The University of Texas Nourish International chapter has been working on the Orissa India project all semester, meeting multiple times a week, and learning what to expect abroad, various phrases in Telugu, creating lesson plans for English classes, and putting together a computer and career development curriculum.

During the final week we were in Austin, we were able to have a Skype call with our partner DJMV. The excitement could be felt from both sides of the computer screen. During the call, they let us know upon arrival in Orissa, we will be picked up at the airport by Bheema, one of directors of DJMV, and eat with his family. Our partner has fully demonstrated kindness and open arms toward us, but they expect us to wake up early every morning and work hard throughout the weeks we’ll be there. I know general living and teaching English and computer literacy will be a huge challenge. For preparation earlier this semester, the group sat in on an ESL class to get a feel for how to effectively teach our language to others. Bottom line, we know it’s going to be a slow process and we may not accomplish as much as we set out within our lesson plans. However, we will stay flexible, maintain good attitudes, and make as large of an impact as possible within the community. My hopes are to inspire the high school students we’re teaching to go on to higher education and seek jobs to bring money back to their village. This is what I love about Nourish—we teach impoverished communities how to pull themselves out of poverty rather than just give them our charity. As I was explaining this to my dad at dinner the night before departure, he understood immediately, saying: “give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he can eat for a lifetime.” Exactly.

Right now the group and I are going through a series of flights in order to get to our first destination: Mumbai. We will stay there for the weekend, then head over to Orissa where we will stay for the remainder of our trip.

As a group, we’d sincerely like to thank the entire UT Austin chapter for everyone’s amazing work raising money for this project and for all of your Nourish love and support! I’d also like to thank my parents, extended family, and friends who made contributions to the project and/or my personal volunteer expense or support me in spirit.

All for now (but with plenty to come),

Reanna

Amosi! (hello)

After two long days of traveling and layovers, our team finally arrived in Kisumu, Kenya. David and his brother John met us after our flight where we loaded into the “Beast,” and the, “Baby Beast,” (their large SUVs). We made a stop in Kisumu at the Nakumat which is “Kenya’s Wal-mart.” We were shocked at how large it is. The Nakumat is the closest supermarket to David’s house, about 45 minutes away. After our grocery run, we headed to House of Hope, a ministry David started. So far, they have built a very nice clinic. His assistant, Elaine, showed us around. They are still in the process of setting it up, but everything they are doing is really great. They have started working on a children center where they will have 20 kids to fill the rooms in June.

Next, we headed to Kandaria where Justine (his wife) was ready with dinner. She is quite the chef! Our first meal consisted of ugali, avocado, mini bananas, beef, sekuma wiki (equivalent to kale), and passionfruit juice. We will be eating a lot of ugali here. It’s almost like a huge ball of sticky, thick grits. You cut your slice like cake and mix it with the other foods. Everything was delicious.

Kandaria is a beautiful place. We love it here and cannot wait to continue exploring. All of the people are so good to us, very welcoming and full of smiles. Everyone speaks D’luo which is the language of the Luo tribe. We didn’t waste any time in trying to learn their language and began our lessons last night. Justine gave us our Kandarian names which is how we will introduce ourselves. These names are decided based on the time of day that the person was born, and all of the people here share these names. Men’s names start with an O and female’s with an A. We find the culture very intriguing… quite different from America. For instance, goats and cows walking on the highway. Here, they drive on the right side of the car, left side of the road. Out of time for now, catch yah on the next posting!

Aheri ahinya (much love),

UGA Nourish

Sitting at my desk having my mid-morning coffee and staring out the window at a shockingly quiet West Campus, I feel very serene. I’m taking my time to savor my coffee, since it will be in limited supply the next month and a half, and appreciating the opportunity to relax after the last few weeks, even though I know the next couple of hours will be a flurry of preparations, last-minute laundry, shopping, packing (yes, I have barely started. Don’t tell John.), and attempting to find clear plastic bottles. In the past weeks, I have been busy with exams, finals, medical school applications, and project work. The quick turn-around between finishing the semester and starting our project will probably give me some painful whiplash tomorrow morning, when I realize that I need to wake up and leave Austin around 4 a.m. to get to the Houston Intercontinental Airport 3 hours before our flight at 10:45.

I’m feeling a bit nervous since I’ve never been to this region of India, let alone with 3 other students instead of my family and for 6 weeks, and since, once we are on the ground, we’ll be teaching lessons in English and computer literacy every day. We will first interact with the two villages to find out what improvements need to be made in education, and we will later present these findings as well as tips to teachers from the government schools and learning centers. In addition, we will give a few seminars on effective teaching, education, employment, sustainable development, and goal setting for adolescents. I have been comforted by our Skype call with DJMV and the FMM sisters. We were able to meet everyone that we will be working with in Odisha, and they were extremely accommodating and excited. Sister Amala even asked us if we’d like them to try making us some American food. Of course, we politely declined, since I am looking forward to having spicy, fresh seafood. They seemed very on top of the project objectives, with flyers for the classes ready to go and a list of potential students already started. Plus, they were enthralled with the preparations we’ve done, even by our rudimentary Telugu.

