buildOn keeps administrative overhead low thanks to in-kind donations.

buildOn is able to keep administrative costs low due to donated goods and services. We budget for an extremely low administration rate; we try to keep overhead between three to five percent. That’s savvy considering several nonprofits run a eight to 17 percent overhead rate.  Last year we received 1.3 million dollars of in-kind support. That includes our legal counsel from law firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP, and donated tickets to Malawi from British Airways for our students who go on their on “trek” to build schools. All of our regions, excluding New York, are housed in GE facilities; so we have the advantage of saving on rent, printing, phones and IT support. Our New York staff works out of office space provided by the schools where they work.

Charity Navigator looks at many factors when it grade charities annually. The criteria they evaluate us on are based on our Internal Revenue Service 990 tax return; they evaluate if we’re fiscally responsible. We owe a lot of our transparency to the culture of our workforce, according to  Suzanne Forbes, buildOn’s Vice President of Finance. “I look, and Jim (Ziolkowski, buildOn’s President and CEO) looks, at every dollar that’s spent to see if it’s spent wisely,” Forbes said.

Rosann Jager, buildOn’s Director of Trek Programs, said her team in financially disciplined when taking students abroad to build schools. They look for the best rates for flights and budget wisely. “For an entire week we spent between $1000 to $1200 on food, transportation and lodging for a team of 18 people, and that’s including a few nice dinners.” What makes buildOn unique from other immersion trips offered to youth is the students stay with host families, not in hotels.

Forbes credits Ziolkowski’s financial acumen to his time working at GE Capital’s Financial Management Program before founding buildOn. Our financials are presented to our board every quarter.  In addition, Forbes, Ziolkowski and Marc Friedman, buildOn’s Chief Operating Officer, put together a financial dashboard with a revenue forecast and cash flow that gets reviewed by our board’s head of the finance committee every month. “There is tremendous transparency,” she said.

If you are a donor to buildOn and have worked with us, visit our profile on Charity Navigator and write a review about us today to inform other donors about how we do business.

buildOn member Robbie Carter and his sisters Dominique and Jada participate in Family Service Day.

Volunteers began the day learning about the history of the Sausal Creek Watershed from the days when the Ohlone Indians lived in harmony with nature to the point we are at now, where many of these natural watersheds have been altered by human actions. A few members brought their brothers and sisters along to help members remove invasive species at the spot buildOn adopted along the creek. At the end of the service portion of the day, everyone shared their “roses and thorns” of the project (their favorite and not-so-favorite parts of the project), and several members said the best part of their day was spending time with their siblings. The day ended with a discussion about global issues affecting our environment. Students broke into teams and read an article about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and talked about how daily actions can have global effects.

buildOn member Nathnael Tesfaye and his brother Zablong and sister Dina help remove invasive species at Sausal Creek Watershed.

New York

The New York students participating in a scavenger hunt.

We started our Spring Break at Brook Avenue Garden, a community garden that is beloved by everyone in the Bronx Region. When the students arrived we gathered in the field area of the garden and informed the students of the week’s theme: using your voice. We had 110 students volunteering that day, and because we were such a large group we were able to send a smaller group of students to a neighboring community garden, Padre Plaza. Both gardens were extremely grateful for the help we provided. At the end of the day the groups from both gardens came together at Brook Garden and a representative from each group explained the highs and lows of their respective projects. buildOn’s Mat Pryfogle, a Senior Program and Trek Coordinator, ended the day with a tag game that addressed a nutrition fact he shared with them earlier that morning. Students made the connection that their communities are in need of better food choices and community gardens can be an educational resource to learn how to adopt better eating habits.

Friday was the grand finale to Spring Break. We had a buildOn Olympics. Students were split into twelve teams and competed against one another in six different events. Events included whiffle ball, kickball, touch football, ultimate Frisbee and relay races. The two teams with the most points challenged each other in a final Tug-of-War.

Connecticut

Connecticut collaborated with the Yerwood Center in hosting a week-long day camp for children in grades Kindergarten through sixth grade. Activities at Spring Break Camp focused on community, creativity and the environment.

buildOn students were engaged in the planning process through  planning committees. The Stamford-based committee worked in conjunction with the Youth Leadership Program at the Yerwood Center and met weekly to create and plan activities for the kids during the day. The Bridgeport-based committee met to plan the evening activities for the buildOn members.

The Stamford planning committee developed daily themes and brainstormed a variety of activities for each day, from organizing a field day, teaching how to tie dye and playing with worms in dirt. buildOn staff compiled these activity ideas into a master camp schedule and each evening buildOn students signed up for the activities they wanted to lead the next day. They then planned the content of the actual activity. Students took on the role of camp counselors and stayed with a class all week.

It was truly incredible to watch students take on this incredible challenge of planning and implementing a camp for kids. They discovered new-found patience and responsibility and developed tremendous skills for working with children and developing activities. Best of all, the students made new friends with other buildOn students from eleven schools and the thirty Yerwood Center teens, and completed over 2,000 hours of service!

Detroit

Students spending the night at Spirit of Hope.

Spirit of Hope is a historic church located in Detroit with a heritage that goes back to the 1880’s.  As you walk through the church you can feel the rich history and the love, which was the perfect environment for our Spring Break Overnight Retreat. This was the second year buildOn brought together young leaders to participate in this fun and meaningful project. We started the day with fun ice breakers, getting everyone laughing and learning each other’s names. This year we had in-depth conversations about everything from race relations within our schools to the importance of service to bullying. We used activities to recognize the power one person has for change, following up with a question to captivate their imaginations and get them thinking about a perfect society.

This year, we worked in the Spirit of Hope’s garden and helped in the food pantry. The students always have a good time working with the chickens, roosters and a huge turkey name Uncle Bob, who got a girlfriend this year.  Spirit of Hope has been very innovative in the use and reuse of everyday items. They use tires to help keep the vegetable in the garden growing longer, by keeping the soil warm, when the winter begins.  They also have rain catchers to preserve water and use it in the Hoop House Garden, which allows them to grow fruit, vegetable and herbs all year long.

After four hours of service and dining on tacos, we organized a group activity where students analyzed the events and stages of their life that have shaped who they are and where they’re going. They ended the night with a movie, went to bed and went home the next day.

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia students participated in team building games.

We organized a variety of projects all over the city. Students helped with physically demanding projects, such as gardening, clearing trail, and cleaning up trash by the river. They participated in a Civil War Park Day at Mount Moriah Cemetery where they raked freshly mowed grass, toured the cemetery grounds and, to their excitement, met the mayor. They also helped serve dinner to the homeless and pack boxes of food for those in need. Students directly worked with seniors, children at a shelter and adults with developmental disabilities, creating healthy snacks. They participated in a cultural scavenger hunt at the art museum, as well as an anti-street harassment workshop with Hollaback Philly. Students were able to talk about their experiences with street harassment and discuss its effects.  Students got into groups that either compiled their experiences and thing they have heard, or compiled things that they wish they could say back for videos to advocate against street harassment.  We ended with a celebratory picnic at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Saturday where students were able to relax, socialize and eat.

California

One of our most exciting and unique projects was the buildOn Compass Olympics!  Six students from Mission High School spent one day of their break assigning roles and coming up with activities to host an Olympics-themed event at Compass Housing Alliance, a local transitional shelter. Students designed medals, came up with games, and outlined the rules and logistics for the day. Two days later, we met at the shelter and the games began. We had two teams; our students were the team leaders and another group of students organized the games. We had relay races, hula-hoop contests, freeze dance competitions, limbo and more. The kids from Compass had so much fun, and their youth director was so thrilled with the event that afterwards she treated all of our students to ice cream with her kids. One of our students commented, “When we were planning, I didn’t think we were really going to be able to do it, but we did.”

Chicago

Chicago students helped with minor repairs at Camp Cavell in Lexington, Mich.

buildOn students attended a tour of Columbia College. We were treated to a different type of tour that focused on the photography, journalism and broadcast departments. Afterwards, we were given the opportunity to use a photography studio. Students learned how to operate tens of thousands of dollars of photography equipment while taking portrait photos of each other. Afterwards, students reflected on their experience and wrote down a few meaningful statements.

We also took 18 Chicago students to Camp Cavell in Lexington, Mich. Students had a wonderful time serving. Our work projects included: moving mattresses and bunk beds to different cabins, a demolition project, reorganizing their storage shed, cleaning out stables for a rescue horse barn, cutting poles to make teepees, restoration work near the beach front, washing down the camp kitchen, raking leaves to clear walking paths and, last but not least, splitting up into different teams to cook meals during our stay. We are so proud of these students for maintaining positive attitudes and for being flexible and open with their tasks.

We made time for fun adventures in town that included running across a hanging bridge, watching a movie at the local theater, sight-seeing and shopping. We challenged students to go on a night hike and explore treasures on the beach. Our closing activity was making delicious homemade pizzas over the camp fire while gazing up at the stars on the beach. We are all very grateful for the wonderful relationships we have with Camp Cavell and look forward to returning very soon!

Aled Hollingworth and his mother Ann Griffith.

Aled Hollingworth, Program & Service Coordinator, Connecticut

One of the things my parents always recommended was to reach out and help others, and it’s something they continue to do, as well. We lived overseas and traveled a lot growing up. My dad worked for a nonprofit and my mom always encouraged us to go out and do those things, as well… My mom is loving, caring, passionate. She’s the best mom in the world!

