Less than one month | NGS Movement

Rosalia Mahr, Global Brigades

Name: Rosalia Mahr
School: Marquette University
Type of Work: Medical/Public Health, Environment/Conservation
Region: Central America
Length of stay: Less than 1 month

The team’s greenhouse, named “Los gigantes verdes” (written in the Embera language), along with the group of students and the family they worked with.

Tell us about the organization you work for and what you do for them.
I am a member of Global Brigades. There are currently 9 different disciplines within the organization and throughout Marquette University we now currently have 4 of the disciplines. This has been a huge part of my life and my college career for the past 3 years. I have been a part of a Medical/Dental Brigade to Honduras for 2 different years. On these brigades a group of students joins a small group of doctors (from the US and also from Honduras) and sets up a temporary health care area in a few different rural cities. The students help the doctors in translation, intake, triage and in the pharmacy in order to provide health care to these areas that would normally have to drive hours to the nearest hospital. This past year I was blessed enough to be a part of and Environmental Brigade to Panama. During the brigade we built greenhouses for a few families in Piriati (an area a few hours outside of Panama City) along with teaching the people about waste management, organic farming and different ways to take care of the environment around them. One of the key concepts behind Global Brigades is sustainability. Everyone involved is all a part of a larger group for social change working to improve other’s quality of life.

Share a favorite memory.
This past spring when I was in Panama for the Environmental Brigade I was blessed with the family that I was able to work with. The group of students I was with was in charge of building an organic greenhouse for this one family. The wonderful part about this project was the family we were building the greenhouse for was involved in the construction each step of the way. I was helping one of the sons of the family surround the greenhouse in chicken wire. This took some time and allowed for the son and I to talk and find out about each others’ lives. This touched me the most. He shared with me his dreams for the future and where he wants to go with his life. He wants to be able to continue his studies, learn more languages and then, hopefully return to Panama to apply his skills to bettering other people’s lives. He has so much determination in him when he talks about his dreams, and the whole week he worked so hard to help us finish our greenhouse on time. He has the world at his fingertips like anybody else does. Sometimes it is so easy to forget that the people we are serving are people all the same. They have dreams and passion just like the rest of us. The son and I keep contact still via Facebook. I love technology for this reason. He is always checking in to see how I am doing and he gives me constant updates about the progress of the plants we placed in the greenhouse. This is one of my favorite memories of Global Brigades.

The Global Brigades group standing on a mountain overlooking the community of Piriati Embera in which they were working in Panama.

What have you learned from your experience? How has it affected your long-term goals?
Being a member of Global Brigades has changed my life. I understand this sounds a little cheesy, but it is entirely true. I have known for most of my life that I want to go on to become a physician. If anything has made me a person for others, it has been Global Brigades. It has defined my college career and is a major part of my life. I understand through what I have seen and learned that there is so much more to health care than just physical exams, diagnoses and medications. I have learned how everything is connected (spirituality, environment, physical well-being, etc.) and how important keeping that sense of humanity and connectivity is when working with anyone. Sometimes a smile can make just as much a difference in a person’s life as a medication to cure a sickness. I cannot look at the world in the same way after returning from Panama. I have learned where my priorities and passions lie and I have gained a new and more intense drive to become a physician. Each time I have traveled to Central America I have been extremely tempted to simply stay there and continue with whatever I am doing. But each time I have realized that there is so much more I can do. I can serve even more people and in a more fulfilling manner (for myself and for others) if I return to school and continue my studies to become a physician. I am motivated to be the best version of myself that I can be. These experiences have solidified my goals to become a physician and the serve those less fortunate than I am for the rest of my life. I owe Global Brigades and each person I have worked with so much in helping me learn so much about myself and about the world.

Do you have any advice for prospective gappers?
Be open-minded. You never know what is going to happen and you never know what each thing is going to teach you.

Harrison Gill, American Jewish World Service

Making cement.

