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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Stories Change The World
Joe Giallo
2011-02-23
“Power is the ability not just to tell a story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.” –Chimamanda Adichie, The Danger of a Single Story I left my former host family, the Montenegros, for two reasons. The first of those two reasons was due to a lack of interaction...
Read MoreCreando una clase de sicología en Zuleta
Omar Arteaga
2011-02-22
Al principio cuando pensaba sobre qué era lo que yo quería dejar atrás en mi comunidad de Zuleta, pensé en qué tan efectivo sería construir una clase de sicología. Antes de poner mis palabras y mi plan en acción, tenía que hacerme algunas preguntas a mí mismo. En realidad los estudiantes estuvieran interesados en una...
Read MoreEl Amor de Mi Madre Zuleteña – My Zuleteña Mother’s Love
Omar Arteaga
2011-02-22
A veces me gusta pensar que el amor de mi madre zuleteña es como el viento, no puedo verlo pero lo puedo sentir dentro de mi corazón. Su amor por mí es puro, tierno y un gran recuerdo que siempre cargaré conmigo durante toda mi vida. Tengo que admitir que al principio tenía mucho miedo...
Read MoreMaking Progress at Jambi Huasi
Alberto Servin
2011-02-22
From one of previous blogs, I mentioned that I asked for and got the approval from my supervisor at the medical clinic to craft an outreach program. We were lacking customers so I thought of ways of letting folks know about our services. So far, I’ve made progress in my apprenticeship project in the last...
Read More“Why don’t pregnant women go to the hospital to give birth?”
Chloe Bobar
2011-02-17
“Why don’t pregnant women go to the hospital to give birth?” is one of the questions that appears on a survey that we have been giving the parteras of the rural, mostly indigenous communities within the canton of Cayambe, Ecuador. The best translation for partera is midwife, as these women serve their respective communities by...
Read MoreLearning to Take Control
Lily Shaffer
2011-02-14
Recently I’ve been able to identify just what it is about my experience that has been making this last month so difficult. I’ve been in a sort of uninspired slump, dragging my feet through the daily routine. My job doesn’t put me in contact with anyone my age, and my siblings go to university in...
Read MoreWelcome to the War
Lily Shaffer
2011-02-14
A few weeks ago, a young woman, Pati, came into Pastoral. She has beautiful dark eyes, a scar on her forehead, and shoulder length hair. She smiles a warm, crooked-tooth smile, and looks up and to the left when she’s thinking. She can’t be more than 26 or 27 and her energy is positive and enthralling. I was sitting on a bench...
Read MoreGarbage Trucks
Liza David
2011-02-14
I saw a garbage truck in Apuela. My first thought was that it was not real. My second thought held such certainty that I almost could not believe that it was not true. I thought that the world had ended. I physically had to walk around the truck and touch it, both to confirm the...
Read MoreLooking for Colombians
Lily Shaffer
2011-02-11
My job is exactly as the title suggests: I’ve been hiking through mountains looking for Colombian refugees.
Read MoreAnd if he told you to jump off a bridge, would you do that too?
Caroline Pocock
2011-02-09
What is it that gives us the courage to take a risk when it seems that every rational thought in our heads would convince us to do otherwise? We can almost deceive ourselves into doing something we’re not totally comfortable doing. Hopefully, we push ourselves for the better- to accomplish a high-set goal or to...
Read MoreThe Amazon
Liza David
2011-02-06
I close my eyes and try not to take a deep breath. I feel the healing man hover above me, blowing tobacco filled smoke into my face. All I could think was, “Is blowing this smoke into my face really going to cleanse me? It seems so dirty.” I relax a little as the healing...
Read MoreTeaching English in Zuleta
Caroline Pocock
2011-01-31
Here is a short video of me teaching English to a third grade class at the public elementary school in Zuleta, where I have my apprenticeship.
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