Ann Griffith, Aled’s Mother

In school, from a very, very young age, sports was a big thing in his life. And we were told by several people, just as he started in 9^th grade, that he should be a coach or a teacher because, apparently, at that time he considered the best athlete in the school. And he would partner up with kids whose skills were not up to par with his. He would pick the kid who otherwise wouldn’t have been picked. That stands out to me.

There was a moment very recently when we spent Easter in DC… and he was engaging us in a conversation of what was going on in Mali. And my husband has been working for NGOs for ages, and he asked, “What are you doing in Mali?” He was speaking with such knowledge that my jaw dropped, and I guess one of the exciting and humbling things is what we passed down to our children a combination of what my husband and I do; because I’m a teacher; because he’s chosen to be in the field of education, and there are some development things going on there, too.

Glenda and Luz Hernandez.

Glenda Hernandez, Program Manager, New York

My mom is from Puerto Rica. I think she’s always wanted me to do service; she was a missionary. She was always super involved and giving back. She came from extreme poverty and had nothing, but she’s always managed to overcome all of the struggles and put all of her four daughters in college. In her dire need, she always found a way to help others. And she’s raised all of her of her grandchildren.

Our family always gets together and takes her out to dinner. She bought a house in Puerto Rico and there are just a few finishing touches. We’re all chipping in to finalize the house, and we want to send her to Puerto Rico.

Luz Hernandez, Glenda’s Mother (interview translated from Spanish)

First, I taught my daughters good values. Second, were morals, and that we have to live to serve. We serve to live, and to give what we can in the same way that we need things in the hopes that we are able to share the blessings that people give us. I’m happy that she’s involved in service. It teaches me that I’m human, and that she’s helping other people who are less fortunate. I’m also pleased that she studied, she’s a good daughter, and she’s a good person. She has compassion in what she does… Usually the husbands cook for us on Mother’s Day. This year, we’ll have a picnic if it’s a nice day.

Brooke Ahles and her mother, Pam Blake.

Brooke Ahles, Program & Trek Coordinator, Michigan

My mom, growing up, taught me to get involved in learning about other cultures, and people who came from different ethnic races and different races. She encouraged me to play with different dolls and meet new people. That’s where my inspiration came from, and why I became a social worker. She inspired me to be kind to others and help others.

She helped donate money to a student of mine that wanted to go to (buildOn’s Trek for Knowledge). It was a student who wasn’t selected, and I found another volunteer project and she volunteered to do that. Right now my mom is in the process of helping us with the end of the year celebration. She used to own a catering business for 13 years, and we’re going to be making all the food. It’s a luau-themed prom. She also took it upon herself and bought Hershey’s kisses and turned them into roses on sticks with cellophane, and made 200 of them to give to all of my students.

Laura McKinney, Program & Special Events Coordinator, California

My mom is someone everybody likes and gets along with. She was always PTA president and always involved with her community… She worked as staff gardener for a town north of San Francisco, and because she did that as a profession, she wanted to give back. She believes in sharing beautiful places with people, and she talks about that a lot.  I was telling her about how excited I was about this community garden, where there was this woman who spent 10 years getting the rights for these six abandoned lots in an impoverished area in San Francisco. It was something my mom was really involved with, and she tagged along and became friends with the woman who started it, and now she volunteers there. The way that my mom thinks about it is when you’re beautifying a place you’re uplifting them by giving them the respect of having a location.

Joahan Suarez, Youth Engagement Zone Program Coordinator, New York

My mom passed away in August 2007. She was 57 years old at the time and she pretty much raised me by herself.

She never knew service in the way you and I knew service – like serving at a soup kitchen. Instead, she pinpointed the people she knew she could help. She listened to people’s stories, always cooked extra meals. If she knew someone was hungry, she’d bring them food for the week. Literally, her service, giving back to the community, was how she got along with everybody. She never asked me to give back, but it was instilled inside of me to be selfless and give back. She believed that the way you thank someone is by being a good friend… Thanks for making service the cool thing to do.

Kimmy and Karen Kunkle.

Kimmy Kunkle, Program Coordinator, New York

Growing up, she definitely encouraged me to give to others. She always tells me she’s so proud of the work that I do, and that means so much to me because everybody wants their parents to be proud of them. And it makes her really happy, what we do. She keeps track of buildOn on Faceook. She’s very involved in what I do.

She never favored anyone. One of the things I appreciate about her is she didn’t treat us all the same; she treated us how she felt was necessary. She appreciates all of our individuality and let us become who we wanted to become. That encouraged me not to be afraid to be who I am, which is why I do what I do.

Karen Kunkle, Kimmy’s Mother

That girl is amazing! She’s always been service-minded and always been concerned about others. She would help take care of the kids a church and then into high school.  In college, she started working with a Reparations for Slavery campaign in Portland. Then she moved to New York when she was 19 so she could join City Year and work with disadvantaged kids. She got her suitcase and there she went. She inspires me every day.

Keisha Brooks, Program Coordinator, Michigan

My mother is the most wonderful educator, mother, and supporter! My mother taught me to do what I say and say what I mean.  I appreciate her so much and so grateful she’s my mother. I love you mom!

Maria Magdalena Sosa Velasquez, Dr. John Velasquez's mother

We also received an email from one Dr. John Velasquez, a member of buildOn’s chapter, Project Africa, at The University of the Incarnate Word.

Dr. John Velasquez, Project Africa, The University of the Incarnate Word

My mom was a social activist in the ’60s and ’70s.  With no education of her own, she promoted the education and health of the Mexican-American community of Abilene, Texas.  She was a role model to me.  She showed that if you truly care for another person you can really change the lives of people.  She helped Mexican immigrant families and others in the community to address school, medical, and legal problems. She stepped up for people  She also was a political activist with the League of United Latin American Citizens (a.k.a LULAC) and the Democratic Party.  With my Dad as her political partner, she participated in the democratic process, including: running for office, convention delegate, polling place officer, and was a voice at school board and city council meetings.  My work as a psychologist is a direct modeling of her passionate love of people and hope and belief in the community. She passed two years ago, but her memory and legacy continues.

Tom Silverman, Global Chapter Manager

My mother has inspired me to serve others through her own actions.  Even though we didn’t volunteer at homeless shelters or food banks when I was growing up, my mom has always put others first.  Whether it is taking care of older relatives, hosting every single holiday at her home, or making endless sacrifices to strengthen those around her, my mother has demonstrated a spirit of service in everything she does.  She is Italian, so you can’t go to her house without her smothering you with food and attention. Her greatest service is making everyone around her feel loved, appreciated and supported. My mother’s spirit has influenced me greatly and has inspired me to live a life of service as well.

Catarina Schwab poses with her stylish mother, Christina Norman.

Catarina Schwab, Vice President of Development

My mom was a foreign language teacher for her whole career and was actually the buildOn Co-Advisor at New Canaan High School in CT for many years. She and my Dad are really involved with buildOn and introduced my sister and me to buildOn. What I got from her is a joy for life, her determination and – hopefully – her incredibly loving nature. She’s a very loving person; always nurturing, always selfless in her guidance to her daughters and students and inspired many people to aim higher, do better and be happier. Not to mention she is the most stylish and beautiful person I know.

Christina Norman, Catarina’s mother

I taught in New Canaan high school and I started a buildOn club there. We used to send one or two students per year a broad to Nicaragua and Nepal. We did a lot of community projects in the Bronx, and in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was very nice for our children to work with children from different circumstances.  Geoffrey (Christina’s husband) and I grew up in Europe, and our parents were givers of some funds, but were never involved in service work.  And growing up in a socialistic country (Sweden), it was very much that the state took care of things. Our daughters, growing up in America and going to schools where volunteering was a priority… we were quick to learn from them. They are really the guiding light. We keep learning from them.

Yolanda Ramirez carries two-year-old Clarisa Ramirez.

Clarisa Ramirez, Social Media Manager

My mom, Yolanda, is energetic, opinionated, stylish and a heck of a cook! My family and I grew up overseas, and living in so many different countries brought us closer as a unit. It forced us to be creative and to be resourceful, and my mother always is. She never limits herself in what she can do, whether it’s throwing a successful fundraising dinner party or teaching people how to compost or donating her time and energy to help my ailing grandfather and aunt living miles away in Texas. The greatest thing I learned from her is to think big. She has always believed my sister and I were destined for great things, and that’s probably why I ended up working with the super-energetic and optimistic people at buildOn. To my mother in Doha, Qatar: Happy Mother’s Day!

Quinton Snodgrass dances with his mom, Tre Stroud, during his wedding day.

Quinton Snodgrass, Vice President, Midwest

Quinton is celebrating his first Mother’s Day with his wife Abigail and their eight-month old daughter, Olive. On celebrating the big day with his wife: We’re building a house! We might be picnicking on the newly sanded floors of the house that we’re trying to move into. I built Abigail a handmade work-bench for her art room, because she hasn’t had an art room in the last six or seven years.

On his mom: Spunky! She’s about 4’11” and is always taking on more work than any other two people could at the same time. She never says “no” to projects and she’s always busy. She’s done a lot of volunteer work for the community, has served on boards – and for Thanksgiving she invites not just family, but everybody from the neighborhood to come over.

She was always very supportive of the decisions that I’ve made. When I went to college, my very first internship was with a nonprofit organization, even though I went to business school. I went into nonprofits because I felt more committed to the mission that I did for the for-profit jobs that I’ve had, and she was very supportive in my decision to do that.

Tre Stroud, Quinton’s mother

I hate to sound like a mom, bur he was the best child a parent could want. He was as easygoing as he is today, and always fun to be around.

