The Young Leader

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Dominican Republic – West Chicago – Custom Group – 2018

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Tuesday July 10, 2018

After being woken up for our first day of service by a rooster alarm clock, we were all very excited to get out into the community! We had breakfast and a quick orientation meeting then we headed out to the town of Caño Dulce to our first worksite. Our group continued the project of constructing a house with water bottle instillation and chicken wire covering.

Crystal, our GLA mentor, told us that we finished more than she expected so by the time we go back we hope to be very close to finishing the house all together. For lunch we went to Mateo’s, the night guard’s, home that he graciously welcomed us into and had a good time chatting with his family.

We returned to the Lodge around 3pm and had a tour of the rest of the home base before going to see the beautiful beach just down the street. Although we almost lost our shoes to the tide, we loved the scenery. Came back, chilled, showered, and laughed until dinner. After dinner, we went to a 7 Elements meeting where we discussed Cholera in Haiti and diabetes in the Dominican Republic and how it affects the community. And now, we are ready to go to sleep after a long day of cultural experience.

-by Julia and Kyra

Wednesday July 11, 2018

What an eye opening third day! We woke up at 7am and had a very delicious breakfast thanks to the nice cooks. We left to start our day at Cano Dulce by 9am and arrived in the community to assist in the reforestation project, in which we planted plantain seeds to socioeconomically benefit the local community.

After spending a few hours here, we enjoyed a nourishing lunch at Johnny’s (a local Dominican GLA worker) house and hung out with young doggiesssss and ate lots of watermelon. After this, we headed over to a beach in order to partake in a clean-up effort. We were given 20 bags to fill, all of which returned to the lodge completely loaded.

We enjoyed a refreshing “pit stop” in a fresh water river only a few yards away from the ocean after our hard work was completed. When we were finished loading up the garbage and ourselves, we headed back to the lodge and enjoyed an exquisite taco dinner featuring pineapple, of course. Later on, we attended a lecture featuring two men with Haitian heritage and learned about the ongoing pretentious conflict between the Dominicans and the Haitians.

We got to talk a lot about global issues that have been affecting people for centuries, even though we are not always conscious of them. One important thing that we learned was that although we have problems in the USA, other people from all over the world experience the same sort of problems. We’re from different places, but in the end, we are all the same.

Thursday July 12, 2018

Today was our first adventure day. First, we visited Las Cuevas de Cabarete, where this guy named Phil talked about the ecosytem and how it relates to the community. The water there was about 98% pure as it goes through the cave systems. The guard (whose name was Victor) gave us a tour of the beautiful park and we were able to see peoples homes and how they lived in the mountains. Crystal our leader asked us to keep in mind the 7 Elements of Human Security.

We think Victor seemed more at ease when he found out that the majority of our group could speak or at least understand Spanish. He told us about his family and some monkeys that had apparently escaped from their owner, who actually had to buy the monkeys back. So yes, we saw 2 monkeys! Victor also showed us the various fruit trees, such as papaya and pineapple. He picked a passion fruit for us, and we were able to try it. It was good.

The seeds were floating in the flesh, and it kind of tasted like cacao. Then we went to Cabarete, a tourist beach to relax and swim. As soon as we got to the beach the vendors wanted us to buy so many things. Some of us spend money for gifts for people at home. So our whole group had to bargain but we felt bad because we have seen first-hand what they have to go though and it was a little stressful to say no to them. Then we had pizza for lunch. It was so good.

A funny thing: As we were going to bed, there was a centipede in one of the cabins. As a group we had to try and get it out of the cabin, but it was so funny because everyone was so scared. Finally, Rebecca put on gloves and threw it out of the cabin. This caused us to laugh so much. We are having a great time.

-written by Rebecca and Maddy

Friday July 13, 2018

Today, was by far one of the hardest days we faced working. To start our day, while some of the ladies were enjoying their slumber, a few of us got up early and went on a 3-mile run by the ocean shore; it was a beautiful sight and it was something that everyone should experience.

