October 2009
10 posts
Women of India Taking Steps Forward
This is Clare Rutz reporting from Chennai, India.
India overrides the senses with powerful smells fighting for room in your nose, colors too bold to capture in a piece of art, and the spices that leave you looking frantically for water. So when I got on the plane to make my way back to America there was a sense of relief. A quieter, calmer way of living was soon to be. Of course I would miss...
The Dazzling Stone Home for Children: India
This is Clare Rutz reporting from Chennai, India.
The tuk-tuk pulled into the Dazzling Stone Home For Children, and without knowing if it was actually the place that was expecting me I climbed the stairs built on the side of the building. I made my way into the first room I see with a cloth hanging at the doorframe that is not attempting to keep out the warm or cold. More than often a project...
Not Your Typical Orphanage in Chennai, India
This is Clare Rutz reporting from Chennai, India.
After about forty-five minutes in a tuk-tuk, the crowds of people slowly begin to diminish outside of Chennai. Turning into a small road off the highway (after passing it three times unintentionally), I see Iyyappan waving to show us that we’ve finally made it. Iyyappan is the founder of the Sri Arunodayam Charitable Trust, a home for the...
Video Volunteers: Understanding the Power of...
This is Clare Rutz reporting from Goa, India.
During my travels one of the most concerning issues concerning the INGO world is the lack of communication between a project and well, everyone else. Very rarely do charities work with one another or have the proper relationship with their funding organizations. Video Volunteers go against this unfortunate trend entirely. Their mission is to...
The India Excursion
I’ve been back in the States for a couple weeks now, and when I think back on me being in India it seems a bit like a dream. The motorbike adventures, the bold colors and spices overriding the senses, and the hundreds of beautiful eyes staring up at me seem too out of this world to easily go back to in my mind. It is this world though… this very crowded, conflicted, beautiful, needy world. I...
SEDA's Never-Ending Effort in Laos
This is Clare Rutz reporting from Vientiane in Laos.
As an In-The-Field traveler I was able to see a side of Laos that most backpackers wouldn’t. I was able to talk to the people, visit their homes, and catch a glimpse of their daily lives. SEDA, a small non-profit that reaches out to many different communities with a thoughtful approach to each, gave me the opportunity to ask what it was the...
August 2009
12 posts
RxArt--art in Hospitals--Imagine the...
Diane Brown at RxArt will knock your socks off! With her extensive experience in the art world as a dealer and a curator her vision to bring world renowned artists to the hospitals and create installations that interact and heal—is a wonder to behold.
The art is not a static framed picture but is designed to fulfill patients needs and to create spaces that help to heal. The thought...
New Visions For Public Schools
This remarkable organization is directly responsible for 34000 students and 75 schools in the NYC boroughs. The children are scaling new heights due to the work and tenacity of New Visions. The education reform debate continues but New Visions persists in their fresh approaches. They are moving graduation rates from 30— 50% to 90% in some schools. We heard the stories of Fatima who has...
Opus 118 in Harlem New York
A new American project, and an incredible visit with Robert and Karen. Opus 118 served 600 children last year. The students are serious and committed to their music. They have performed in every major concert venue in NYC in the last year. Yes, that would include Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Wow! And they performed at the Childrens Inaugural Ball in January! Does music change your life?...
Week #4 – Home-grown Talent
Posted by Mark Skeith, after my trip to Guatemala
After many “hasta luego”s and a real life manifestation of the movie “Trains, Planes, & Automobiles”, I am now back in Washington D.C. looking back on a month spent well in Guatemala. It hasn’t been the work I did, or the sites, I saw but actually the conversations I had with Guatemalans and foreigners that have clued me in to the development...
Teaching in Restaurants and Pick-up Trucks
This is Clare Rutz reporting from Vientiane, Laos.
The global recession is often a topic of conversation when I meet with various projects throughout Asia. Everyone is cutting back, and the industries that are hurting the most are those which are not necessary, such as Starbucks. Unfortunately, before we cut the cost of our coffee in the morning we often cut the money we give, and the whole...
Weeks 2 & 3 - Helping Those That are Helping...
This is Mark Skeith reporting from Comalapa in Guatemala
Over the past couple weeks, I was able to sneak away from the Long Way Home construction project on 3 different occasions to visit other projects, and a similar story seemed to be unfolding in each place. Whether community members were constructing a retaining wall in a small village, providing micro-credit loans to pig farmers, or...
HOPE for Siem Reap
This is Clare Rutz reporting from Siem Reap in Cambodia.
Siem Reap hosts the beautiful Angkor Wat, the pre-industrial city made of stone, which tourists from all over the world come to see. Yet it remains one of the most impoverished cities in Cambodia. It is almost impossible to visit a popular temple without being approached by street children who are selling whistles and water. They’ll...
July 2009
7 posts
Week #1 – Two Different Stories in One Incredible...