Name: Harrison Gill
School: University of California, San Diego
Type of Work: Education, Infrastructure
Region: Central America
Length of stay: Less than one month

Tell us about the organization you work for and what you do for them.
I volunteered with the American Jewish World Service through their Alternative Spring Break program during my freshman year with several other students at my university back over spring break 2010. We helped provide support to OPCION/Aj Ticonel and the local community of San Antonio, Chimaltenango, Guatemala by helping with the local school renovations. The school had been so successful that they were doubling the size. We spent most of our weekdays working on the school, playing with the kids, building and painting furniture, or leveling the driveway. Every night we did a text study of various academic sources and religious opinions, which offered us the ability to apply a critical lens to what we were doing by volunteering in Guatemala and how that affected the community. Our weekend was spent walking through the town and over to the next town and getting to know the community. AJWS also requires a follow-up program upon return to the United States to increase awareness for which I made one presentation and also led a dinner table discussion.

Share a favorite memory.
Hearing the stories of the locals was the best thing about this experience. San Antonio was heavily affected by the Guatemalan civil war and almost half the community was killed or severely wounded as a result of the conflict, which the United States was largely implicit in. We had the opportunity to walk about the community as well as over to a neighboring village to see what the living conditions were like. We also got to play games, such as soccer or frisbee, with the kids during recess or when they happened to be around the school.

What have you learned from your experience? How has it affected your long-term goals?
The experience made me realize how much more interconnected the world really is than we might think. It is clear from the community how much what occurs in the United States and other highly developed countries affects rural developing countries. Since my return I have been compelled to increase my understanding of the region as well as work to increase awareness of pressing development issues through various organizations I participate in. Most of all, I have continued to volunteer wherever I might be.

The school.

What is the most challenging part of your job?
Living conditions were challenging at times. When one goes to volunteer in a community like San Antonio, you give up things like beds, hot water, and automatic toilets that you are probably accustomed to back home. What you get in return however is some awesome home hospitality and great locally cooked meals.

Do you have any advice for prospective gappers?
Go for it. If you are truly committed, you can do it. If you need help convincing your parents (and yourself) on the other hand, do some research on your program provider and look into things like how many staff members they provide on the ground, ground transportation, and any medical certifications staff might have. My dad was very concerned about me going, but after I assured him of the services AJWS provides, he was more than happy.

in Central America / Education / Featured Gappers / Give Your Gap / Infrastructure / Less than one month by NGS Movement 09 Mar 2012 0 comments

Sylvia Ng, Ecoteers

It’s a turtle! ‘Penyu’ in Malay.

Name: Sylvia Ng
Type of Work: Environment/Conservation
Region: Asia
Length of stay: Less than one month

Tell us about the organization you work for and what you do for them.
The organization I worked with is called Ecoteers. I volunteered for their Perhentian Turtle Volunteer Project in the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia for 2 consecutive years. I had a blasting time there. It was sun, sea, turtles, snorkeling, sand, stars, frisbee time, pontoon and jetty diving, village kids, mango ice blend almost everyday( with a dose of occasional thunder and monsoon rain!) And of all, the friends I made and the memories we forged together were unforgettable. Not forgetting the countless of close encounters I had with the beloved Mother Nature- being up close and monitoring female turtles and their hatchlings and monitor lizards!

Share a favorite memory.
Patrolling on a beach full of turtle tracks with 3 turtles making their pit at the same time but-there were only 2 of us! And did I mention, there were thunder and lighting?

South China Sea

What have you learned from your experience? How has it affected your long-term goals?
I decided to volunteer for this project because I wanted to reaffirm my passion. And I did.I always love the ocean and dream of doing my part in conserving marine animals. Turtles was definitely part of it. Throughout my weeks in this project, I’ve gained so many knowledge of turtles, corals, sharks and many general global oceanic problems. I met so many like minded people out there with a common goal as I do, people who inspires me, people whom I hope to work with one day. I know for sure after everything, that saving up for studying marine studies is definitely what I want in life- because I simply derive so much joy from it.

Do you have any advice for prospective gappers?
Follow your heart. Nothing beats a holiday for a good cause. Your money will definitely be worth it!

in Asia / Environment/Conservation / Featured Gappers / Features / Give Your Gap / Less than one month by NGS Movement 01 Mar 2012 0 comments

Roheet Kakaday, Project RISHI

A forest path in Mulgavan.

Name, Age: Roheet Kakaday, 21
University, Major: UC San Diego, Bioengineering
Region: Asia
Length of stay: Less than one month
Type of Work: Medical/Public Health, Environment/Conservation, Education, Infrastructure, Community Development, Arts, Childcare

Tell us about the nonprofit/social business you work for:
Project RISHI (Rural India Social and Healthcare Improvement) at the University of California, San Diego, is a relatively new organization that’s making positive and sustainable changes to rural Indian communities. UC San Diego’s Project RISHI primarily focuses on helping Anandwan, a rural leprosy colony in Maharashtra, India, and the physicians, patients, and staff who reside there. We plan on expanding our focus to encompass more rural areas that need help in the coming years. Project RISHI has chapters in UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, and Northwestern University with more on the way.

