Fellow Stories
True gap year stories from Fellows abroad!
Check out the latest blogs from Global Citizen Year Fellows in Brazil, Ecuador, and India!
Category
Class Year
Country
Abdul Godri
Jackson Harris
2015-11-01
Written on 31 October On Finding A New Home Dear map-makers of the world, I beg you to reconsider. Sincerely, Abdul Godri Ba Let me explain. Abdul Godri lives in Pelel Kendessa, a sprawling village nestled in the mountains that separate Senegal from Guinea. Godri (as his family and friends call him) is...
Read MoreGoing Home/Baptism
Ruby MacMillan
2015-10-31
Written October 5th, 2015 Going Home The rain was coming down. When I say it was coming down, I mean it. I had never experienced rain that teemed down with such ferocity as this. I had spent the day in the back of a truck, with six other fellows who, one by one, were dropped...
Read MoreOne Word and a Huge Success
Janet Sebastian-Coleman
2015-10-31
October 28th 2015: My four-year-old brother Moussa loves to quiz me in Pularr. His favorite after dinner entertainment is to point to various body parts and say honnu o innete? (What is this called?). He always starts with his personal favorite, tinde (forehead). So I’ve got that word down pat. I learned pretty early on if I’m feeling...
Read MoreFood Glorious Food
Janet Sebastian-Coleman
2015-10-31
October 18th 2015: The romance of travel often rests in the food: the scents, tastes, spices of another part of the world. In Ibel, I live constantly surrounded by food. The okra that will be in today’s lunch is less than ten feet from my soodu (hut/room). Right now my compound is full of corn, okra, and millet...
Read MoreRealizing Identities and Remembering My Art
Janet Sebastian-Coleman
2015-10-31
October 16th 2015: About a week ago, I pulled myself out of bed hoping to have a little time to myself before being totally surrounded by kids and food. When I pulled open my door I was greeted by a pale blue morning and a magically empty compound. My family had gone to buy bread. Amazingly, I was...
Read MoreHighs and Lows
Allison Douma
2015-10-31
Everyone says that during this year I will experience “my highest highs and my lowest lows” and I don’t really know yet if my highs are that high and my lows are that low, but I do know that I experience them on a daily basis. A lot of my highs are small, like my...
Read MoreRammatou
Allison Douma
2015-10-31
Today I was baptized, I am now Rammatou Laye Ba. I was given this name by my host family in Mako and our team leaders decided to do a naming ceremony (something like a baptism) for each of us. Aminatta washed our head with a little water and pretended to shave our heads like they...
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What’s Next?
Deonte' Lee
2015-10-30
You hear about all of these exceptional people and their stories either coming from poverty to success or from failure to success but what about the reality of those who don't succeed? You don't hear about them because they don't matter society indirectly says, but you know them. The reality of thinking about the future...
Read More2.0
Anna Del Savio
2015-10-29
I've been thinking over my vision stand more and I've realized that it wasn't really tailored to me. I wrote things I thought I should want, things I though anyone would need to get out of a gap year. But in writing that vision stand, I never thought about me; I never thought about where...
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To Dust
mimieshleman
2015-10-28
a thought-full rampage excerpts from my journal i have been struggling to find the words of how i feel i feel a million different things i feel the weight of the garbage on the rotting soil and i feel the frustration in those who put it there i feel torn in my motives i feel...
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“I’m A Baby”
Noah Hapke
2015-10-27
Driving to Sayausi for the day, bus after bus, taxi after taxi, all I knew about the schedule was that we, Charlotte, Emery, Gabrielle, and I, were going somewhere to reforest something. This explanation basically sums up all things Ecuador, going somewhere unclear with little direction other than “vamos.” Sitting in the third and final...
Read MoreNot All Brazilians Are Human: An Interview
Daniel Lewis
2015-10-27
For over a month now I have been living in a foreign country with four people, three dogs, a cat, and a variety of fowl. It’s time I gave you all an idea of what that’s like. Introductions Brisa: Hi! My name is Brisa and I love alllll sorts of food (but meat is the best, any...
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