Hi,

After a day of taxis, buses and a ferry, we are now in Leon! It was sad to say goodbye to all the friends we’ve made in Balgue, but exciting to be moving on to the next part of our time in Nicaragua. We’ll keep you updated as we get started with our second partner organization NECAT on Sunday! Everyone is safe and healthy, and enjoying having indoor showers again

Lisa

Team Thailand (Calgary)

Helloooo Al pal and Kelly!

Everything is awesome in Thailand!

Highlights so far:

- going into Mae La refugee camp- something that not many people get to do.  We got a chance to talk to the students in the leadership program there.  They were able to ask us questions about Canada, and we were able to ask them questions about their lives. The thing that surprised me the most was that it didn’t feel like we were intruding.  I am used to being stared at and followed, but everyone in the camp seemed super chill about us being there.

- Meeting with organizations in the morning.  The favorite has been Mi Ma Haw school (the school that Lindsay Koch is volunteering at).  It was just neat to get to have some real discussion with people our own age.

- AGAPE!  The children there are so, so, so wonderful.  They LOVE crafts… LOVE them.  Usually there is a craft explosion all over the school.  We have found the second week to be much different than the first, as the children seem to trust us more.  The hardest part about being at the school/orphanage is watching the children who have just been dropped off by parents.  Since being here there have been at least 6 new children.  They usually cry at the gate, or in the trees, or just sit there blank faced.  Its difficult, but seeing how happy the other children are makes us hopeful that they will be able to transition.  We only have 2 days left, which is upsetting.  I don’t think we are ready to leave.

- 3 words, yellow-noodle-soup… life changing…

Everything has been super, super busy, but really awesome.  Health has been good.  A few upset tummies, and weird heat rashes… but nothing serious.  We leave the Chang Mai early Sunday morning

I hope everything is going awesome in Calgary,

Kristen

Team Brazil (Calgary)

Hi friends,

team Brazil is still doing fantastic! We had an amazing day yesterday touring downtown Sao Paulo. It was very emotional for the entire team! We are headed to Santos this weekend to stay with a girl we met at the base!

Hope all is well! Chat soon

Tor

Milestone Table

1. Once the team arrives in country.
2. Once the team arrives at their first contact.
3. When the team arrives at the second contact OR Mid-way update
4. When the team arrives at their debrief locations.
5. When the team is headed to the airport.

Hey Peggy and Christine,

The team is fine now. Seven people were sick, but it only lasted a day or two. Jill Prince took a little longer to recover and we had to get her to see a doctor, but she is better now. We have been working regularly and are meeting up with Kevin tomorrow.

If you have any other questions let us know.

Thanks

Joanna and Trista

Milestone Table

1. Once the team arrives in country.
2. Once the team arrives at their first contact.
3. When the team arrives at the second contact OR Mid-way update
4. When the team arrives at their debrief locations.
5. When the team is headed to the airport.

We’ve arrived in Blackfalds after a long but gorgeous drive, and are settling into the Red House

Pauline

Team Peru

Hola Christine y Peggy!

We have made it safely to Arequipa after our 18 hour bus ride from Lima!

No sicknesses on the bus, phew! Everyone is in such high spirits, I am so pleased with this team. Everyone is having a great experience and all team members are already excited for volunteering more for global and doing another trip next year.

Everyone is resting to avoid altitude sickness, I better hop into bed too!

Speak to you soon.

Nicole

Milestone Table

1. Once the team arrives in country.
2. Once the team arrives at their first contact.
3. When the team arrives at the second contact OR Mid-way update
4. When the team arrives at their debrief locations.
5. When the team is headed to the airport.

Hey Peggy and Christine,

We are heading to our second contact today!  We may not have internet for a few days but as soon as I can get to a computer I will let you know that we arrived.  Everything has been amazing so far!~

Waves of Joy,

Shannon

Team Uganda

SOROTI UPDATE:

Just wanted to check in and pop you another update! All is well here in Soroti, the team is really settling into life at the base and we are really finding our niche in the community. We have been doing nightshifts at Amacet most evenings and during the days we have been doing a lot of practical work projects, helping build a new part of the hospital, repairing a road, lots of cleaning at a school and a hospital and made the long journey out to a village of one of the staff at the base so he could show the team where he was from and contrast life in the village with life here in the city. Everyone is super healthy and happy!

Steph and Taylor

Team Bolivia

BOLIVIA UPDATE:

All is well and the team has made it thought our first full week in the Jungle.  Things are great and the expereince has been amazing thus far.  Other that the obvious difficulties that come with a complete change of diet and atmosphere, and a secluded experience in the jungle that is nothing like any of us have ever experienced, the whole team is managing quite well.  The lodge that we´re at, as I mentioned is beautiful, and in the heart of the jungle.  We have acquired a guide, Rinaldo, that has helped us make connection in the community and who spends all day, every day with us.  He is learning english and we are all doing our best to learn Spanish so it has been an awesome, and interesting, relation for us all.  This week we spent every day in the community. Each day we leave the lodge in the morning (8am or so) to visit a new family, volunteer in their home or on their property, have 3 meals with them (cooking and cleaning), spend some time getting to know them, and then head backt o the lodge juist before it gets dark (5pm or so)… or if we´re unlucky, we walk back in he dark : ) Its about a 1.5K walk up and down hills and rigth through the jungle between the lodge and the community so we´re definitely getting our exercise. The days that we spend volunteering in and around the lodge, we walk up and down the 127 directly vertical stairs between the kitchen and our bunk house, so again, exercise is not an issue! My favorite thing about living in the jungle is the fruit! Often when we take a break, we can pull an orange or grapefruit right out of a tree and eat it.  The locals peel the fruit and then suck all the juice out of it, its hilarious.  We call it a jungle juice box On the note of fruit though, In the community this week we learned some awesome cultural things such as how they harvest chocolate and coca from a fruit called a mizorka, we harvested hundreds of oranges (basically catching and bagging them as they are thrown down from trees), we harvested honey from sugar cane and learned about how they weave beds and baskets from palm leaves.  We also spent a whole day scraping paint off of and sanding the communnity school so we can help paint it next week.  The original task was using small chunks of snad paper so sand about three layers of paint off by hand… for a three room school room… a daunting task to day the least.  We then discovered that the machetties we bought yield a much better outcome so we turned to those the scrape the paint off instead.  That being said, a battery powered palm sander would have been my new best friend this week! Alas, things in the jungle are done differectly, and slower, so we sanded away with all the children and teachers of the school helping which was a great expereince. On the note of machetties… man, can they be used for everything! haha we were encouraged to buy them when we first arrived and have since used them for weeding, cutting sugar cane, opening cocanuts, scratching the 100s of mosquito bites that have covered my legs like chicken pocks and much much more! Of course the locals are much better at using them than us but its just a great example of how a small tool is so well utilised in a rural setting. Today we have come into the near by town to expereince a traditional spanish church service which was a great expereince and to charge our cameras and such. There is power in the communal areas of the lodge but there are no plug ins so its easy to feel isolated there. I think its great, but me team could tell you otherwise! All joking aside though, I´m so proud of all of them for how well they are going with the flow and adapting to this atmosphere that we had no idea about coming in.  Things are great and we look forward to another 2 weeks of this fabulous culture! I´ll be back in Rurre next sunday (hopefully) so you can look forward to another update then.  Love and miss you all!
All the best,
Layne

Milestone Table

1. Once the team arrives in country.
2. Once the team arrives at their first contact.
3. When the team arrives at the second contact OR Mid-way update
4. When the team arrives at their debrief locations.
5. When the team is headed to the airport.

Hey Peggy and Christine,

We’re leaving Tsartlip today, and are planning to stay overnight in Revelstoke. Tuesday we finish the drive to Blackfalds. We’ll let you know when we get there!

Cheers,

Pauline

Team Philippines

Hey Ladies! Hope all is well and all the teams are going good!

We are all good here in the Philippines…we will be staying here on Sibuyan the entire time including debrief. Internet is super limited and slow so you may not hear from us for a little while but we will definitely be in touch!!

see you on the 31st!

Chrissy, Mandie and Nilsa

Team Kenya

Hey Peggy and Christine,

We have arrived safely in Ugunja! Things are going really well!

Talk soon,

Mel

Milestone Table

1. Once the team arrives in country.
2. Once the team arrives at their first contact.
3. When the team arrives at the second contact.
4. When the team arrives at their debrief locations.
5. When the team is headed to the airport.

