By Maytal Agasi Habari gani ndugu?
Tunajifunza Kiswahili Morogoro.
Tunasema Kiswahili kidogo.
Hali ya hewa ni joto na mvua.
Tunafurahia kunywa chai ya moto.
Tumekula mikate mingi.
Miti na maua ni mizuri.
How are you friend?
We are learning swahili in Morogoro.
We only speak a little Swahili.
The weather is hot and rainy .
We like to drink hot tea at tea time.
We eat a lot of bread.… Read More
Meeting with the director of WeAct, an organization that provides health services and entrepreneurship opportunities for women infected with HIV/AIDS in Kigali, Rwanda.Meeting with the ladies of the sewing cooperative in Kigali.Freshly picked coffee beans at the Huye Mountain Coffee Farm.Tosca learns how to roast coffee beans the old fashioned way in Huye, Southern Rwanda.Morgan enjoying the view after a hike at the Huye Mountain Coffee … Read More
By Tosca van Oostrum and Maytal Agasi Last week we were in Rwanda and experienced a lot of emotions that we wanted to share with you. Apprehensive for crossing our very first land border. Thankful for better infrastructure in Rwanda. Frustrated with the language barrier. Clean due to the supposedly “free” laundry service. Intune with the nature that surrounds us (even the bugs). Shocked by the personal stories of the… Read More
By Chandler Christopher During my time with the Batwa, I received the opportunity to interview four of the members who spoke English. In Batwa communities, it’s very rare that people are educated and know English. So, this was a very big, uncommon opportunity to verbally communicate in the same language with these people. The Batwa are the indigenous people of Uganda, the native people of this beautiful country. Their ancestors… Read More
By Daisy Osowski The rainy season is upon us. Dirt paths have turned to slip and slides and hauling water from our water tank 30 feet away has turned into an adventure. Just the other day while I was hauling a 40-pound jerrycan up to my house I made it to the top of the hill and slid all the way back down it.
The rainy season isn’t all bad… Read More
By Maggie Otal Been in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala for a few weeks now and it is just as beautiful as I remember. I love the atmosphere and all the friendly faces. Every person you walk past says “Buenos Dias” or “buenos tardes” even if they have no idea who you are. Some of my favorite parts of being in Xela (short for Quetzaltenango) is seeing the panaderias (bakeries) on every corner… Read More
By Kyla Moede I never would’ve imagined myself to have gained a deep obsession with five baby howler monkeys in such a simple, tiny town in Belize called Sarteneja.
It’s amazing how life always seems to work itself out. My initial inclination was drawing me to Australia, Thailand, Bali or Costa Rica, and I was somewhat disappointed in my choice of location, but now, I’ve realized that there is no… Read More
Beginning the Lake Bunyonyi Canoe Trek.Mana Bena’s on Lake Bunyonyi.Maytal learning how to shoot a bow and arrow from the B’twa people.Peter and Morgan doing headstands at the top of the mountain we climbed during our trek.View of the coast of Lake Bunyonyi.Learning how to make woven bracelets on Lake Bunyonyi.… Read More
By Juliette Clem Hola friends + family of Maya!
Greetings from El Paredon, Guatemala. This past week has been packed full of so many fun and interesting activities that I thought the best way to share them would be through a collection of photos. I hope you enjoy!
We started our week in Antigua, where we had our first student-directed travel time so we got to choose our activities, which… Read More
By Jamie Vischer Hey Parents!
We have had an unbelievable week exploring the coast of the North Island. We started in Raglan, a cool surfing town on the West Coast. Our time was mainly spent at the Marae, a Maori community gathering space. We learned tons of stuff about Maori history, ceremonies, and language. We had the pleasure of experiencing a pōwhiri, a traditional welcoming ceremony in the Maori culture.… Read More
By Alejandra Villanueva Navarro We have arrived back to Chaing Mai after four days of trekking and walking to small villages. Our first day of trekking seemed like an endless walk of going up and down steep hills but arriving at the small welcoming villages made it all worth it. We stayed in a cabin with no electricity and a small mattress to sleep on, but it was all we… Read More
Hola familia! We spent this week in the beautiful city of Banos, a backpackers dream city full of opportunities for great food, extreme sports, relaxation, and good times. The group has enjoyed our homestays this week. We were able to become part of a real Ecuadorian family. We were treated like real daughters and sons, as we were served great meals and kindness.
One of the most important things we… Read More
By Angelo Accus Our journey to Lake Atítlan began with Talia being a team player and using her Level: 100 finesse skills to talk down our boat driver from 500 quetzales to 280 quetzales. Talia truly raised the bar for the Transporte position. We then glided across the sparkly blue-green Lake Atítlan, which smelled much cleaner than we had anticipated. Many of the Maya group members took photos as the… Read More
By Olive Hey guys!
I wanted to go a little more in-depth about student-directed travel. We drove from Wellington to a town north of Raglan and we stayed there for four days. We worked on getting into a groove with cooking and our group roles. There was also a lot of free time with opportunities to go kayaking, laying out in the sun, playing in the waves and exploring the… Read More
By Jason Tyler Hey! Hoping this finds everyone back home doing well!
We’ve had an eventful past few days at SNEC and Lake Bunyonyi.
We arrived at SNEC, a school for special needs students in Uganda, on March first. While there we volunteered in the classrooms doing activities with the students and helped rebuild a veranda around a classroom building. It was a lot of hard work but our group… Read More
Dressed up to visit the Gaddafi Mosque in Kampala.Buying produce in the fruit market in Kabale. Exploring the hills near the Special Needs Education Center outside of Kabale.Goofing around outside of SNEC.Kiara contemplating the hills of southern Uganda.Saying goodbye on our last morning at SNEC.The veranda that we helped build at SNEC. It’s not done yet, but our local carpenter friend Silas is finishing the … Read More
By Dominique Lakhiaminh This week we were fortunate enough to stay with homestays in Fang. Fang is a village with Akha and Lahu hilltribe people. We all got to stay with wonderful families that were loving and full of laughter. We got to learn about their culture and be able to help build a school for students that would have otherwise had to go to work with their parents at… Read More