I’ve always been involved in not-for-profits and volunteered on boards, and I actually referred him to his first job working at an afterschool program, and his second job was in United Way at summer camps.  He got his start doing things like that. And I did a lot of things and he attended a lot of meetings and a lot of functions as a young man with me.

I wasn’t one of those ‘mommy play games.’ I was one of those mommies who was, ‘let’s do a project,’ or ‘you can read, figure it out.’ For Mother’s Day he got in the habit where he would always make me something. He never ceases to surprise me with some of the things that he’s made.  He once said, “Mom, you got to sew up my clothes.” And I told him to learn how to sew. “You know what? Figure it out. And he made me a stuffed pound puppy for mother’s day. That was one of the sweet things. He’s made me lamps and all kinds of things for the house. I said, “I am so impressed. Wow, good for you.”

He maintains a tremendous sense of humor in whatever he wants to do. His ability to connect with so many people pleases me and makes me very proud of him because he’s carried it on to his career. And I’ve vey glad he chose non-for-profit as a career.

Asha Vitatoe, poses with grandmother Juanita Wilson and mother Yvette Vitatoe during a Regional Service Project.

Asha Vitatoe,  Program and Service Coordinator, California

I want to give a shout out to my mother Yvette Vitatoe and grandmother Juanita Wilson. They have always been extremely supportive of everything that I do, and my work with buildOn is no exception.  My mother has cooked and volunteered on a number of occasions.  This picture was taken at our most recent Regional Service Project, the Bucket Walk, and although it was my grandmother’s first buildOn event she promised it will not be her last.  She told (my co-worker) Chad, “She’d been building on for years. Now it’s just official and she has a T-shirt”.

Jamie Pelusi has 'big love' for her mother.

Jamie Pelusi, Program and Trek Coordinator, California

I remember being a kid and going with my mom to the Veterans Hospital, where she volunteered in the gift shop.  I was so excited just to be spending time with her, but as the time passed that excitement transformed into something bigger.  She would let me push the vacuum (that’s right, push; it was one of those non-electric roller vacuums), and I remember feeling that feeling for the first time.  Doing something small and feeling big.  As I grew up, my mom took me to volunteer with her more and more. We went to soup kitchens, Special Olympics, elderly homes, etc.  I started volunteering on my own and really fell in love with serving with others.  That feeling of being in community with those around me started in those early days with my Mom in the gift shop and has grown into my life’s journey.  Although my path has led me far from home, she has always been my biggest supporter and really the light that guides my way.  That’s why I have BIG love for my Mom.

Rahni Davis passes bricks to help build the foundation of the school. Photo by Esther Havens.

I was offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity all the way from the Bronx, New York. I was accepted to go Malawi, Africa to build a school with buildOn after having to write an essay, and was still unsure about it because I was the only freshman to apply. buildOn usually excepts students in higher grades. I knew this was an incredible experience so I had to put everything into getting this opportunity. Before going to Africa, we had pre-treks to prepare us in what life in Malawi is going to be like. This also allowed us to get to know each other as ‘trekees’ and focus on our trip to Malawi.

The whole purpose of going to Malawi was to help build the foundation of a school in a developing country. This trip came with many emotions and new understandings. When we arrived to Malawi, there was a joyful ceremony. The whole entire village met the bus as we came in on the only path leading to it. They sang songs in Chichewa (the native language of Malawi), saying things like “today is a great day.” Kids of all ages were there, celebrating with song and dance. This was definitely one of the most stimulating factors of the whole entire trip. We also got assigned to our host families the day we arrived. This was also an inspirational part of the trip because every member of the family had open arms, accepted us into their homes and gave us the best of what little they had.

We worked on building the school for 10 of the 14 days we were in Africa. Each shift consisted of three hours in the morning and afternoon. Having the villagers work along with us on the work site was so motivational. It really showed how serious these people, of all ages, were about having a school in the community. Men did the handy work while the woman carried water, sand, and bricks to and from the work site, or where ever it was needed. The work site consisted of three stations: Passing bricks, mixing cement and, the hardest, working the latrine. Another catalyst that pushed all 15 of us was seeing Jim Ziolkowski (buildOn’s President and CEO) on the work site, working just as hard as us. Jim pushed us like no one else on the work site, reminding us that this was an important project.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was the ‘chat circles.’ That was when every member of the trek came together and spoke about how they felt, or talked about what changed their perspective on life. Most of the time, our trek leader, Rosann Jagger, started our chat circles with topics or facts about Malawi. My favorite topics were about education; and we broke it down to how much of an impact it made on every other aspect of survival. For example, we spoke about how education allows you to be healthier; how to protect yourself from major diseases in Malawi, such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. Education can also allow you to become wealthier. In Malawi it’s a big advantage to understand English and Chichewa. When tourists visit, vendors can have a conversation with many customers. Education is powerful. The chat circles made me realize that we could make an impact on this village that had so many great things going for it. The last chat circle was the most nurturing part of the entire trip. Once again, we came together as a whole, but this time, we discussed how the trip changed us. We had a chance to give voice how we had seen each other grow over the previous two weeks from our adventure.

The buildOn volunteers use local materials to build schools overseas. The team works hard under Malawi's hot sun. Photo by Esther Havens.

Before leaving Malawi, we started building the walls of the two-roomed school. It was an amazing feeling on our last day to know the outcome of our hard work. During this enlightening trip, all 15 of us had a moment where we felt like we couldn’t make it because it was just too hot, we were homesick, or we just couldn’t handle life in Africa. But in the end, we had each other’s backs. Trek for Knowledge Malawi 2012 brought us togetherness, love, and a warm heart for Malawi. We now all understand how imperative education is to be successful. You can’t take advantage of having an education with ambitious and loving teachers because some people don’t have anything or anyone to supply education, and they would do anything for it. Life in Malawi was amazing and I would love to go back! So, in conclusion, I would like to ask, “Who are we?!”

“BUILDON!”

“WHO ARE WE?!”

“BUILDON!”

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU! WHO ARE WE?!”

“WE ARE BUILDON!!!”

Tell your mom you love her this Mother’s Day and help fund schools for children in need at the same time. A mobile app, Sincerely Ink, makes it possible. You can save your postage and send your mom a personalized card right from your smartphone.

Each Sincerely Ink card for buildOn is $10, and that money goes directly to school construction projects in Malawi, Mali, Haiti, Nepal and Nicaragua. The app is part of Sincerely’s philanthropic program, Sincerley Giving, which drives awareness to organizations such as buildOn through its exclusive digital card collection.

“Sincerely’s work with great organizations, like buildOn in the Sincerely Giving program, gets at the true core of giving,” said Matt Brezina, CEO of Sincerely. “It’s incredibly exciting to know that customers can send a card while supporting a favorite cause and changing lives, straight from a mobile phone.”

Other Sincerely Ink designs include High School Graduation and Inspirational cards. The purchase of these cards funds other buildOn programs, including afterschool service programs in struggling high schools across the U.S.

We’re proud to be working with such an innovative company. Remember your mom on Mother’s Day and send her a card using the Sincerely Ink app.

We plan to finish construction of the other two schools in June. The Mkwayule school in the Mzoweza community is adding drains and painting the building. The Vigando school in the Jembe community is about to start roofing the building. Stay tuned!

Construction on our Kabila school in Malawi is close to being finished.

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

“At some point, I always wanted to give back,” Charles said in a press release. She became interested in partnering with OmniPeace while she was a sophomore at UConn. “Once I was financially stable when I got to the pros, I decided I wanted to link up with OmniPeace and Mary Fanaro, who is the founder of OmniPeace.To build a school in Africa costs thirty-two thousand dollars. I have it, and I was able to supply it to the kids in Africa, and just try to do my part to help end poverty and help them have a brighter future.”

Just yesterday, Charles shared this Instagram photo of students in Mali on her Twitter account with the caption, “the most amazing feeling I feel _ words can’t describe the feeling for real; my greatest creation was you.”

Charles’s school will accommodate up to 150 children in Ganale, a village in the Sikasso region of Mali. The land-locked country in Western Africa recently faced a military coup that attracted international attention, but buildOn’s staff reported there wasn’t violence or unrest in the Sikasso region, and the team only stopped construction on Charles’ school for two days. So far, buildOn has constructed 178 schools in Mali.

“We are honored to have Tina as a partner and are very inspired by her generosity and commitment to education,” said Jim Ziolkowski, Founder and CEO of buildOn. “Before Tina funded the school in the village of Ganale, students were learning in two temporary mud huts, with very little light and no ventilation. The new school is built to last 100 years which means it will provide education for generations of children, parents and grandparents.”

Watch Charles talk about her commitment to education on Connecticut Sun Media Day (at the 30 second mark) here.

Whether traveling to Africa, Central America or Asia, students who participate in the buildOn Trek for Knowledge Program leave the U.S. having done significant volunteer work in their local community. After spending two weeks in a developing country, they return home global citizens, having served others on an international scale by helping build a school in a village that previously had little to no access to quality education.

Christopher Taylor, a junior at Mott Hall Bronx High School, is one student who expanded his service credentials from local to global. He traveled to Malawi in February with 14 other Bronx high school students, a few buildOn coordinators and buildOn’s founder, president and CEO Jim Ziolkowski. Chris lived with a Malawian host family, participated in three hours of cultural activities daily and worked for three hours a day alongside buildOn students and community members. Each was committed to digging the foundation, mixing the cement and moving the bricks that become a new school for village children, parents and grandparents.

Pictured Above: Christopher Taylor, 16, from the Bronx, lifts up his host brother outside a buildOn school.

buildOn spoke with Chris recently about his Trek experience and the impact the international service trip had on him.

buildOn: What did your friends and family think when you told them you were going to Africa?

Christopher Taylor: They said, “You’re crazy. Watch out for the lions.” Monica [Christopher’s sister and legal guardian] said, “don’t drink the water over there.” One of my friends said, “You’re crazy. You’ll get eaten or killed.” Teachers said you’re going to have fun, and take pictures.

buildOn: Did you ever have second thoughts about going?

CT: No, I was just very excited to go. Time out of America. Time out of my life.

buildOn: What was your first impression of Malawi when you walked out of the airport with your fellow students?

CT: It was hot. So hot. It was shocking because I saw everybody looking at us. We were the outcasts, the outsiders. That was on the bus ride. But once we arrived in the village it was a totally different feeling. The villagers embraced us and showed us love.

buildOn: What was the most challenging experience you had?

CT: The first day of working. We had to dig holes. Dig deep into the ground to start the foundation of the school. It was a lot to do. I was extremely tired. I could barely breath. But I didn’t stop. I kept going because in my mind my three hours of hard labor each day, compared to the Malawians’ regular labor, was nothing.

buildOn: Did anything surprise you while you were in Africa?

CT: The kids. They had an old school right there in the village. Some kids who lived right next to it, they’d be on time everyday. Over here, every kid who lives right next to Mott Hall High School, they’ll come late just because they live right next to the school. And then the Malawian kids who live far from their school, two hours away, they’d still be on time, they’d be right there in school learning. It just shows they actually care. They value education.

buildOn: What do you think the long-term impact of this trip will be on you?

CT: It made me want to do better in life. It made me want to stop slacking, and get on board. Be where I should be at, not where I could be at.

buildOn: What’s similar about doing service locally and doing service in Africa?

CT: buildOn tries to help out anybody who needs help. It’s similar in Africa and the Bronx. For us to go over there, to Africa, they had to build thousands of bricks. And over here, for us to do a community service project, they have to arrange that, make sure everything is okay to do it. So it’s a commitment from the villagers in Malawi and a commitment from the Bronx for us to do something. We need to get the commitment from the community we serve.

buildOn: What do you want to be when you grow up?

CT: When people ask me what I want to be, I say I just want to help people. And I went to Africa, so a humanitarian, but I’m not too sure. I’m undecided, but it seems like it’s going in that direction.

In the wake of the recent coup in Mali and the increased rebel advancements in Northern Mali buildOn is exercising extreme caution and doing all it can to support buildOn staff and communities in Mali during this extremely sad and turbulent time.

At this time buildOn continues to work in the Sikasso region of Mali and currently has 4 construction projects underway as well as the buildOn Community Education Program for 1,450 adults, 55% of the adults are women. We believe that our work in Mali is crucial to the communities we partner with. Since 1998 buildOn has been working in rural Mali and has completed 178 schools that serve up to 26,700 children per day.

The people of Mali have been an inspiration to hundreds of Americans that have visited Mali on behalf of buildOn over the years. Malians have contributed more than 450,000 volunteer work days building schools for their children that is more than 3,600,000 hours of service not including the land, sand, gravel and water they donated for every buildOn school.

It is those staggeringly inspiring metrics that commit buildOn to Mali with a strong bond that cannot be broken by political coups or rebellions. We remain committed to Mali and to building schools for years to come. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Mali and we hope for a quick and peaceful resolution to their problems. The regions where we have buildOn schools in Mali are Sikasso, Segou and Koulikoro and we can report that thus far there have been no reports of any violence or unrest in our communities. We continue to place the safety of our Mali team and communities ahead of anything else.

For background on the coup in Mali read: Mali coup highlights African country’s divisions

As reported in the New York Times, Mali is considered one of the most democratic countries in the region. Since 1998, buildOn has constructed 178 schools in the regions of Segou and Sikasso. More than 27,000 children are attending these schools every day. buildOn is scheduled to construct 18 schools in Mali during 2012.

Update: We have resumed construction on the schools that were started before the coup. New construction projects will remain suspended until further notice.

Students stand in front of a buildOn school in the village of Tienkougoba, Mali.

Afterschool Activities at The Point

Program members from the buildOn afterschool program at Banana Kelly High School in the South Bronx organize fun and educational activities for young children at The Point, a local recreation center.

Photo by buildOn CEO & Founder, Jim Ziolkowski (@JimZbuildOn)

Kankhumbwa woman signs covenant with thumbprint. - Photo by Esther Havens

One month ago today, in the village of Kankhumbwa, buildOn broke ground on the first school constructed in partnership with Raising Malawi and Malawi’s Ministry of Education.  The two-room school will provide access to education for more than 100 children in the Kasungu District of Malawi.

Malawi’s Ministry of Education had identified the school as number one on its list of neediest villages in Kasungu District.  The location for the school was chosen because of the state of the existing school infrastructure as well as the deep commitment to education from the community.

“The village of Kankhumbwa was in desperate need of a new school,” said Jim Ziolkowski, Founder & CEO of buildOn. “The luckiest children in the community are learning in a dilapidated structure with only a poorly thatched roof for protection, the least lucky have their classes outside with no shelter but the shade of a tree. If the weather is poor, the students aren’t able to have class at all. The Malawian government identified building this school as priority and we are honored to fill this need.”

For every buildOn school, the partnering community and buildOn sign a covenant stating each party’s contribution to the project.  The covenant states that buildOn provides the engineering, materials, skilled labor and project supervision for the school.  The community provides a gender-equal leadership team, voluntary unskilled labor, land for the school, local materials and a promise that girls and boys must be sent to school in equal numbers. The teachers for the school and the curriculum are provided by Malawi’s Ministry of Education.

The response to the school from the village of Kankhumbwa was overwhelming.  More than 400 community members lined up to sign the covenant; nearly half were women.

“The school will bring one heart and soul to the entire village,” said Felicia, a grandmother and community member of Kankhumbwa.  “All will be dedicated to education.  I was so happy the day we signed the covenant. I wished I was young again so I could attend that school, but I know any day I can die.  I want to die in peace knowing that my grandson and granddaughters will have education and a better future.”

buildOn was privileged to be joined at the covenant signing by Malawian Ministry of Education officials Wiseman Moyo, Desk Officer for the District Education Manager; Isaac Phiri, Coordinator for Primary Education; Olive Panyanja, District Labor Officer; and Patrick Zintambira, the Primary Education Advisor for the Zone where the school is being constructed.

To date, community members have contributed more than 850 volunteer work days on the site and construction is three days ahead of schedule.

Since 2001, buildOn has completed 54 primary schools in Malawi. buildOn will build ten schools in partnership with Raising Malawi through Summer 2013.

The luckiest children in the community are learning in a dilapidated structure with only a poorly thatched roof for protection.

2011 was an incredible year for buildOn. We celebrated our 20th Anniversary, developed strong new partnerships, and thanks to the passionate support of many individuals and corporations, reached even more students here at home and around the world.

American urban youth committed themselves to service in 138 buildOn afterschool service programs.

Through intensive local service like organizing activities for senior citizens, tutoring elementary school children, and serving meals to the homeless, buildOn program members have now contributed more than 900,000 service hours to their communities.

In 2011, 183 U.S. students traveled to construct schools for children with no access to education, discovering the value of education in their own lives along the way. Students from the South Bronx partnered with a community in rural Nepal to break ground on our 400th school. And last May, 95.5% of the seniors in buildOn programs were not only graduating high school, but going on to college.

Parents and grandparents in developing nations partnered with buildOn to construct 60 schools.

These villagers have now contributed nearly 850,000 volunteer work days to build 440 total schools, providing education for their own children and generations to come.

We now have adult literacy programs in Haiti, Malawi, Mali and Nepal. Through this program, both men and women are gaining fundamental numeracy and literacy skills. In Nepal all participants have passed state literacy exams, allowing them to get involved in their local economy and government like never before.

67,000 children and adults are educated in buildOn schools every day and in 2012 we will break ground on a school every 5 days, providing even more communities with access to education.

Our donations increased by 20% in 2011.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of many corporations, foundations, and individuals buildOn received more than $8.5 million to support our afterschool and school-construction programs.

British Airways became buildOn’s official Global Airline Sponsor and supported our work by flying 50 buildOn students from the U.S. to Malawi to build schools. Additionally, the British Airways team funded a school in Nicaragua and took a team of executives to break ground on the project.

Groupon, the online daily-deal site, promoted buildOn’s programs to its U.S. subscribers and funded two schools in Mali and five schools in Nepal.

Jessica Herrin, the CEO and founder of Stella and Dot, the global fashion accessories brand, also traveled to Nicaragua with members of her staff to help construct a school. The Stella and Dot Foundation supports buildOn’s work domestically and globally through the sale of the Stella & Dot Foundation bracelets and charms.

buildOn became a founding partner of Wetopia – the fun, free, new social game on Facebook. Players fund real-world projects with WeTopia, such as buildOn schools in Haiti, with the Joy points they earn by playing the game. Watch this video about a school fully funded by Joy in the village of Moline, Haiti.

We were recognized by the media.

In 2011 Ann Curry, co-anchor of NBC’s TODAY Show, joined buildOn as an honorary board member. She also hosted the Voices of a Generation panel at NBC’s Education Nation, where two buildOn students from Detroit shared their views on education in America.

The New York Times featured buildOn’s afterschool program at the Bronx Center for Science and Mathamatics and their trip to Mali. And our Founder and CEO Jim Ziolkowski was profiled on the CBS Evening News and the Big Ten Network.

