Posted by Randy LeGrant on Tue, Sep 07, 2010
Yet another Blog post from a member of the Conversation Corps. Wow. What a program.
Dionne spent a month in Tuscany with the Corps and wrote a great Blog about here experience.
Dionne's Summer in Tuscany is the name of the Blog, and I was especially struck by how well she spent her time. And may I also say…Dionne is married and her husband was fantastic about her journey and very supportive. See? Anyone can do it.
Dionne landed in Paris with a 12 hour layover. Rather than sit around she checked in for her flight to Italy and off she went to discover Paris. This is a person who made the most of everything.
If you're headed to Italy, check out Dionne's post called Things I've Learned. She writes about Bikes, Mopeds and Motorcycles then Bathrooms and then, of course, coffee.
Most of the Blog is about all the travel Dionne did during her month in Italy with topics like Home Made Pasta, Food, The Beach, and Everyday Life In Italy.
We decided to showcase this Blog because we do occasionally get questions about what Corps members can do with their free time. This Blog will give you so many ideas.
Posted by Randy LeGrant on Fri, Jul 30, 2010
"I went to was a small hospital - Sam Roang Hospital, at the rural area of Siem Riep. This hospital is nothing like what you will ever see in Melbourne or Malaysia and I was utterly shocked by the condition of the hospital. The very limited facilities and resources, running low on/out of medical supplies, fan-less maternity ward, supposedly sterile operating theatre with flies in it and only three out of five bulbs of the operating lamp are working. You can't possibly imagine what the condition is like until you see it for yourself. It is primitive."
Phey Yee is from Melbourne, Australia. She wants to be a Doctor. So quite naturally, Phey looked to the GeoVisions Medical program in Cambodia for a unique medical experience. She found it!
Phey volunteered at the Samrong Hospital in the rural area of Siem Riep in Cambodia. Phey wrote a Blog about her experiences and was kind enough to grant us permission to feature her Blog and her photos. Some of her posts include:
A Typical Day in Sam Rong
Of Fund Raising and Fun Raising
Of Dust and Sweat and Cambodia
Phey Yee had such a great experience, she is now fund raising for the community and hospital. Please click the links above to particular posts, or just click this link to see the entire Blog. And be sure to look at all the photos. They're so good.
If you have an interest in GeoVisions' Medical programs, there are 10 to choose from:
Cape Town Medical & Clinic Assistance
Children's Hospital in Costa Rica
Cusco Rehabilitation Center
Ecuador Children's Hospital
Ecuadorian Red Corss and Mobile Clinic
Galapagos Islands Hospital
Medical Center in Lima
Medical Help in Cambodia
Medical Project in Sri Lanka
Paramedic Service in Costa Rica
"We got to do a lot of clinical stuff. We attended the hospital handover meeting everyday at 7.30 a.m. and went to the ward rounds. We have covered the maternity ward, pediatrics ward, general medicine ward, emergency medicine and surgical ward. Most of the doctors here are extremely friendly. Not all of them know English but they sure tried their very best to teach us a much as they could. I heard my first heart murmur on Thursday! It was indeed a very special moment for me."
We would love to talk to you about any of the medical volunteer projects available and to put you in touch with former volunteers.
Have you volunteered at a rural medical project? Where were you and how did it compare to Phey's experience?
Posted by Randy LeGrant on Fri, Jun 25, 2010
Suck My Nation! The newest addition to the GeoVisions family of volunteer Blogs. Read Don's Blog here.
Conversation Corps member, Don Deerie, is writing an amazing Blog with the most unique photos of life in Thailand I've seen. Don is volunteering to live with a family in Thailand, and teach them English around 15 hours each week. In return, he's getting free room and board with the family. At GeoVisions, we call that Conversation Corps.
How many people get to actually live with a Thai family for a month? It is a rare opportunity, and Don is making the most of it. Here is an entry from June 15:
All smiles in the ราชอาณาจักรไทย
-2nd week in Thailand
-location: Trat
-3rd day as an English tutor to 2 students
-progress: hopeful.
I'm living with my host family for a month. I have my own room (a room larger than my parents'). The family owns a motorbike shop.
Don is a student at Bates College in Maine and speaks Spanish, Dutch and is learning Czech. He brings to the Conversation Corps a great sense of humor and tons of excitement for Thailand, his host family and teaching them some conversational English.