After breakfast we went to Caño Dulce to finish building the bottle house we helped build on Tuesday. We also hand-made and mixed the cement that we used to plaster on the walls of the house. At around noon, we ate lunch at Mateo’s (night guards) house and bonded with a few kids from the community and Gina (friendly neighborhood dog). After lunch we continued the plastering for another 3 hours and were worn out by the end of the workday.

We came back to the lodge and Crystal showed us a TedTalk. She then gave us the task of finding a “problem” in the community and finding a solution to that “problem” in which we also must apply the 7 elements of Human Security to. We then went to the beach to do a team bonding activity (which we excelled at) and hung out at the beach until dinner-time with the WEGO girls.

After dinner, we had our daily Charla (our group discussions), in which Sarah (a 7 Elements mentor) lead a presentation about Social Justice. Her presentation was filled with topics that made us all question human behavior, also including; race, sexual orientation, and social class. It was a very emotional presentation which filled our heads with many questions on how to furthermore improve the world.

It is now bedtime as we are speaking, and we are hoping to get to a good sleep for our second adventure day tomorrow! Charla quote of the day: “There is more work to be done” -Sarah

-Jhoana & Vanessa

Sunday July 15, 2018

Today was day 7 and we kicked it off early with breakfast at 7am and left for the worksite at 8am. Our worksite today was in La Grua and we worked to mix cement for a local who had no cement floor. To the local masons surprise we finished an our earlier than expected to cement the floor. We then had the opportunity to walk through the betay which was where Haitians employed by the government to work in the sugarcane plantations lived, until the plantations were discontinued in favour of high fructose corn syrup. We also got to hang out with the children who lived in the betay and they were super cute and friendly. Soon after, we left the community to go back to the Lodge and on the way back we stopped at an air conditioned super market to get some snackies. We got back to the Lodge, had dinner, chilled in the pool, and ended our eventful day with a leadership based discussion.

-Amber and Kyra

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Why a ‘Moonshot’ for Education in Africa Will Ensure a Better Future for the World

Global Leadership Adventures’ Co-Founder Fred Swaniker has spent nearly two decades spearheading initiatives for social entrepreneurship, leadership development, and education in his home continent of Africa. He is the founder of the African Leadership Academy, an innovative high school that students on GLA’s South Africa: Social Change Project will get to visit during their program, and he also founded the African Leadership University, which aims to provide a world-class college education to Africa’s youth after they graduate from high school.

Swaniker has spoken at many events around the world, both large and small, captivating audiences with his innovative ideas and plans of action to educate the masses in Africa and develop leaders who will influence real change across the continent.

In April, he was invited to give the closing plenary talk at the Skoll Foundation’s 2018 World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, which was held at Oxford University in England. The mission of the Skoll Foundation is to “drive large-scale change by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs and innovators who help them solve the world’s most pressing problems.” The theme for this year’s forum was The Power of Proximity, because, “In order to address inequality and injustice, we must more deeply understand the current status quo—and how to disrupt it.”

In his talk, Swaniker shared the statistic that by the year 2035—17 years from now—the continent of Africa will have the largest workforce in the world. While 17 years may seem like the distant future to some, it is just 6,000 days away. He states that this looming population boom could lead to a global humanitarian crisis if these individuals are not educated. However, if they are given a University education in Africa, then it could unleash a massive source of innovation and prosperity not just for Africa, but for the world.

Image via Skoll.org

Africa has some of the world’s top talent — it just needs to be unlocked.”

Currently, University-level enrollment in the continent sits at only 12% compared to 26% in India, 30% in China, and 60-70% in the West. So in order to even consider the benefits of unlocking Africa’s talent, we must first confront the issue of education and leadership because in order to innovate, one must first be educated.

