I’ll be offline for the next 10 days.  Not because of workload or technology issues.  But because I’ll be living with the Masai people in Northern Tanzania.

Global Leadership Adventures has a new program that is only on our web site (not in the course catalog) – Masai Bush Camp.

I’m leading a group of students and faculty from the prestigous Pembroke Hill School in Kansas City on a customized version of this program.  In addition to the standard program we’ll also go on safari in the Serengeti to see the wildebeest migration.

However, the Masai Bush Camp program is primarily focused on community service and learning about the Masai culture first hand.  We’ll volunteer to fix up the local school and possibly also a water well for cattle.  In the afternoons we’ll meet with village elders, learn about their social structure, and even how to throw a spear, herd cattle and make beads.

I’ll post photos and post-program updates upon return.  In the meanwhile, read more about the Masai here.

In the past few years some friends have asked me if I have become pessimistic about the state of the world, education, and the United States.  I usually keep a positive outlook on things and try take a long view of history – after all, I’ve watched the birth of the internet, a dot-com boom (and bust), the rise of globalization and emergence of biotechnology – all in my recent memory!

However, as we enter 2009, I’m especially optimistic about the coming year.  I’m optimistic because beneath all the pessimistic noise in the media there continue to be exciting trends in society.  Since this blog is about international education – a major reason to be optimistic is the fact that study abroad in the United States continues to increase.

The results of the annual Open Doors survey of study abroad was published in November, and the decade-long trend in the growing popularity of study abroad shows no sign of abating.

Even more exciting for me is that study abroad in “non-traditional” destinations (i.e. the places Global Leadership Adventures has programs) is also increasing.  In other words, more students today are traveling to places like India, China, Brazil, South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania than ever before.  This validates my thinking when I decided that GLA would focus its programming on these emerging economies.  Students understand that there is a new multi-polar world order emerging and its crucial to understand these various loci of power and influence in the world if one wants to work on the global stage.   And since almost all jobs today cross borders, it can be argued that every student should study abroad in order to be considered prepared to graduate.

In spite of the economic crisis (and the upcoming related geo-political crisis), I’m excited to keep watching the world become more global and be part of student’s education of this world.  I still can’t believe how much innovation has come to the world in the past 15 years – and I’m sitting at the edge of my chair to see what the next 15 years brings.

I’m very excited about our latest partnership with a new organization: The Fund for Global Education

GLA has been a pioneer in recruiting students from developing countries into our programs. Every year we have students from over 30 countries – and usually representation from over 10 African nations.

Most of these students require a scholarship or significant financial aid. Because GLA believes that international student diversity makes a better experience for all our students, we’ve allocated a part of our budget to these scholarships.

Most American non-profits provide scholarships for American students to participate on GLA. However, The Fund is the first American non-profit organization that we’ve encountered that provides funding for both American and international students, with a focus on African and Latin American students.

Hopefully, with the support of The Fund we will be able to double the number of scholarship we offer to low-income students.

Since families of GLA alumni know that we recruit amazing students from disadvantaged backgrounds, I encourage you to consider The Fund in your annual philanthropic giving. All donations are tax-deductible.

More information can be found on their site: www.FundForGlobalEducation.org

Previously, I’ve talked about how its hard to know what a student will reap from a GLA experience, but my hope is that they become “activated” about anything – language, culture, social issues, etc…

Here is a great example of alumni being activated by their Global Leadership Adventures experience – Building Bright Future is a web site created by our students to help fund the construction of an orphanage in Ghana where they volunteered.

If other alumni have stayed engaged in something related to their GLA program, let me know and I’ll promote it here on the blog.