Gender

August 28, 2012

 The English School has special events some Wednesday evenings for students and teachers to come together and practice English while having a cultural exchange. This Wednesday was article club, a time when the students and teachers read an article [or watch a video etc.] centered on a social topic and discuss the theme. This week we had a discussion club with the students of the English School focusing on gender roles in El Salvador. I was curious as to see where our conversations would lead; Salvadorian culture is infamously genderized and influenced by machismo while our students are self-expressed “progressives” attending a school focusing on social justice. My first encounters with Salvadorians occurred while teaching English at the Panhandle Area Education Consortium’s Migrant Worker Education Program....

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HH N' ME!

August 27, 2012

Healing House, Peru
Jessie Garnello

 I came across the Healing House the first day I was in Cusco and I fell in love with it right away.  It was just what I was looking for.  They offer yoga, meditation, dance, movement, art and they have a beautiful garden and views.  Most of all, their are people there who helped inspire me to reach my fullest potential both personally and creatively.  The one word that comes to mind when I think Healing House is Love.  They offer lots of support and they offer free classes and therapies to the local people in Cusco as well as a kids program that helps to inspire the local children. I am so blessed to have been able to be part of such a beautiful place.  ...

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Usaquen and Lots of Questions

August 27, 2012

Taller de Paz, Colombia
Rachell Morillo

 After about a week and a half of teaching my photography workshop, I was more than excited to take my students on a real fieldtrip. At the suggestion of my co-leader, we chose to take our 12 students to a place in Bogota called Usaquen. The area called Usaquen is the remnants of a very small town which was later incorporated into the city. The streets are full of old colonial style houses and it is the home to one of the city's most well known artesan markets. On our trip, we also planned on visiting a quaint church in the vicinity. On the day of the trip, not even the overcast and rain could ruin my mood. As we boarded the van that was to take us to our destination,...

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Here, we dance.

August 27, 2012

Abriendo Mentes, Costa Rica
Becca Hurliman

 Let me explain.Potrero is a small town.  I knew that before I came here, but my rural upbrining had me well-prepared for quiet days and even quieter evenings.  The mornings start early (and so end the days) and the plaza is generally calm except for game days or when local or national festivities call for some celebrating.  Tranquilo is the best way to describe it.  It's tranquilo, but it's also full of life.  Houses are blue, turquoise, green.  The tile floors are orange.  There are always bikes and motorcycles in the street.  Always chatter coming from somewhere, or a boisterous conversation erupting in laughter from a front porch at night.  Women lean out of their windows to visit with friends who are passing by.  The men gather outside of the...

Bollywood dancing

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Empowering Women through Art and Recycling

August 26, 2012

CENIT - Centro de la Niña Trabajadora, Ecuador
Margaret Hook

 We have started a new project to help the families particularly the mothers of the children that Cenit teach. Please check out the web site http://gogetfunding.com/project/empowering-women-through-art-and-recycling. We have so far raised $4300 but need your help to raise more.We aim to help mothers earn a fair wage by teaching them how to make high quality goods which we will market.  We will use recycled materials to make bags, jewellery, clothing and puppets. We also wish to teach hairdressing and beauty skills employing a hairdresser/ teacher. We need funds to buy materials, equipment and specialists. These women have little or no education and no access to earning a fair wage. The school helps the children and the mothers through social education. This project is about enabling the women to break the cycle...

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What I experienced at "Childline Uganda"

August 26, 2012

Childline Uganda, Uganda
Shingo Murayama

  There are mainly two things I learnt through “Childline Uganda”. One thing is the importance of having connections with other people such as friends. And the other is the fascination of Japan and the depth of their interest in foreign countries.   I saw many children who are orphan or HIV positive. Before meeting them, I thought that they are gloomy because they lost their parents or suffer serious disease, HIV. But when I actually met them, I found many of them cheerful. This was a big surprise for me. After a while, I found the reason. They have many friends who enjoy playing with them. When I played sports with them, I was impressed with the scene of many children playing with each other with big smiles. I would...

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About my internship at Childline Uganda

August 26, 2012

Childline Uganda, Uganda
Yuma Nagaya

I’ve stayed at Mityana distict for a week from 18th Aug to 27th Aug and worked at Childline Uganda as an intern.A main content of my work is to give some presentations about Japanese culture to children whom Childline Uganda takes care of. They are OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children).A orphan means children below the age of 18 years who has lost one or both parents and a vulnerable child is defined as one who,is suffering and / or is likely to suffer any form of abuse or deprivation and is therefore in need of care and protection.Last Monday I gave them my presentation about Japanese culture. The purpose of it is to broaden their outlook through getting to know different cultures and feel the importance of PEACE from our...

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my work at CHILDLINE UGANDA

August 26, 2012

Childline Uganda, Uganda
Kouki Matsubayashi

MY PRECIOUS EXPERIENCE at CHILDLINE UGANDAKouki Matsubayashi  27.08.2012What I did at CHILDLINE UGANDA was mainly communicating with children(orphans or HIV positive children). And most important thing I learned from this valuable experience is the difficulty of teaching something to many children, and the pleasure when I achieved it.In the field, I taught them how to hit a ball with a bat. Some children were able to learn how to do it soon, but others could not. It’s the matter of course that there is a gap between children’s ability, so when we are teaching we have to think how to teach according to each child. It was so difficult, especially when I taught cards to them on Saturday. The difference between those who can understand the rule and those who...

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Seeds of Hope, Peru

August 25, 2012

Seeds of Hope, Peru
Megan Morris

 In November 2009, I came to Huaraz to volunteer with Seeds of Hope for five months, and absolutely fell in love with the program and the children that Seeds works with. The experience that I had there was truly incredible. I looked forward to going to school every day to help the kids with homework, and developing their reading writing, and mathematics. Playing with the kids was always fun as well! The work that Seeds of Hope does is so important to the children, and their families. It was wonderful to see the improvement that the children made over the months that I was there, due in large part to the teachers and volunteers that I worked with. The investment and dedication to the children that the directors, teachers, and...

Some kids and volunteers outside of the school -2010

Some of the boys at a paseo- 2010

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Omprakash as Senior Project

August 25, 2012

This past June I graduated from Mt. Ararat High school, located in Topsham, Maine. One of the requirements to graduate is that each senior has to create a culminating project or "Capstone" that represents unique interests and passions. Many schools, both high schools and colleges, are now requiring students to create and execute some sort of personal project in order to graduate. The specifics of each project may differ but the general idea is the same. For our project the purpose as stated in our school handbook is “The Capstone project is a culminating event linked directly to our mission statement. The goal is to have each senior develop an individual project demonstrating that he/she has the skills to be a self directed and lifelong learner. ...

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