However, educating one billion Africans in just 6,000 days doesn’t just seem like an impossible feat, it is an impossible feat if the education system continues on its current course. The word ‘IF’ is the single most important word here, because it implies that change is possible and the current status quo is not set in stone. This is precisely why Swaniker describes this initiative as a ‘moonshot’ for education in Africa. In his words, a moonshot has three characteristics:

  1. The problem needs to be so large that solving it seems impossible
  2. The solution or goal requires a radical approach using unconventional methods
  3. The approach must depend on some form of breakthrough in technology

We need new practice— bold, unconventional vehicles that will rapidly transform our burgeoning youth population into an energetic source of innovation and prosperity for the world.”

Swaniker went on to share the three main principles of his initiative for education in Africa, all of which are already in practice at the African Leadership University, and have been proven to work. The purpose of this new radical approach is to scale up in order to provide a quality University-level education to every single individual in Africa who has a desire to learn.

Principle #1: Student-Centered Learning

The conventional education model has long been set up in a way that it is teacher-centered, meaning that the existence of a class depends on having a qualified teacher physically present to lead the class and deploy the information to students. Unfortunately, this conventional model is not feasible for education in Africa because the number of qualified teachers available pales in comparison to the vast number of youth who want an education.

The solution is to design a learning system around an abundant resource—students, rather than a scarce resource—teachers. With this radical new approach, students come together in a peer-led system in which they teach each other learn together. With the abundance of knowledge and information publicly available through modern technology, students who are eager to learn no longer have to rely on the physical presence of a qualified teacher in order to advance their knowledge and understanding of a topic.

A young person today has access to more information on their mobile phone than someone doing a PhD at Oxford 30 years ago would have had in their entire physical library.”

ALU campuses have highly qualified facilitators, but their purpose is not to teach the students facts and figures. Instead, facilitators are present to ignite passion, curiosity, grit, resilience, and entrepreneurship in ALU students. This creates a culture of excellence and high expectations in which students are inspired and driven to learn by themselves. During his talk, Swaniker shared a short video of two young female ALU students who took the initiative to learn how to build a drone by themselves.

They worked together and taught themselves every step of the way, and in the end, they had constructed and programmed a fully functioning drone, as well as acquired a breadth of knowledge and programming skills that they didn’t have when they started. In addition, the video itself was made by one of their fellow ALU students who learned how to create and edit a professional-level film all on his own.

Principle #2: Problem Solving Over Facts and Figures

The days of education revolving around the memorization of facts and figures are fleeting. This is because what is truly important for the future, infinitely more so than the memorization of information for the sole purpose of passing a test or getting a grade, is the ability to understand and solve real-world problems.

Swaniker’s approach to education goes far and beyond the old-school method of memorizing content. In order to develop leaders who understand critical issues and are able to create solutions on a large scale, a viable education curriculum must encompass a “bigger picture” style of learning. Students who master creative problem solving will be equipped with the knowledge and tools to innovate and influence real and tangible change in Africa.

Problem-solvers become entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs don’t look for jobs—they create jobs and transform society with their innovations.”

Unlike traditional universities where students pick an academic major, ALU students are asked to declare a ‘mission’ for their life. They are given a list of seven grand challenges and seven great opportunities that Africa will face in the next century, and they must then decide what projects, online courses, expert interviews, experiments, prototypes, etc. they will focus on to learn about the problem they want to solve. At the end of their studies, students produce an innovative solution to the problem, publish a thesis, and ideally will create their own jobs as entrepreneurs. ALU sees the end goal not as producing people with theoretical knowledge, but rather to create problem-solvers, innovators, and entrepreneurs.

Principle #3: Low Cost

In the western university system, students often borrow large sums of money from banks, government organizations, or private lenders to pay their tuition only to be burdened with tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loan debt after they graduate. Just look at the U.S., where national student loan debt has reached an unprecedented 1.4 trillion dollars.

This model would not work in Africa where governments and families have very little money to spend on education. What the continent needs is a radical and unconventional approach that will deliver education at close to zero upfront cost to the youth who need it.

This system depends on trusting young people to do things for themselves. It means telling them: ‘I believe in you. You can be great. You can learn by yourself and teach each other.’ The nice thing about such a culture is that once it is established, it doesn’t cost a cent to transmit to the next student.”

