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: