Why I'm Here...

So this is my blog. I've created it so that you guys reading can get insight into what I am doing in my life right now, and keep track of my travels without me having to send out ridiculously long emails, and without you having to read ridiculously long emails. Here is a little background information that you probably already know about me...

I spend the majority of my life right now raising money to take trips to Nicaragua with a group of kids at my school. We go through the organization Bridges to Community (VISIT www.bridgestocommunity.org). Our goal is to build houses in cooperation with the local families there who otherwise live in less than substandard housing. The houses are five by six meters and are made of cinderblock. They get two locking doors and two windows, as well as a tile floor which can be swept clean, and a roof made of a compound that will not degrade to acid rain. I love my trips and I love working with the locals. I've made so many friends down there and I can say without a doubt that each one has changed my life.

I'm currently in the Walkabout program- A highly selective challenge-oriented optional school year for college bound seniors. The program includes intesnsified academics, wilderness backpacking trips, a volunteer service project, and a two month internship.

For my internship I will hopefully be traveling to Namibia, Africa to work with Marybeth Gallagher (VISIT http://marybethg.blogs.com/) at the Bernard Nordkamp Center in Katutura. I will be working with children affected by the AIDS epidemic. I can't wait until my school proposal gets passed! Working in Nicaragua is amazing, but lacks the complete disaster caused by AIDS that is so prevalent in Namibia. I haven't ever been exposed to anything like that. After seeing pictures and movies sponsored by clubs at my school trying to increase awareness about AIDS in Africa and the Darfur genocide, I was SURE that I wanted to get over to Africa and work with the people there. When I got into Walkabout, I knew that my internship would be the perfect time to go. Now it's practically days away and I can't believe I'm actually going to get there...

I'm looking at majoring in internation aid, community affairs, or public health in college (or hopefully some combination of the three). I have a passion for learning about diffrent cultures and lifestyles, as well as interacting and working alongside locals to help create better communities. Half the world lives on less than two dollars a day. That's ridiculous. More than two million children die each year because they don't get the imunizations that you and I do. Over 15 million kids are orphaned each year because their parents die of AIDS. That's not so cool.

Anyway, besides all of this, I'm still volunteering for the Lewisboro Ambulance Corps and that's going well. This February will mark a year of membership (Although, I will most likely be out of town then...). I've gone on a bunch of calls lately- a three year old choking, various slips on ice, a car , unresponsive teen, poisionous-berry-causing-seisures-patient...etc etc etc. I'm having a blast with that. I think that if I hadn't gotten involved in LVAC I wouldn't have such an intrest for public health. But- I don't plan on being a doctor. No way.

Oh, and during the entire month of October I was working at the Ossining Children's Center for my Walkabout volunteer service project. I was a teacher's aid in a classroom full of twelve two and three year olds. They are all Hispanic- most of them knew English at the 2/3 year old level, but a few of them only speak Spanish. One or two of them hadn't even learned thier own language at the time I was there, and that was a huge road block. I helped work on their English and design/supervise art projects, as well as play and read with them. I had a blast, and since the project ended I have gone back to visit. I plan on spending a day there this coming Christmas break. The center has to stay open almost every day because many of the parents work at supermarkets or department stores, and can't take days off.


I'll keep updates on how my proposal is coming along and details about my departure, etc.
Oh, and p.s. X.X.X.I. is my Walkabout year (31).