Other eyewitnesses who lived through the rise of National Socialism and the war, gave us a glimpse into that intense, violent world. They assured us, that contrary to popular belief, everyone knew about the camps and there had been resistance in Germany…
We have a very unique opportunity! We have 4 spaces reserved for Americans in a month-long project in France this July and all 4 spaces are still available. Volunteers must pay for their transportation to/from the project location but they receive a travel stipend of 300 Euros (approx. $385 USD), which offsets the cost of the VFP registration/membership fee of $380. Food & accommodation are covered for the entire month!
During my semester in Milan, I enrolled in two social psychology courses that afforded me an in-depth education of the social justice system of the country. I visited a number of political and non-profit agencies and studied some of the conflicts the social system of Italy faces today.
A popular topic of social conflict I studied in Italy is illegal immigration. Italy’s legal policies against illegal immigration have historically been perceived as quite lenient.
Last year, I applied for, and did not receive, a Volunteers for Peace scholarship. Still hoping to spend my summer working on some kind of international project, I reached out to and obtained a research position at the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Applied Economics and Agriculture, where I cleaned and analyzed data from 90 interviews with peach growers from Bolivia. Although the work was often tedious, I found myself quickly feeling connected with the farmers, whom I could never meet but whose living situations, hopes and worries I read and entered into the ever-growing data set. I developed a much deeper appreciation for the environment, realizing that I had taken clean water, parks and fields for granted, while the livelihood of farmers in the interviews depended on the quality of the water that irrigated their orchards and the delicate balance of nutrients in the soil.
Over my 30-year career as a certified teacher, researcher, anduniversity teacher educator, I‘ve planned, facilitated and refined educational experiences for children from pre-kindergarten through adolescence, as well as for adults who teach (or were preparing to teach) in New York, Connecticut, Texas, and Arizona.During the summer of 2008, I served in Italy as a member of Volunteers for Peace, an international non-profit global immersion program directed towards arts, education, andcultural exchange, I was assigned to Barra, an economically disadvantaged area southeast of Naples.
Spend your summer in Iceland! SEEDS Iceland is looking for medium and long-term volunteers – apply by May 12th!
We were thrilled to receive the release announcing volunteer, Ken Budd’s upcoming memoir! The Voluntourist chronicles Ken’s journey of personal discovery through his involvement short-term volunteer projects in New Orleans, Costa Rica, China, Ecuador, Kenya, and a VFP partner project in Bethlehem City, in 2009. THE VOLUNTOURIST: A Six-Country Tale of Love, Loss, Fatherhood, Fate, and Singing Bon Jovi in Bethlehem, goes on sale tomorrow, May 8th.
Currently at 392 parts per million (ppm) of CO2, the ideal number for our planet’s atmosphere is 350ppm. This is the LIMIT for safe human habitation on our planet, and historically the number has been well below–around 275ppm.
Join VFP Executive Director, Meg Brook, today at 1pm in Waitsfield, Vermont at a rally for the environment with 350.org’s Connect the Dots Day . Connect recent local events, namely Hurricane Irene, to larger global trends of global trends through stories, discussions, public art, and other family-friendly activities.
This semester in my international business class, I was lucky enough to hear James Kofi Annan speak about his organization called Challenging Heights. James, a survivor of child slavery, started Challenging Heights in Ghana to help educate children who have been rescued from slavery or any form of child labor. Child slavery is a major issue in Ghana and other parts of the world. The resolution of this problem requires a vast amount of resources, including the means to educate the world on what is happening and what needs to be done to help. James is helping the cause by educating people on the culture in Ghana and what caused the problem to happen. By understanding the underlying problem, people like myself realize this is a slow process that requires participation from people around the world, the families in Ghana, and even the children themselves.
…Each day was full and meaningful. We listened to survivors, tried to take in their life experiences, asked questions, and nodded intently when they insisted we vote and participate in our democratic systems. It is critical, they said over and over again, to understand what your government is doing. Do not turn a blind eye and think that politics has nothing to do with you…
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