UganDan

Hey everyone sorry for the delay.Internet in Uganda is very slow,or no available,or even worst you experience power outages while online. Anyway The group is in Fort Portal which is a small town located Western REGION of Uganda.Were staying with Youth Encourage Services also know as Y.E.S while is also so an (NGO) non government organization. Y.E.S provides children with HIV/AIDS and children who lost their parents to HIV/AIDS with food,shelter,schooling and medicine.Carol Adams is the marvelous women who envisioned this program explained to us about how she got start.Carol further explained god called her to do this work at the ripe age of 50 years old. Carol had no experiences traveling experience let alone working with children.After being told by a friend a church this organizations from Uganda wanted her to head the program Carol jumped on the plane from Hawaii to Uganda. Shortly after arriving in Uganda the program lost funding and carol was all alone with no money that experiences didn't stop carol worked hard and eventually started the Y.E.S program.

After a day of rest carol told us she had a job for us.She recently brought land were she was planting crops to feed the children.Carol needed us along with the works she had to finish a house for the farms so that neighbors/community wouldn't mistaking their crops from ours. We spent 3 long hours a day either digging or plastering the walls with a dirt/cement mix. All and all the job was very fun and we even got to play with the children at the Y.e.s program which ages ranged from 5 to15 years old. Their are 15 boys and 15girls who stay at the orphanage. Today we got the day off because it is KAAN'S 18th Birthday we ate pizza and enjoyed a few laughs here an there.
Uganda is beautiful and I'm loving every minutes of it.My time is all most up on the computer so until next time my friends.Oh yeah Isabel I've read some of your blogs you're doing a great job.

Here's Y.E.S WEBSITE http://www.caroladamsministry.com/who_we_are.html

Simply Dan

India: One Week In.....

I've now been in India for one week and two days. The adventure began in New Delhi, in the district of Paharganj. I met the rest of the group in San Francisco and we flew to Hong Kong for a seven-hour layover, before flying into New Delhi. Once there, after two days of non-stop travel, I fell asleep in dingy hotel and slept away the jet lag. I spent the next four days forming relationships with the people I'll be travelling with, familiarizing myself with the city of New Delhi and reintroducing myself to Isabel--the world traveller. We had our orientation, which included some team building activities, general information and a scavenger hunt around the city. I have met some genuinely nice people, learned some phrases in Hindi and Nepali, have successfully avoided people that approach me on the street, bought my first salwaar kamiz and shaved my head. It's been an eventful first week here in India. However, I've also seen some real poverty and experienced a little boy banging on the window of a car begging me for money. These things are real, and unforgettable. India is beautiful in a strange almost inexplicable way. It has some of the most amazing temples and beautiful people, yet on the streets of Delhi I've seen some of the worst atrocities. India smells of spice and incense, while it also smells of burning human waste.

Right now I'm in Sikkim, specifically Gangtok. We've been staying in the house of Sherap and Choden Lepcha for three days; they have been more than accommodating. There is internet access, hot showers, comfortable beds, great food and good conversation. It is very different here compared to Delhi; In the morning I walk outside and my room opens out onto a balcony. The view is of the green mountains and all the little villages/houses are nestled safely in the hills. In New Delhi, you couldn't leave the hotel without being honked at by a passing taxi or rickshaw or be approached by a salesman/interested local. During the day we've been volunteering at a local school, working with the kids there. We play games, teach them songs and dances, teach them english, tell them about our lives in the United States etc. They treat us like celebrities, and I won't deny that I like the attention. But I also just love interacting with them. I hate to say that after only one week into this trip I've found my favorite part, but I've connected with Sikkim on such a deep level that part of me knows I need to come back here. I hope to return to Sikkim to stay with Sherap and Choden, to work with the children at the school. I have been feeling pretty homesick lately, but Sikkim has helped me to forget all of that. Everytime I enter the school and see all of the kids' shining faces, I can't help but be overwhelmed with pure joy. Just a couple of days ago all I could think about was this trip ending. Now I'm trying to think of ways that I can stay here longer.
The next part of the trip will be the seven-day trek in the himalayas. I will be tested physically and mentally, and while I'm scared, I feel that this part of the trip will be key to my growth process over the next three months. I don't want to expect to get too much out of this experience, but I almost feel as if I can't walk away from this trek without feeling changed in some way. I'm not naturally a very active person, and I tend to tell myself that I can't do things most of the time. In this case however, I'll have to rely on my body strength and what little confidence I do have. I figure that I'm ready as I'll ever be, so bring it on! I'll make sure to find a way to update this blog when I return to civilization. Wish me luck, I'll need it!

I've officially become a hermit. I have been living out of my room for days now; sleeping all of the time, watching old movies, neglecting personal hygiene and ignoring phone calls. I shut the people in my life out, because I believe that it will help me to avoid the unavoidable--I leave for India in less than a seven days. I know that on the other end of the phone line there is going to be a person wanting to know, "Can we see each other one last time before you leave?" or "Are you excited?" I feel like telling them matter-of-factly that I'm not falling of the edge of the earth, that I'll be back in three months, and that of course I'm excited. However, because I am also terrified, it's not so easy to do. I feel that people expect me to be excited, so I tell them what they want to hear. In doing that, I hope that I'll convince myself of my excitement. I recognize that this is an amazing opportunity for travel, self-discovery, life experience etc. However, without sounding ungrateful for the gift that I have been given, I am terrified. I've only been abroad once before and am quite unsure of what to expect. I went to Ecuador last summer with the support of The Pangaea Project, another non-profit organization. I don't remember being as anxious then, but many have told me that I was. Not everyday is like this, somedays I am overjoyed to be going to a foreign country for three months. I can't believe that I have been blessed with such an opportunity and I can't wait to take advantage of it. I feel bad for my family most of all, because they are the ones that have to experience this cycle or rollercoaster of emotion on a daily basis. One day I'll tell them that there is nothing that they can do that will get me on the plane to India, and the next I tell them they couldn't stop from going me if they tried. Either way, I know I'll end up in India somehow. After all, this was meant to be. The year that I went to Ecuador was the year that I lost two people that were very important to my family. Just a couple of months before I left the country for the first time, my great aunt died of colon cancer; Six months before that her sister (my other great aunt) died of lung cancer. One was a world traveller and the other managed to bring us all together for holidays. The world traveller was supposed to go to India when she was a member of the Peace corps, but was relocated to the Netherlands where she lived for thirty years of her life. I believe I will carry out her legacy by seeing India and the parts of the world she never got to see. The last time I saw my other great aunt, before I left for Ecuador, she simply asked me to bring her back a souvenir. We never said our goodbyes, there was no need, because I believe she is with me on all of my adventures; pushing me to be a strong, confident young woman. This trip is for me, this trip is for my great aunts, this trip is for youth that don't usually get opportunities like this. India, fall semester, scholarship recipient: Isabel Burri. And so it begins with me.

Welcome

Welcome to the International Carpe Diem Foundation's first scholarship-recipient blog! Stay tuned as our scholarship recipients share their journeys and growth through their blogs and photos!