If you have any interest in Thailand or what it's like to live with a family in that stunning country...or if you have questions about joining the Conversation Corps, you will enjoy reading Suck My Nation.
Do you worry about not being able to teach English? Leave us your comments below! The Conversation Corps is about teaching conversational English. Anyone can do it. What are your thoughts about Don's Blog or the Corps? Please leave them below.
Posted by Randy LeGrant on Tue, Mar 30, 2010
One of GeoVisions' volunteers on Conversation Corps-Spain published a new Blog and is updating her posts regularly. It is really worth a read.
Brandi is updating about her host family, her tutoring the family and her outings in and out of Madrid. In one post, What A Life, she writes about what it is like to tutor a family and how some people can earn quite a bit of extra cash tutoring others around Madrid. She includes a great photo of Puerto del Sol.
In her most recent post, Time Flies When You're Having Fun, she writes about her experiences around the famous El Rastro market and how she celebrates her one-month anniversary on Conversation Corps-Spain.
Here is an excerpt from Adventures of Curly Girlie: One Girl's Quest to Conquer the World:
The tutoring is going great. I am tutoring the whole family throughout the day, when I am home, as well as my scheduled time of 7-10 p.m. It is very informal. We traditionally just have a casual conversation and then I correct them when they say the incorrect words or help them when they are struggling with what to say in English. I help the mother, Maria, translate some of her work documents in English and because I am great with Powerpoint I help her jazz up her presentations. She is extremely grateful.
Maria was telling me even if she learns English she is unsure if she will ever understand American English because we have so many sayings that do not make sense to her. She wants me to teach her these sayings. I tend to say A LOT of these American sayings or idioms, For example,
- right off the bat
- off her rocker
- that´s the way the cookie crumbles
- would not be caught dead, and so on.
For this reason, I have been compiling a notebook full of all the idioms I use and can possibly think of. I write out the idiom, explain what it means, then provide an example of how one could use the idiom in a sentence. When I leave I am going to present it to the family. In the meantime, I just read the family a few of them a day. They find the sayings very entertaining!
Check out the "Volunteer Blogs" tag on the right and read what others write about this amazing program.
Are you headed to Spain with the Conversation Corps?
If you can take away something useful from this post, please consider leaving a comment (below) or subscribing to the feed (above) to have future posts delivered to your feed reader. You can also subscribe via email (in the upper right corner). Over on the right we have made it easy for you to become a Fan of GeoVisions on Facebook and to Follow Us on Twitter.
Posted by Randy LeGrant on Tue, Jan 12, 2010
A few days ago I wrote a Blog post about a volunteer (Daniel Jackson) who returned home only to start up his own non-profit and find new ways to assist the medical clinic where he volunteered for with GeoVisions in Peru.
This Blog post is about a volunteer who is returning to GeoVisions for a second time. Shannon Anderson first went to Peru with GeoVisions. Now she's headed to Italy. I hope you will go back toShannon's Blog and follow her as she makes her plans, takes her Italian language courses, gets her host family and prepares to tutor.
Two things quickly come to mind:
- It is a rare opportunity when people share the intimate details of their decisions, their process and the ups and downs in preparing to volunteer abroad. I hope you'll subscribe toShannon's Blog and be a part of all that. It will serve you well if you are in the same position or hope to be.
GeoVisions is far more interested in what people do after the volunteer abroad experience than we are in trying to get you to go. Newspaper articles and magazine articles are full of stories about Voluntourism, how great it is and then listing a few organizations you can choose to help you with your experience. We're more about showing people what happens after the experience has taken place. In this case...Shannon is returning for another experience. And we want to share that with you and so does Shannon.
So enjoy Shannon's Blog, Part Due. Comment on her Blog and help her along and ask her for some advice if you're planning your own volunteer program. In the meantime, let us know what you're doing if you are a volunteer abroad returnee. We want to hear about your experience and follow up what you're doing now.
Posted by Randy LeGrant on Sun, Jan 10, 2010
Have you ever been in a situation where something didn't work out and you expected the worst? Maybe you had a flat tire on the way to the airport. These days you would expect to miss your flight, hope to get another flight and be charged a penalty for the difference in airfare and a change fee. But how would you feel if you arrived at the counter, you were met with a smile, put on the next flight and there were no extra charges at all?
