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
The Final Stretch
Madeline Ripa
2012-03-12
When I first arrived in my host community Palmarin Facao, Senegal, in the beginning of October, I started working as a nurse at the “Poste de Sante de Palmarin Facao et Centre de Planification Familiale” (The Palmarin/Facao Health Clinic and Family Planning Center). Pape Ndiaye, the sole doctor on staff, and Cecile, my one fellow...
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The Moon XVIII
Erica Anderson
2012-03-12
Funny enough, it took a trip to Senegal to have my first tarot card reading. I was lucky to not only have my American parents visit me in January, but also Lukas’s mother, who came to stay with us in our village for a week. In addition to her refreshing company, she was also kind...
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Love Letter to Sénégal
Aubrey Haddard
2012-03-12
Sama Xol My Heart, My life has finally reached a point of normalcy and I have to give it up? This is my home now, mon deuxième pays, my second country, my loving family, my students, my hard work, my joy, my dances, my baptisms, my disappointments, my surprises, my rice, my millet, my...
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Senegalese Shorts
Madeline Ripa
2012-03-12
Hello Folks! The following is a collection of my experiences that I deem are blog-worthy, but not quite long enough to have a blog to themselves. They are also a way for me to apologize for my recent lapse in blogging, though I promise more are soon to come. Decadence I start my day...
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Dancing Shoes
Charlotte Benishek
2012-03-12
Recently Megan, another fellow from my region, and I sat in the sand deeply daydreaming in the unique way that only occurs when you have absolutely nothing else to do. “How can I best show Leona (my host community) to people at home?” I mused, slightly frustrated, having been unable to answer the question myself....
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4 Hours Downriver
Mitchell Mankin
2012-03-08
Arrival In December, I was invited by my family to a wedding in Cruz Chicta, the ancestral home of my host father’s family. I jumped at the chance to see a marriage in a village still lacking paved roads and electricity. The trip there was an experience in itself. In the four hours that water...
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The Crying Man and the Machete
Henrietta Conrad
2012-03-07
I was having trouble figuring out exactly what was going on. There was a blubbering man with tears streaming down his face and my host dad sitting on a stool, determinedly looking straight ahead with arms stubbornly crossed. My host dad owns a burraca in front of the house, a tiny convenient store/pit stop, which...
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In the Name of Smelling Good, I Have Proudly Represented the American People
Henrietta Conrad
2012-03-07
“You know, you’re not like the other Americans.” I looked up from brushing my wet, clean hair. My older host cousin, Iarema, was standing on the other side of the living room, one hand placed lightly on her thrust out hip. Her eyebrows were furrowed as if she was trying to solve a puzzle and...
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Food For Thought
Annie Plotkin
2012-03-07
Feijão, arroz, cururú, moqueca, vatapá, churrasco, pirão, quiabada, vatapa, acarajé. Bahians do not mess around when it comes to their food, and as a result, I can’t fit into anything I brought with me when I first packed for my year in Brazil. Every day, I wake up and begin the day the way my...
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