For more stories about buildOn in the media, visit our press page.

We celebrated our 20th Anniversary.

Our 2011 buildOn Dinner was the prefect occasion to celebrate our work over the past two decades. The event was a huge success, raising $2.3 million – a buildOn event record!

The evening honoring Keith Sherin, Vice-Chairman & CFO of GE, and his wife Janet was attended by 840 supporters from across the country and raised 10% more than the previous event record set at last year’s Dinner.

Savannah Guthrie, of The TODAY Show, hosted the evening’s program, which featured two alumni of buildOn’s afterschool programs. Both Luis Alonso, a recent Bronx buildOn alumnus, and Haben Girma, a 2006 alumnus and current Harvard Law student, shared how buildOn has impacted their lives.

To see buildOn’s major milestones over the last 20 years visit our interactive timeline.

This is just the beginning.

The momentum is building and the movement is growing. Exciting things are happening everyday here at buildOn and we want you to be a part of it! Stay up to date on everything buildOn by following us on Facebook, Twitter or on our blog.

Statistics from our human trafficking handout, courtesy of CNN

A few weekends ago, students from both buildOn and Girls, Inc., an organization working to empower girls through academic enrichment, skill building, and counseling, came together to discuss human trafficking on a local and global level. We began the day with a look at what CSEC (commercially sexually exploited children) means. Through interactive activities we discussed who these children/teens are, how they get involved, and why they stay involved.

Students told stories of how they have seen this problem in their own communities/schools. We then watched an emotional documentary called Very Young Girls which follows 13 and 14 year old girls from New York as they tell their own stories of how they were seduced, abused, and sold on New York streets by pimps, while being treated as adult criminals by police. The film showed with harsh realism not only how trafficking affects people in NYC, but also in Oakland — one of the major sex trafficking hubs in the US.

After the film, we looked at statistics on human trafficking at the global level and watched a short youtube clip showing the various forms trafficking takes worldwide. To close the day we had each of the students present make a pledge of how they would take action to combat human trafficking in their own lives. Students used the sidewalks of downtown Oakland as their canvas to spread awareness of the reality of human trafficking in today’s world.

Chalking for a Cause

Our students understand that service is a statement. By learning about these issues, they discover how the decision to help disadvantaged people everywhere can spread a message of hope. By fighting poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education, they fight atrocities like human trafficking as well.

We’re very excited to announce that buildOn is partnering with entertainment icon Madonna and her nonprofit Raising Malawi to construct ten new primary schools in the country of Malawi! Their contribution will allow us to expand on our success in that African nation’s remote villages, where we’ve already built over 50 schools that are helping individuals take the first steps out of extreme poverty every day.

Read more about this partnership in the official press release.

buildOn’s global school construction program is founded upon a core methodology produced from years of research. Our methodology’s true power resides in the fact that buildOn classrooms are constructed in partnership with the very people who will be benefiting from them. buildOn provides the funding, engineering, materials, skilled labor and supervision. The village provides a gender balanced leadership team, thousands of hours of unskilled volunteer labor and a promise that girls will attend the school in equal numbers with boys. After the school is completed, Malawi’s Ministry of Education will provide the teachers and run the curriculum in the classroom.

Read more about our methodology.

Madonna feels passionately about her vow to help Malawi’s neediest children receive an education. “This remains a very big priority in my life and I am excited that with the help of buildOn we can maintain our ongoing commitment to move forward efficiently. We now will be able to serve twice as many children as we would have served with our old approach,” said Madonna. “I have learned a great deal over the last few years and feel confident that we can reach our goals to educate children in Malawi, especially young girls, in a much more practical way. Constructing smaller schools in partnership with buildOn has restored my faith that we can accomplish what we promised we would,” concluded Madonna.

Consistently ranked among the world’s 20 least developed countries on the UN’s Human Development Index, Malawi has long been challenged by economic stagnation and a lack of access to education. With support from Raising Malawi, we will leverage our 19 years of experience in Malawi to construct 10 new schools with the capacity to educate at least 1,000 children per year, half of whom are girls. Malawi has over a half a million children orphaned from the Aids epidemic. Raising Malawi has helped support many of these children for the last several years through various programs.

Read more about the obstacles Malawi faces on our blog, and how education can help.

“Because of Madonna and Raising Malawi’s support, we will be able to build schools for children that the rest of the world has left behind. Generations of children will have access to education and be empowered to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations,” said Jim Ziolkowski, our Founder and CEO.

About Raising Malawi: Raising Malawi was founded in 2006 to bring an end to the extreme poverty and hardship endured by Malawi’s 1.4 million orphans and vulnerable children. Raising Malawi supports community-based organizations that provide these children and their caregivers with critical resources including food, clothing, shelter, education, medical care, and psychosocial support.

With the snow that fell two weeks ago melted, our students were back in action across the nation with service projects. Here’s an update from some of our regions:

San Francisco: Bay Area youth spent Saturday learning about human trafficking through a partnership with Girls Inc. They ended the day by raising awareness for the issue by writing chalk messages on sidewalks!

Chicago: Students rose early to distribute food from a pantry to those in need.

Detroit: At Detroit’s 2nd annual service party, students made friendship bracelets and cards of encouragement for homeless teens. Other students prepared for their school-building trip to Haiti in two weeks. Still others made catnip toys for cats at the Michigan Humane Society.

Philadelphia: buildOn students, along with regional ministries, served dinner to over 200 homeless individuals.

South Connecticut: Students enjoyed an indoor service fair where they made issues posters to hang at their schools and worked on other projects!

Indoor Service Fair in Connecticut!

The year: 1963.
THERE, MR. KING WAS TO BE.
EXCUSE ME THE REVEREND AND THE DOCTOR,
YA KNOW.. REVERENDS ? THE MINISTER. Someone who is authorized by god to speak into or to reach out to others.
And Yes, all he wanted was racial equality.
And for his four children to see the daylight of his people’s sanity.
Because god didn’t make me black and you white so you could act inhumane to me.
Just so we could all praise his name together.
In any weather, for any reason, just to say – I thank you god, you are worthy.
And here we are today, standing in front of gods worthy eyes.
Making the worst impression, the most lies, the greatest iniquity.
Massive stupidity, towards the all high kingdom.
He sits there quietly, grasping how his people could be so disappointing, but finally digests it with a nod.
But back to Martin, yes. He fought.
Long, hard years. Walking… up and down roads and sidewalks into and out of schools.
How could we be such fools?
Not to comprehend such an intellect reason of why me and you are no different.
Sad to say Martins dream never came true.
I mourn inside to think that we had so much power, but this is still going on.
Dr. King had the power, ability, capacity, nevertheless.. a dream.
So can we make this dream come to reality?
The days are dwindling, the nights are darker than ever……..

but I have faith.
And on this day, I say I have a dream to make someone else’s dream come true.

- by Banana Kelly Freshman Rahni Davis

By Stephanie Gilman, Program Manager

Earlier this year the Youth Engagement Zone at Banana Kelly had the great pleasure of bringing Estelle Raboni, Program Manager of Changing the Odds, and community health expert, to the 10th grade classes to speak and answer questions. As discussed previously in regards to our 10th grade health survey of the Bronx, this semester has been all about training the class to become independent learners and health advocates at Banana Kelly High, and with this speaker we hoped to personalize the findings made in the community health survey for our students. Asking questions, after all, is a necessary part of community and social growth, and we hoped to empower students to ask whatever questions they might have.

To prepare the students for Estelle’s visit we had them do a question formulation technique exercise which involved brainstorming as many questions as possible about the various health issues they are researching. They were then asked to choose the questions most appropriate to ask an expert. In addition, we went over the results of the surveys they administered in October. We wanted the students to dig deep within themselves and pull out genuine, thoughtful questions in response to their own environment and experience.

Estelle Raboni Teaches Banana Kelly About Sexual Health

Estelle’s area of expertise is teen sexual health, and she began with a short presentation on this topic. Students then wrote down questions on index cards, and submitted them anonymously. Several lively, informative discussions ensued. The students were excited at the freedom to ask any question they wanted – no questions were wrong or “not allowed”. Many of the teens had never felt entitled to accurate health information previously, and we wanted to empower them to acquire accurate information and motivate them to spread that knowledge to others.

Estelle is a remarkable facilitator: direct and compassionate. We believe with this kind of frank discussion, students will be more likely to ask questions and seek information in the future. Watch a student reaction to the service learning class below!

Fun Day in Oakland with Refugee Children

In San Francisco and Oakland, students dismantled recycled computers. Others worked at Land’s End Park, gardening and landscaping. Students also put on a “fun day” for refugee youth at a local shelter. Still others joined the 14th annual MLK celebration in the East Bay and contributed to an “I Have A Dream…” mural!

In Chicago, students made a mosaic portrait of Dr. King out of dominoes. They also made “origami cranes for peace”. Still others beautified a YMCA on Chicago’s west side – where MLK once lived – with the help of Mayor Rahm Emanuel!

In Detroit, students joined thousands in celebration at Union Station before volunteering with seniors in honor of Dr. King’s memory. Others participated in a “poverty simulation” to raise awareness for those living below the poverty line!

In Philadelphia, students volunteered at Jane Addams Shelter and celebrated Dr. King’s memory with kids in need!

MLK Day at Philly's Liberty Museum

In New York, our interns from the Bronx spent the day at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Other helped beautify other neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx to honor Dr. King’s memory.

MLK as Dominoes!