How did you find your position?
During another club’s general body meeting, the president of UCSD Project RISHI was given the opportunity to present a short powerpoint. As he recounted the experiences he had in Anandwan, I became inspired to help him out and, perhaps, visit Anandwan myself. I’ve been with UCSD Project RISHI for three years now, serving as a member for two of those years and on the leadership board for one year.

What’s your typical day like?
The thing about Anandwan, and rural India in general, is that there is a lot of work to be done. This enables volunteers to choose the field in which they would be most effective and focus their time there. When I visited with the first UCSD Project RISHI group, I took my time exploring the various needs of Anandwan. As a colony, Anandwan has become largely self-sufficient and with that self-sufficiency has come a microcosm of “industries” to help in. Anandwan educates children through their own schools, grows and ships its own food, creates its own prostheses for the handicapped, diagnoses and prescribes medications from physicians who live there, and much more. From a volunteer’s perspective, Anandwan is ripe for exploration, with each volunteer’s experience dependent on how much they leverage their capabilities.

When I came into Anandwan, I had a pre-medical student’s mindset which led me to assist in the medical area. I woke up nearly every morning at 5 AM to help out at a wound-wrapping clinic where leprosy patients with open wounds would come for treatment. I shadowed physicians in hospitals and sat in on public health seminars in order to explore what UCSD Project RISHI could do for Anandwan. I was also a part of the group that went to Somnath and Mulgavan, two rural farming areas, that needed help as well. As I was guided around the areas, I learned how farmers were having difficulties harnessing rain-water during India’s relentless monsoon season. These were illuminating experiences that jump started UCSD Project RISHI’s future improvement projects.

A typical day will start in the morning hours, the latest at 9 AM, and end around 11 PM at night. The work day here is unusually long due to the fact that you live and work in the same place. The hostel that hosts us is on the campus and is not more than a 10-minute walking distance away. You’ll start working in the morning, take the typical lunch break, a tea break in the afternoon, and end your work day sometime around 6 or 7 PM. Some of the other volunteers in our trip continued working with their groups until 10 PM! If you have the passion or drive to really help, there is no limitation placed on your volunteerism.

What kind of people do you work with?
The people who come on the trip with you are college students of varying age. The natives that you work with at Anandwan vary in their age and education. The physicians who work there have plenty of education and training in the medical field. There are, however, staff members who are older, younger, or the same age as you with varying levels of education. For example, one older staff member who trained me didn’t have a college or high school degree, but knew how to take blood pressure, wrap wounds, take medical histories and more. There are also volunteers from other international organizations that come in to help as well. Most people speak English to one degree or another, so language is usually not a barrier.

What are your living accommodations?
We lived in a hostel on the campus that was fairly decent considering that Anandwan is smack dab in rural India. It had its own bathroom, shower, four beds, a sink, and a fan in one room. By the standards of living I have seen in most poverty-stricken rural areas, I felt that we lived in the lap of luxury at this hostel. Barring the occasional gigantic exotic bug scare, living in this hostel was enjoyable. Three simple, yet tasty, meals were provided everyday and slow internet was available at a single central computer for a fee. Our group of eleven lived in four side-by-side rooms, so we were never alone and spent a lot of our time laughing nights away.

What do you do in your free time?
We explored the surrounding wilderness, enjoyed local fare, played intense games of hacky sack, joked around for hours, and spent time in deep philosophical contemplation. It was a great experience bonding with these volunteers and I definitely made some new life-long friends.

One of the self-sufficient textile industries Anandwan has.

Share a favorite memory or story from your experience!
I feel that my experience was enhanced due to the fact that I speak Marathi, the local dialect in Maharashtra. Because of this language skill (Thank you Mom and Dad!) I was able to communicate with patients directly as I wrapped their wounds in the 5 AM clinic. Listening to the stories of these patients who had been displaced from their homes and expunged from their former lives had a lasting impact on me. It made me realize how much I take for granted here in the U.S. and just how much change needs to occur abroad. The positive effects of just one volunteer making a difference is amplified in places like rural India. This experience served to formulate the basis of my future career – to help the under served populations of the world.

