks ago a new little girl (age-5) moved into Promesa (the hogar). She’s (of course) absolutely adorable. One of the first things I noticed about her was that underneath her beautiful smile her teeth are rotting. The rotted/rotting teeth don’t look like baby teeth...it appears as though her adult front teeth are growing in but dying as they emerge. I wonder what will happen to her poor little mouth...I’m sure the hogar will address this immediately, but still, the best they can probably do for her is remove the dead/dying teeth, leaving her with no front...

A glimpse inside the hogar

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Positive observations at the hogar

April 17, 2012

VE Global, Chile
Isabelle Kraus

The other day, Allsion, another VE volunteer at Promesa (the hogar I work at) told me how Cristina* (age 16) told her she wanted to ask permission to call Tia Karen, a full-time Tia (i.e., works every other week 24/7) who recently left on maternity leave. Cristina disclosed to Allison how she’s been feeling down and like she has nobody to talk to. She said she misses Tia Karen and wishes she could talk to her. Allison tried telling Cristina she was there for her and that she could always talk to her, but all us volunteers understand we are not much use when it comes to deep conversations (because of our Spanish). I think Tia Karen would be happy to receive her call, on or off shift; I hope...

Brother and sister

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Wajxaqib’ B’atz’

April 17, 2012

Escuela de la Calle, Guatemala
Alyssa Hoyle

Feliz Wajxaqib’ B’atz’! Happy New Year! It has taken me nearly two weeks to find the time to upload this post, but Tuesday, April 3rd was the start of another year in the Mayan Sacred Calendar (what some say will be the beginning of the end.)Although it initially took some adjustment, one of the things I have come to love about EDELAC is the plethora of extra-curricular events, adding a little spice to the monotony of the school routine. The Mayan New Year was no exception, and we devoted a day to celebrating.In the morning each class made an altar to give thanks, and presented them to the school. It was such a treat to see all the girls in their traditional Mayan dress, proud and eager to teach me...

Sacred Mayan Lunar Calendar

6th grade altar

1st grade altar

4th grade altar

Kindergarden altar

3rd grade altar

5th grade altar

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I recommend VE!

April 16, 2012

VE Global, Chile
Isabelle Kraus

At this time, I confidently recommend VE as a program to ANYBODY who wishes to commit a good chunk of their time towards volunteering abroad. VE set’s you up with a small institution, in my case a “hogar” (house for children who the government has removed from their families), in which you work full-time. This isn’t the type of program that whizzes through foreigners and sends them to random places for 1 hour a day once or twice a week, and for good reason. At VE’s partner institutions, volunteers like myself become integral “employees”, whose presence is actually helpful. Even more importantly, the children the institutions serve benefit from our presence; we aren’t just another stranger coming in and out of their lives making them feel like an object on...

Leaving the beach

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SECMOL Campus, Ladakh,North India

April 16, 2012

SECMOL, India
Irene Nicoll

 I was in the SECMOL campus for 3 months. There were 36 teenage students there for 9 months (age 16-22) They had all failed a recent exam in class 10 and were redoing them . Different classes-maths,geography,science history etc. The work I did was  mainly helping the teenagers to speak English with confidence. They all had writing and reading English at school and knew alot about it but hadnt done any English talking til they joined SECMOL.   There were conversation classes, giving them help in preparing English speeches,helping them with English movies and songs ,helping their self study sessions with writing and reading. The students worked hard and enjoyed the Campus , their friends and all volunteers  very much. They exercised, played all sorts of sports, studied ,meditated (the...

House in LADAKH

Boys Presentation about the Toilets !

Girls at their Presentation Day

Indus

The Indus River just outside SECMOL Campus.

The way towards the SECMOL kitchen

Group of Secmol students

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Adventures in Assam

April 16, 2012

Parijat Academy, India
Amy Partridge

 Namaskar!  I know I said that I would update some stories over the break, but I got wrapped up in celebrating Bihu and adventuring around Assam. I apologize for the late update.  It’s always difficult for me to sit down and actually gather all of my thoughts and express them into words…I’m a bit A.D.D, so I will try my best. Hah! Recently I have been receiving e-mails from potential volunteers and one of the most common questions I get is “What do you do when you are not teaching?”  Today I will talk about some of the highlights of my holiday and what I’ve been up to the past few days.As I’ve mentioned before, it is now the time of year for the Rongali Bihu festival.  The festival is...

Bihu Festival

Bihu Festival

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Bring positive social change through volunteerism.

April 15, 2012

Bringing positive change through volunteering is one way of sharing and  impacting people's life with our skills,knowledge,experiences and talents.The volunteer project was a real two ways trffic as participants we also learned a lot out of the community and local people in the host community.TYCEN volunteering projects real provides an inter-cultural learning experience and the opportunity to explore a country and new cultures in a deeper and more respectful way than as tourists. We interacted with local people in the community, tasted their food, drinks and clothing. We had good fun altogether.Therefore, it was an amazing and rewarding experience!I miss everything now; hope to come back for a second time.Love giving than receiving in this world for you can help to bring real change for the real people in need.  ...

Mentoring English class and life skills to young single mother.

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Volunteer to change your horizon with TYCEN TANZANIA

April 15, 2012

“By talking, discussing, visiting and working together with my fellow participants and the local community members I could broaden my vision for the future. I’m sure we can make peace all over the world; after all we all live in the same planet Earth. People different ethnicity can make this planet earth a better place for everyone to live in. Join to have this awesome experiences and skills in Tanzania through TYCEN Projects.” Please do not miss out the opportunities offered by this youth development organzation in Tanzania. 

Farewell party

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Adult Literacy

April 14, 2012

This is my personal experience as a volunteer with Youth of Uganda under the project named creating accessibility of adult literacy to care givers of vulnerable children/ orphans supported by the organization.As graduate of adult and community education, i picked interest to work with Youth of Uganda in Febraury, 2011 as avolunteer with pay. My request was accepted since the organization had on plan an Adult Literacy Project which was soon begin. By accepting me as fresh graduate i soon an opporutnity to put all knowledge and skills into practice and so with the support of the organinzation and the community , i began preparing for the takeoff of the project. I started by mobilizing the beneficiriaries in the three villages of Nansanga, Lyama, and Naboa. I was able to...

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Parijat Academy

April 12, 2012

Parijat Academy, India
Amy Partridge

Hello folks,I’ve been staying at Parijat Academy for 10 days now and I can finally start sharing my stories. Right now we are having a holiday called “Bihu” and we will not have classes again until Monday. The next few days I will be partaking in some culture activities and I will have some extra time to update my experiences.First, I will say that this experience has been quite the challenge for me. I am currently the only volunteer here and sometimes it can be overwhelming for me because I have never volunteered solo before. However, this is a great learning opportunity and it has really pushed me to put more effort into connecting with people around me. Uttam and his family have been fantastic! They treat me like I...

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