We’re all really thankful to everyone who’s been helping us get ready for this trip: Dhanya, for working with our terrible pronunciation and still managing to teach us some basics, Natasha, for putting together a list of places to see in Mumbai and talking to us about India and Odisha, Sudheesh and Moy for giving us more cultural perspective on our objectives, the amazingly helpful UTeach professors, Professors Joseph Kieke and Kelli Allen, who weighed us down with construction paper, diagrams, and documents, Lynne Levinson, who talked to us about helping to set career goals, and everyone else who has supported us. Even though I am anxious about the project, I feel very prepared by all the work we have already put into it.

I’m excited, and I hope you are too! We’ll be posting an update here at least once a week, so please follow us and leave comments.

Our bags our packed and our anticipation is ever increasing because, in two days, we will be flying to the beautiful country of Ecuador.  We will be spending eight weeks in Archidona, partnering with the non-profit Fundación Runa to help build gardens and guayusa (a tea-like plant) nurseries as well as teach classes in first aid and hygiene, nutrition, computer literacy, and English.  Fundación Runa is a new organization, but they have made leaps and bounds in helping secure increased and more stable incomes for farmers in the Napo valley. Through their partnership with Runa, a for-profit company that is trying to create a greater market for guayusa, they have been able to fashion a fresh and so far effective model for social entrepreneurship.

Although we have a plan for this summer, we understand the importance of being flexible and fulfilling the actual needs of the community rather than trying to force an ill-fitting agenda.  We are not there to help but to empower.  We hope to give those with whom we work some tools to improve their own communities and create the foundation for a self-sustaining environment.  Fundación Runa began their project by recognizing the strengths of the Kichwa people with whom they were working, and they used their own knowledge to create an organization that would help share and preserve indigenous knowledge while alleviating poverty in the area.  We hope our summer exchange will allow for both parties to learn and grasp new understandings.

Thank you for following this special journey; we cannot wait to share our adventures with you.

In January of 2011, Nourish International decided to add a new program to our repertoire to enable the National Office to better serve the Chapter Network. This program took shape as the Nourish International Fellowship, a year-long position that focused on service and professional development at the National Office.

When Tom’s application hit our inboxes, we knew we had found our Fellow. His passion for social entrepreneurship, belief in the power of students and past experiences as a student leader made him stand out from the crowd.

Tom joined our team in June 2011 and has been an invaluable team player since then.  Some of his major achievements include mentoring and guiding 11 chapters through a successful year, contributing creative and innovative ideas for chapter ventures, and of course, being an incredible Excel ninja. In all seriousness, Tom rounded out our team and made it possible for Nourish to hit new heights.  This year, Nourish International chapters are implementing eighteen projects abroad, up from fourteen last year. The chapters had a successful year with their ventures and leadership transition. We are planning to build on new ideas introduced by Tom, and take Nourish to even higher heights.

As we look to next year’s programs and next year’s Fellows, I can say with confidence that Tom has left his mark on this organization and on our Fellowship. We wish you the best of luck with your new position at Credit Suisse. Thank you, Tom, for embarking on this past year’s thrilling journey with us!

Allie and the Nourish Team

I was so grateful because Pati openly invited us into her home without hesitation and shared with her her worries, her hopes, and her past. As soon as I walked in to her home I noticed that the 8 year old boy was left to care for his 15 year old sister’s baby while she went to school. I sat on the bed and saw that he had a radiant smile that instantly filled the entire room. Pati then announced that there was something that she needed to share with everyone. She mentioned that after her first husband (the father of all her children) died of alcoholism she became very abusive with her children. She mentioned that she would beat them and speak to them with deep anger. She spoke with such sadness and said that Casa Del Alfarero had helped her see her children as blessings and it gave her such peace of heart. She told that she encouraged her children to dream big so that they can accomplish the things she could never do. She said that one of her sons would be an electrician because he loved playing with cables. Her 8 year old son was going to be her lawyer because he can retain information easily. Her youngest son would become a soccer player because he is always playing with a ball and her grandson would be a nurse, because that’s what she loved to do.

We gave her some words of encouragement that came from the scriptures and Laura asked one of us to pray for the family out loud. Although I was very hesitant, I offered to say the praying. I prayed for their health, I prayed to God and asked him to give Pati and her children the courage to continue to work hard and believe in their potential to achieve their dreams.

As we left the house I was talking to one of the volunteers from Casa Del Alfarero about Pati and her family. She shared with me that Pati’s daughter, Katy, was in a relationship with a man who was a drug trafficker and who impregnated and abandoned her as soon as their soon was born.  Taking in the reality of these people was really a wake up call for Tisa, Katie, and me. We walked to Casa Del Alfarero with heavy hearts as we swatted the flies away from our faces.

Nicol.