Partner Stories

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Update from recent Volunteer Grant recipients! print story

June 02, 2011

Omprakash, United States

From grant cycle ending February 15, 2011

Utsav Bansal (Helping Hands, Peru) made great strides in outreach before departing for Peru. By putting flyers up around his campus at University of Pittsburgh and speaking with the Premedical Organization for Minority Students, he helped spread the word about Omprakash and Helping Hands. He also received a gift card from WalMart to purchase supplies to bring with him on his trip. His stories suggest that a mutually enriching volunteer tenure is beginning to unfold in Peru!

Kathryn Spectorsky (SOTENI, Kenya) is working on making video stories to post on her and SOTENI’s profile. She has been helping SOTENI update their profile and working with offices at University of Cincinnati to get them to hang posters and spread the word about Omprakash. We look forward to following along with her research about local perceptions of pressing health issues among SOTENI's constituents.

Jordan Moody (Intag, Ecuador) is still preparing to depart for Ecuador later in the summer. She has posted stories on her previous trip to the Dominican Republic and has given presentations to her Spanish class on Omprakash. Also, her Spanish teacher is helping spread the word about Omprakash in her classes.

Lindsay Carlin (Amy Biehl Foundation, South Africa) has done a great job drawing attention to the Amy Biehl Foundation as well as the broader Omprakash network by posting the links of both organizations on a Canadian volunteer website. She also recently held a fundraiser for ABF and raised much more than expected! Her media page offers an exciting glimpse of life in Cape Town, and she is beginning to work on using video as a medium of exchange for students in Cape Town and her home in Missouri. See video below for a preview video from this exchange.

Shannon Ng (Pisco Sin Fronteras, Peru) has made great developments in the Pisco community and is working on a women’s empowerment and sex education project. After learning that a safe house was destroyed after the Pisco earthquake, she is brainstorming ways to rebuild one with the PSF community. See below for a great video about the first recipient of a PSF modular home.

Lacey Worel (Helping Hands, Peru) has accomplished a lot since we first offered her a grant in March 2011. Along with finding new organizations that would benefit from volunteers and would be willing to host them without charging a fee, she is creating a manual for any volunteer to use that will explain to them the greenhouse project that she initiated at Helping Hands. She also developed rich curricula for Helping Hands and helped them with volunteer coordination. Lastly, check out the incredible classroom resources she posted, and see below for a video on building a sustainable classroom and community.

From grant cycle ending November 15, 2010

John May and Jill Burdett (GGYN, Ghana) have been spreading the word about Omprakash in their community in Glasgow, Scotland, and are working with the One World Shop to see 'Trashy Bags' to earn money for GGYN. The bags, which are actually discarded water satchels, are decorated by kids at GGYN and then brought back to One World Shop in the backpacks of volunteers.

Bryan Condon (Pisco Sin Fronteras, Peru) helped with construction projects and building houses that were destroyed by the 2007 earthquake. He also contributed valuable resources to the Omprakash website by posting tips for volunteers that are informed by his six months of service on the Admin team PSF. After recently returning home from Peru, he shared his work with middle-school students in his local community.

Reshma Kulkarni (Abriendo Mentes, Costa Rica; Atelier Favela, Nicaragua; Intag, Ecuador, & Helping Hands, Peru) has been busy working with a variety of Omprakash Partners in Latin America. She teamed up with grant recipient Lacey Worel in Peru to deliver an environmental education workshop, and she recently posted an ECOmapping activity that helps students realize the importance of participation and creates interest in environmental and governance issues.

Will Smith (Pisco Sin Fronteras, Peru) recently posted a progress report that exemplifies the type of commitment and hard work we expect from our grant recipients. Before heading to Peru, Will planned an event in Australia that raised more than $13,000 for PSF-- incredible! He has posted valuable classroom resources to the Omprakash website and has met many English teachers who want to share their lesson plans with the Omprakash community. He is also working on spreading the word about Omprakash in Australia, and plans to scale up this effort upon returning home.

Anoop Jain (LHA and Deep Jyoti, India) continues to serve two of our Indian Partners with unwavering commitment. He is preparing for his third trip to India and will be working on developing curricula for nutrition classes that will enrich the offerings of the community kitchen he helped to fund and build at LHA. He is also helping to design a nutrition project at Deep Jyoti and is helping Deep Jyoti oversee the first stage of a toilet-building project for which he raised the funds last year.

From grant cycle ending September 15, 2010

Asta Tamuleviciute (Life and Hope Association, Cambodia) has been busy updating and developing LHA's website and Omprakash profile while also serving as volunteer coordinator and addressing health issues in Cambodia. She's also spread the network by facilitating a partnership with the New Life Center Organization. Her May 3rd story which reports:

“Although initially I thought that maybe no one would read my stories, it seems that they do. I have already received at least eight enquiries from people, who read about LHA on the Omprakash website, and who would like to volunteer at LHA this year...I have been volunteering at LHA for over seven months now. It has been a great experience. If you are also interested in volunteering at LHA, you can drop me a line. There are always ways in which you can contribute to our great work!”

From grant cycle ending June 15, 2010

Emma Fullinwider and Sofia Weir (Hilda Rothschild Foundation, El Salvador) gave presentations to their volunteering club called "Youth for Global Improvement" about volunteering through Omprakash. They also contributed avaluable teaching resource by posting an easy to follow guide on Montessori methods.

Linda Lu (Golok Sengcham Drukmo Home for Girls, China) is working on a fundraiser for GSD and presented a paper on gender and education in May. Linda returned to GSD May 17 and is starting an arts education initiative with the director of the Home.

Brett Rezek (Colegio Paulino Salgado, Colombia) has been a great resource for others interested in volunteering with Paulino Salgado and has been in touch with quite a few new volunteers. She is also starting a snail-mail pen pal project.

From grant cycle ending December 2009

Jen Turner (Hogar de Esperanza, Peru) is still in touch with the Hogar, speaks at Spanish classes at her old high school, and her former Spanish teacher promotes Omprakash and shares stories of Jen’s trip with her students. Jen used to Omprakash site to post great websites for teaching children as a resource for other volunteers in the network, and the Spanish Club at her high school is now raising money for the Hogar through jewelry sales.

Jake Naughton (Kibera Girls Soccer Academy, Kenya) recently wrote a story about his experience last year at KGSA and has been working hard to edit videos and classroom materials from his experience so that he can post these materials on the Omprakash site. Check out the video below of a student Jake interviewed at KGSA.