GeoVisions Blog

"The Path Less Traveled" Is Sometimes Very Painful

I am going to write a post about something most Execs don't write about.  And I'm going to ask for your help at the same time.

Most organizations don't go public with information like this, but if you follow GeoVisions at all, we really don't fit the mold of "most organizations."

We have a teacher in critical condition in Italy. If you believe in prayer, she could use one.  If you believe in good, positive thoughts, she could use some.  If you believe in positive energy, she needs lots of it.  Please.

The volunteer teacher I'm writing about is 65 years old and she has done an amazing job.  Her community, school and host family just instantly fell in love with her.  She brought many years of teaching experience with her to Italy and a never-ending supply of love for children.  Her enjoyment of the English language was contagious and kids were so excited to get to her class.

Our volunteer teacher became seriously ill, and she is very, very critical.  To the point her family has now come to Italy to her bedside.

The community and school leaders I have spoken to do not have enough words to describe this teacher.  She went to Italy with the intention of making a difference in the community where she was to teach.  Her students love her and her host family goes to the hospital each day, hoping to see her.  But so far they have not been able to go to her room.  She is that ill.

We heard that "people in the community had to ask her 100 times what she needed, before our teacher would ever ask for anything for herself.  She never wanted to worry or bother others, or intrude in their lives."

I will one day write a post about making sure the organization you go with has the very best insurance to cover these things, and getting family to the bedside and intensive care.  But this is not the time for that.

These are tough days here in our offices.  But not nearly so as it is in a small hospital room in Italy.  And we cannot forget that there are students in a small school who miss their visiting teacher.  A host family that doesn't understand.  I'm writing about an amazing woman who left her family in the U.S. for a rural community in eastern Italy, to simply do good work.

I've been doing this amazing work for 38 years.  I, too, was a teacher in a rural school and community.  I know how attached you can get to students and their parents and the community in general.  We do this work because it is a celebration of life and cultures.  A celebration of a common passion, driven by unequaled core values.  Those of us who do this for a living, and our teachers and volunteers choose to take "the path less traveled."

Take just a minute, please?

Another Volunteer Blog In Spain

Kayla Walnock arrived recently in Madrid on Conversation Corps-Spain.  As a member of the GeoVisions Community Pages, she is writing a great travel journal about her experiences.  If you're thinking about Conversation Corps (or Spain--or both) give this travel journal a good read.

Kayla is having a great time.  You absolutely have to look at the photos of the two girls Kayla is tutoring (sample on the left).  When you open the most recent journal entry, look over on the right under the map.  As I write this, there are 6 photos.  As you look through the photos, you can see Kayla is having a great time and she has some great students in those two young girls.  Very precocious, I think!

We love to share travel Blogs and travel journals from our volunteers and teachers.  Just click here.  We have a lot of them to share with you!

We hope you will have a look, maybe subscribe to Kayla's pages and find out if Conversation Corps is for you!  We hope so.

A New Volunteer Abroad Blog From Costa Rica

We get a lot of questions about other volunteer and teacher Blogs.  We get so many of them, sometimes they fall through the cracks to be quite honest.

If you click on this link:  GeoVisions Volunteer and Teacher Blogs you will see all of the ones we have highlighted over the years (and more recently) and we hope you will see something you like.  If you do, let the author know by subscribing and commenting.

You can also go to our GeoVisions Community Pages and choose a country that interests you.  Read those journals if you like.  You'll need to join the GeoVisions Community if you want to comment.

So there are two places for you to go and read from our own teachers and volunteers.  We don't edit anything so what you see is exactly what we got.  And besides, if everything was perfect...like reviews...wouldn't you wonder who actually wrote that stuff?  I mean, seriously.

We have a new Blog from one of our volunteers in Costa Rica.  Named Costa Rica Kisa, you will find this Blog to be fun to read and very informative.  Plus, the Blog is full of great photographs.

Enjoy!