Welcome to Faridabad!

May 31, 2013

AIM Abroad, India
Lee Anne Steers

By the time I stepped out of the taxi after a forty minute drive from New Delhi airport, I was very very nervous. I mean, no wonder, because this was my first time in India and I had heard/read scary things about it. But when Vishy, the host, opened the gate and said "Welcome to Faridabad!" with a big smile, I felt as if I had arrived home. That's how my three weeks as an AIM Abroad volunteer started out.

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Welcome to Faridabad!

May 31, 2013

AIM Abroad, India

By the time I stepped out of the taxi after a forty minute drive from New Delhi airport, I was very very nervous. I mean, no wonder, because this was my first time in India and I had heard/read scary things about it. But when Vishy, the host, opened the gate and said "Welcome to Faridabad!" with a big smile, I felt as if I had arrived home. That's how my three weeks as an AIM Abroad volunteer started out.

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Four weeks in Xela

May 30, 2013

Escuela de la Calle, Guatemala
Ingela Bjorck

In February-March I spent four weeks volunteering at the Escuela de la Calle, Edelac, in Quezaltenango (or as most everybody in Guatemala call it with another Mayan name, Xela). It was a very rewarding experience and one that I can highly recommend, at least for volunteers who speak a fair amount of Spanish - since neither the teachers nor the children speak more than a very rudimentary English - and who are able to take their own initiatives. Everybody at Edelac is quite occupied and though you are given a short introduction by the headmaster, Claudia, you're left largely to your own devices and to those of the teacher in whose class you're placed. I was placed in a 6th grade with a very nice  young teacher, Erich. These are some...

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Volunteering in the Himalayas

May 30, 2013

Spring Dales Public School, India
Barbara Mavor

AWESOME!!!   I was keen to volunteer but more than a little daunted by the fact that most volunteers seem to be GAP students, all certainly many years younger than me.  I tunred 60 in India and it was hard/impossible to find stories from people my age.  I was not too old to go :)  Willy put me in touch with Spring Dales Public School (SPDS) and Norboo and the management team liked the look of my skillset and invited me to volunteer to work with them through aspects of Leadership, working as a team and individual action planning.  So it was set - and I was scheduled to arrive at the start of the year - mid March - the end of winter.  ...

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Lessons Learned at the Global Engagement Summit

May 29, 2013

Expand Peru, Peru
Leah Davidson

I recently concretized my ideas for my Peruvian project at the Global Engagement Summit. GES is a five-day training conference held at Northwestern University. All delegates, selected through a competitive application process, come with an idea of how to solve a problem on a local, national or international scale. During the conference, students hear from renowned speakers, break into smaller sessions for workshops tailored to their individual interests (past topics have including how to blend for-profit and non-profit models and how to use social media as a force for good). They also receive access to Outcomes, post-conference support in the form of consultations, partnerships, grant opportunities, internships, and mentoring.   Over the past few days, I have been able to meet so many impassioned delegates from around the world. I...

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Laying the foundation

May 28, 2013

Hospital Escuela, Nicaragua
Yesenia Mendez

My first week in Leon, Nicaragua has been great. The day after I arrived in Leon a President of the Rotoract Club,  Josecarlos, showed me around and explained what each place was. What caught my eye the most was the cathedral, Basilica Catedral de la Asuncion. It was built in 1747 and is being renovated. The paintings on the inside were recently renovated and tours for around seven dollars. After seeing the cathedral I went to buy a prepaid phone and went to the market. I had a drink called Cacao, which is similar to chocolate milk but thicker and it has a different kind of sweet taste. Regardless it is very good.                       The theater was also very...

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Tired by 9pm- Day One

May 28, 2013

Hospital Escuela, Nicaragua
Yesenia Mendez

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Working (Playing) With the Kids

May 27, 2013

Asociacion CREAR, Costa Rica
Scooter Stein

This past week work really picked up for me. At first I was afforded time to acclimate with Sámara and ease into the job. A reason for the first two posts not really being about work was because CREAR has the philosophy that its volunteers should understand the town and people before work begins. I took advantage of this, going to see the one of the prettiest beaches I ever seen, which is just a couple of miles from my house! Nick,...

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Micro bus experience

May 25, 2013

What is different is bad!  What is different is scary.  What is different is beautiful.   I was uncomfortable with the public transportation, and frightened.  Way too many passengers are crammed into an old minivan refitted to have seats for 12.  Often twenty or more of us sat cheek by jowl, several standing hunched over.  Guatemaltecos are much shorter than me.  I had to touch, even squeeze against strangers, sit precariously on half a seat.  Radio music and traffic noises blasted my ears, and the cars and pedestrians were way too close for my taste!  Black smoke was belching out of the trucks and cars I covered my nose with a scarf.   There was no schedule.  We had to wait, sometimes 5 or 10 minutes, sometimes half an hour for your bus.   The...

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Classroom Guatemala I'm just Me

May 25, 2013

EDELAC  Escuela de la Calle in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala  February 2013   When I entered the first grade classroom Monday morning for the first time, the young woman teaching was busy talking with four or five mothers gathered ‘round her desk.  I smiled and waved, and she waved back, but that was it.  She didn’t have a spare moment for me. The year before I had worked with her.  After a tentative, shy beginning, she began to confide in me and before I left we were quite friendly, and she shared her hopes of marriage and her concerns about her parents.  She gave me a lovely gift, an embroidery piece. I had expected a big hug, when I showed up, and all I got was a quick little wave.  There was...

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