In both Bolivia and Peru, counterfeit money is a very serious topic. There is so much false money floating around that it is extremely possible that at some point or another, you will try to buy fruit from the doña selling fruit on the corner and she will return your bill or coin exclaiming, [...][...]
Archive for March, 2010
Finding Your Niche as a Short-Term Volunteer
Jennifer Yael Green is a writer and traveler who most recently spent a year as an English instructor in South Korea. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, she lives her life striving to write something worth reading, or to do something worth writing about. She spent several months volunteering in a vill[...]
Favela Tourism: Harmful or Helpful?
When I told people I was going on a favela tour in Rio de Janeiro, I received a lot of strange looks. After all, those aren’t two words you often hear together. Reactions ranged from, “Why would you want to do that?” to “They are just people living in a different situation. W[...]
Living a Double Life
I have been stuck for two months now, not knowing how to write this post. I am currently in the States, having come home to network and fundraise for the organization that I am working for in Nicaragua. It has been a successful and invigorating two months, but as I sit here in the airport, [...][...]
At Some Point I Became Lorena
When I first arrived in Ecuador everyone wanted to call me Lorena, but I was very adamant about the fact that my name was LAUR-EN. Not Lorena. I felt that I was making an effort to pronounce everyone’s names correctly (I wasn’t calling José “Joseph” just because thatR[...]
My Carnaval Experience in Bolivia
Carnaval in Bolivia lasts for the whole month of February, starting with previos (pre-party) until the burying of the pepino and beyond, as Bolivians keep drinking and partying. Here is a synopsis of my Carnaval experience in Bolivia. The Friday before Carnaval, I was working on Pro Mujer’s borrow[...]
Volunteers and NGOs: The Argentine Perspective
A few weeks back, I wrote about my fellow international volunteers at the AFOS Fundacion. This week I would like to talk about the Argentine volunteer staff that make our experience possible. First, a note about AFOS. While searching Idealist.org for volunteer opportunities in Argentina, it was AF[...]