This is Mark Skeith reporting from San Juan Comalapa in Guatemala
As I made my way from the Guatemala City airport to the Long Way Home sponsored “Build a school from recycled materials for 50 Maya” project site in the small town of San Juan Comalapa, a rustic and foreign countryside passed me by like it had during my travels through other developing countries. But, once my taxi veered off the...
The Sharing Foundation: Little Village, Big Impact
This is Clare Rutz reporting from Phnom Penh in Cambodia. I received a phone call an hour before my scheduled visit at The Sharing Foundation in Phnom Penh. The director of the project wanted to confirm that I had a car with a roof to get me there because the rainy season decided to live up to its name and dump water on the entire city. I explained that I was actually planning on just climbing...
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"But really, they are cute"
Post by Donna Callejon, after a visit to APOPO: www.globalgiving.com/1953
When APOPO/Hero Rats first posted a project on globalgiving.com, I did NOT get the attraction. I mean, sure, the concept of training rats to sniff out landmines and perhaps TB as well was very very cool. But people in the office kept saying, “oh, they are so cute.” My reaction was, “there is ABSOLUTELY...
Visiting International Bridges to Justice in...
This is Clare Rutz reporting from Phnom Penh in Cambodia.
Cambodia has made a lasting impression on me. I’ve been out of the country for some time now, but Cambodia is still on my mind. The people have such stories, and the country has its own devastating past. The genocide brought on by the Khmer Rouge thirty years ago has left a shadow over the country that one must look for in order to see...
June 2009
40 posts
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Sheila Ghana June 17 Observing business consulting services for tailors in Tema. Theyre learning about record keeping and bank accounts.
Visiting the Cambodian National Volleyball League...
This is Clare Rutz reporting from Phnom Penh in Cambodia.
In my traveling guide there is a serious bolded warning about going off the beaten path in Cambodia. Landmines are still scattered throughout the country from the brutal days of the Khmer Rouge, and the ones to discover them are unfortunately sorry they had. In America there are facilities and opportunities for the disabled, but in...
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Sheila Ghana June 16 Final workshop in Accra today. Raining hard so half as many participants. 16 is still good though! Lots of questions and advice for gg
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Sheila ghana June 15 Paajaf Foundation just gave me a beautiful inscribed cloth welcoming me to ghana! It is so so sweet and the women are so proud it is wonderful. Cant wait to get home and donate!! Proj 2607
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Sheila ghana June 15 Now we’re learning about AIDS…Indepthly. Very detailed! At least it all seems correct.
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Watching people learn english always brings tears to my eyes. They are trying so hard! Also the topic sentences involve zebra crossings.
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Sheila Ghana June 15 Visiting Paajaf Foundation outside of accra. Watching an english lesson. Proj 2607. Hard work, but they are mixing in, at, and on. Cant decide whether to speak up.
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excited organizations at the accra workshop! Great questions and ideas on development. Looking forward to their open access opportunity!
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Accra workshop today with the help of WISE.
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I just witnessed my first robbery in africa. Thankfully not of me. It involves lots of yelling from everyone on the trotro afterwards. A nice man explained that the trotro caller had been robbed while getting water for a customer. The whole bus is up in arms and im sitting here in the middle of the fanti yelling.
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visiting the library in winneba today! Very excited to see the work. Exciting trotro and bus ride here with lots of ticket and luggage and language confusion. Ended with a security man escorting me to my seat. Whew!
From Sheila in Ghana (June 12, 2009):
I’ve visited some really awesome projects this week and wanted to share! All three are AWESOME - forward thinking, innovative ideas, hard working, etc etc. It was really heartwarming/inspiring to visit them. Even with the fire ants, accra traffic, and constant cat calls of ‘obroni obroni obroni’ (white person in the language here!) this...
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sheila accra ghana june 12 talking to the security guard and had him guess what country im from. He thought for a second and then said american. I asked how he knew and he said americans always ask a lot of question. :-)
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sheila accra ghana june 11 Oops, had been texting the wrong address for the past days. :-/
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sheila accra ghana june 11 short and sweet but got our message out i hope! And met a few organizations interested in joining gg!
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sheila accra ghana june 11 the university of ghana s radio station is interviewing globalgiving for their news hour today!
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sheila ghana june 10 combating child trafficking in central ghana has brought the children home safely and to education. Great project with great people. Trafficking is decreasing steadily and will hopefully be eradicated soon. Until then the project hopes for funds for school and food for the returned children.
Visiting Hagar International’s Aftercare Program...
This is Clare Rutz reporting from Phnom Penh in Cambodia.
I visited the aftercare program made possible by Hagar, which has become home for many trafficked girls in Cambodia. This was my experience:
After crossing the street from the aftercare program we enter the school building for grades 1-3, which is where I see a flashy neon pink tuk-tuk parked in front. I catch a proud smile of the...
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sheila ghana june 9 build a model town apam is the best project yet! Cant wait to explain more. Great ideas!!