Kenya running has been awesome so far. We started the day with a great hill workout that our Kenyan coach Abel created for us – after a warm-up jog on the red dirt roads through the morning mist, we ran an awesome set of hills. When we returned to Tirji Ecocenter, we enjoyed a healthy…
On our last day in Nairobi, we took some time to be tourists as we visited the Giraffe Sanctuary and Elephant Orphange. The morning was filled with a pure, childlike excitement, as we got to feed and even kiss the giraffes, watch in awe as baby elephants stampeded aroun in the mud, and even catch…
Shawn and Fay report that the group had a great first day at the Kitohoka Amani Children’s Home (KACH) where they were learned about the project work they will be doing and also heard from Dr. Karambu (Executive Director of IPI). The group is in good spirits and will get a student post up as…
The group began their day visiting the Sheldrake Elephant Orphanage and the Giraffe Center in Nairobi before making the drive to Meru. They have now arrived in Kithoka and settled into IPI’s Amani Children’s Home where they will work and train for a majority of their days in Kenya. Shawn and Fay report that the…
Today we went to a Kenyan track meet in the town of Machakos. Our running coach for this trip, Abel, grew up in the area and ran races there when he was younger. Everyone was extremely welcoming as most of the Kenyans have been. Numerous people came up to shake our hands when we entered…
After a long direct flight, the group arrived safely in Nairobi. Immediately after their arrival, they had the opportunity to meet with officials and professional runners from a national Kenyan running association. In the days ahead, they plan to attend a running competition and visit an elephant orphanage and a giraffe preserve before heading to…
Immigration. Deportation. Separation. The wall. With each passing day these words take on more and more meaning both in further complicating how we view the issue and in deepening our understanding. Not only has this course challenged us intellectually, but the emotional aspect continues to arguably be the most difficult element to process. It is…
Our course instructors report the group had another full day and after spending the morning at El Desayunador providing meals for 700-1000 refugees and homeless they had a chance to explore and learn more about Tijuana with Maria, Director of Madres y Familias Deportadas. The group finished with a discussion of Haidt’s Moral Pillars.
Our course instructors report that the group had a day of learning service as they served breakfast at El Desayunador and heard the stories of the people being fed there. It was a busy day and they plan to have a student reflection about the day up in the next day or so.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text letter_spacing=””]Today we went to the Mexican side of Friendship Park. We worked with Daniel, the founder of Friends of Friendship Park. Our group pulled weeds, reorganized the compost bin, and fixed the park grounds. It was a real eye opening experience because on the weekends the US visitors are allowed to have contact between…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text letter_spacing=””]Today we started out day at a church in Jacumba, California. After a short breakfast, we proceeded to the US side of the border in San Diego to visit Friendship Park. We talked to U.S. Border Patrol Agent Gonsalez who mans the Friendship Park section of the border. We learned about the various challenges…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text letter_spacing=””]This afternoon, a majority of the students began their course with a trip to Chicano Park where they explored the history of the border region and its unique culture through the prominent murals in the park. After the final student arrived, the group headed to the small border town of Jacumba, California, where they…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text letter_spacing=””]Our final day of service was spent working with Forgotten Harvest for a second day, this time at their farm, which sits on over 95 acres of donated land in Fenton, MI, about an hour outside of Detroit. We spent the morning harvesting collard greens and preparing the watermelon fields for cultivation. During lunch…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text letter_spacing=””]Today brought us to our third non-profit partner of our trip, Forgotten Harvest. We spent the day re-packaging food that would otherwise have gone to waste, and putting together food for lunches. When we got back to the hostel we had the opportunity to talk to Emma, an SStS Detroit alumna who lives in…
We started our day at Neighborhood Service Organization’s Tumaini Center, learning about the services available to Detroit’s homeless population and their “housing first” approach. We then headed to Bell House, which provides permanent, supportive housing for homeless adults, where we prepared and served lunch and played bingo with some of the residents. Patrick – At…
We returned to Focus:HOPE today, this time to their Center for Children to volunteer in their early childhood education program. Students spent the day in different classrooms working with the kids. In the afternoon we headed to the Detroit Historical Museum, where we learned more about Detoit’s history. We capped off the afternoon by exploring…
We started our day at Focus:HOPE. After an orientation from Tom, we got to work packaging food to be delivered to seniors in the greater Detroit area. After lunch, Tom gave us a tour of Focus:HOPE’s facilities and talked with the group about the history and growth of the organization. We then went to visit…
Bolivia Return Flight Information: Flight: AA 938 Departs Bolivia on Tuesday, July 16 at 7:00 AM Arrives in Miami on Tuesday, July 16 at 2:06 PM
I felt more at home at the hostel of El Refugio than I had at any point during my trip to Bolivia. Reason being was the mountains. I had spent a week in the small riverside town of Rurrenabaque and had a great time, hours in the airport of La Paz and felt mostly the…
Our Ci’s report that the Detroit group has arrived and begun their introductory activities. Tomorrow they will begin their work with Focus: HOPE. Be sure to follow along here on the Travel Journal as well as on Instagram @studentsshouldertoshoulder.
And here we are, we’ve made it to the end of our journey. We started our last full day with three knocks on our door at 5:45 to head out for a morning safari drive. Although we did not see as many exciting animals as we did last night, consisting of zebras, a lion, a…
The group was tired, dirty, and ready to get back to Rurrenbaque. After three nights of sleeping in the jungle of the Amazon, everyone was eager to take a shower and sleep in a real bed. The work we did in the Charque community was fulfilling and we were satisfied with what we had accomplished,…
The first bead introduced to the Bolivia team was the blue bead. Each of us were asked to assign a definition to the bead and I chose curiosity. The curiosity to discover the infinite skies above, and the endless depths of the sea. Blue is calm, cool, and collected; necessary for the exploration of the…
Hello from our safari hotel, Today we said our goodbyes to IPI and drove to the safari lodge. On our way in we spotted a few giraffes and some elephants, a lovely warm welcome from the African animals. After settling in and indulging on the buffet, we laid out by the pool. Our evening drive…
Throughout the wonderful time we have spent together as a group, we have all grown to understand the concept of humility in a new way. Whether it was by learning more about traditional Lakota ceremonies, that horseback riding isn’t as easy as it seems to be, or understanding that things don’t always go as expected….
Communication is key no matter the location or the situation. This becomes even more prudent when in a foreign country and a simple miscommunication can affect the entirety of the travels. Coming into this trip I was not extremely confident in my Spanish speaking but I have learned how even the simplest and most discombobulated…
Many of us claim water companies such as Essentia, Fiji, Evian, Smart Water, and Voss to be the best tasting water while some of us install Brita filters and fridge filters to make our clean water cleaner. But about 2000 miles away in our small town of Rurrenabaque and the community Charque, the people rely…
Our CI’s reported that today, “Students hiked to the top of Black Elk Peak, formerly known as Harney Peak, to share in the rituals of tobacco offerings and recreating and remembering the journeys that many Lakota took from the reservation to their sacred mountain in the Black Hills.”
At the beginning of our ten-day journey, none of us had any idea what to expect. Then, on Day 2, we met Buzz Ironcloud. Buzz encouraged us to ask questions, no matter how simple or complicated they might seem. He shared personal stories with us about his childhood, as well as many unique experiences that…
While everyone on the Bolivia team came here with the same goals, we (Lily and Sydney) were sent with a specific task: to collect data regarding the health and sanitation of the rural community we visited in the Amazon. Shoulder to shoulder worked alongside the epidemiology department at Wayne State University (located in Detroit,Mi) to…