What did YOU do?

buildOn has been constructing schools in Haiti since 2001, and we considered ourselves fortunate to be able to serve the country’s people during their time of need. We had a team working through the emergency who used many buildOn-made schools as shelters. The same team remains in Haiti today, building schools and bettering lives. Here are some reflections from the past year on our work in Haiti.

Haiti, One Year Later

When I asked my close friend and buildOn colleague, Clerge Garry, how he reflects on our time establishing a health clinic for earthquake victims near the epicenter in Carrefour he said, “I’ll remember the feeling that I had knowing that I was helping my country. As Haitians, we were proud to be able aide our countrymen. It was the most important thing that we’ve done in our lives, and it makes me believe that we as Haitians can work together to make our country a better place.”

A Trip to a Haitian Bakery

“All of our school building trips involve cultural activities — visits to local midwifes, landmarks, and more that provide a deeper understanding of the way people in remote villages live. One of the cultural activities offered in Haiti was a trip to the local baker — a man who bakes bread twice a week using a huge concrete oven in the back of his home.”

buildOn’s Students Construct a School in Haiti

“This trip showed me the strength of our methodology. On our first workday, there were 250 people working alongside us to build the school! It was amazing to see all ages working on the school. We had the president of a women’s group 300 people strong walking across the river to collect sand and rocks. We had young men and old men swinging pick axes and both men and women digging. There was even a guy walking around with a bull horn motivating people to join in. At the end of the day, it was 250 VOLUNTEERING to build a school. TOGETHER we had completed 3 days of work on the first day!”

Haiti Student Scrapbook

“One night our host family said they were going to play Konpa music for us, and then took out 3 buckets and found some branches and started playing. There was a singer and 3 drummers making beats. We danced all night with our host family, making our host dad dance with our host mom. Our host sisters were cracking up.”

San Francisco – Teens make a delicious meal for the families of sick children at Ronald McDonald House!

Service in San Francisco

Chicago – Students from Payton High School tutor adult immigrants studying for their citizenship exam!

Philadelphia – buildOn students help sort 11,000 pounds of food at Philabundance!

Service in Berkeley

New York City – Students of the Bronx’s Banana Kelly High School interact with senior citizens at St. Vincent’s Nursing Home. They bowl, as well as play chess, Trouble, and checkers!

Welcome to the first Youth Engagement Zone blog post of the new year! We’re excited to be back at Banana Kelly High School in the Bronx for the spring semester, and I’d like to discuss in today’s entry some of the less traditional or obvious ways the YEZ model can allow us to have an impact on school culture and environment. Because we are in the school full time, and co-teaching service-learning classes, we are able to get to know students and connect with them on a variety of levels, including academic and more casual interactions.

Willis Cash with YEZ Coordinator Haddi Waggeh

I first met Willis Cash, a Banana Kelly student, on a service learning trip with the high school’s 9th grade class. After that, I began to recognize him around the school–hanging out with the YEZ at the student store on certain days, for example. I had a few casual conversations with him and made it clear that he was always free to interact with us in his free time. One day, I noticed that Willis was looking particularly upset, and I asked him what was wrong. He told me that he’d had an incident with another student and was going to be suspended as a result.

I knew that Cash (he sometimes goes by his last name) was a good kid and felt that suspension would do more harm that good, and would definitely not serve him. I talked to the school’s dean and devised a second option for Cash: He could be suspended, or do community service with us on Saturday. In other circumstances, this would be harder to advocate for, but since Willis had no prior incidents, the dean agreed.

“I took the community service,” Cash says now. “It turned about to be a great thing to do.”

Cash’s first service project would prove transformative. We went to a local soup kitchen in the Bronx, and Cash helped us serve food. “I got a smile on my face doing it,” Cash later remarked. “I see that the food makes people happy, and that makes me happy. I like how I can give back to the community, to people who don’t have access to food.”

Cash only had to attend a single service project to avoid suspension, but he has attended every Banana Kelly Saturday service project since that incident. What started as a punishment has provided Cash with a validating activity that allow him to meaningfully interact with both his school and his community. And none of this would have happened had Cash been suspended. There is an astonishing amount of research that highlights the negative academic, social, and health effects of harsh school disciplinary practices, and the increased drop out rates of suspended and expelled students. We didn’t want Cash, or any other student for that matter, to go down that path. We hope that by providing an alternative, fewer students will be suspended at Banana Kelly High School.

buildOn’s newly released PSA can now be seen on Youtube with an introduction from TODAY show anchor Ann Curry! To tell the story of youth from the innercity joining forces with remote villagers worldwide, we took a camera crew on an incredible journey with us from one of the United States’ toughest neighborhoods in the Bronx all the way to Nepal. In that beautiful, mountainous country, high school students from NYC constructed buildOn’s 400th global school alongside local community members who had been waiting and hoping for a way to educate themselves and their children for their entire lives.

Dalmar Nation, from the Bronx, was on that trip, and is one of the stars of the new buildOn video. We talked to Dalmar to get an inside look at the experience of trekking halfway across the world with a production team to build a school!

How did you get involved in buildOn?

A friend of mine inspired me to go. She said that the program allowed you to help people in Brooklyn, and I thought it sounded cool. I like helping people. One of the first meetings I went to was a coastal cleanup–we went to Brighton Beach to clean. It was an awesome day of cleaning up, on the beach, with friends. And then I just started going to more projects and more projects, and it sounded like a fun program to join.

What were your first thoughts after being chosen to go on the school building trip to Nepal?

I didn’t know what to expect. I really didn’t. I’d never been out of the country before. And when we got there, there was no pavement on the road, there was mud everywhere. I was like, “wow”. And we were there to build a school. It was an exciting challenge.

What was it like staying with a village family in Nepal?

Everything was different there. The food was different. I’m not a vegetarian, but when I was over there, we never touched meat. I missed it so much. But it was great because I got to communicate with the villagers, eat their food, and really get to know them. I kept thinking, “These people are too nice. They’re really too nice.” It was an incredible experience. A different culture, a different place, a different time.

Ram Dulari, Dalmar, and Dehendra

What was your experience like being featured in the video?

My dream is to become an actor. So when they asked me to be in the video I thought, “why not start there?” Luca, the guy who filmed me, had me do a lot of tough stuff on camera–moving sand and mixing cement. I didn’t know how to do those things at first. I learned so much over there. I felt much more at ease with myself in Nepal because you don’t have the same resources there that you have here in the states, but there’s less to worry about. Less stress.

On screen, you have a relationship with a Nepali boy named Dehendra. Was there a relationship offscreen?

Definitely! Off screen, he’s a funny kid. Every time I see him he’s got a smile on his face. And he’s got this incredible conviction…I taught him some words in English and he was using them pretty quickly. We played soccer together. He was so awesome, really helpful. I was glad he was in the video with me.

Has the school building trip influenced any of your daily life since you’ve returned?

I try to eat fewer fattening foods, like McDonald’s and crackers. I got tired of eating that stuff after eating nothing but vegetables in Nepal. I eat a lot of whole wheat and vegetables now.

You’re a senior–where do you want to go from here?

I’d like to be a bio-med engineer. My dream is to travel the world and discover different methods of treating the body from different cultures. I feel like I’d live longer and look younger longer if I lived in Nepal. Even the elderly women that helped us build the school had so much strength. They look younger than they are. There’s wisdom there.

Watch the video below and look out for Dalmar!

]]> http://buildonfromthefield.org/2011/12/29/behind-the-scenes-in-nepal-dalmar-nation/feed/ 0 http://buildonfromthefield.org/2011/12/28/they-buildon-luis-alonsos-story-part-ii-nothing-short-of-empowering/ http://buildonfromthefield.org/2011/12/28/they-buildon-luis-alonsos-story-part-ii-nothing-short-of-empowering/#comments Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:09:54 +0000 buildOn http://buildonfromthefield.org/?p=5975

Raised in the South Bronx and placed in foster care before he entered his inner-city high school, Luis was statistically more likely to end up in jail than graduate. But instead of succumbing to the challenges he faced, Luis took control of his own life by helping others through buildOn. We described the first part of his incredible high school experience here.

For a student like Luis who had once received many of his meals at food pantries and soup kitchens, the opportunity to serve others in the same situation was nothing short of empowering.

“I had prior experience with soup kitchens myself while living with my father,” Luis said, “but I never expected to be on the other side of the line – serving food to people who were once in my predicament. The sheer amount of people who came gave me insight into the real problem of poverty, and made me feel grateful. I will never forget my experience there.”

Through buildOn, he had come full circle and was able to show others the generosity and respect that was given to him in some of his most difficult days. Through this act of service, and the many more he would complete with buildOn, Luis realized he had the power to make things better for others as well as himself.

Why do we believe urban youth like Luis can change the world? Because we see them do it every day.

Through buildOn’s afterschool program urban youth like Luis spend their afternoons, evenings and weekends serving others and learning they can make change in their world and in their own lives.

“Crystal is just awesome,” says buildOn’s Program Director in Philadelphia, Joanna Branch. “She has, on more than one occasion, come into my office excited about cheers she’s created about buildOn.” Branch’s smile widens. “She always performs them for me.”

Crystal Collins, a youth service program coordinator from Philly, is buildOn’s Employee of the Month. She was hired a year and a half ago as a part-time employee, and came on fully in the spring of 2011. Since then, she has made invaluable contributions to our growing Philly youth service programs, planning countless projects, inspiring countless students, and approaching countless tasks with infectious effervescence.

