Fellow Stories

Fractures and Family

Talia Bailes

2016-03-24

Where I’m At

Emery Harwell

2016-03-21

I haven’t been keeping up with this blog nearly as much as I intended to, and for that I apologize.  I’ve hit my required amount for Global Citizen Year, and it would be pretty easy to just kinda drop off on these little updates.  However, I do feel the responsibility to let all of y’all...

Better Late Than Never… A Word To My Chilca Kiddos/ The Big One-Nine

Miyo McGinn

2016-03-19

To the dear kids from the Chilcatotora elementary school: I’m going to try to put into words the warm fuzzy feeling I get whenever I think of y’all, which is at it’s simplest a deep gratitude and fondness. I’ve never been in a classroom like yours before; twenty kids, spanning seven grades, with one teacher, most of you...

Better Late Than Never… Carnaval Highlight!

Miyo McGinn

2016-03-19

“Nooooooo!” Laughing hysterically, I run back to where I’d stashed my phone earlier to protect it from the liquids flying around. I turn back around as soon as I find it, trying to get to the tanks of water in time to take a video of Elena – the other Fellow in Tarqui – being thrown in. But...

Uncaptured Moments

Anna Del Savio

2016-03-16

“A picture says a thousand words” I’ve never understood that. I love taking photos, looking through photos, trying to pick out stories from photos – but they will always have some shortcomings that words don’t have. Coming into my last month in my community, I have occasionally felt stressed about all the photos I haven’t...

FEELS #4 – LOVE

Austin Nguyen

2016-03-07

I used to feel really weird when other fellows told me they loved me. I think I was being sorta picky with my definition of “love” – it was like, “you’ve only known me like, 4 months man, do you really even know me enough to ‘love’ me” kinda stuff. It was also, I think,...

My Host Community

Skyler Narotsky

2016-03-04

Three kilometers above sea level in the southern Ecuadorian Andes sits the ancient indigenous kichwa-speaking community of Cañar. Located in terrain consisting of steep ravines and grassy slopes, most Cañaris still work the fields as subsistence farmers producing crops native to the Andes such as quinoa and potatoes. As is typical in many agricultural communities,...

A Homesickness Story: What Makes Global Citizen Year Fellows, Team Leaders & the People You Meet so Spectacular

Hugo Santiago

2016-03-02

    Want to know something that’s been really tough about being in Ecuador? I haven’t had anyone been able to come visit me and I was feeling pretty down in mid-January. I guess the homesickness was just a bit too much. Not to mention, I can’t really explain what it’s like to hear the other fellows talk...

An Average Day

Anna Del Savio

2016-03-01

My weekdays here in Otavalo, Ecuador start either waking up as my sister comes into the room to get her school clothes, waking up as a fly dedicates its morning to buzzing around my head and landing on my face, or sleeping through my alarms and rushing to get to school on time. My first...

Dancing In The Rain-A Thank You to Summer Camp

Talia Bailes

2016-02-28

I am always “glowing” here in Ecuador, be it the rain or the Amazon heat. But I love it, thanks to what I learned from Jewish summer camp. Listen below  

Secret Identities

Hugo Santiago

2016-02-25

Peter Parker is the Amazing Spider-Man! This guy has always been one of my favorite comic book characters. I think it’s been because I could relate to him in some form or another. When we weren’t short on cash or bullied, we were out trying to help others and no matter how hard we tried...

Viva Carnaval

Trina Olsen

2016-02-24

Two Saturdays ago, I took the bus up to the town of El Valle, about 10 minutes away from my house. Deema, a friend and fellow in Global Citizen Year,  lives there with her host family. We met up in El Valle to go watch what we thought would be a fun, but more or...