Archive for 2010

The great thing about the Tuy Hoa programme is that there is always something different to do.  We teach a couple of classes at the Fishing Village school and the little school – which is literally a little school for little people (about 15 kids being taught in this small room).
These kids come from low socio economic backgrounds and we are their English teachers!!  Today we did ABC practice then some numbers 1 – 10. We always sing songs – “If you are happy and you know it” etc etc and reada story. I love reading stories to the kids [...]

Heute war ein ziemlich anstrengender und interessanter Tag^^ Ich habe ziemlich viel mit den groesseren Kindern gespielt, und sobald ich jemanden hochgenommen habe, kamen mind. 5 andere und wollten auch..^^ Ueber Mittag haben wir auch viel mit den Mamas und Studenten geredet und interessante Dinge ueber kulturelle Unterschiede etc. erfahren. Julie und ich leihen jetzt am Morgen meisten unser Modem an Liuba (Krankenschwester) und Rosemary (Sekretaerin) aus, damit sie einige Dinge am anderen PC machen koennen. Aber da das Modem so langsam ist, helfe ich ihnen meistens in dem ich meinen kleinen Lapi nehme und ihre Dinge erledige.. Julie hat [...]

I have been pretty lazy with keeping up my journals. I know some volunteers do daily updates but I’m more of a weekly person!
So last week ended up being pretty hetic. The boys orphanage was outstanding! They are so education focused with farming programs, sugar cane juice production, cooking classes, sewing classes, wood working and metal work classes, the produce their own honey and they have an actual school. Its good to see they are empowering these boys with skills for the rest of their lives. Some of the boys go onto university and have really successful careers. Its great! So [...]

Habari!
So, the latest update on my Kenya trip is that I decided to send 11 orphaned children to an orphanage with the money that has been raised in Canada for the IDP camp. These children were living with relatives that couldn’t afford them, and in some cases don’t want them. Many of these children had their parents die in the political conflicts in 2007 and quite a few have had their parent’s die recently (in the last year or two) from HIV/AIDS. Only one of the children has confirmed HIV status but a few of them haven’t been tested and [...]

I plan to make a PowerPoint presentation upon my return from Ecuador.  It will be comprehensive with lessons learned, trip highlights, and lots of pictures.   It will take some time to prepare, so please be patient.  There are a LOT of pictures and I have to go through all of them first.

Bericht vom Montag, 08.03.2010
Gestern waren Julie und ich in Nairobi und trafen einen taiwanesischen Freund von ihr. Wir sind rein zufaellig auf einen Masai Markt gestossen und haben uns dort umgesehen. Anscheinend ist es dort so ueblich, dass man einen Broker mitnimmt, der Dinge an denen du evtl. interessiert bist in eine Tasche packt und du am Schluss mit diesem den Preis aushandelst. Ich hab ihn extrem runtergemarktet, aber ich glaube ich habe immernoch zu viel gezahlt..^^ Ich bin nicht gut im Markten.. Jedenfalls werd ich naechstes mal sicher auch nicht mehr mit so einem gehen, sondern direkt bei den [...]

Bericht vom Freitag, 05.03.2010
Gestern, Donnerstag, sind Julie und ich am Nachmittag auf den Campus einer nahegelegenen Universitaet gegangen. In Kenya muessen Studenten alle 60 Stunden Community Service machen. Wir haben im Happy Life auch einige Studenten, die helfen kommen, und so hat uns einer jener Studenten auf dem Campus rumgefuehrt. War echt cool, vor allem war der Campus so gruen^^
Heute gab es eine kleine Feier zu ehren einer Mitarbeiterin, die gerade erst aufgehoert hat. Das war echt der Hammer, zuerst haben wir alle zusammen gegessen, und danach wurde gesungen und getanzt. Da Happy Life ein christliches Heim ist, haben sie [...]

Hi all,
I literally have mere moments to write this, so I will be uber brief.
The past days have been wonderful as we continue to engage with people in the camp and surrounding communities. I have slowly been building my language skills (though they minimal at best) and am daily learning more about the culture and traditions here.
We just returned from a 3-day safari in Maasai-Mara, which was incredible in every way, but I will save that for later. It was awesome to see more of the Kenyan country-side and to meet many Maasai people. And of course the wild animals [...]

