Recommendation from volunteer

August 13, 2011

Emerge Global, Sri Lanka
Lauren Oldja

The women who run Emerge Global are a delight to work with. As a volunteer, I appreciated the help and guidance I received from the international and local leadership of this organization, both pre-arrival and during my stay in Colombo. They helped me understand necessary visa requirements and helped me find living accommodations. Together with the Country Director, I planned an independent research project that would be the focus of my stay. After arrival, their full resources - community members, partner organizations, and hard-to-find print reports - were at my disposal. I was included on weekly team meetings at headquarters, and I also was invited to witness the impact of the organization’s work first-hand, in the shelters for abused girls. At every step, I felt welcomed and appreciated as a...

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Discovering the Real Haiti

August 12, 2011

European Disaster Volunteers, United Kingdom
Jeff Kirkby

I'm always amazed when I take a step out into the world and get to see the people and places who mostly go ignored in media accounts and history books.  Unfortunately, much of the information shared from those external sources, as in the case of Haiti, is negative and focuses solely on the elites of society, or conversely, the poorest of the poor.  Often lost in the shuffle are the examples of regular, daily life, which continues its relentless march forward, even when places like Haiti are seemingly wrapped up in chaos.  To be sure, Haiti has its shortcomings.  Port-au-Prince has lived up to my stereotypes with its impoverished slums, its snarled traffic jams, and its daily electricity cut-offs at 4 pm.  The earthquake damage here is extensive, especially as you...

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Almost Finished...

August 11, 2011

Atelier Favela, Nicaragua
Hillia Aho

I can’t believe that in five days I’ll be on my way back to the States. I know I’ve said this about a thousand times before, but the time passes so quickly here. My first week was by far the slowest, as I was just beginning to get a feel for everything, and now that I’m down to my last, the days are flying by like trees by a car window. It’s a weird feeling, everything goes by so fast and yet it feels as if I’ve been here forever (not in a bad way or anything)!I’ll definitely be keeping myself busy for these last few days though, what with the documentary, my school homework, running around this weekend trying to see the sights, buying gifts, and finishing up some...

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Abriendo Mentes

August 11, 2011

Abriendo Mentes, Costa Rica
Megan Hettwer

 To be honest, I didn't quite know what to expect when I first arrived in Playa Potrero. Its safe to say that my decision to come to Costa Rica to volunteer with Abriendo Mentes (AM) was an impulsive one - and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.For volunteers looking for an organization that will fully integrate them into the community they are serving, look no further than AM. Meradith and Drew truly give their volunteers the opportunity to take on a variety of tasks within this rapidly growing organization. From teaching English classes, to organizing field trips, writing blog posts, and even overall organizational management, volunteers are encouraged to participate in any component of the organization that interests them. If all of that isn't enough to...

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The Beginning of a Beautiful Frenzy

August 10, 2011 | 1 comment

Deep Jyoti, India
Anoop Jain

 First, some contextual cow dung, you know, to fertilize the narrative. Spent the last two weeks sleeping on planks of wood in 100 degree heat with a couple hours of electricity everyday and no running water. We were sharing a plank of wood on the side of the road. Our plank of wood then got moved to an old abandoned storage room. Dimensions of said room were 8 feet by 8 feet and our roommates included tropically sized cockroaches and toads. We followed the monsoon on a 24 hour train ride from Bihar to Delhi where we waited with it patiently at a bus stand for 4 hours before beginning our ascent in to the foothills of the Himalayas.Clean out your ears for this next part. Slurp slurp slurp go...

Anoop and Santosh Kumar

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7 Weeks in...

August 10, 2011

Pisco Sin Fronteras, Peru
Alice Milligan

Since my last update, the Jesus bathrooms project has been completed which is a great feeling! It is really going to make such a difference in the community where Ive only found one family to have any form of sanitation in their own home, and that was extremely basic. Now there are 2 toilets and 2 showers available for use as soon as the municipality finish installing the sewage pipes through the neighbourhood. They dug up the deep trenches for these a few weeks ago and have since been frequented by small children playing, and street dogs thrown in my small children. It was a week of working very long hours to get it finished but we completed the last of the tiling last Saturday and were all very proud of...

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First day at Niños de La Luz

August 09, 2011 | 2 comments

Honduras Child Alliance, Honduras
Sarah Moye

 It is now my second full day in El Porvenir, and today was my first day at Niños de La Luz. I think I’m going to love it. Niños de La Luz is a boys’ orphanage, and there is a Christian school on site for boys and girls, grades 1-5. I will be teaching English to all three grades (with one class per grade). This school is atypical because of how advanced some of the students are – there are a handful of them who have been to bilingual schools before, and some who have been learning English since the kinder age. At Niños, The day begins at 7 a.m. with devotion, where they sing and recite verses from the Bible. At 8 a.m., we begin with the first grade....

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Tips in Peru

August 09, 2011

Since I do not have any exciting volunteer stories yet, I will write more about what volunteers planning to go to Peru need to know. * TemperatureFirst of all, during European&North-American summer, in Peru it is winter. That means that the temperature doesn´t exceed 20 Celsius degrees during the day. It doesn´t get too low either during the day, but nights are quite cold, so come prepared with sweatshirts and winter socks. However, despite the cold it is usually very sunny, so also take sunglasses. * FoodIf you are a meat-lover, Peru will be great for you, given the abundance of national dishes consisting in meat. If you are a vegetarian, not so much. That will not be a problem if you buy your food in a supermarket and cook...

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The Omprakash network

August 09, 2011

In an effort to help promote the Omprakash network, I wanted to post some resources and ideas since I have gone through this process already.First of all, I found a list of all the NGO´s in my city - starting small - , along with their phone numbers. I called each one of them and gave them details about my situation - ¨I am a high school senior who will volunteer abroad through an international volunteering network and would like to advertise that Network. If you are interested in a collaboration, I would appreciate anything from being able to hang some posters in your building to holding a few informative sessions to your volunteers¨. If they were interested - most times this was the case - I followed up with...

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Relocated to Shangri-la!

August 08, 2011

Machik, United States
Peldun Tenzing

 Although it was a lot of work and required immense organization, I am happy that our program got relocated to Shangri-la. Gyathang was named Shangrila in 2006 and is a large tourist destination. We were forced to relocate because the school hosting the program was undergoing a large renovation which would cut the school's electricity and water supply. We had to move because we could not function under such conditions. Relocation required a lot of organization, as we were taking about 70 students with us for a two-day long trip from Sichuan province to Yunan Province. We went on a 17 hour long train ride and then rented two busses for another 10 hour long ride. Although it was stressful and interrupted our program, I...

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