Field Trip to Conchal Take Three!

October 23, 2012

Abriendo Mentes, Costa Rica
Christie Vogt

On October 9th and 11th, a group of our 3rd through 6th graders visited the conservation area Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Mixto Conchal for their third of four planned excursions. The trips have been organized to give students the opportunity to observe and document changes in the ecosystem throughout the year. For this trip, the kids were asked to compare the state of the forest in the dry season to the wet season.Our guide, Rocio Rojas, and her assistants started off the October 11th visit by asking the students to sit in a circle on the ground so that she could briefly talk about the expectations and rules to be followed for the afternoon (quiet voices, stay in a line, hands off wildlife, leave nothing behind). At first,...

Abriendo Mentes on Conchal field trip

Abriendo Mentes students at the nature preserve in Conchal, Costa Rica

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Finding a Balance

October 21, 2012

Asociacion CEPIA, Costa Rica
Jordan Garfinkle

I’m getting used to life here. When I say that, I mean that since my last post a whole lot has happened without leading to a whole lot of progress, and I’m becoming problematically comfortable with this unproductive status quo.With respect to the recycling center for which we’ve been trying to raise funds, Laetitia (CEPIA’s president) emailed to a few wealthier donors our letter requesting donations. Within a matter of hours, we received an enthusiastic response that simply said, “Where will you buy the materials? Or, I can just give you the money.” Of course, the teenagers and I were pretty encouraged by his message, and we immediately (read: two days later) requested an estimate from the hardware store based on the materials list we’d developed. It turns out that...

EcoCulTour 1

EcoCulTour 2

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My Omprakash monthly report

October 17, 2012

Omprakash, United States
Godfrey Ogoma

This is my monthly Omprakash report for the period ending October 5th.The report picks up from last month’s where I shared more about my Omprakash outreach in Uganda. The month of September and October has been the busiest month since I came to childline,and has seen me traveling to several places in Uganda and Kenya where I visited different schools and organization, and also continued to collect volunteer and project stories from different Omprakash partners in Kenya and Uganda. These two months have also been the busiest months because of the TFT programme and this time involving the AISSEC volunteers from Japan who spent six weeks at childline Uganda. We also had different programmes including the psychosocial programme for OVCs, the Naama VOSA programme and the child rescue programme.This month’s...

Elgon youth Band

kibera girls

TFT kids

Director,common ground for Africa

TFT kids

Naama VOSA

TFT kids

Elgon youths

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Honduras Parte Dos

October 17, 2012

Honduras Child Alliance, Honduras
Jennifer Cedeño

October 13I've been in Honduras a little over a week but it already feels like I've been here forever. I guess Honduras seems to have that effect on people. It's surprisingly very easy to get use to your life here and the slow paced rhythm of it all. Which is something I enjoy so much about my time in Honduras, it's not rushed like my life in American where I'm running to get to work to get home or to do about everything. In Honduras people take their time to do everything and being has really taught me to just enjoy the ride. Even though sometimes it makes me want to pull my hair out!!!It's been wonderful seeing so many familiar faces ready to welcome me back into their...

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Glen Ellen Village Fair

October 16, 2012

The Glen Ellen Village Fair was a hometown good time! Along side the Palenchar family, I shared my passion about Omprakash with fair attendees. We sold Omprakash T-shirts, buttons and handed out literature. Our booth wasn’t the flashiest. We couldn’t offer freshly made mini-donuts or delicious tikka masala but we did share a true gem of a resource with many, many interested people from all age groups. Tabling offers a great opportunity to get a small snapshot of what people think of international volunteering and who (which demographics) are interested.I spoke with young children who were eager to hold the inflated globe that I used as a prop to point out a few of the 35 countries where Omprakash partners opperate. Some children were really interested in Africa and...

Modeling the Merchandise at the GE Fair!

Huge support from the Palenchar family!

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Bridge of Life School Experience

October 15, 2012

Bridge of Life School, Cambodia
Darren Espinoza

 When I got off the bus in Siem Reap, Cambodia, I was ready for an experience of a lifetime. I had heard about the Bridge of Life School from my roommate, Joe, who's brother, Eddie, co-founded the Khmer not-for-profit organization. Although I had worked with children in the past as a catechist for a nearby parish, this was the first time I taught students of a different language (Khmer) the basics of English vocabulary and conversation. Although it seemed like a daunting task at first, it soon became a rewarding and worthwhile challenge. The children were always excited to see us, Americans, and hear us speak without a broken accent. Eddie and his team are working hard to make this school sustainable and realistic. It was amazing to see the...

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Month In Cambodia

October 15, 2012

Bridge of Life School, Cambodia
Sean Richards

"Best Month of My Life"My name is Brendan Richards and I volunteered with Bridge of Life School for a month in December/January 2010. It was without a doubt the most meaningful experience of my life. I had volunteered domestically and in other countries through Habitat for Humanity, but I preferred this site to the others. It just felt very intimate and unique and Cambodians are without doubt the friendliest, most kind people in the world.My major job there was teaching English. I assisted Sok in some of the daily classes. I would mainly do pronunciation correction and ask basic questions because most of the classes were at a beginner level. When the teacher gave assignments I would help students who had questions...

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Wenger Whereabouts Newsletter #7

October 15, 2012

Besides my work at Instituto da Infância (IFAN), I am picking up a second job with Renan and Karine Correa - administrators of TopSport TV program, the Basketball League of Ceará, and two public fitness programs.At IFAN, I continue to work on the project Preventing Early Childhood Negligence. This is the project that has attempted to create regional action plans in 80 counties in the state of Ceará. Recently, I have been using public statistic websites to collect data on these counties. After some adjustment, we selected 15 indicators that must be researched for each county, meaning I have 1200 statistics to discover. We should start to analyze data when I finish the excel portion of the project on Tuesday.Election day! Voting is mandatory in Brazil so everyone returns to...

Beach of the Week - Iguape

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Building a cabin with pieces of string

October 14, 2012

Intag, Ecuador
Emilie Dannenberg

Update on progress of tourist cabin or 3 floor skyscraper. Work’s found a rhythm and things are advancing. We have cement and Patricio shows up promptly in the mornings.We’re trying to work in una sociedad, meaning that no one is in charge and everyone works/contributes according to their will. We’re banding together in solidarity to create something. That’s the basis of community and mutual support, and individual freedom in work, and more personal real relationships. All that good stuff that seems to have completely disappeared in modern society.Course it has its problems. If Patricio doesn’t show (and doesn’t call. We can’t call from where we’re at) we just have to wait and smolder. We can’t just fire his ass and replace him quick w/ another faceless worker.As far as actual...

Flat floor

Mould for Column

more brothers in tree

In tree

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Crossing the Bridge of Life

October 14, 2012

Bridge of Life School, Cambodia
Nancy Gallegos

I have had the wonderful opportunity of visiting the school,  Bridge of Life, in Siem Reap Cambodia. When I look back at a time that I felt most alive and full of happiness, the country side of Cambodia and the laughter of its children come to mind. Within minutes of arriving at the school, I had children opening their hearts to me and spilling out every bit of broken English they knew. I would turn around to find little girls wrapping flowers in my hair and asking me to take pictures with them. The most I knew in Khmer was "hello", "thank you" and "my name is" but it was enough to befriend the whole community. I had the chance to attend a few English classes and I was so amazed to...

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