Branch, in fact, has trouble summing up Collins’ achievements concisely, but usually starts by describing the many service projects she’s orchestrated, including the “Abolish the R Word” challenge. “After spending a day volunteering at the Special Olympics, Collins’ students learned about how hurtful the ‘r’ word is, and were challenged to bring the message back to their schools. The student enthusiasm surrounding this initiative has been outstanding. Some made T-Shirts, some made videos, some made stickers…. Crystal’s vision was key to allowing the student voices to shine.”

Collins organized this service project with the Special Olympics

Programs like the above that combine activism and education are Collins’ metier. Once an anthropology major, she felt a passion for social change growing within her while studying abroad in Guatemala. “We had to go into ancient temples and learn about a lot of oppressive political things that had happened to maintain poverty among indigenous people there. I decided I didn’t just want to write about these issues: I wanted to help.” After graduation, Collins did a stint as an urban volunteer in Philadelphia with Americorps, tutoring in ethnically diverse high schools. This experience made her a natural fit for buildOn’s culture.

“buildOn is so inherently diverse,” Collins says. “I love working with such a diverse student body, they’re really accepting, and open. I love being able to witness those transformative moments they have. The first time I went to a men’s shelter with buildOn, I could see conversations clicking between students and the men they were serving food to. It was incredible.”

Crystal Poses with her Cat, Mao

Many of Collins’ favorite service projects, and the ones that she feels have made the most impact, are those that empower the students to create change within their environments, within themselves, and within each other. Branch adds that “the strongest feature of Crystal’s programs is their authentic student leadership. Crystal is always pushing students to take on responsibility. When you visit Crystal’s programs, the students are always in the front of the room learning how to command attention.”

“For the holidays this year,” Collins comments, “I asked buildOn members at my schools to write notes to their student officers, the heads of each high school program. The officers are really self-critical, despite the great work they do. One student who exhibited some problematic behavior through the year wrote about how if it weren’t for the officers, he wouldn’t understand the difference he can make with service.

“Being able to support students to empower each other is more important than me empowering them,” she says. “I almost cried when I read that.” The same student, after praising his officers, also thanked Collins. “Your energy at every meeting and event is what brings smiles to the kids in buildOn,” he said.

“The best thing about this job is that I’m just as stoked about it as the kids,” Collins proclaims. “I know the work I do is so much bigger than me. Not a lot of people can say that about their jobs. The best part is coming in at the start of the day and getting a really good idea for the kids. I’ll get butterflies in my stomach. I get really excited.”

Thanksgiving Service Chefs!

The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund is celebrating it’s 100th year and as part of their celebration they wanted to partner with NYC Service and engage high school youth in meaningful service. Together, they created a fantastic set of celebratory projects happening during the 2011 holiday season. Everything was set and all that was left was finding students to take part in the exciting service events. After having mixed results trying to recruit students from targeted high schools for service, someone thought of buildOn.

When originally approached, buildOn was asked to recruit students for three events, but within a couple of weeks that list had doubled. Around 50 buildOn students from schools in Manhattan & Brooklyn helped to put on six different events occurring in three different boroughs.

Students have prepared and served four holiday meals in partnership with the Children’s Aid Society & Masbia as well as to put on two holiday parties while working with Catholic Charities Brooklyn & Queens. They did this in addition to all the service and work that they normally do each week but with so much more enthusiasm and excitement.

Perhaps the best example of how amazing the students have been during these holiday celebrations took place on November 23rd, or the eve of Thanksgiving. A group of 14 students from Frederick Douglass Academy traveled to the Dunlevy Milbank Center to help prepare and serve a Thanksgiving meal to children taking part in an after school program as well as local community members. The buildOn students originally expected to only be at the event until six o’clock but upon arriving were asked if they could stay longer. Every single student said yes without hesitation. The students spent their time not only preparing and serving food but also helping to clean the center itself. As the dinners ended, the students were told they could return to their homes but again they said that they would stay until everything was completed.

Julia Morales from PACE HS Listens to Food-Serving Tips

During the cleanup, a couple of students noticed that a lot of food was leftover & asked what was going to be done with it. A staff member told them the food would simply be thrown away but that they were welcome to it if they wanted it. So, on their own, the students took several trays of unused food and began to visit shelters to see if any of them could make use of the food surplus. When their arms were tired from carrying the food, they were able to flag down a taxi and convince him to take them to a nearby shelter without charging them a fare. It took them three shelters to get rid of all of their trays of food but all they could think about was what they had accomplished and how much fun they’d been having.

The tireless energy of students like these has helped to make these NY Times Neediest Cases events a tremendous success. A huge thank you to the students from PACE High School, Frederick Douglass Academy, Manhattan Center for Science & Math, Stuyvesant High School, The International Arts & Business School & The Grand Street Campus who took part in these events for their continued dedication to service & buildOn. You are the true leaders of today.

Every single weekend, buildOn’s youth service students across the nation are out in their communities volunteering – working at soup kitchens and senior centers, tutoring disabled children, and completing dozens of other great activities. But this last weekend was particularly special. During the Saturday and Sunday before the US went on its 2011 winter vacation, we engaged hundreds of students in a wide variety of fun, empowering, and socially conscious service projects. Here’s what every corner of the buildOn nation was doing!

San Francisco: Teens in San Francisco volunteered at Golden Gate Park to help preserve their bison paddock. They even got to welcome a new baby bison to the park! Others volunteered with Compass Family Services, an organization helping out families in need.

Chicago: Some Chicago students were engaged at a local senior centers, cooking up an eggs and bacon breakfast before playing rounds of bingo! Others toured Chicago’s rehab and senior centers, singing carols to spread the holiday spirit.

Students in Philly sing Carols on the West Side

Detroit: In Dearborn Heights, MI, students volunteered with the local firefighters, preparing a chili lunch and enjoying a meet and greet. 22 other students delivered 800 holiday meals to seniors in need.

Philadephia: Students wrapped donated gifts at a Barnes and Noble in Center City, PA. Others made pancakes at Philly’s Ronald McDonald House. Still others wrote letters and sent books to prison inmates with the group Books Through Bars on Baltimore Ave. And still more went ice skating with kids from a local homeless shelter and sang carols door to door in a West Philly neighborhood!

New York: At St. Clements Food Pantry, students handed out food to community members in difficult situations. Others helped plant almost 2,000 daffodil buds in the Bronx!

Stamford: Students wrapped gifts for 2,750 children with St. Luke’s Lifeworks, conducted a holiday social at a local senior center, and served meals to over 300 at the Jackie Robinson Park of Fame Christmas Extravaganza!

Students in Stamford Wrap Donated Gifts for Children in Need!

buildOn Students Cheering at the Special Olympics

Students then took this challenge back to their schools where they all created their own unique campaigns to help Spread the Word to End the R-Word. Each school that participated came up with creative ways to engage their student body and inform them about why they should think before they use the word “retard(ed)”. Students made banners, posters, stickers and T-shirts advocating against the use of the r-word.

“At my school we dedicated a wall in the school entrance and covered it with posters showing statistics, such as the number of intellectually challenged people in the world,” commented Shamarlon Yates from the Science Leadership Academy. “In the middle of the wall we included a petition for students and faculty to sign where they’d pledge to stop using the R-word. We got a lot of people to sign!”

I asked Yates why he feels the R-word should be abolished. “I didn’t know that 1/3 of the population is disabled,” he said. “The R-word is something that’s really grown…especially at schools. I think people say it without even thinking. I’ve said it before. And after reading the facts, I felt bad…I wanted to change the way people think. We should really think more before we speak.”

As we move into the holiday season, we’d like to pay tribute to some of the buildOn students who have truly proved the effectiveness of our programming. Luis Alonso is one of those students. He found the strength to endure very difficult personal trials by reaching out to his community through buildOn’s afterschool youth service program. Below, Luis tells the first part of his story in his own words.

My name is Luis Alonso and I spent the majority of my adolescence in the foster care system. I was placed in the system because of some very difficult family issues, and then my dad died before I reached high school. The odds were stacked against me. Growing up I had no convictions to follow, no ideal to pursue, no purpose in my life. I was a lost soul in the woods of darkness. Then my freshman year of high school, I found buildOn. That year I contributed over 150 hours of service to my community.

Then, my sophomore year, life became difficult. My relationship with my foster parent was deteriorating. She would refuse to give me money for transportation to and from community service events. She lied to me frequently. She sent me to a mental ward even though I had no mental illness, and she would never give me recognition for my accomplishments. Of course she would refuse to allow me to make a difference in the lives of other people.

My buildOn program coordinator was questioning why I no longer participated in service activities – for three straight months I did not attend a single project. But during that time, my perception of buildOn, community service, and myself changed drastically. Originally, I only participated in events to accumulate the hours I needed to graduate.

I did not fully understand the social impact I had on my community. I now realized that community service is something greater then I had ever imagined, and that buildOn’s goal of promoting volunteerism to children like me was nothing short of honorable, noble, and just. With this inspiration, my brother and I advocated to leave our foster home and be placed in a new one.

After moving to a new foster home, I was more committed to service than ever before. I became president of the buildOn program at my school and engaged in every service activity I could.

Check back next week for the second part of Luis Alonso’s story!

Banana Kelly’s student store opened in March of 2011 as an attempt to give a small group of the school’s students practical work experience and responsibilities in which they could take pride. As we described right here on the blog, it’s a resource that they can manage themselves–for students, by students.

The store is now finishing its second semester of operation, and the response has been overwhelming. YEZ Program Coordinator Joahan Suarez has been managing this effort, and here’s his report on the last 4 months of the store’s life.

