Participants Blog
Each One Teach One and Our Culture Will Grow
I’d just sat down on a park bench to begin writing this response, when I saw the skinny legs of a young boy around the age of 5, a nino, run up to me. I lifted my eyes off the page, half-preparing to deny a request for “monies”, when with a timid smile he asked if I would like some food. “Es libre!” he said beaming, nodding his shaved head and ran off to the three women standing in the shade of a little building in the middle of the park, packing up their Sunday morning food sales, and had made a plate of rice, beans, noodles and fried chicken to welcome me to the community, no charge.
Visits with Gogo in Swaziland
All of my life, I have been the type of person to want to go out and “save” the world. Witnessing injustice has always created a rage inside of me, further motivating me to take action and alleviate the pain caused by the injustice. However, for the first time in my life, the sight of injustice has left me feeling paralyzed, immobile, and hopeless. My host sister, Xolile, is a care giver for SWAPOL, which means that she is responsible for faciliating home visits to sick people in her town. As a volunteer with SWAPOL, I have made it my duty to accompany her whenever she goes out. Although I will try as hard as I can to capture my first home visit in words, no words could ever serve it justice.
Para los Jovenes - Poetry from Siobhan in Nicaragua
Aqui esta tu proteccion contra la violencia
Aqui esta tu espada,
Crees en nuestras vidas,
en el valor de los humanos.
Por nuestro futuro, busca y cultiva,
Si tu tienes que morir,
Pero crece y refuerza.
Michael in Ukraine - Week Four Complete
Dear Readers,
Week four is now complete, and I can’t believe it! They say that the first month of the Intercordia placement is supposed to be long and hard and not too enjoyable, but I have had such an amazing time so far. The time has just flown by!
Tania (U of T) Speaks from Swaziland
I have never been so challenged in my life. In Canada, my friends and family see me as an unbreakable rock—strong enough to face any experience and not only come out of it alive, but beaming with stories and a wiser, broader worldview. I have never felt like such a failure in my life.
Two Year Old Said in Nicaragua
The following reflection was sent to me by a student currently on placement in Nicaragua:
Let me introduce you all to a two year old boy called Said. This boy is the son of the cleaning girl at the house beside where Benny, Marissa and Jessica live. His situation breaks my heart to a million pieces. You see, its a long history of power struggles and hierarchy.
A Lesson in Bosnian from Brigette DePape
Toothpaste was the only Bosnian word I knew I when I arrived in Gornji Vakuf –Uskoplj (GVU). While “pasta za zube” would make a great name for fine cuisine, (truly rolling off the tongue!), there probably isn’t a more useless word to master.
Over the past 3 weeks, my vocabulary has expanded. Saving graces are words like “banana” and “piercing” which are the same in both Bosnian and English. The word “lijepa” means beautiful. In GVU, bear hugged by rolling hills decorated by meandering rivers, this word is a staple. But so are words like “rat” and “smrt”, meaning war, and death.
Beatboxing for Intercordia
Daniel at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick is working hard to meet his fund raising deadline before he goes overseas with Intercordia this summer. One of Daniel’s more creative projects is putting together an International beatbox CD called Straight From the Mouth Straight From the Heart. For those of us who are out of touch with beatbox culture, Wikipedia defines it this way: “Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion which primarily involves the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one’s mouth, lips, tongue, voice, and more. It may also involve singing, vocal imitation of turntablism, the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments.” Check out this interview with Daniel taken from Future Students, a news publication on the St. Thomas University website.
Dangerous Minds
John, a St. Jeromes College student going to Ghana this summer with Intercordia, eloquetly writes an engaging blog on freedom, development and what it means to be human.
Preparing for Bosnia Herzegovina: Georgie’s Blog
Georgie is a St. Jerome’s College student at UW who has been placed with Intercordia in Bosnia Herzegovina at the Omladinsky Centar. In this excerpt from her blog, Georgie offers up helpful phrases from her developing Croat vocabulary as well as a few helpful observations given to her by Intercordia Alumni who were placed at the Centar in previous years.
Loaves and Fishes
By Imelda Chan, St. Michael’s College, UofT
We’re reading Loaves and Fishes by Dorothy Day in our Intercordia class at St. Mike’s. With Peter Maurin, she started the Catholic Worker Movement, which emphasized love, community, and voluntary poverty as a means to combat poverty. There were so many great parts of the book, but specifically wanted to share this poem by Peter Maurin:
FUNDRAISING IS POSSIBLE!!
Intercordia Canada is a wonderful organization. After being accepted into the program, I felt nothing but excitement. I immediately started thinking about how awesome it would be to experience a whole new world for three months. However, when I settled down from the excitement, I remembered that in order to actually make it to my hopeful destination, I would have to FUNDRAISE.
Jennifer’s Blog
Jennifer is going to Ukraine with Intercordia in partnership with the Beyond Borders program at St. Jerome’s College, UW. Follow her personal blog as she prepares for her summer adventure.
Where the Hell is Matt?
Look how one person inspired people all around the world…
Reflection from Ecuador, Summer 2008
A shared reflection from Lisa Gasson in Ecuador.
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