What inspired you to do this kind of work? If you are taking a gap year, what motivated you to do that?
When I was investigating nonprofits to join, I wanted the opportunity to not only make a difference but undergo some self-exploration as well. I believe part of volunteerism is not only making positive changes for others, but creating positive changes in oneself as well. For that to happen, one needs to find a cause worthy of one’s energy and investment.

I realized that an aspect of nonprofit work that really appealed to me was hands-on volunteerism – volunteerism in which I could really get involved in not only the implementation of projects but the planning stages as well. Though there were a good amount of clubs at UCSD with that kind of hands-on volunteerism, the critical aspect of self-exploration was missing from many of them. For example, one could go to South America and aid critical volunteer efforts, but all the activities were already prescribed and scheduled. I needed the opportunity to not only complete such volunteer efforts, but to find them in my own time and devote myself to them because I wanted to, not because a schedule told me to.

UCSD Project RISHI, as a relatively new club, offered the hands-on volunteerism and the self-exploration aspect that I was searching for. It was the perfect fit for me and I have never regretted choosing RISHI since.

How are you financing your time?
All work done for Project RISHI is on a volunteer basis so no one received any kind of financial compensation for their efforts. Furthermore all members who go on the trip to India pay their own way there. That means paying for round trip tickets, lodging, and food to and from Anandwan. Though it sounds like a lot, the trip’s total cost is no more than $1,500, a fairly manageable sum.

What kind of special skills do you need to do your job?
Adaptability.

Do you feel like you are making a positive, critical impact on the global community?
The entire reason I joined UCSD Project RISHI was to make a positive and critical impact in a community. So, yes, of course I feel like I am making a positive contribution to this rural Indian community. That feeling was further reinforced by the gratitude I received from lepers and staff alike when volunteering in the field.

Furthermore, UCSD Project RISHI’s focus on sustainability as an integral part of any project it undertakes is unique amongst nonprofits today. When we design our projects, we want to make sure that even in our absence the projects we design will continue to have their desired effect. As our projects come to fruition, I have every confidence that we will make a positive and lasting impact in Anandwan and rural areas beyond.

What have you learned about the nonprofit and social business world in your experience?
Effective nonprofit work is slow and steady, despite the unrelenting vision of motivated individuals. To make a truly lasting impact, the nonprofit needs to scout the problems, come up with various solutions, and ensure that the solution it chooses is sustainable, low-cost, and, most importantly, effective. This process takes a while, but once it gets going it’s hard to not be enthusiastic about it.

How do you see this experience fitting into your long-term goals?
Volunteering for Project RISHI on campus and in Anandwan solidified my choice of career. Caring for lepers made me realize how important medicine is to the under served populations here at home and abroad. As such, I hope to enter a field where I can care for such disadvantaged populations in a medical capacity. My ideal choice is to be a physician and make a concrete difference in such patients’ lives.

Moreover, handling lepers’ wounds served as a litmus test for medicine. I figured if I could stomach the sight of severely disfigured limbs, then I may be able to handle some of the sights in medicine. When I began treating the lepers who came into the clinic, I found myself engrossed with their histories more so than their wounds, which made me believe that perhaps medicine would work for me.

What’s next?
I hope to go onto medical school after graduating from college. In medical school, I want to help expand Project RISHI’s vision and perhaps even recruit medical school students and physicians to help out. They could be an invaluable asset to implementing projects in Anandwan and beyond.

Do you have any advice for prospective gap-givers?
UCSD Project RISHI, or even the Project RISHI at your local college, is a great option for volunteerism. From the start you can get involved in everything about the club, from planning events to staffing them. Every effort on your part can be directly translated into increased fundraising and better projects for the target site your local RISHI chapter has in mind. Project RISHI needs all the help it can get, and you can be the one to make the critical difference. If Project RISHI doesn’t seem to be something you’d be interested in, then there are plenty of other nonprofits with equally valuable work waiting to be accomplished. Get out there and get involved. It’ll be worth your time and you’ll feel better for it.

Are you blogging about your work or travel? How can we stay in touch?
Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/ucsdprojectrishi or on Twitter @SDProjectRISHI for more information! We also had a travel blog you can find at projectrishi.wordpress.com, though it was sparsely updated due to the shaky internet connection.

