APPRENTICE
Following the US Institute, and one month of in-country orientation, you will spend six months living with a family in a rural community in Africa, Asia or Latin America. During your stay, you will work as an apprentice, supporting a local project addressing a pressing need. Over time, you’ll grow close to your homestay family, find your place in your new community, and develop a new understanding of what it means to have an impact. Throughout your experience, your fellow GCY Fellows, and GCY Team Leader will be an important network of support. To read blog posts by current Fellows about their apprenticeships, click HERE
SAMPLE APPRENTICESHIPS
Gaya Morris, Education (Sebikotane, Senegal)
Gaya is working at a local school where she has instituted a computer training program for teachers. She is also bringing the library back to life, taking on its organization and instituting new sections and ways for the children to engage the books in a country where children learn to read very late. Read Gaya’s blog–>
Ian Zimmermann, Social Enterprise (Nebaj, Guatemala)
Ian is working at Centro Explorativo, a community and educational resource center, where he is working with center participants to create a small peanut butter business. Additionally, Ian is working on marketing and publicity campaigns for Soluciones Comunitarias, which trains entrepreneurs to build retail businesses selling socially beneficial products such as water-purification buckets and efficient wood-burning stoves. Read Ian’s blog–>
Alec Yeh, Public Health (Sangalkam, Senegal)
In his work at Poste de Sante, a public health clinic, Alec shadows local practitioners, and is learning about the constraints facing the Sengalese health system. Alec also works a few days a week at Hospital Traditionel, a traditional hospital, where he is learning about the efficacy of local plants in treating illness, and Smiles for Senegal, a makeshift rural dental clnic where he is making recommendations for the creation of a permanent clinic. Read Alec’s blog–>
Ananda Day, Conservation (Sangalkam, Senegal)
At the Noflaye Nature Reserve, Ananda is initiating a village-wide investigation into the disconnect between the local population and the reserve to discover why certain dynamics exist between the two and how to address them. She is formulating questionnaires and will visit each household. In addition, she runs tours, has redone the garbage receptacles, translates correspondence, and cares for the turtles.
Read Ananda’s blog–>
FELLOWS REACTIONS FROM THE FIELD
One teacher has been sick this week, and her misfortune has become my fortune. I get to do a lot more than I would if they were fully staffed, including teaching classes. At first I thought I would be wholly unqualified, but it turns out that I’m not. I will write more on this later. For now, I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and enjoying every minute of it! Guatemala Looking outside of Nebaj into the surrounding communities, one of the biggest problems is malnutrition. Beans, rice, and tortillas are great and all – but they frankly don’t make up a balanced diet. In an attempt to raise awareness to this issue, one of our projects is to begin a vegetable garden with kids at a community center called El Centro Explorativo in La Pista. We hope this project will lead families to start their own vegetable gardens as a means for which to improve the local diet. I was so touched, and I so wanted to explain to her what I realized was true for the first time, that when I leave in 5 more months, I’ll be leaving family. And when you leave family, you don’t let them go, you know? You call, you write, and you visit occasionally. Seven months is an incredibly long time to live with a family, and to live with a family who treats you so well, and gives you love and attention when you need it most, is such a gift.
Victoria, on teaching in Senegal (11/23/2009)
Ian, on social enterprise in Guatemala (12/13/2009)
Laura, on her homestay in Guatemala (11/25/2009)
YOUR QUESTIONS
Where are Global Citizen Year programs located?
Global Citizen Year is currently operating in Senegal and Guatemala and has plans to expand to additional countries in 2010. Each program begins and ends in the US, and Fellows will then spend seven months in one of our program countries. Fellows receive their country assignments when the GCY class is finalized.
As a Global Citizen Year applicant, you are applying to join our corps of Fellows, NOT a to specific field placement. Fellow preferences are taken into account when making placement decisions, but preferences are only one of several factors that determine final country placements.
What will life in the host country be like?
Life will be different for each of you, but we can tell you some details:
- You will live with a host family in a rural community.
- You will learn another language (or two!) – be it French or Spanish, Wolof or Ixil.
- A typical day may include: haggling in the market, cooking with your host family, exploring local music traditions, exploring problems facing your community such as diabetes, travelling around the country on a marketing campaign for a social enterprise (video), or spending the evening digesting your experiences in a blog post for Current TV.
- See for yourself what the Founding Fellows are saying about their experiences. Check out their blogs.
Will I be doing all this alone?
Not at all. At the US Training Institute, you’ll meet Fellows from across the US who will be beginning placements in different sites around the world. You will then travel to your country post with your team, where you will be together for the first month of in-country training.
When you move into your rural homestays, a GCY Team Leader will visit you each week. Once a month you will get together with the other Fellows in your region to share stories, and help each other reflect, learn and grow.
How are homestay families selected?
GCY staff work with program partners in each country who have a deep knowledge of families and communities where Fellows are placed. Families are selected based on their desire and ability to provide rich experiences and support for a GCY Fellow for the duration of their stay.
Once accepted, Fellows fill out a homestay questionnaire which helps us match Fellows with homestays based on interests and preferences.
Want to know what a homestay is like? Hear it from a Fellow.
ASK YOUR QUESTIONS
If you believe, as I do, that young Americans need to become good citizens of the world, then you will hope, as I do, that this idea of a Global Citizen Year soon captures the imagination of the rising generation."
Harris Wofford
Former US Senator
Former CEO, Corporation for National and Community Service