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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A chance to grow, learn, experience…Appreciate

2013-01-09

I live just outside the city limits of Kedougou in a house with a blue front door that I’ve come to know so well. I live with my dad (Baba Ibrahima), two moms (Nene Dialamba & Nene Ruggie), six brothers (Alseyni, Moustapha, Papa, Oumar, Aliou & Amadouwouri), one sister (Aissatou), and my grandma. After much...

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Immersion Through the Lens of a Looney Toon

2013-01-09

Written November 3, 2012: It’s a Saturday afternoon and I’m escaping the unfathomably hot sun with my host dad in the shade of the mango tree in our compound. One of our neighbors, an incredibly goofy woman with a great sense of humor and dance moves to boot comes strolling up to us, swinging a big yellow bucket, which...

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A blank page and a Pencil

2013-01-04

A classroom full of ten year-old’s is daunting.  They wiggle at their desks, leave their seats to wash slates, and argue over bits of chalk.  In broken French, and then more fluidly Pulaar, I ask a few students to draw a face on the blackboard.  Every student jumps from his decaying wooden desk, arms outstretched...

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A Glimpse Into Sandiara

2013-01-03

I decided to make a video in order to better depict my site and apprenticeship. I currently live in Sandiara at my site, Centre de Formation et de Reinsertion Agricole de Sandiara (Agricultural Training and Reinsertion Center of Sandiara).CFRAS is an example of effective foreign aid, which is helping people better their lives to allow them to sustain themselves. In...

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Good Morning Sebikotane

2013-01-03

5:59 am: The alarm clock goes off. I wiggle my foot free of the mosquito net, hitting the off button with my toes in the dark. I take a few deep breaths to brace myself before 6:00 am: The guy at the mosque outside my window starts his morning yell/chant over the loudspeakers. I’m not...

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Books

2013-01-03

I judge books by their covers. I’m not being euphemistic here, I just find that a book worth binding nicely and decorating with gold leaf and a ribbon bookmark is usually a book worth reading. You don’t see many books made like that anymore. But, surprisingly, these quality books pack the shelves of the little...

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Taking Candy From a Baby

2013-01-03

When I moved in with my host family, one of my biggest concerns was being polite in a culture that was completely foreign to me. This challenge was complicated by my extremely limited language skills. I can’t say whether or not I stepped on any toes in my first few weeks here, but I was...

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Threads

2013-01-03

My soul is a tapestry – the threads are all of my experiences and memories. As the pattern takes shape my personality is shown. I’ve been using a lot more Senegalese threads recently; their textures and colors are different and it’s changing the way I’m weaving myself – because aren’t we all in the process...

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My Journey to Senegal

2012-12-17

Here’s the link to watch my video about my first few months in Senegal!

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A day in the life of Astou Ndao

2012-12-05

As I gradually make my way from my dreams to consciousness I become aware of a noise. I realize it’s my phone telling me it’s 6 AM. Ugh. Time to get the day started. I stay in bed a little longer, listening to the sounds of the village waking itself up. The sound of women pounding grain...

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Off to Joal

2012-12-05

Here is my second video documenting my year in Senegal! Off to Joal

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Waking Up

2012-11-29

The same boy comes every morning. He sways in drunken tired, holding a thick piece of bark. He mutters the normal greetings, and then holds out the bark, showing his charming kid smile, three teeth missing in the front of his mouth— stained dust or food wiped across his lips and lower jaw. He wears...

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