Our host partner in Costa Rica is Colegio Técnico Profesional de Santa Elena or Technical Professional Secondary School of Santa Elena, located in a small town in the cloud forest region of Monteverde. It is called Colegio for short, which means secondary school, and houses grades 7 through 12. This technical high school has over 400 […]
Team Journal Entry for Friday, July 10 Today was so bittersweet. We concluded our service at daycare center one today and those kids and tías have made such an impact on me. The love and fun and humor and respect and value shared within the freshly painted walls of the small building sitting inside a […]
Team Journal Entry for Friday, June 19 For our last day at Colegio, we went back to Jorge’s class of ninth graders, and then took off on the nature trail that the students and other Global Volunteer teams had helped build on the perimeter of the school. Jorge and some of the students served as […]
Team Journal Entry for Friday, May 29 Today was our last day at the daycare and it was an amazing end to our adventure here in Ecuador. The tías and children put on a program dedicated to thanking us, showing their appreciation, and saying their goodbyes to us. It opened by the tías preforming a […]
With 330 million native speakers, Spanish is the fourth most widely-spoken language in the world according to The Statistics Portal. Spanish is the official or national language of 19 countries in the Americas. The U.S., with some 44 million Spanish speakers, ranks #3 in number of Spanish speakers in the world, according to www.mapsoftheworld.com. Throughout many […]
Last journal entry of Team #157! Well, two weeks, six tías, one Global Volunteer team leader (Maggie)-FUNDAC representation, Sonia from the ministry, and five volunteers later, we have completed our service as servant-learners at Daycare Center #1 in Calderón, Ecuador! The last day all the children put on a show for us. Tía Norma and […]
In December, President Obama announced a series of actions aimed at easing travel and trade restrictions between the United States and Cuba. With these changes, Global Volunteers is prepared to begin a new relationship with our community partners in Ciego de Ávila. Highlights of the changes being made in U.S.-Cuba relations include: Once relations are re-established, […]
In December, when President Obama discussed ending an outdated foreign policy with Cuba, all my family and friends had an opinion. But not one of them had actually spoken to anyone living in Cuba under Castro’s regime. I spent a week in Cuba with Global Volunteers’ People-to-People program. The group and I had spent hours talking to students […]
Team Journal Entry for Wednesday, January 28 It’s Wednesday and our third day at the childcare centre. Before I tell you about today, allow me to recount last night’s adventure. After a hard day’s work, there’s nothing like a little fun to recharge the batteries and so we set off to see Old Quito by […]
So here goes, journal entry for Day Two, Team 157, Quito, Ecuador! We all get into the van – Pam, Dee Dee, Roberto, Mark, myself, and, of course, Maggie! We arrive after a typical drive in morning traffic at daycare center #1 in Calderón, split into groups, and begin with some people working on the […]