* This is another post written before the group left Mukli and began their trek but that we did not receive until a couple days after it was written. Hello everyone! My name is Zella and I will be telling the story of day 10. As a bonus, we got to sleep in! Our group…
Since the beginning of our trip we have been welcomed with open arms by the Native American community at the healing camp. The healing camp encompassed the general meaning of tiospaye, which roughly means extended family. We have been able to interact and play with many of the children. The kids greeted us with smiling…
* This post was written before the group finished their project. They have now left Mukli to begin several days of trekking in the Solukhumbu region before returning to the Kathmandu area in the middle of the week. What’s up guys! Day 9 was our last day of work in Mukli. Before we started working…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text letter_spacing=””]*These reflections were written when the group returned to Rurre after completing their work in Puerto Salinas. They just finished a day in La Paz and are currently headed to visit Isla del Sol. Kiely As Nicola, Sarah, Joselo and I started walking into the school on the last day with the community, kids…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text letter_spacing=””]Hey! Its Sydney on day 8 of our trip, and it couldn’t be better. This morning we were able to finish digging the trenches for the school’s foundation. The school has come so far already, I can’t believe it. Though with only a few days left here in Mukli we won’t be able to…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text letter_spacing=””]Today our group woke up at a hotel in Kangding. We ate breakfast in a restaurant; the food was the same items we’ve been eating for both lunch and dinner as well. Boss Hog (our driver) and Tenpa (one of our Tibetan guides) drove us to a monastery in Kangding. This monastery was one…
Anna: Overall this trip taught me a lot about community service and trying things out of my comfort zone. I’ve learned about gardening and as well as the importance of teamwork. At first, I was very nervous about coming on this trip, but now that it’s almost over, I realized that I’m going to miss…
Since we arrived, our questions have brought us closer to the people who work here, such as Stan and Brea. Brea, a young Lakota woman, has taught us about her language, how to pray for our food, and more about her Lakota background. Stan taught us about his history and ancestors. His mom is from…
In the U.S., we go through every day not thinking about what we have. We go by day to day eating what we want, drinking what we please and petting animals without suspicion. In Tibet all of these luxuries are non-existent. Every day here has had new experiences, some weird and unordinary, but all extremely…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text letter_spacing=””]Today the SStS group worked with the Greater NOLA Master Gardeners Organization and in my opinion, I learned a lot about planting and especially leveling! My partner and I had to level out cinder blocks so that the workers could create pools to hold certain plants. Other volunteers in my group organized and labeled…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text letter_spacing=””]Yesterday at Tiny Toons we were met with smiling faces and excited chatter by the kids there. After an impressive performance with freestyling by the enthusiastic, young performers, we were given beginning dance lessons by one of the dance instructors. The students’ glee and performance stood out to us. Even though they came from conditions…
Namaste friends! My name is Chantler and I am here broadcasting from Mukli, Nepal on day 7 of our amazing trip. Today, we learned how working as a team is much faster than working alone. Our morning job was to carry rocks to the trenches we had dug and to lay our rocks down as…
For this post, students answered the question: What do you want your impact to be? (On the community we are going to, your school, your community at home, the world, etc.). 1- My effect will be to help a community in any way I can and take what I learn and feel back to the…
Hey all, I’m Julian. Nepal so far has been such an eye-opening and amazing experience. Living among the families has really brought out the fact that we are so fortunate to have what we have in our lives. In the states, we have access to machines and are able to build schools, buildings, and houses…
Today we continued our work with Common Ground Relief and headed out the swamp to plant California Bullrush in the sand. We took a boat ride out to where we would be planting, a sandy shore covered in water up to our calves. Stumps and roots were hidden under the water. We worked hard from…
Meg and Allison checked in with us today to let us know that the group spent the day at Tiny Toones, a Phnom Penh based NGO that uses break-dancing to engage, educate, and inspire Cambodian youth from impoverished neighborhoods. SStS students had a chance to learn about the NGO from Short, the general manager of…
Today we started our day with a cooking class! We rode tuk-tuk’s to the local market to buy the ingredients we needed to make Amok and spring rolls. The first thing we noticed when walking into the market was the smell. It was an overwhelming smell of all the items the vendors were selling. It…
You would love this city—the bright lights, the streets full of people, the air conditioning blasting in our rooms. However, getting here was no easy feat… to get to Chengdu it took planes, trains (automated people mover??), and automobiles. We began our journey in LA, where we struggled to find each other, ate, and got…
Hello parents! I know you are all desperate to learn about our day 5 adventures. My name is Vivian and I am the journalist for the day. Today, the girls were woke to the sound of chickens and then had a nice breakfast with our homestay family. There were cookies, noodles with spicy cabbage and…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text letter_spacing=””]Today was hot. And humid. We worked hard and managed to see plenty of wildlife (or critters) without leaving the nursery. I pulled weeds and moved rotten wooden pallets that had been eaten by termites. There was a lot of watering plants too for some kids and it took most of the time we…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text letter_spacing=””]Picture this: Hundreds of scooters with families stacked on top, fluorescent lights lining the streets, street vendors lining the roads, moisture so thick you feel as though you’re swimming in the air, a complete lack of personal space. Welcome to Cambodia! After Cambodia’s warm welcome, we sleepily ventured through ornate royal palaces and ate…
Today was our first full day in NOLA. We did a LOT of activities today, but all were worth it. We started the day by cooking some breakfast at Common Ground Relief. We then exposed ourselves to the real New Orleans. We started with a Catholic Gospel Mass at St. Augustine Church. It was truly…
Hello parents! My name is Luke and today I will be documenting our wild adventure here on day 4. The day started early, per usual, when we packed up our bags as we were about to venture in a 10 hour trek to Mukli. We ate a delicious breakfast comprised of pancakes, eggs and rice…
Hello! This is Nicholas, and I’m in charge of recounting day 3 of our trip. Today, we slept in a bit and had breakfast around 7:30, although some of us (Chesley) woke up early for a frigid shower. We had tea and hot chocolate, which was followed by a hearty meal of oatmeal and toast….
Today was our first full day in Bolivia, and we went straight to work on the water filters. As we carried the 160 pound concrete filters, I was excited and a little bit anxious of what’s to come. We have a lot of work ahead of us, installing these filters in indigenous communities, and I’m…
Hi Parents! My name is Amelia Leaphart and I am doing the journaling for Day 2. We had an early start after waking up at 6:30 and breakfasting at 7:00. We embarked on our 8-hour car ride from Kathmandu to Salleri in the Solukhumbu region. While the journey was long and uncomfortable at times we…
Today marked our last full day in Detroit. We started the day by going to a local bagel place (Detroit Institute of Bagels) for breakfast where we got our fill of rosemary olive oil bagels before heading to a park for our last group learning activities. We spent nearly 3 hours discussing nuggets of wisdom,…
Today, the group traveled an hour outside the city to volunteer at Forgotten Harvest’s farm in Fenton. All of us had a blast harvesting vegetables- especially me (Sarah) as I now found my new calling as an eggplant farmer… can’t wait to tell my parents! After harvesting the eggplants and zucchinis, we planted about an…
This morning we went to Forgotten Harvest. This is an organization that takes excess food from local grocery stores and delivers them to the people in need. First, we sorted bread, cucumbers, and meat sticks. The bread will go out to local children, who are usually provided lunch by the schools. In the summer, this…
Today we worked at Focus: Hope to deliver the packaged boxes we made yesterday along with some corn flakes. But for me (Re: Avery), the surprises and fun started much earlier. I woke up this morning to balloons, some signs, and an awesome card- signed with notes by everyone else in the group. I’m still…