Burundi Team Introduction

Hey everyone! So this is going to be the first post leading up to our trip to Burundi, Africa from February 18th to March 18th, 2010 . Our team members include, myself ( Youngshim Gontijo), Soniyae Stephens, Kester Wilkening, and Aiyana Adshead. We’re all part of a non-profit youth leadership program called Next Generation Academy. Every year teams of three or four initiate their own service projects as well as prepare a curriculum for teaching character education for the students of developing countries. This year we have 20 high school graduates/college students traveling to six different countries in Africa. There are teams going to Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and the Ivory Coast. Each team has their own vision on what they want to accomplish in their country. Some are working with teaching HIV/AIDS awareness, hosting a sports festival in a community, and working in orphanages. Our team is in the process of planning our service projects in Burundi. As of now, our general idea is to teach character education to the college students and then involve them with the high school students in their community to do service projects together. We have in mind organizing workshops on leadership training, painting a school, as well as volunteering our time in clinics. Our main point in doing this is to give the college students an opportunity to put into practice what we taught them by giving them leadership roles in their area. Please understand that we are still in the process of planning our projects, and so we will be updating our progress on this blog as well as during our time in Africa and after. If you have any suggestions or contacts, anything would be greatly appreciated! Donations are also wonderful!! Thank you!

Here’s our link if you’re interested in finding out more on who we are and what we’re doing, check us out!

http://www.nextgenacademy.com