Engage Brain, Body and Soul volunteering at Alterna

January 11, 2012

Alterna, Guatemala
Reid Lustig

About a year ago I set off on my bicycle from my home in Colorado in search of an opportunity to establish myself in a community, work for its betterment and learn by doing. I was incredibly fortunate to discover an organization which satisfied my desires. Located in the lively city of Xela, nestled 7000 feet high in the Guatemalan Highlands, is an organization which strives to create a positive change in this world. Alterna is a small international collective of volunteers working hard to develop and disseminate appropriate technologies aimed at conserving resources, saving money and simply making life a bit sweeter. When I arrived as a hairy ragged traveler, I was welcomed with open arms and immediately began to take on essential rolls within the organization. I quickly...

Read More

Volunteering at Alterna

January 10, 2012

Alterna, Guatemala
Rebecca Martin

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship at Alterna in the summer of 2011. I am a graduate student at the University of Michigan, pursuing a career in International Development. My internship with Alterna provided me with great hands on experience working at a clean technology startup in Guatemala. I was able to travel to pilot sites in rural areas where Alterna's technologies are being tested and ask people about their experiences using the products. My manager assigned me interesting projects where I was able to learn how Alterna's products work and apply skills I learned in school to analyze the market potential for them in Guatemala. Specifically, I developed financial statements for their efficient cookstoves and wrote a section of the business plan for their biodigesters. The staff at Alterna is...

Read More

NLCO

January 29, 2012

New Life Center Organization (NLCO), Cambodia
Anna Prestage

NLCO is a relatively new orphanage in Siem Reap, Cambodia where it first began in January 2011.  I first came to this orphanage in March 2011 with the intention of delivering some rice and a few study materials; however, after just a few short hours I knew that I wanted to come back again.  Now it is January 2012 and here I am.  The center has made some amazing progress in the past year and thanks to the dedication of the founder Mr. Ratha as well as the hard work of the children, I know things will keep improving.  They have started several new projects in the past few months...They have rented extra land behind their property and have begun a fantastic 9 bed garden with cucumbers, lettuce and spinach. ...

Read More

My two weeks with Expand Peru

January 25, 2012

Expand Peru, Peru
Max Frew

I could only work with Expand Peru for a short two weeks before I had to return to school. When I arived in Huancayo late at night, Bernabé (The founder) and Ingrid (The coordinator) were waiting for me. They brought me to a local restuarnt that had amazing food and we quickly got to know each other and what I would be doing during my time there. My bad spanish mixed with Ingrids decent english made communcation easy. I learned that above anything else, school supplies, building supplies, etc, they needed more volunteers. I spent my two weeks doing a variety of work ranging from construction to playing soccer with the kids. As my time was ending I apologized to Bernabé for not being able to stay longer, but he...

Read More

How volunteering changed my life!

January 24, 2012

Intag, Ecuador
Ankura Ranade

It was in February last year that I heard from a friend that she was going to volunteer in South America. It was from her too, that I heard about Omprakash. I had been feeling restless in my job for a while then and so when she told me about her travel and volunteer plans, I instantly knew that I wanted to do the same. It took me six months after that to be able to get visas etc in place and leave the country. I was headed for South Am too.A few days before I left I met some expats living in my city and working with NGOs there. One of the girls said to me ´You´re going to have a great time!´ I knew it too but I...

Read More

On the Road Again

January 23, 2012

On the road agaaaain, just can't wait to get ooooon the road again. In this case Willie Nelson really did say it best. My plane ticket is officially purchased, and while I have approximately one million things that I will need to get done over these next six weeks, I am happy to report that beginning in March I will set off on my next adventure: spending four months volunteering with Escuela de la Calle (EDELAC) in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.After returning from teaching English in Madrid last year, I was eager to make my way back to Latin America, but unsure how. I researched my various options, and time and again found organizations that sounded great to volunteer with, but that wanted me to pay thousands of dollars in order to do so....

Read More

Door to door marketing for a cause!

January 22, 2012

Helping Hands, Peru
Ankura Ranade

Before I quit my job to travel, I was working in the marketing department and to promote our chain of retail stores, we often hired agencies to go door to door and speak to people about our products, stores etc.While volunteering with helping hands, I (along with 2 other volunteers) was the one going door to door around a well - to - do neighbourhood in Cusco. Our mission: to collect old clothes, toys, food, books - anything that people did not have a use for and wanted to donate. We first designed and printed flyers which we distributed in the area. We would ring each doorbell, talk to the people, drop the flyers and explain that we were going to be back the next week to collect the stuff....

Read More

The Reach Takes Aim

January 20, 2012

Casa Verde, Nicaragua
Zach Sciales

 Hi, I’m Zach. Forgoing more formal ventures, my five friends and I elected to plan a trip abroad to volunteer for the summer of 2012. Calling ourselves The Reach, we wanted to film somebody, somewhere reaching out to narrow the gap between the upper-crust and the up-and-coming. We waded into the massive Omprakash network, impressed and stunned by the volume of programs therein. Then a bright light burst from the screen as Casa Verde thrust itself above its peers. Our search ended where the community drives and inspires programs, where volunteers learn even more than the people they help. Our search ended in El Limon. The excitement Casa Verde has shown for our proposal inspires us, and we look forward to an unparalleled learning experience. Visit www.thereachbegins.com or find The...

Read More

Asociacion CREAR, Samara, Costa Rica

January 19, 2012

My name is fabiana giger, i lived in samara costa rica for about 7 months and i worked most of my time there with the acosiacion crear. Most of the time i helped andrea and johannah preparing and giving classes to the kids and get new ideas of what we can do with the kids and organize everything to do it. Crear is a great Organisation and everyone, most the mothers and in general the ticos are so thankful for what crear does with the children. I come from switzerland, here it is just normal to paint whenever we want to do that, to use computers, to play games and just to be a kid but in costa rica it is really different. For these kids every crear class is...

Read More

VE: first impressions

January 17, 2012

VE Global, Chile
Isabelle Kraus

I am a “newbie” at VE-- this means I am a member of the new January volunteer class. When I arrived at the airport in Santiago, I was greeted by some “antiguos” (volunteers from the last class), including my “madrina” (an old volunteer assigned to help me transition to Santiago and into VE). As you can tell, VE is an extremely supportive program that really cares about their volunteers. For the past week and a half I have been going through VE’s orientation, which lasts about 7 hours a day, includes lunch and “once” (an afternoon snack), as well as all the information and training one could possibly need in order to feel comfortable and prepared to serve in their assigned institution. Orientation has included workshops on a wide range...

Brainstorming words that reflect the spirit of VE

Read More