Habari!
Things have been busy this last week. Ali and I have definitely gotten more comfortable with our role at camp and we have begun to take over the volunteer duties at the clinic. We spent Tuesday at the clinic helping dispense medication and hopefully we are beginning to cut down on the mass amounts of meds being given out at the clinic – we may have begun to use our discretion on the amounts of meds and we may not be exactly giving the whole amount prescribed when it doesn’t fit the clinical picture…
Wednesday was supposed to be our woman’s [...]

Well, the first week in Vietnam has gone. After arriving in Danang last Sunday afternoon, I’ve had a full week. We had a day and half of orientation including some vietnamese language tuition, which is a real challenge. Depending on the intonation of the word, one word can have 6 different meanings. There you go!
The first placement for me was the baby orphanage, where about 15 babies and infants are housed in 2 small rooms together with the ‘mothers’ who are there permanently. We, volunteers, go there 4 afternoons a week to help them out and to give the little [...]

The Tuy Hoa Childrens programme is mainly working with young kids and teaching them english although there is a caring element to the whole programme.
At all of the placements we go to there is some kind of extra need. Either the kids are disabled or they are from low socio economic backgrounds (which is pretty low in Vietnam!) or they are from poor families and from rural areas and have come to the city to get an education. All the children have higher needs and are often lacking the basic nurishment that you or I would be used too as [...]

So I have returned from an enjoyable but expensive time in the ever popular and very touristy Baños.  This is the cleanest and prettiest city I have seen in Ecuador, and it is made so by the large gringo presence (and $$$).  Friday night we arrived in good order after a long bus ride and partied the night away at a discotech.  We even got a free ¨Bienvenidos shot¨.  Saturday some of us rented some mountain bikes and we rode down the mountain road towards Puyo which is filled with waterfalls and scenic views.  That was one of the best [...]

Besides shoveling a whole lot of mud out of a water collection pit, work this week has been rather boring.  Last weekend I went to some far away place called cascada de latas and saw some beautiful waterfalls.  There was much cliff jumping involved as well.  The water felt great!  On wednesday, 34 Masters of Biodiversity students from Quito arrived for the next 10 days to study.  There´s about 50 people at the station right now.  Mealtime is a fiasco!
This weekend I go to the famous town of Baños, where there´s an active volcano, a cool road to bike down [...]

Hey everyone!
I’ve arrived in Jinja for the weekend, the touristy area in Uganda. Lynn and I are staying in a backpackers hostel for two nights, the views are amazing overlooking the Nile and Bujagali Falls. The trip here was a little risky, however, as we had to take bodas (motorcycle taxis) for 15 minutes on sketchy dirt roads without helmets. You hang on the backseat  you aren’t supposed to hold the driver. But anything for a $7 a night room. We’re here until Saturday evening. Today we’ll visit the town, shop in the market and get some mzungu food (pizza!) [...]

When I was told that It would be an 8 hour bus ride to Tuy Hoa (pronouced “Tea Wah”) I had my first – what AM I doing? moment. 8 hours on a Vietnamese bus….. that could mean anything but soon my fears were gone and we were on our way.  The bus was more like a large mini van and yes, it was pretty full with people and baggage and sure, our toilet stops were on the side of the road – but the experience was brillant the the views were something else.
The highway runs down the coast of [...]

Ich bin nun schon seit drei Tagen in Kenya und ich find es klasse!^^ Die ersten beiden Tage war unsere Orientierung. Wir haben einiges ueber die Gepflogenheiten hier erfahren und einen Swahili-Crashkurs gemacht.. Wir sind insgesamt 7 Volunteers, die jetzt am 1. Maerz angefangen haben. Es sind alles wirklich tolle Leute! Am zweiten Orientierungstag haben wir einen Ausflug zum Nairobi National Park gemacht, um dort das Animal Orphanage zu besichtigen.. Das war wirklich unvergesslich^^ Jede Menge verschiedene Tiere, wir konnten einen alten Geparden streicheln und ein kleiner frecher Affe hat mir meinen Touchstick von meiner Kamera geklaut, als ich ihn [...]

