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:

Amizade Places 3rd in Rural Development Contest; Development Successes & Inspiration

Thank you all for voting! Amizade placed third in the November Africa Rural Connect contest for innovation in rural development efforts. 


Two articles appeared in the New York Times today that are directly related to Amizade success and rationale. One featured a region in Afghanistan that is seeing development success at rates unparalleled elsewhere in the country: "If there are lessons to be drawn from the still tentative successes here, they are that small projects often work best, that the consent and participation of local people are essential and that even baby steps take years." In other words, the successes in this region suggest what Amizade has found to be true over the past 15 years - development efforts that are locally-driven are the development efforts most likely to meet with success. 


On another page, Nicholas Kristof profiled a woman who went from being a Cattle herder in Zimbabwe to now pursuing a PhD at Western Michigan University. As Kristof correctly pointed out, while this woman's story is inspiring and unique, her kind of talent and drive are not in short supply in Africa; what is in short supply is opportunity. That is why Amizade continues to work to support access to water, to education, and to opportunity. 


Thank you all for helping us bring more water access to rural Africa by voting in the online contest!  

Extremely Affordable Study Abroad: Amizade Cooperates with WVU to Ensure Access to Global Service-Learning for Everyone

Yes, it is true, it is possible to study abroad affordably - sometimes for even less than the cost of studying on campus. We want to make global service-learning as affordable and accessible as possible for all students. Though our semester costs are already below the average of semester college costs for out-of-state students, we have also worked to provide special opportunities for WVU and WV students. 

Amizade is pleased to be nearing its 5th year of partnership with West Virginia University, through which we cooperate to offer academically-rigorous, community-based, safe and secure global service-learning semesters and break programs. 

Three global service-learning semesters are currently offered through the partnership, and special scholarship opportunities apply to WVU students! Additionally, WV Promise Scholarships may be applied. Opportunities include: 

• Indigenous Politics, Service, and Development in the Andes in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which offers credits in Spanish, Political Science, and History. 

• Amazon to Atlantic: Development and Change  in Brazil, which offers credits in Political Science and Portuguese.  

• International Justice, Identity, and Sustainable Development in rural Tanzania, which offers credits in Philosophy, Swahili, and Political Science. 

Amizade anticipates continuing to offer these semester programs in cooperation with WVU indefinitely. 

According to the College Board, the average semester cost of college attendance for an out-of-state student at a public institution this academic year is $13,370, including room, board and costs. ALL of the Amizade-WVU semester programs cost less than that national average. Additionally, through the Amizade-WVU partnership: 

• Amizade guarantees special scholarships for WVU students participating in semester programs. The minimum scholarship provided to a WVU student entering a semester programs is $1,270. 
• WV Promise Scholarship Funding may be applied to semester programs.  

Amizade is committed to making global service-learning as affordable and accessible as possible.