Community Service
Generation for Change | The Tandana Foundation
- The 7-10 day service project is a valuable element of the semesters for students and local communities.
- Students work on a variety of projects in different environments. Students contribute hard work to a worthwhile service project in a disadvantaged community.
- The school’s community service projects provide assistance to children and families in underprivileged areas. Traveling School students have volunteered at local schools, in indigenous communities, and for local non-profit organizations.
“By far the best part of my TTS experience was meeting the people living in South America. I was amazed at their hospitality and their willingness to give and share with us, even though they didn't have many of the things that we take for granted. Faces of little girls and boys who helped us paint their two-roomed school are still imprinted on my memory like the negative of a photograph.” –Laura, North Dakota, age 17
“The semester gave me the opportunity I had been waiting for since I can remember, an opportunity to step outside of the walls of a high school and a text book and learn from experience and feeling instead of seeing and reading about different cultures and ways of life.”
- Erica, Washington, age 18
All the way from a town ship school comes this video:
Generation for Change
While in Cape Town, South Africa, the TTS girls were inspired by a youth group called Generation for Change. These students of middle to high school age lived in the Capricorn township and participated in various service projects in the community: the soup kitchen, the library and the schools or crèches (like our daycares). They also exercised their individuality through self-expressions like dance, poetry, and acting. Such talents are used to unite the youth and, by extension, alleviate the struggles of a community ridden with poverty, drugs, violence and HIV/AIDS. After four days of aiding them with their service projects and sharing our own talents, they encouraged us to create our own Generation for Change in the United States. And thus, Generation for Change-US was born.
From TTS10 student, Justine:
While we realize that we do not face the same problems in our communities as our Cape Town counterparts we also recognize that there is still much to be done in our own. Over the course of our four days with Generation for Change in South Africa, we discovered a general pattern of our communities having what they lacked and visa versa. Our communities harbor youth organizations, regulated crime rates, community centers, and etc, while their community had beautiful communal ties, a great sense of social responsibility, and strong interpersonal relationships.
Given the prevalence and near necessity of technology in our American lifestyles, we have allowed ourselves to settle for less than we are capable of and thus fail to discover the passions hidden within us.
Therefore, we created a mission statement for our own Generation for Change:
“Inspiring our generation to discover passion through self-expression and utilize it to promote positive change in the community. By expanding from local involvement to national and global awareness, we lift the hopes of others for this generation to stand as one.”
Our G4C is meant to unite the youth within individual communities and to educate them about larger, global issues in order to create greater unity within the nation and even the world.
You think it’s a large dream? Well, we agree with you. The changes in our society, that may seem negative, can be turned around into beneficial ones. For example, many technological advancements (such as the internet and mobile text messaging) may have stripped us of our face-to-face communication; yet they have also provided us with means of influence. Take the simple fact that you are reading this right now on a website that high schoolers created. We have the power to create positive change no matter how small it may seem.
Tandana Foundation
The Tandana Foundation is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote and provide opportunities for cross-cultural educational experiences and volunteerism. Operating primarily in highland Ecuador and Mali's Dogon Country, the foundation offers scholarships to rural students and support for small-scale local initiatives that improve educational opportunities. Tandana also coordinates service projects and volunteer vacations for groups of all kinds, families, and individuals. These experiences offer visitors to Ecuador or Mali the unique opportunity to be guests rather than tourists, to form cross-cultural friendships, to experience a rich indigenous culture, and to make a difference in the lives of new friends.
Each spring, The Tandana Foundation coordinates a week-long village stay and service project for The Traveling School in the village of Agualongo, Ecuador. The teachers and students stay with host families in the village, teach English to the local children, and help the citizens with projects such as painting the community center or replacing inadequate drinking water pipes. This year, they were amazed to be welcomed with huge flower arches, a special dinner, music, and dancing. As an experience of learning, cross-cultural friendship, and human connection, this week is amazing. Their time in Agualongo remains a huge highlight of the girls' journey.
“Panecillo is a small town near Otavalo, where we were fortunate enough to teach English to little kids. It was amazing and by far one of my favorite experiences so far. I remember walking up this huge hill lined with broken-down houses having no clue what to expect at the top. When we got there, it was a deserted piece of concrete. I was confused and wondered where all the kids were. Then I watched them one by one as they peeked and pushed around corners and statues, squealing and giggling. We were so foreign to them, aliens. I was unsure of what to do, but a beautiful second-grade girl reached for my hand and led me to her classroom, as if reading my thoughts.
Then we just stood there in front of those big, brown, eager eyes, trying to get started while keeping their attention. I didn't think I'd be nervous, but, once I got up there, I was. I now have a new appreciation for teachers; it is harder than they make it look! However, once we got started, it was easy, and the kids loved it. They just loved to learn, and it was amazing to watch.
Although teaching was fun and great, it is not what has stayed with me; surprisingly, it wasn't recess and playing with them either. It was that first moment when we saw them and they saw us. You could see the fear, uncertainty, and timidness in their eyes dissolve right into curiosity. They went straight into learning mode. It was like a light clicked on in their tiny brains and said, "I want to learn about you and be your friend!" I have never had anyone feel that way about me just for being me, even when they don't know me. It was a very strange and different feeling. We were wanted and appreciated so much for not even doing anything yet, and that was such an eye-opening experience. We went there to teach, but in reality we were just as much of students as they were.”
-Courtney, Montana, sophomore