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
Throwing Away Your Identity
Chloe Bobar
2011-03-22
identity – the set of characteristics that somebody recognizes as belonging uniquely to himself or herself and constituting his or her individual personality for life Imagine that your identity was taken from you. Specifically, imagine that five defining factors of your identity were taken from you: your gender, your age, your economic status, your...
Read MoreHe Doesn’t Have Any Shoes
Lily Shaffer
2011-03-17
Meet Darwin Montoya. He’s eight, the third child in his family. He has three brothers and two sisters. He was one of my students in Refuerzo and one of my Kids with Cameras participants. He’s the first one I told about Kids with Cameras. He came to pick up his siblings, Camila and Camilo, from...
Read MoreMy First Communion or How I Learned the Word for Sin
Liza David
2011-03-16
I think this blog post should begin with an apology. I kind of gave my host family the impression that eating meat was a sin for Jews. I apologize to all the meat loving Jews for making my host family think that all Jews cannot eat meat. So I went to Church (again). Although this...
Read MoreMinding the Shop
Joe Giallo
2011-03-15
On any given Sunday, you can find me sitting under the blue umbrella on the right hand side of the Apuela’s main street, minding the family shop. Every Sunday, my host mom prepares a huge pot of fritada, fried pork, with mote, some sort of tasteless thing that I think is related to corn, as...
Read MoreAspects of Education in Ecuador
Peter Saudek
2011-03-14
I now see in a new light what a responsibility it is to teach.
Read MoreMy Commute to Work
Alberto Servin
2011-03-11
This blog is about my commute to work. I thought it would be interesting to present this as a photo slideshow so that you can accompany me along the way. I hope you enjoy the trip! [slidepress gallery=’my-commute-to-work’] Please scroll over the images for captions. Well, thanks for accompanying me along the way! I hope...
Read MoreA Gringa in Ecuador
Cameron Kaufman
2011-03-11
I recently started working at the Escuela Convalescencia de Cayambe, a mere hour’s ride up a road that can hardly be called “cobblestoned.” After that gentle wake-up call, I have a 15 minute walk up a mudslide, oops, I mean, dirt road. I arrive at school at eight o’clock every morning, where I get a...
Read MoreKids with Cameras
Lily Shaffer
2011-03-10
The students document their lives through photos and writing, focusing on the parts of their lives that have a large impact on the aspects of their identities that we can't see.
Read MoreSo, where are you from?
Alberto Servin
2011-03-09
“So, are you from China?” That’s a question I get a lot here. Many Ecuadorians who see me assume I’m “Chino” (Chinese), since the majority of Asians in Ecuador are from China. It’s something I’ve gotten used to and just laugh off now. I can’t blame them for their naiveté though; there aren’t many Asians...
Read MoreProgress and perspective
Caroline Pocock
2011-03-09
Nothing makes me happier than when a dozen of my elementary school students stampede me with arms flung open wide, eyebrows raised in full excitement, puddles splashing every which way, screaming “Carito! Carito!” It’s in these moments that I remember why I come to school every day. There’s no doubt that my exotic white complexion...
Read MoreA Home Away from Home
Cameron Kaufman
2011-02-28
My (biological) family recently visited me in Ecuador, and we went on a trip to the Galapagos. During my week away from my home away from home, I realized how much I missed being with my host family. I realized that the main reason my stay here in Ecuador has been incredible is my host...
Read MoreReigniting La Casa de la Juventud
Peter Saudek
2011-02-25
“La Casa de la Juventud” or The Youth House is a youth group in Ibarra city that was started ten years ago to provide a program focused on leadership, human rights and youth development. It was founded with financial help from the city that paid for a space and a few social workers to run...
Read More