Would you be willing to take questions from potential Gappers?
Yes.

in Arts / Asia / Childcare / Community Development / Education / Environment/Conservation / Featured Gappers / Give Your Gap / Infrastructure / Less than one month / Medical by NGS Movement 23 Dec 2011 0 comments

Kylie Holloway, Global Leadership Adventures

On one of our excursions we traveled to the island of Bartolome where Master and Commander was filmed. We spent the afternoon on the beach to the right of me in the photo and snorkeled in that inlet.

Name, Age: Kylie Holloway, 18
University, Major: UC San Diego, International Studies and Theater
Region: South America
Length of stay: Less than one month
Type of Work: Environment/Conservation

Tell us about the nonprofit/social business you work for:
Global Leadership Adventures. My specific program was in Quito, Ecuador as well as the Galapagos Islands, working on a giant tortoise wildlife reserve for two weeks. The website is www.experiencegla.com

How did you find your position?
Google search for teen volunteer programs.

What’s your typical day like?
We woke up early (around eight) and had breakfast with our host family. Then we traveled by bus to the giant tortoise reserve about a half hour away. We spent the first half of the day cleaning and performing general maintenance on the reserve for about five hours with a break for lunch. After work the group traveled on several excursions such as snorkeling, hiking, and visiting the Charles Darwin Research Center. In the evening we would have group bonding activities after a dinner at our host family’s house.

What kind of people do you work with?
I traveled in a group from Miami with fellow students ranging from ages 15 to 19. The group stayed together until we departed from the Quito airport two weeks later. Some of the fellow students were international, for example one was from Mexico and another was from Taiwan.
We had a lot of opportunity to interact with the natives as we stayed with two host families, worked alongside year-long native employees, and had plenty of free time to explore the town and get to know the locals.

The group in the ditch we spent 3 days digging. We later filled it in with rocks to make a pool for the tortoises so that they do not overheat in the summer.

What are your living accommodations?
We stayed in simple homes, nice for the poverty level of the area however. The food was great and so was the company. We had power and often watched telenovelas with our host family. However the shower water was very cold and bugs were not uncommon in the rooms, never in the beds however. There was internet access in the hotel in Quito, but no internet or phone access for the rest of the trip except for emergencies, however this was very refreshing.

What do you do in your free time?
Our home was about a quarter mile from the beach so a lot of time was spent there. Most of the time we just wandered and explored the town. We were required to stay in small groups and the area was very safe so we were free to do as we pleased. We usually bought cheap snacks and Cokes at the store and sat in the hammocks in the town center and talked with a few local teens we had made friends with.

Share a favorite memory or story from your experience!
While we were in our second home on the island of Santa Cruz, we took a day trip to Las Griettas, which are basically small fjords that cut into the island with cliffs overlooking them. The water in incredibly clear and the area is just beautiful. Our group climbed on the cliffs and jumped from about thirty-forty feet up into the water and had a great day swimming around and just playing on the cliffs. Challenging myself to take the leap (literally) was a truly amazing experience.

Probably my favorite part of the trip; jumping off the cliffs that lined the walls of Las Grietas. The water was incredibly clear and it was just beautiful.

What inspired you to do this kind of work?
Travel Bug!

How are you financing your time?
Personal savings.

Do you feel like you are making a positive, critical impact on the global community?
Yes, I feel like we could have spent more time at the reserve but this program has the best, in my opinion, balance of excursions and volunteer hours. I did feel like we made a difference to the reserve however. Looking back at the work we did, the land we cleared and the pond we built, I do feel as though we were successful in giving back to the community.

What’s next?
More volunteering and finishing school!

What is one thing you wish you knew before you came to your position?
Don’t drink the milk in South America, but eat the steak, its fantastic.