Robbie and Melissa desperately wanted to teach conversational English in Costa Rica with GeoVisions. Working together we settled on a location and a project and Robbie and Melissa paid their non-refundable deposits. Then, at the appropriate time they paid the balance of their fees and as we always do here at GeoVisions, we immediately wired those funds to Costa Rica to cover their expenses at the project.
For a lot of reasons, Robbie and Melissa were not able to participate with GeoVisions after all. For the purpose of this post, suffice it to say they had a flat on the way to the airport.
I have traveled professionally since 1976. There are a lot of airline seat impressions under this tired old toosh. I know exactly what it's like to be told "no." And "no" isn't so bad if that person who is saying "no" has a smile, demonstrates empathy, and offers alternatives. "NO!" is one thing. "The answer is no, but let's see if there are any alternatives that might help." is another answer totally.
I would like for you to read Melissa's recent Blog post about what happened to her and Robbie when GeoVisions had to say "no." I just happened on Melissa's post by accident, and I actually commented on her post. Her post is honest and if I were to characterize my emotion reading it, I would say I was shocked. And proud.
There are very few times we have to say "no" at GeoVisions. And after 35 years of airline seat impresions, arriving at hotels with no rooms, rental cars (and jeeps in Costa Rica) deciding not to go another mile, food poisoning and everything else that can go wrong with a trip, I am proud that we have not forgotten how to smile at GeoVisions and look for options to help our volunteers. We take seriously the fact that people are giving their time, their money and their hearts to make a difference. And they do it over the Internet. They place their trust in us, sight unseen.
Social Media is all about showing the world the good and the bad. I can't say this is "bad" but Robbie and Melissa aren't going to be able to do a project with GeoVisions. Still, they are going forward and have found alternatives. GeoVisions has been able to help, mostly by understanding. Social Media is about having customers explain the story, not the organization. In Chris Brogan's language, we strive to be Trust Agents and we try hard to listen. So, if you have a few minutes I hope you will enjoy Melissa's account of how things went down and what GeoVisions was able to do.
This Social Media stuff is very cool.
If you can take away something useful
from this post, please consider leaving a comment (below) or subscribing to the
feed (above) to have future posts delivered to your feed reader. You can also
subscribe via email (in the upper right corner). Over on the right we have made it easy for you to become a Fan of GeoVisions on Facebook and to Follow Us on Twitter.
Posted by Randy LeGrant on Tue, Jan 05, 2010
One of the best feelings in our work is to see volunteers provide assistance to a community or a medical outpost or teaching kids to read in rural Ghana. If I were to ask my friends who also do this kind of work, more than likely they would say the same thing. Watching our volunteers and watching the smiles of the recipients of that volunteer's efforts.
I am always asked, "What is your favorite city in the world?" Or, "What is your favorite country in the world?" To be quite honest, it depends on the time of day someone asks. Too many favorites I have.
One thing is clear, however. When I am asked the best part of my job the answer is always the same. It's watching what happens when our volunteers return from their project. I've become obsessed with finding out what each GeoVisions' volunteer, tutor and teacher are doing. More times than not, it is special, as you can see with Daniel Jackson.
Daniel went to Cusco, Peru with GeoVisions last June (2009) to work in the Medical Center there we support. He was able to volunteer for six weeks.
Daniel is a photographer and you can see his work on his website. But once Daniel returned to the U.S. he started Friends of Belempampa. Daniel was so taken with Cusco, and with Belempampa, that he organized a group of international volunteers and staff who have worked at the Belempampa Health Center in Cusco and then put together the "Friends" website to help provide support to the medical center.
Please consider supporting Daniel, his group and his new non-profit group, which will
help provide much-needed ambulance equipment;- train everyone at the center for gentler treatment of patients;
- fund new triage equipment;
- buy new devices for doctors to listen to babies' heartbeats;
- provide food for patients;
- a larger supply of sanitary protections;
- install a warm water line to obstetrics' staff shower;
- provide a stomach pump for newborns;
- and provide warm water for wash basins for newborns.