Hi,

Hard to believe it´s already been over a week in Balgue! We´re having a great time, working hard on the farm and learning lots. It´s been nice getting to know our homestay families a bit more, as well as do some workshops with community members like cooking and crafts. Everyone is healthy and our Spanish is really improving, though still lots of laughs as we mix up words and act out what we dont know! Hope all is well at home, we have lots of stories to share!

Lisa

Team Nepal

Hello!
Just sending you a quick update on how our first week and a bit have gone. Everyone is healthy at the moment… After a wicked week of upset stomachs. We have been working hard around the home… Gardening projects, stream cleaning and so on. Always lots of beautiful kids to play with. Its awesome. The team is fitting in great with the family here and all is well. We were suppose to leave for our two week trip into the villages on Thursday, but there has been political strikes in the region that has turned us back. Looks like we may try again in a few days. That’s life in Nepal.

Best wishes,
-Team Nepal

Team Brazil (Ontario)

Hi everyone!

We safely arrived to our second contact and the team has been having a great time.

The past 3 days have been a little tougher because one of our team members, Tasha, has been constipated on and off throughout the trip. The constipation worsened and would continue even after taking laxatives. On the 9th myself and Tahsa went to the hospital and saw a doctor. He prescribed stronger laxatives after taking a blood test and administering an IV. Yesterday we came back to Sao Gabrioelle from the community because the laxatives did not do anything. After talking to a nurse (friends with Rosa, one of the ladies working within the community) and with Dinaldo we decided to get another prescription for a medicine that stops parasites and abibas (what they think Tasha picked up). Tasha and I spent the night at Rosa´s and are now waiting until lunch to see how she feels. She successfully went to the bathroom a bit this morning following the medicine last night so we hope that continues!

Otherwise everything has been really good, I hope all is well and we will update you again as soon as we can!

Good vibes your way

Hannah

Milestone Table

1. Once the team arrives in country.
2. Once the team arrives at their first contact.
3. When the team arrives at the second contact.
4. When the team arrives at their debrief locations.
5. When the team is headed to the airport.

Everything is going super well in Thailand!  We have had visits with 3 different organizations, gone down to the border, went to the multi-faith service at Agape, and have completed two days of summer camp at Agape (which, is exhausting, but so so great!).  Favorite curricular activity: biking and jamming out to Brittany Spears in our drivers truck on the way to the school.  I hope everything is going awesome at home!

Kristen and Erika

Hi Christine & Peggy,

We apologize for the delay in terms of emailing but internet is VERY slow here and it is hard to get some time to write weekly or bi weekly. This is just an email to let you know that we are all fine, a few of us have got sick with a cold and sore throats. Otherwise than that, we are all enjoying our time and expanding the global community! We will write to you soon! Glad to hear that all the teams arrived safe and well.

Philippines leadership team: Chrissy, Mandie & Nilsa

Milestone Table

1. Once the team arrives in country.
2. Once the team arrives at their first contact.
3. When the team arrives at the second contact.
4. When the team arrives at their debrief locations.
5. When the team is headed to the airport.

Everyone is doing well and we have been in Soroti now for 4 days. Sorry it’s taken so long to get in touch with you. Everything is going really well here. We had a little trouble figuring out how to get internet but we managed to get a wireless modem so we should be able to be in fairly regular contact from now on. So far we haven’t done too much, just getting settled, went to a wedding, to church and cleaned out the school to get ready for the start of classes next week. We have also started rotating night shifts at the orphanage. Everything is going really smoothly and Stephen and Jane have been great at making us feel welcome and setting up a program for our stay. The team is all doing great and slowly getting used to things here so that is good as well.

I hope everything is going well back in Calgary and with the other teams. Hope your planing for Peru is going well. Have an amazing trip and thanks again for everything you have done to make these trips happen for us.

Thanks,

Taylor

Hi ladies,

I ended up calling Stephen today because I hadn’t heard from team Uganda yet. They are safe and well in Soroti at the YWAM base. They were planning to use the internet tonight to connect with us. Everyone is fine and they have been working at the orphanages for the past few days. We’ll be looking forward to getting another update from them soon.

Milestone Table

1. Once the team arrives in country.
2. Once the team arrives at their first contact.
3. When the team arrives at the second contact.
4. When the team arrives at their debrief locations.
5. When the team is headed to the airport.