Witness These Initiatives First-Hand With GLA

GLA students on the South Africa: Social Change Project program will have the incredible opportunity to experience Swaniker’s dynamic education initiatives first-hand at the African Leadership Academy campus in Johannesburg. ALA is a state-of-the-art high school that accepts students from over 30 African countries and serves as an inspiring example of innovation at work.

During the several days they spend on campus, GLA students will meet and talk with ALA staff, alumni, and fellows to gain a deeper understanding of the foundational elements of social entrepreneurship and social change that have made this unique education system possible.

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THAILAND – The Elephant Village Initiative – Group A – August 4 – August 17, 2018

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Saturday August 4, 2018

First day of arrivals is complete! We are waiting on the arrival of two young ladies in the morning and then our group of 23 will be complete. Today’s group settled into their new bunks, ate dinner and most headed directly to bed. Tomorrow will be a full day of orientation and elephanting!

Sunday August 5, 2018

Hi Friends and Family,

We are so excited to welcome this amazing group of globe-hopping, world-changing, young leaders to Thailand! The Terrific Twenty-Three have landed in a far away country and are here to make a difference!

We’ve gotten to know more about their individual strengths and what they can bring to the team! We have a diverse crew that is learning about their upcoming service projects: having an authentic Thai school teaching/learning experience and volunteering at an ethical Elephant sanctuary by prepping food and maintaining the grounds.

Through learning about teaching techniques, elephant social/psychological development and issues within the tourist industry, we are certain these ladies and gents will come back to their home community with a new series of skills and ideas of local and global issues to begin addressing with passion, commitment, and targeted determination.

We look forward to a great session and will keep you posted.

In the spirit of adventure,
Diana González
Mentor
Elephant Village Initiative – A4

Monday August 6, 2018

This morning we started the day off with some delicious breakfast. Afterwords we headed out to the elephants’ fields to pick up some elephant compost. All the compost is transported to the pit of doom, which is an experiences in its own. It consists of purely elephant poop leaves and some creepy critters. It was a little challenging transporting the carts filled with elephants dung to the PIT OF DOOM but it was definantly a fulfilling job. Once the dirty work was done, it was off to clearing a portion of a field to prepare it for Elephant Grass planting. A few of the group got sucked on by leaches which was a little grody if I’m being honest. Back to the field clearing, it was very hard work clearing out giant pieces of bamboo and the tall vines, weeds, etc. I was shocked to see how much work the group got done as I did not think we would clear the whole field, but we sure did. Before we could plant the grass we actually had to go and cut grass so then it can be replanted and spread through the new field. While the grass was being cut the sight of a life time happened, an elephant ran at full speed and even trumpeted a little bit. It was one of the gnarliest experiences of my life today was a great finish to one exhausting yet beautiful fun filled day.

Peace,
Sami and Carson

Tuesday August 7, 2018

Today was a blast! We had many adventures. After picking up lots of elephant “nuggets”, we set to work digging trenches and planting hairy grass for our lovely elephant friends to eat as well as laying down sand over the puddles in their eating space. After a flavorful lunch consisting of sticky rice and assorted dishes, we had the exciting opportunity to continue planting grass!! We managed to complete the planting process after a bit of rain, a bit of grass, and a lot of sweat. Most of us walked over to a convience store down the road and splurged on some fun Thai snacks, costing an average of about 2 U.S. dollars. All in all, day was very eventful and a great experience for everyone. 🙂

Thursday August 9, 2018

Today is August 9 and we left Elephant Valley Thailand bright and early after breakfast. We headed to Elephant Peace Travel which is a group that allows for up close interaction with elephants including bathing and feeding. Before heading to the elephants, students dressed in traditional Thai clothing. To get to the elephants we traveled single file through rice patties ending in a Hilltribe area. We spent the morning cutting food for the elephants and feeding them all while GLA students were given an opportunity to be up close and personal to the elephants. The group continued to bathe the elephants in a river. We were fortunate enough to experience a traditional Thai style lunch at the Hilltribe grounds. After lunch the group proceeded to assist in concocting a herbal medicine for the elephants health. A Hilltribe elder then blessed the elephants and students. We proceeded to the new home base at Chang Gardens and students settled into new houses. Students enjoyed their first dinner at the new home base. The group ended the night with mentor groups and a bit of free time before heading off for a good night’s rest.

