The Preparation

May 20, 2013

            I still remember during my freshman orientation at FSU that I heard about study abroad programs and internships in other countries and I was amazed by how great it sounded. I thought that it would be impossible for me to do because of the expense. When I went to the Omprakash informational meeting I saw it as an opportunity to go somewhere and learn something new; something that I could not learn here. It started to become a reality when I found a partner that was a great match to what I wanted to do.  In Hospital Escuela in Leon, Nicaragua I was offered an opportunity to help out with patients. Speaking Spanish was a great advantage because I spoke to them...

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A Life of Opposites (Una Vida de Opuestos)

May 20, 2013

Asociacion CREAR, Costa Rica
Scooter Stein

I’ve lived and traveled a few times in developing nations, and I always end up thinking about how that differs from my life in the United States. Before going further, I’d like to offer a few clarifications. The first clarification is that Costa Rica is not what you think of as a developing nation; compared to its Central American compatriots, Costa Rica’s standards of living overall fare much better than its northern neighbors, on a similar level to that of Panamá to the south. However, we also cannot fool ourselves to think that this nation is on par with the United States; Costa Rica is nice, yet its infrastructure does not compare with that of the most developed nations in the world. With this entry, I just want to focus...

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Honduras Child Alliance

May 20, 2013

Honduras Child Alliance, Honduras
Adam Shepard

When I’m seventy, my grandchildren, all six or seven of them, will sit around my La-Z-Boy at Christmas, and they will want to hear stories about my one-year journey. The aroma of a honey-glazed ham and turkey and green-bean casserole and stuffing and cheesy hash browns and mashed potatoes drifts softly into the living room from grandma’s kitchen. Two pies—pecan, my favorite, and pumpkin, which I don’t care for—are cooling out back on the screened-in porch. And my grandchildren will ask me questions. “Why is it,” one of them will ask looking at an old photo, probably one of me casually posing with my muscles flexed atop a Maya ruin, “that you used to be young and handsome and now you’re old and wrinkled?” “This is the circle of life,” I will...

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April 19 - 21 - Young People Shaping the World

May 20, 2013

United World College Costa Rica, Costa Rica
Roisin Shannon

One of the great things you get to do at UWC Costa Rica is act as a guide and mentor to young people who really want to make a difference to the world.  During March and April, I met once or twice a week with Kate, Lutfe, Elisa and Chisomo and helped them prepare for an Association of American Schools in South America regional Global Initiatives Network conference. Together we choose to focus on addressing cultural conflict and peace transformation using examples from within our own school and their personal experience.  Mostly my job was to keep the preparations moving along and everyone engaged in the process; to ask the right questions at the right time – the big ideas and all the real hard work came from the students. ...

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April 19 - 21 - Young People Shaping the World

May 20, 2013

United World College Costa Rica, Costa Rica
Roisin Shannon

One of the great things you get to do at UWC Costa Rica is act as a guide and mentor to young people who really want to make a difference to the world.  During March and April, I met once or twice a week with Kate, Lutfe, Elisa and Chisomo and helped them prepare for an Association of American Schools in South America regional Global Initiatives Network conference. Together we choose to focus on addressing cultural conflict and peace transformation using examples from within our own school and their personal experience.  Mostly my job was to keep the preparations moving along and everyone engaged in the process; to ask the right questions at the right time – the big ideas and all the real hard work came from the students. ...

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Je suis en train de vivre la vie de mes reves ici au Cameroun

May 19, 2013

Social Development International, Cameroon
Antonia Morzenti

New Foods I’ve Tried: Kwakoko and Banga soup   Mbongo tchobi with fresh fish (my new favorite!!) with ripe plantain.   Grilled bay fish with bobolo (last time I had only morocco fish)   Njama njama (leafy green vegetables prepared almost like a stew and similar to Ndole)   Corn chaff with rice and beans (corn chaff is just some sort of stew like dish with oil, corn and beans that is put with rice and beans).   Koki beans and cassava (a type of beans that are cooked with red palm oil inside of a large banana leaf)   Pepe soup with goat meat (very very spicy soup)   Cow skin (it is very chewy and tough)   Snails (tastes like a bunch of spices trying to cover up a bad taste)       *You eat all of these things with pepe – a mix of many spices...

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Progress Report

May 19, 2013

Shanti Bhavan, India
Carlyn Miller

Carlyn Miller- Progress Report                                                                                                                   28/04/2013 When I decided to go to India, people asked me why? Why India? Why so far from home? My family were worried I’d get sick and constantly reminded me that I could come home whenever I wanted. No one would be disappointed if I didn’t last long. In hindsight, I probably was a bit anxious but there was so much to organise that it all rushed by and before I knew it I was at the airport saying goodbye to my parents. I have been in India for 6 months now -thanks to Omprakash- and it has been the best time of my life. This is not to say that there haven’t been times when I have wished I was at home, when I got angry...

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Shanti Bye Bye

May 19, 2013

Shanti Bhavan, India
Carlyn Miller

 I finished University in September 2012 and decided to take a year to myself before joining the rat race. There is more to life at the age of 22 than working 9-5 with nothing more to look forward to than the ham and cheese sandwiches you brought for lunch. I had always wanted to volunteer abroad during long summers at university but was put off by outrageous fees charged by many organisations. £2000 to build huts in Peru for 6 weeks didn’t quite seem right. In the mind of a true cynic, something I got from my Dad, I wondered where does the £2000 go? How much of a cut do these organisations take for simply putting you in touch with a charity oversees? This kind of profit making enterprise,...

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Making Progress and Attending Bakossi Weddings in Douala!

May 18, 2013

Social Development International, Cameroon
Antonia Morzenti

Written Monday, April 22nd, 2013   Yoga on the rooftop I have began teaching yoga classes Monday-Wednesday-Friday at 6:30am on the rooftop of a friends apartment building at 'Sosoliso' in Molyko, Buea. I have anywhere from 4-8 students a day. They are really enjoying it and I am having fun too. We started doing classes in the bottom of an apartment building next to my colleague Delegate's (his real name is Max but everyone calls him Delegate pronounced 'Deli-gay') house. It was almost like an open garage and the doors to two peoples' rooms were located just there - so if they stepped outside to go to work or for whatever reason...they were in our yoga class. It was also distracting because on water day (Buea has water every other day) everyone...

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blak man no de di doty

May 18, 2013

Social Development International, Cameroon
Antonia Morzenti

Written Saturday, April 6th, 2013   "Blak man no de di doty" is Pidgin (most common language in the Southwest and Northwest regions of Cameroon) and it literally translates to "black man doesn't die of dirt".  It is on some level a type of metaphor or saying here that loosley means, African are very resistant to things here that foreigners will usually get sick from. The examples I was given were water and dust: the water and dust here doesnt make them (black men) sick - but when a white man comes he will get diarrhea from the water and respetory/breathing problems from the dust.  Although I have only been here for 26 days, I feel like it has been months and I am already dreaming about extending my stay. Cameroon is such...

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