Want to know what it might be like to volunteer abroad?
Omprakash volunteers have been posting stories, photos and even videos from their time abroad since 2007. We now have an extensive collection of personal stories from volunteers who've worked with our partners abroad. You can browse through the most recent stories below or use the category selection tool to narrow your search. Alternatively click on the Stories tab for each organization we work with to see specific accounts from a particular organization. Be careful - you might lose a couple hours of your day in here! Happy reading.
Week 6: FarewellJune 07, 2012 Rachel WinetDuring week 6 my students wrote farewell letters to their buddies. I also took shots of them with the items they received in the mail from their buddies in Guatemala. What a blast! Below is the final letter as well as a "follow up" letter to the 5th grade EDELAC and Heritage students.Hola Blog Buddies!My class is very sad that our photo and blog exchange is coming to a close this week! We truly enjoyed looking through your pictures last week. Some of my students' favorite shots were of the tortilla stand, the sleeping pup, the chicken pinata, and the landscape shot that beautifully demonstrated the "rule of three."As we explained in our letters, my class focused on taking pictures of the clothing we wear in the United States... Amanda
 Danny
 Franky
 Matt
 Basketball at recess
 Miss Winet with 5th grade at EDELAC
 Profe Aly sharing photo book with her EDELAC 5th graders
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Week 5: Clothing and Favorite PossessionsJune 07, 2012 Rachel WinetDuring Week 5, my students focused on taking pictures of their clothing and favorite possessions. Below is the letter I wrote to the 5th graders to introduce the topic. I also included some of my students' best pictures as well! Enjoy!Hola Blog Buddies!You're becoming photo professionals! My class thoroughly enjoyed the pictures that you took last week of the landscape around your school! Particularly, my kids really enjoyed the pictures with dogs on the roof and found it very cute and interesting! My students love animals, and you will get to see many of their pets in their photos this week. I let the students take their cameras to their homes, where they took photos to demonstrate different items and possessions that represent each students' heritage. ... Inside Sid's closet
 Matt's dog on his balcony
 Student M's dresser (full of uniform t-shirts!)
 Jewelry on a flower stand
 A 5th grade favorite: legos
 Jordan in his "dress-up" clothes
 Arexy exploring social media
 Toby next to his favorite clothing items
 Student in his lounge wear
 Ethan in his lounge wear by his pool
 Shoes
 Student's Indian clothing
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Week 4: HeritageJune 07, 2012 Rachel WinetFor week 4, my students focused on their personal heritages and kept this topic in mind when taking pictures. They took the cameras home for the first time and were able to capture shots that they believed represented their heritage. Below is my letter to introduce the topic to the 5th grade EDELAC and Heritage K-8 Students as well as some of my class' best pictures.Hello EDELAC Blog Buddies!We really enjoyed looking at the pictures from your school site and reading your letters and Profe Aly’s and Profe Eriks’ blogs. Your school is beautiful, and you’ve all been so kind. We look forward to this week’s letters, and can’t wait to share our pictures with you.This Sunday, April 22, 2012 my kids celebrated Earth Day and made pledges... Sid's pup (and member of the family), Max
 Indian food
 A student's bracelets from India
 Arexy's cloth, bags, and doll from Mexico
 Lukogo and her baby sister
 Isaac
 Michael at the batting cages
 Toby at the batting cages
 Jordan sharing a family photograph
 Ethan's Grandma's Pakistani dish
 Sid's backyard
 Lukogo's African cloth
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Week 3: Earth DayJune 07, 2012 Rachel WinetWeek 3's topic was Earth Day and how the kids could help the environment. They kept 3 topics in mind when taking pictures: water conservation, air pollution, and recycling. Below is my letter to introduce the topic to the EDELAC and Heritage K-8 Charter 5th graders.Week 3: Celebrating Earth DayDear EDELAC blog buddies,We are excited to read your responses to our letters about our school and classroom environments on Friday! We’re glad that Profe Aly is feeling better, and we LOVED looking at your photos. Your school is beautiful! I particularly noticed that you have a lot of gorgeous artwork on your buildings, a colorful library, and a fun playground set.This week we are learning ways in which we can improve our school community and home neighborhoods by... Bee pollinating a flower at school
 Decorated fire hydrant
 Inside the recycling bin
 "birds eye view" of a trashcan
 Water bottles
 How we water our school gardens
 "worm's eye view" of our school "car line"
 Water Fountain
 school garden
 "worms eye view" of tree at school
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Week 2: Comparing and Contrasting School EnvironmentsJune 07, 2012 Rachel WinetBelow is the letter I wrote in our classroom blog to introduce week 2's topic to both the EDELAC and Heritage 5th Grade students: Comparing and Contrasting School Environments.Hello EDELAC friends!My class loved reading your introductions this week and meeting their new buddies! We’re eager to learn more about all of you, and we enjoyed reading Profe Aly’s letter describing where you live! Some of my students have some follow up questions that they can’t wait to have answered! This week my class will tell you more about our classroom, our school environment, their parents’ jobs, and their future goals.My kids to go school every day from 8am-2:40pm. Many of my students’ parents work far from our school site. Sometimes parents work up to 40 minutes away... "worm's eye view" of the school flagpole
 Michael and Toby sharing a book by the classroom library
 School Sign from "bird's eye view" on the 2nd story
 Boys playing game during rainy day recess
 Inside Miss Winet's classroom
 Michael running around campus at recess
 Two students enjoying taking pictures at recess
 Franky bouncing a ball at recess
 Sid playing tetherball
 Lukogo and Arexy at recess
 Austin taking his first pictures
 Faith from the 2nd story of Heritage K-8
 Toby enjoying his first turn with the cameras in Miss Winet's classroom
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Week 1: IntroductionsJune 07, 2012 Rachel WinetDuring Week 1, my students created their first posts where they introduced themselves. They explained that they attend Heritage K-8 Charter School, stated their age, and described what they liked to do in their free time. They also talked about their best friends and what they want to be when they grew up. The cameras were used primarily to take pictures of acrostic poems that they wrote as well as to take face shots so that their buddies knew what they looked like. Arexy's Acrostic Poem
 Ethan
 Faith
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Culmination of EDELAC and Heritage K-8 Charter School's Photo/Blog ExchangeJune 07, 2012 Rachel WinetMy name is Rachel Winet. I teach 5th grade at Heritage K-8 Charter School in Escondido, California. My dear friend, Alyssa Hoyle, is volunteering in a 5th grade classroom at the elementary school EDELAC in Xela, Guatemala. During a 6-week period in the spring of 2012, our 5th grade students participated in a blog/photo exchange. Each week, Alyssa and I provided our students a topic to write about. In California, my students took pictures with these topics in mind, wrote journal entries, and then typed up their blogs in our school computer lab. In Xela, Guatemala, Alyssa translated all of my students’ blogs to Spanish, gathered hand-written letters from her students in Spanish, translated her students’ letters to English, and typed up their responses to my... Profe Aly and Miss Winet visiting EDELAC
 Profe Aly showing 5th Grade EDELAC students photo book
 Profe Aly with 5th Grade EDELAC
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Invest2Innovate is filling the void in social entrepreneurship spaceMay 23, 2012 Invest2Innovate, United States
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Experience as a client of Invest2InnovateMay 22, 2012 Invest2Innovate, United States
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My blog on the Wagnerathletics.com #1June 06, 2012 Asociacion CREAR, Costa Rica
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