Do you have any advice for prospective gap-givers?
Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, talk to people, make friends, say yes to new experiences.
“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.” -Sydney J. Harris

in Environment/Conservation / Featured Gappers / Features / Give Your Gap / Less than one month / South America by NGS Movement 01 Dec 2011 0 comments

Mugdha Golwalkar, Project RISHI

Name, Age:Mugdha Golwalkar, 20
University, Major:UC San Diego, Human Biology
Region:Asia
Length of stay:Flexible
Type of Work:Medical/Public Health, Environment/Conservation , Education, Community Development, Arts, Childcare

Tell us about the nonprofit/social business you work for:
Project RISHI (Rural Indian Social and Healthcare Improvement) is a student-run organization that works during the year to raise funds for several sustainable projects, which we then carry out on a two-week trip to a leprosy colony in rural Maharastra, India. We have chapters at UC San Diego, UCLA, Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC Davis, and Northwestern University currently, but we’re always looking to expand! You can check out the website at www.projectrishi.org or specifically the UCSD chapter at www.facebook.com/groups/ucsdprojectrishi or follow us on Twitter @SDProjectRISHI for updates!

How did you find your position?
I heard about the first GBM through another organization on the UCSD campus called Sangam, and went from there!

What’s your typical day like?
When we visit, we have a fair amount of flexibility with the kinds of work we can help with there. I woke up every day at 5 am to wrap leprosy wounds in the hospital, and then spent most of the day either working on our projects, teaching dance lessons to disabled girls, teaching/helping out at the kindergarten and nursery, meeting with officials to assess the kind of project that the colony and neighboring villages still need that we could help with, and working in the pathology lab taking blood samples from patients and testing them for malaria. There are tons of opportunities if you take the initiative to ask about them.

What kind of people do you work with?
This colony does get other organizations that visit it, so you will be working with natives as well as international people most of the time. The majority of the administration speaks English, so language is not a big problem. The ages of people we worked with varied a lot depending on what each person chose get involved in in the community. Most people in the colony are minimally educated, but often knowledgable in the specific trades they have learned.

What are your living accommodations?
The colony has a guest house, which is generally a small room with several cots and an attached bathroom with western style toilet and eastern style baths (out of buckets). They aren’t the most comfortable accommodations, and sometimes there are bugs, but they do provide all the meals and the experience more than makes up for the adjustment. Internet is available at a central location, but it’s pretty slow and limited as this is an extremely rural area.

What do you do in your free time?
In my free time, we learned sign language form some of the locals, we went hiking and biking around the area. Sometimes we would go out into the main city to the market or to little local restaurants.

Most of these girls are either partially blind or deaf or were affected in some way by leprosy, but most of them already danced in the orchestra! Teaching them was an honor.

Share a favorite memory or story from your experience!
I got to teach Indian classical dance to girls affected by disabilities or leprosy! Honestly, they were so sweet, and they welcomed me with open arms and called me their “older sister” even though I was younger than some of them! They wanted us to teach them some western dance, but then spent the whole time making fun of me and my other friend who taught them when we tried to show them a latin dance to Shakira. They’re definitely friends I’m never going to forget, and they’re a big part of why I want to go back.

How are you financing your time?
I’m paying for the trip mainly out of my own funds, but with some help from my parents. The trip we take through Project RISHI generally costs $1500 and lasts for 2 weeks, but the leprosy colony we stay at would gladly welcome volunteers who want to stay longer, and it wouldn’t be too much more expensive.

What kind of special skills do you need to do your job?
None.

Do you feel like you are making a positive, critical impact on the global community?
Yes, I do. I feel like outside the trip, I’m spreading awareness about leprosy, which for a completely curable disease that 95% of the population is immune to, is IMMENSELY stigmatized. And on the trip itself, I can tell I’m really helping by volunteering around the community, because they really need the manpower.

Sunset at Somnath

How do you see this experience fitting into your long-term goals?
I have always wanted to work in public health, preferably in a rural community as a career, but my biggest problem was that I wasn’t sure if I could handle the conditions. I’m applying to Masters in Public Health programs right now, and I’m thinking about medical school afterward, so this experience really solidified my future goals and showed me that I can handle an experience like this, and probably can handle rural medicine, more long-term.

Do you have any advice for prospective gap-givers?
Take the initiative! Most communities you will work in are really open to having volunteers. Ask what you can do, and it doesn’t have to be overt work, like in a hospital or a school. Teaching the locals a new game or babysitting for someone for a night so they can have a night off can be just as rewarding!

Are you blogging about your work or travel? How can we stay in touch?
Our blog is at projectrishi.wordpress.com but as we didn’t have very stable internet there, our blogging was a little limited. Feel free to comment and ask questions though!