So wow! Where to begin?
I have been in Panama 5 days now but it honestly feels like I have been here for months! Boquete is such a lovely, friendly town. People I have met say hi to me in the street and it makes me feel like a part of the community! This is the type of place I see myself moving too in the future. Other than the amazing locals the other volunteers on the projects are full of life and energy. They really put a part of themselves into learning more about Panama and truly aspiring to make even the [...]

There are only a couple of days left of our volunteer time here in Boquete. I have been spending 3 mornings a week at a daycare centre working with the woman who runs it. There are only 5 children there (3 and 4 year olds) and we meet in one room of her house with some tables and chairs. The kids are cute and vary in abilities like any typical group. I struggle with my Spanish and can’t really understand the kids when they chatter away but I can often tell what they are saying by their expressions and signs. [...]

My booking agent booked my flight but did not give the airline my ticket number and the airline cancelled my ticket. After six hours of trying to get things worked out I’m still in India waiting for the booking agent to get back to me. I’m so disappointed. I will reach China sooner or later.  Stay tuned…

I was asked to go to the kindergarten class one last monday morning.  This is the first time I’ve been to this placement.  Since it was last minute, I had to wing it.  From what I gathered, the class were taught their ABCs and numbers in English.  I brought along flash cards from the house.  The kiddies started out very polite and greeted me with, “Good Morning, Teacher” as is the sign of respect in the Asian culture.   But after trying to get them to review the English alphabet with them, some of the kids were into mischief and weren’t [...]

Riding a bus in Panama is an experience to remember.  We have noticed two kinds of buses – large vans which travel to most locations and big yellow school buses which travel between Boquete and David (pronounced Daw-veed).  The drivers are great people and there is always an assistant to watch for riders and take fares. The assistant often perches on an old barrel at the doorway.  The beginning of the trip out of Boquete is extremely slow as the driver and his assistant stop anywhere for some one who waves, check side streets for possible riders coming and/or wait for some one to come out [...]

I arrived yesterday in beautiful Boquete after a very long trip! Panama City is not at all my type of city, so it was a relief to finally get here. After the best chicken I have ever had for lunch at one of the local cafes I headed back to the volunteer lodge. It is great accomodation in the centre of Boquete, not that the town is a big place, but it is really convenient. The town is really noisy which seems to be the only downside so far. The strangest of noises seem to continue all day and all [...]

Oli Otya everyone!
This week has been nose to the grindstone for my placement work. Teaching is getting much easier and building is like a little adventure everyday, but still hard work.
Monday was sad. Katie left with Leslie to  fly home. The family was devastated and I was super bummed because it was nice to have a fellow mzungu around the village. She left around lunch without getting to say bye to the kids – it was raining to hard to go to school. When it pours, the noise from the rain on the tin roofs at school makes it impossible [...]

When we got to the Island of Amantani in Lake Titcaca Erika, Liz and I were appointed Senora Victoria as our Mom. Her house was very beautiful, much nicer than the house where I am staying in Umasbamba. The tour guide had told us that the families were going to give us hats to help them to differentiate which volunteers were staying with them. Our mom pulled out a bunch of hats, but was then trying to get us to buy them for s/.25.00…we could buy similar ones in Cusco for s/.8.00. This was very confusing for us, we though [...]

In 10.5 Stunden fliegt mein Flugzeug in Zürich ab..! Aaah! Werd langsam aber sicher nervös..^^
Jetzt noch die letzten Vorbereitungen tätigen und ab gehts..<3

On Saturday, we went rafting down the Lower Misualli Valley River, and it was so incredibly gorgeous!  There were many giant waterfalls everywhere.  It did rain the most since I´ve been here, but that was not much water compared to what the river provided!  The rafting trip included quite a long hike through the forest, in the rain, as well.  It was an intimate look at primitive jungle.  The trip took all day and was the most fun I´ve had in Ecuador so far.  Not only was it my first rafting trip, but the scenery was so wonderful.
I have just [...]

Hi all!
It’s been a while since I posted anything so I feel like there is a lot to catch you all up on. For the past week Ali and I have been busy getting to know people in the camp and I am feeling quite proud that I am beginning to remember names AND put faces to them!
The last week we spend Tuesday and Thursday in the medical clinic helping mostly to distribute what seems like masses of drugs. The Kenyan’s seem to be particularly fond of medicine, and every mama brings her “chupa’s” or bottles to get medicine for [...]