-by Corey and Jules

Friday August 10, 2018

Welcome to day 8! We are so excited to share the details from our first day at the new homebase location.
We woke up at 8:30 for our first breakfast at Chang Garden before loading the buses to go to a Buddhist Monk school. We were enlightened on the basics of Buddhism after a chat with one of the monks. Did you know that monks in Thailand have to follow 227 different rules?

After some more insightful questions from us, we left the monastery to go to a fancy buffet lunch where we got to try Thai desserts for the first time. Again we loaded the buses and visited several temples. The Blue Temple primarily just displayed art for tourists whereas the Emerald Buddha temple was a site featuring several buildings for worship and even a museum for the tourists that explained many of the Buddhists traditions.

In the shops surrounding the temples, many of us tried unique Thai coconut ice cream and different fruits. The third temple we visited was of a huge goddess called Guan Yin, who is the goddess of mercy. For 40 Baht, most of us took the 26 floor evaluator ride to see out of the goddess’ third eye.

Later tonight we will have a movie night and hopefully do some swimming tomorrow. We miss all you parents!

~Alex and Emily D.

Thursday August 11, 2018

Today’s first adventure, was heading to the white temple, a beautiful solid white bedazzled structure looking like it came straight out of Narnia. Everyone was given a list of odd objects such as Hello Kitty and Captain America that were incorperated into the temple. Once your group found all the objects, you were allowed to receive WiFi, a clever reward to motivate 21st century teens to look closer at the temple. Once we all finished the scavenger hunt, we enjoyed the coffee shops and market style streets. We then gathered and headed to a Shabu (hot pot) restaurant, where we had the opportunity to cook our own meats and noodles in a boiling pot of broth.

After finishing our delicious lunch, we headed to our next stop, a beautiful waterfall. Upon arrival, we changed into culturally appropriate swim wear (T-shirt and shorts) and after a short hike, we arrived at the waterfall, Huay Mae Sai. Everyone quickly ran into the refreshing pool of water and a few climbed their way through the strong current up the slippery rocks to enjoy the view from behind the waterfall. After the waterfall, we loaded the vans and headed back to home base enjoying some sing alongs on the trip home. Once at home base, we had a great time playing games in the pool while we waited for dinner. Overall, another amazing adventurous day around Thailand.

Much love from your leaders of the day,

Sophia and Katie

Sunday August 12, 2018

What a journey we had today. A perfectly orchestrated tourist adventure that emphasized Buddhist tradition and put daily Thai life into perspective. The long awaited van ride to our second stop at a market boasted unexpected reactions. The Border Market which rests directly between Myanmar and Thailand was created as more of a American Walmart than some tourist plaqued souvenir shop.

We truly understand the experience of shopping for one’s lively hood rather than foreign amusement. Students purchased anything from a blanket to a speaker. The leaders of the day had some fun with the delegation by telling them to eat a big breakfast as the lunch for today was going to be an extremely traditional Thai meal. Little did they know that boxes of pizza would satisfy everyone’s thirst for some good old southern charm.

Next we drove through countless rice patty farms listening to Country Roads for the next stop at the Golden Triangle. This was in fact the exact point where Thailand, Myanmar, and Loas meet, adding another two countries to our visual travel list. The area provided for a well spent afternoon which included a lot of pants shopping and nearly a million steps. We hiked to a temple at the top of the mountain which was shining in all its glory. Then we learned there were even more stairs. This time to a Buddha statue created in 1301 that was placed in front of the greatest view you could imagine.