Would you be willing to take questions from potential Gappers?
Yes.

in Arts / Asia / Childcare / Community Development / Education / Environment/Conservation / Featured Gappers / Features / Give Your Gap / Less than one month / Medical by NGS Movement 18 Nov 2011 0 comments

Earth Hasassri

Me with Dr. Tareq and another doctor at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency that serves Palestinian refugees. My work surrounded chronic diseases of hypertension and diabetes.

Name, Age: Earth Hasassri, 21
University, Major: UC San Diego, Physiology & Neuroscience, and Psychology
Type of Work: Medical/Public Health, Environment/Conservation, Education, Infrastructure (building houses, roads, wells), Community Development, Childcare, Human Rights
Region: North America
Length of stay: Less than one month

Tell us about the nonprofit/social business you work for:
ProWorld, Urubamba, Peru (http://www.proworldvolunteers.org/) – My experience here wasn’t a very great one. The volunteer project was good, but the logistics and organizational structure lacked experience and expertise. They need to work on more strategic planning before I would give them another shot.

Working in Urubamba, Peru in school 712, teaching these children math, arts and crafts, and environmental sustainability.

Cross-Cultural Solutions, Puriscal, Costa Rica (http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/) – Overall good, but very pricey. I can understand because they have a great structure and good communication. However, they are definitely a little more voluntourist-y than I would like. The community interaction was very minimal and it’s very difficult to see the sustainability in their work.

Damar Services, Inc, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA (http://www.damar.org/) – One of the best organizations I worked with. They work with children and adults with behavioral and developmental disabilities, and I strongly believe in their mission and vision. They have a very high success rate (96%) of helping children with Autism live more independent lives and I can clearly see how they work with the public system to make what they do sustainable in terms of policy change.

Casa Familiar, San Diego, California, USA (http://www.casafamiliar.org/) – They work with migrant and border issues. I really enjoy their organization and how much they try to outreach resources to their target population.

How did you find your position?
School resource and personal connections

What’s your typical day like?
4 – 6 hours of work per day, doing various tasks

Working in Santiago de Puriscal, Costa Rica on construction of a soccer court at an elementary school with limited resources.

What kind of people do you work with?
ProWorld – Young orphans and victims of domestic violence local to Peru. I want to warn people against working with orphans unless it’s a longer term commitment since orphans already have issues surrounding attachment and separation. If a short term volunteer were to make an orphan happy, they would relive the same pains when the volunteer leaves.
Cross-Cultural Solutions – Younger, elementary school children who were Costa Rican.
Damar – Children and adults with behavioral and developmental disabilities who come from all over the US.
Casa Familiar – Migrant and refugee populations, mainly from Mexico.

What are your living accommodations?
Hostel with ProWorld, volunteer house with CCS, hotel with Damar

What do you do in your free time?
Explore

Share a favorite memory or story from your experience!
http://earthhasassri.blogspot.com/2011/04/reorientation-invisibility-of.html

What inspired you to do this kind of work? If you are taking a gap year, what motivated you to do that?
Wanderlust and active citizenship

How are you financing your time?
crowd-sourced fundraising, scholarship from school

What kind of special skills do you need to do your job?
Language, Teaching

Prom Clothing for Children with Disabilities: orking in a residential facility of Damar Services in sorting out Prom Clothing for children with disabilities, providing opportunities for these children to have a social rite of passage.

Do you feel like you are making a positive, critical impact on the global community?
Only with Damar I was. I feel that it’s very difficult when working with non-profits to make a positive, sustainable change unless both top-down policies from the public sector as well as bottom-up efforts in social movements or behavioral changes are pushed for.

What have you learned about the nonprofit and social business world in your experience?
That change mostly happens on an individual level, and that can turn into a collective social movement if organized well enough.

Do you think you make a unique contribution to your organization as a young person? Is your perspective or approach different from others?
Yes, and I hope so.

How do you see this experience fitting into your long-term goals?
Made me more understanding of how social issues are intertwined and permeate within each other.

What’s next?
Medical school

Are you blogging about your work or travel? How can we stay in touch?
http://earthinjordan.wordpress.com
http://earthhasassri.blogspot.com/
http://earf.tumblr.com

Would you be willing to take questions from potential Gappers?
Yes

in Childcare / Community Development / Education / Environment/Conservation / Featured Gappers / Give Your Gap / Human Rights / Infrastructure / Less than one month / Medical / North America by NGS Movement 01 Nov 2011 0 comments