Fellow Stories
True gap year stories from Fellows abroad!
Check out the latest blogs from Global Citizen Year Fellows in Brazil, Ecuador, and India!
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The Trash-Tossing Tarnish
Laura Keaton
2010-03-01
The other day I took a seat on the bus next to an old grandmother. She was snacking on some chips, and when she finished the bag, she promptly balled it up and threw it out the window. I was taken aback. It seemed to me like at home the old grandmothers would be the...
Read MoreA Little Ditty About Self-Forgiveness
Ananda Day
2010-02-26
A couple of weeks ago a lot of personally and monetarily valued things were stolen from me. Cameras, phone, favorite shirts, money, and so on. The roughest part by far being the loss of my notebook containing four months of notes and all of the studies that I had completed in Noflaye thus far. The...
Read MoreCultural Onomatopoeia
Alec Yeh
2010-02-25
David Sedaris, a memoirist, wrote about how it’s always interesting to hear the different onomatopoeia of a culture. It’s SO true. I never thought about it, but it’s really hilarious. In Dakar recently, we learned from Rachel that for a car horn, the Senegalese use “pain pain”, pronounced closer to “paing paing.” And after hearing...
Read MoreWeaving Co-Ops in Rural Guatemala
Michael Wilson
2010-02-24
One of the most interesting aspects of my GCY experience is the opportunity to periodically shadow Yoli and Clara. These resourceful Guatemalan women are two of the owners of SOLCOM, the small Guatemalan-owned social enterprise that turns a mild profit by delivering healthcare products to rural communities. Recently, Yoli, Clara and I were scheduled to...
Read MoreEarth Days
Zuleika Lewis
2010-02-24
With a strong sense of motivation to make change, the volunteers of SolCom and I started a 3 day program at a community center in a small town called La Pista. The main focus of Earth Day is to educate kids about the importance of not throwing trash and how they can help. The first...
Read MoreTrying to Teach
Laura Keaton
2010-02-22
Before I came to Guatemala, I was of the opinion that education was the best route for social development. I still think that, but I have seen through my experience with schools in both the private and public sector that education needs great support to function effectively and that finding that support can be extremely...
Read MoreVampires and Sorcerers
Hilary Brown
2010-02-18
I first learned about my host family’s belief in the super natural when I asked my host father about the belts made of thick cord and string the family, and many other Senegalese, wear called gris-gris. I was told that the pouches attached to the belts contain plants and verses of the Quran to help...
Read Morepickin’ up good vibrations
Victoria Tran-Trinh
2010-02-18
Since I basically live on the edge of Sebikotane, opposite from Gaya, Hilary, and the places where our activities are, I walk about two or three miles every day to get around. I could take a ndiaga-ndiaye for about 15 cents, as my Senegalese family and friends encourage me to do, but I prefer to...
Read MoreDonated clothing: the receiving end
Gaya Morris
2010-02-17
Physical evidence of the connections between the lives of Americans and the lives of Africans is rare to come by here in Sebikotane, but when I do stumble across some random object originating back in the world I used to live in, it never fails to strike me. I will never forget for example the...
Read MoreFinding Their Voice
Laura Keaton
2010-02-12
On Friday and Saturday, the Antigua fellows and Ximena went on a combination vision campaign/ training session with Yoly (Marguerite‘s host-mom) and Clara Luz, two regional coordinators at Soluciones Comunitarias. The training of the new “asesoras” (community “advisors”, or women entrepreneurs) began on Friday. We were trying to fit the training all into one day...
Read MoreFriends
Hilary Brown
2010-02-01
A few nights ago, after accompanying Victoria to her host house, I walked the twenty minutes back on the route nationale with two Senegalese friends. While it was dark, it was only about eight thirty and we could see by the car lights streaming past us. Randomly, a shiny new truck pulled off the road....
Read MoreFive blogs in one: apprenticeship updates
Gaya Morris
2010-02-01
Last Saturday, the 15th of January, marked the halfway point of our seven-month stay in Senegal. Three and a half months down, three and a half to go. I find it hard to believe that we are already on the downward slope, when so many things are only just beginning. In my apprenticeship at l’Ecole...
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