After the fun day looking as American as possible and being stopped for countless pictures with Thai strangers as they marveled at our fair skin, we wrapped up the day with some group activites, dinner, and mentor groups back at the resort. Thanks for staying tuned and we will see you tomorrow.

-by Chloe and Billy

Monday August 13, 2018

Today, we started off on a relaxing note at the spa and hot springs. The mineral water smelled like sulfur and eggs were for sale to boil, making it truly an eggcellent experience. We had the choice of either swimming in the mineral pool, a personal bungalow, or receiving a Thai massage. I, Juliana, personally chose the bungalow and had a great time relaxing with friends. I, Mia, chose to swim in the pool in which the temperature perfectly complimented the weather.

After leaving the serenity of the hot springs, we headed back to Chang Garden for lunch and an introduction to teaching. We learned a lot about the Thai education system, as well as some activites we can implement in the classroom to make the learning fun and effective. We then discussed some helpful travel trips along with the distinct differences between traveling as a tourist opposed to as a traveler and truly immersing in the local culture. We then followed up with the differences between help and service and applied this concept to the work we have done thus far in Thailand.

Thanks for keeping up with our fun times, Juliana and Mia

Tuesday August 14, 2018

Today was our first day of teaching! We had our earliest morning so far so that we could watch the flag raising ceremony at the school. From there, we split into groups of three to teach the students. Different groups taught different age groups and we found that some classes were much more enthusiastic than others. The kindergarteners loved to be swung around and wanted to give everyone a hug while in some of the older classes, some of the teachers didnt even show up so many of our groups had to take initiative and think quickly to create a lesson plan.

We were treated like celebrities by the children—they would ask us to sign their arms, take pictures, and every time we walked by they would wave, smile and offer us high fives. All the excitement of the day left us exhaughsted and ready for the extra free time given to us by the staff. After a long nap, we ate a delicious dinner and headed off to our last mentor group session of the trip. Looking forward to our last two days of teaching but also sad to see the trip coming to an end.

Cheers, Jenna and Allison

Wednesday August 15, 2018

Greetings from Thailand!

Today was our second day teaching at the local Thai School. Even though our first day left us exhausted, we were still up and ready to teach another day at our 8am breakfast. For most of us, today was so much easier and smoother. The first and second graders were much more eager and ready to participate and we feel like we made a small impact to enrichen their English vocabulary. The kids still love to give hugs, kisses, braid hair, ask for autographs (even on their arm!) and take many pictures with bright smiles. The high school students were more laid back, but just as eager to meet us and talk to us about American culture.

Both of us are so excited to have experienced going to a Thai school and learning about the education system and the kids. We have two short days left in the wonderful land of smiles and although we are sad to leave this beautiful country, we cant wait to share our amazing experiences back at home!

Love from Thailand,

Azra Pleuthner and Emily Johnson <3

Thursday August 16, 2018

Today was our last full day in the beautiful, wonderful, amazing Thailand. We spent our morning teaching again with the beautiful, wonderful, amazing Thai children. We all seriously considered taking some home with us. We really enjoyed the energy of the kids, and it was a sad day saying goodbye. After lunch, we went on a beautiful, wonderful, amazing 30 minute walk to Tesco Lotus, (otherwise known as the Thai Target) and got some snacks for the long journey home.

We all are going to miss the beautiful, wonderful, amazing culture of Thailand as well as the group of people that have become family. The beautiful, wonderful, amazing scenery is something we will never forget. Going forward, we are excited to return home with our beautiful, wonderful, amazing stories, and thank you to all who gave us the opportunity to come on this life-changing trip.

With heavy hearts as we say goodbye to our second home, your leaders of the day,

Julie, Audrey, and Walker

Friday August 17, 2018

Two weeks of elephants and playing with Thai kids have come and gone. Everyone had smiles coming in and smiles (along with a few tears) leaving; it was a great adventure. Thanks to everyone who made this session possible and thanks for a great finish to our summer. Here is a comparison of our first day group photo, and our last.

-Suzannah, Brendan, and Diana

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