We Stand for Human Rights - Amizade Responding to Uganda

As many people are already aware, the Ugandan Parliament has proposed Anti-Gay legislation that President Obama recently and rightly called "odious" and "unconscionable."  The proposed law further marginalizes the gay community in Uganda and threatens to hang homosexuals.

As a global nonprofit organization that emphasizes global citizenship and respecting all individuals' rights, we felt we had to do whatever we could to make our commitment to fundamental human equality clear. Amizade re-routed our Tanzania semester faculty and students to arrive in Northwest Tanzania via Kigali, Rwanda rather than via Kampala, Uganda. We did this because it is safer for all of our students and because we will avoid providing visa fees, airport taxes, and other incidental monies to a government that threatens to persecute a community.

Previous incidents of systematic violation of human rights make abundantly clear:

• Stand up early. 
• Stand up often. 
• Remain standing. 

Other nonprofit organizations, universities, and travel companies proceed through or work in Uganda. Frequently safari companies move through Kampala, as well as rafting companies interested in the upper portion of the Nile. If you're interested in expressing your support for human rights and ensuring your funds don't go to persecute the homosexual community in Uganda, it's time to take your business elsewhere. Spread the word. 

And of course, just as soon as the Members of Parliament who are advancing this horrible bill take it off the table, we'll be happy to work in Uganda again. Most Ugandans are kind and welcoming. And based on the Ugandans I've met, I'd bet most are - like so many people in so many countries around the world - outraged and upset by the hate-mongering some of their representatives are advancing right now. 

Let's stand against hate and for EVERYONE's fundamental human rights, together, now. 

Globetrotting with Amizade: Worldwide Traveler Posts from Brazil

Lee Spangler has just completed the Brazil portion of his round-the-world Amizade experience. He chronicled life and challenges in and around the Amazonian community where Amizade works, his trip through the jungle, and Amizade's ongoing efforts with volunteers and community members there in Santarem.

A few photos linked from Lee's blog appear below.

Above: Amizade's Site Director Geli Oliveira-Weiss with local children in Santarem.

Above: A community center underway through Amizade efforts in Santarem, Brazil. The community centers provide young people with desperately needed, safe and productive learning spaces after school. Many thanks to the recent volunteer group from Wake Forest University!

And below, photos from the jungle, the nearby rivers, the city, and local food!

Amizade Ghana Students Successfully Raise Funds for Library Desks and Chairs

I've been pleased to learn that students on Amizade's Ghana Winter Break course - while studying international development, helping with the construction of a rural community library, and touring Ghana's Gold Coast - chose to raise funds for desks and chairs for the library building. By describing what was needed, writing a compelling email home, and sharing the situation with their friends and family, these students raised nearly $1,500 in just a few days.

The funds raised will fundamentally help create educational opportunities for children and adults in the rural community of Jukwa, where Amizade is helping complete the first public library. The Ghana group is doing great and inspiring work - recognizing that they can make a difference and that our choices matter everyday. I think that's Amizade's ethic - we can make a difference and build a better world if we choose to work carefully, connecting people across cultures through community-driven development.

The world has many challenges - and the world is also what we as a global community make it. That's the ethic expressed in this video below, which is my personal favorite in NAFSA Student Diplomat Video Contest. Take a look:

Amizade Exposed Photos are UP! - Your Chance to Vote!

For the second year, Amizade has arranged a photo contest around the categories of:

1. Global Citizenship
2. Landscape and Beauty, and 
3. Black and White

The photos have been submitted and they are ---- absolutely beautiful. To see all the photos and cast your votes, click here. A few examples from the contest follow:

Study Abroad with Amizade Improves Employability

In an authoritative study published in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, researchers interviewed 352 firms, organizations and agencies across a wide range of industries throughout the United States to investigate how studying abroad impacts a student’s employability. The study concluded that employers’ value the intercultural/global competence and skills learned from studying abroad and that studying abroad can have a positive impact on a person’s employability.

Specifically, employers highly value experiential-learning programs with service learning and internship components.

The study found that the following opportunities make students more attractive to employers:

·         4-10 week summer service learning program

·         14-18 week semester program with classes outside university

·         14-18 week semester service learning program

Qualities that Employers Recognize are Enhanced by Study Abroad Include:

• -          Listens and observes well
• -          Flexible, adapts well
• -          Curious; wants to discover more
• -          Non-judgmental toward other world views
• -          Willing to take risks and to learn new things
• -          Recognize own world view is not universal

Personal Skills that Employers Realize are Enhanced by Study Abroad:

• -          Works well under pressure
• -          Analyzes, evaluates, interprets well
• -          Communicates effectively in intercultural situations
• -          Understand global economic and political trends
• -          Well-informed re: world events/history
• -          Effective socializing/doing business elsewhere
• -          Knowledgeable re: other history/culture

By participating in an Amizade service learning study abroad program, students gain these prized skills for future employment.

Amizade empowers individuals and communities through worldwide service and learning. We offer programs in nine countries, and those programs range from semester long service learning courses, short term individual internships.


Many thanks to Amizade Intern Laura Hoch for summarizing the information featured above! 

*Tooboff, Stevan, Michael Vande Berg and Jack Rayman. “Employer Attitude Toward Study Abroad.” The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad. http://www.frontiersjournal.com/documents/TrooboffVandebergRaymonFRONTIERSJOURNALXVWinter2007-08-pdf.pdf.

What Do Human Rights Mean to You? - Blog Contest!!!

The Pittsburgh Human Rights Network will be sponsoring a monthly blog contest for the next three months. Each month’s winner will get either a $50 gift card or a $50 donation to a charity of their choice. The only rules are that the blogs be posted in the Pittsburgh Human Rights Network’s blog section and that they have something to do with human rights as envisioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Details:
Month 1 – December 10, 2009 – January 10, 2010
Month 2 – January 11, 2010 – February 10, 2010
Month 3 – February 11, 2010 – March 10, 2010

Members of the Board of Directors and staff of Global Solutions Pittsburgh are not eligible for this contest. Winners will be selected within one business week of the end of each month and will be selected at the sole discretion of the staff of Global Solutions Pittsburgh. Winners will be notified via email at the address listed with their Pittsburgh Human Rights Network membership. Winners will be give a choice of several different gift cards or an equivalent donation to a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. For more information, visit Pittsburgh Human Rights Network

Fall 2009 Bolivia Semester Photos on Flickr!

The photos are available here. There aren't photos from the orphanages because there is a specific Bolivian law against showing photos of orphans online or for promotional purposes - the only exception being if the children aren't identifiable, as in this photo to the right, taken by a friend who was volunteering with us briefly in Cochabamba.

Enjoy the photos of Cochabamba, La Paz, Parque Tunari, and the surrounding areas.