Already, the Friends of Belempampa have donated digital thermometers and put together research on handling and preparation of dangerous meeds. If you check out the website you will see a list of projects completed and their cost (in U.S. $ and volunteer-hours) and then click a link on that page to see a list of projects they hope to accomplish and that cost in funds and hours.
Please support the Friends of Belempampa. How can you do that? Well, it could be as simple as making a comment below and we'll pass it on.
You could reach out and email anyone there. You'll find a lot of information on each person who belongs and has something to do with the group. Even an email to voice your support for what they are doing would be encouraging to them.
You can donate. There is even a link to the group's financial records.
Look…this is the real deal. This is Daniel deciding to leave his photography for awhile and volunteer in Peru for six weeks. It's Daniel helping children being born, taking temperatures, taking weights and making sure the medical records were updated. This is Daniel making a difference in Peru. And this is Daniel coming home and making a difference.
Daniel votes with his wallet and he votes with his feet. He is literally where the rubber meets the road. Please support Daniels' group by reaching out and encouraging them to keep going. Or donating. Or volunteering your time.
This is volunteer abroad. This is the definition of voluntourism.
If you can take away something useful
from this post, please consider leaving a comment (below) or subscribing to the
feed (above) to have future posts delivered to your feed reader. You can also
subscribe via email (in the upper right corner).
Posted by Randy LeGrant on Tue, Dec 22, 2009
Brandi Garrigus is excited and she has a Blog to prove it. She joined the Conversation Corps and in March 2010 she will be headed to Spain to live with a family and tutor them in conversational English. She will be on the Conversation Corps-Spain program for 2 months.
Brandi isn't waiting to arrive in Spain to start her Blog. She has it going already. If you're interested in the "process" when you join the Corps, subscribing to Out Of The Shell, Into The Light will give you a view into how it all plays out.
When Can I Join The Corps?
Conversation Corps runs all year long.
Do I Need To Know A Second Language?
It is always helpful to have at least the basics. After all, you are tutoring 15 hours a week. One great aspect of the Corps is that you have free time to volunteer locally, attend language classes, cooking classes and become a part of the community. While a second language is not required, it helps.
Do I Need Teaching Experience?
No. As a member of the Conversation Corps you will be required to help your host family with their conversational English for a maximum of 15 hours per week. As part of our program fee, we provide each Conversation Corps member with an excellent text should you need more ideas for conversation. The goal for your family is to practice their conversational English. This is not about teaching them reading, writing and grammar. This program is about conversation. We also provide a 24-hour hot line in case you need quick help and you receive premium membership at the ESL Lounge, to download as many ideas, worksheets and flash cards as you like.
If you can take away something useful
from this post, please consider leaving a comment (below) or subscribing to the
feed (above) to have future posts delivered to your feed reader. You can also
subscribe via email (over on the right). You can also follow us on Twitter.
Posted by Randy LeGrant on Fri, Dec 18, 2009
Jordan was one of our first Conversation Corps-Austria tutors and he kept a Blog of his experiences before he departed and while he was there.
His final post on December 2 reads:
"The past two months I spent in Austria were one of the best experiences I have ever had. And although I had an amazing time I was ready to come home to the best country in the world.
Once again thank you to all for reading, and don't forget - Life's a garden, dig it."
We hope you will check out Jordan's Blog and read about his experinces in Austria and the Conversation Corps-Austria program.
If you can take away something useful
from this post, please consider leaving a comment (below) or subscribing to the
feed (above) to have future posts delivered to your feed reader. You can also
subscribe via email (over on the right). You can also follow us on Twitter.
Posted by Randy LeGrant on Thu, Dec 17, 2009
Stephanie Castillo is headed to Spain. She joined the Conversation Corps and will live with a family in Spain and tutor them in Conversational English. It is a very cool program. Stephanie is going to do a great job.
We were thrilled to learn of Stephanie's Blog, which she started the day she made her deposit. Since mid-November, Stephanie has written 10 posts. We are eager to find out what you think about The World Through My Eyes. We love it. And we hope you will read Stephanie's work, comment on it, and click the RSS fee in the lower left part of the Blog so you are updated each time Stephanie creates a new post.
If you can take away something useful
from this post, please consider leaving a comment (below) or subscribing to the
feed (above) to have future posts delivered to your feed reader. You can also
subscribe via email (over on the right). You can also follow us on Twitter.
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