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All Employees at the Store Have the Responsibility of Handling Profits

On Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s during the hours of 11:55am – 12:35pm, Banana Kelly’s room 313 is one of the coolest spots in school. As soon as students go on lunch break, they visit the YEZ store to buy under-200 calorie bags of chips, string cheese, fruit snacks, water, and 100% fruit juice, and the newly-added honey bun. While they eat these items, they make new friends, catch up with old ones, and sign up for community service projects.

Since its inception, the store has seen a lot of changes. Its popularity around the school is evident from the large amount of clients it receives during the day. And while it began as a project specifically for 9th and 10th grade boys, the store now has two female students who have already provided key ideas.

But the story of the store is perhaps best told by considering those who work there. Jerry Canela, for example, is one of our managers. He has been present every single day during store hours, and has been very good at providing ideas to increase clientele. His charming demeanor has brought in customers and employee applicants. Jerry has been literally the first person in the room helping me set up every day this year; he loves working at the store so much that he now comes to school every day.

The Student Store has Many Items for Banana Kelly's Student Body to Choose From

Rudy Paulino also started this year as a School Store Manager. Rudy has been a difficult student to engage; he has a lot going on at home, and is prone to outbursts and social disagreements. The week before Halloween, Rudy was unfortunately disrespectful to the store staff, and as a result he was forced to step down as manager until he could address his behavioral problems. At first he was reluctant to do so, but the incentive of working at the store proved effective. He discussed his issues with Stephanie and myself, which is a huge step for a student like him. Since then Rudy has been more focused in class, he has been behaving better with other students and teachers, and his presence in this room is generally more positive.

Yestiny and Jessica are 9th graders, the very first two female applicants ever to work in the store. When Yestiny first approached Stephanie and myself about a position, we explained to her that the school store was created for “hard-to-engage boys who don’t like to come to school”. “Well, I’m a ‘hard-to-engage girl who doesn’t like to come to school,’ ” she replied. Stephanie and I were so shocked by her answer that we decided to allow her to apply. She was accepted, and has enjoyed the experience of working at the store so much that she decided to invite her friend Jessica to the staff. They both have provided critical ideas for the school store, for example adding a third table for miscellaneous materials such as small bottles of lotions, hand sanitizers, hair ties, and gel pens. The store is looking to start the brand new year with a third table selling these goods to the student body.

We are proud to have made a difference in these students’ academic experience with Banana Kelly’s student store. We look forward to engaging even more students in 2012 – among our plans are a series of “financial literacy” workshops to supplement our employees’ work! Look out for the next student store update!

From a buildOn Celebration in San Francisco

It has been twenty years of building a movement for buildOn. Twenty years of weekends spent doing community service. Twenty years of summers spent in third-world countries helping build schools. That is what twenty years have been like for the students who were and are a part of buildOn. And in those twenty years, approximately 852,775 hours have been served; 64,546 have been educated globally; 427 schools have been built in 9 developing countries; and 1,611,707 lives have been touched.

buildOn, as described by its website, is not a charity but rather a movement. It is an afterschool activity that encourages its members to participate in community service, during the weekend. During the summer, a few students have been picked from schools that buildOn has become a part of, to go to third-world countries to help build schools.

In the San Francisco Bay Area alone, buildOn is a part of 16 schools. In the Bay Area, high school graduation rates are descending and buildOn is working to change that. The movement not only exposes them to service around their community, but also to the lack of education and schools in third world countries. This inspires them to do many things, including to stay in school.

Helping out the Homeless in SF

The community service takes place in the vicinity of the school. Members of may go help out the Boys’ and Girls’ Club, once a week. buildOn students also have the chance to interact with other buildOn members from schools beside their own. The activities they take part in are not only fun, but rewarding for both the community and themselves. Such activities include creek cleanups, PB&J sandwich projects, tree-planting, and even volunteering at science fairs. buildOn students gain service hours, friends, and skills.

I joined buildOn, this school year, as a means to involve myself in service in my community. My first project for buildOn was Oakland’s Back to School BBQ. It was an event put on to give away school supplies to children who could not afford it, with funducational booths on the side. Working in the art booth was an amazing experience. I was able to interact with kids and even make new friends. Being exposed to this kind of service made me want to do more.

The community services always vary. The next project I went to was a creek cleanup. It involved pulling weeds and other invasive species that took over a creek. I remember getting a splinter but enjoying it all the same. I have done many community services for buildOn since then and I have had a lot of fun doing each and every one. However, I had the most fun participating in the PB&J sandwich project in San Francisco. The goal was to pass out sandwiches to people in need. I met a variety of people and had a great deal of fun while passing out sandwiches.

From being a part of buildOn, I have learned that no matter how small your actions are towards your community, as long as they are supportive for the members of the community, they will benefit from it.

buildOn is a very important movement for its members and the people. The exposure they give is very significant in their lives. Look at the numbers above. Give a few more years, and the numbers will grow. More hours will be served. More children will be educated. More schools will be built in more developing countries, and more lives will be touched. How will you buildOn?

TODAY co-host Ann Curry has partnered with buildOn to raise awareness of the organization’s school building efforts in developing nations and to help construct a school in rural Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, through Twitter.

In a message to her followers Curry tweeted, “LOVE this: 6 dollars helps build schools all over the world AND helps young Americans rise to greatness: http://bit.ly/rG5aUw”

Twitter users can participate in a retweet contest to help Ann Curry spread the word about buildOn’s “Every Six Days” initiative. The Twitter user who receives the most retweets by December 15th will win a VIP behind the scenes tour of the TODAY Show and the opportunity to meet Ann Curry!

The campaign is raising awareness for buildOn’s ongoing international development efforts. There are over 1 billion people that cannot read or write around the globe. Every six days buildOn breaks ground on a new school that provides an impoverished community with access to education, helping reduce the rate of illiteracy in the world.

buildOn’s “Every Six Days” initiative asks followers to donate just $6 to help build a school in Nepal. This school in Nepal will provide access to education for more than 150 children each year. Donors who pledge $6 or more will receive exclusive email updates with photos directly from the construction site.

To learn more about the “Every Six Days” initiative and for contest details, please visit our site!

I recently visited the village of El Trabon in Nicaragua, where buildOn was just days away from completing a three-classroom primary school. El Trabon was electric with excitement about the imminent completion their new school, and the community members were eager to ask me questions about the status of the afterschool students from the Bronx who had spent two weeks living with host families and helping build their school.

The site of buildOn's school in El Trabon

To date, we have sent more than 2,000 high school students from our U.S. programs to the developing countries where we work to help build schools. We know that this experience is transformational for both the buildOn students and the community members in the villages where we work.

But during this trip, there was one student who stood out. This became clear as I spoke to El Trabon community leader Don Antonio. “I was surprised at how hard the students worked,” Don Antonio said. “We were all surprised. They showed great courage and they inspired our community, our children, our parents, and our grandparents. But while we will remember all of the students who traveled from the U.S. to help us build our school, we will specifically remember Gina Bunche. When Gina fist arrived, we thought she was going to be so serious and difficult to get to know. It turned out that she was the opposite. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and she was always smiling and giving encouragement. We can never forget that.”

Gina and a Community Member from El Trabon

When I returned to the United States from my trip to Nicaragua, I called Gina to let her know that she had succeeded as a grassroots ambassador for buildOn and for youth in the United States. While Gina was touched to hear about the impact she made, she was quick to point out that experience and her interaction with the community members of El Trabon made a great impact on her belief system.

“In El Trabon, I was impressed by how much the people were able to accomplish with so little, and I was touched by the genuine hospitality of the community”, Gina told me. “My experience during those two weeks will be something that I have with me for the rest of my life. It gave me perspective, inspiration, and motivation that I will remember forever.”

buildOn’s school building trips overseas have powerful and lasting outcomes, and they are the galvanizing link between buildOn’s U.S. and International Programs. But most importantly, they help us define what we know to be true: That there is a common bond between people like Gina Bunche from the Bronx and Don Antionio from El Trabon, Nicaragua. They are both very intelligent, and they are both capable of making positive change in the world. They just need the opportunity to make that change–and that is why we do what we do at buildOn.

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POSTSCRIPT FROM BUILDON’S NICARAGUA PROGRAM DIRECTOR

“I had the opportunity last month to attend the inauguration of the school at El Trabon. Following the inauguration, the buildOn team was invited to have dinner with some of the community leaders. During the dinner and celebration, I was snapping photos of some of the community members when Don Antonio, his wife, and one of their baby girls showed up. We took a couple of pictures, and without even knowing me, they asked, ‘Are you sending these pictures to Gina?’ When some other people heard that name that all began asking if I knew Gina and got really excited. I think this was a great testament to the fact that once buildOn students leave the communities, they are not quickly forgotten.” – Bryan Goldfinger

Stella & Dot previously has donated to buildOn through the sale of their 2011 Mother’s Day bracelets. A group of stylists from Stella & Dot traveled to Nicaragua to help construct a buildOn school later in the year.

“At Stella & Dot, we believe the holidays are about expressing your gratitude and spreading joy by giving to others. We are thrilled to partner with buildOn and our Independent Stylists to donate over 10,000 gifts to girls that might not otherwise be getting one this holiday” said Jessica Herrin, Stella & Dot CEO and Founder.

“buildOn is so excited to receive this generous donation from Stella & Dot this holiday season,” said Abby Hurst, buildOn’s Vice President of U.S. Programs. “Urban teens in buildOn programs volunteer with the same young children week after week through activities like coaching at local recreation centers, or tutoring in neighborhood homeless shelters. Stella and Dot is giving buildOn students the opportunity to celebrate these young children by giving them a beautiful gift.”

To participate in this holiday giving promotion, please visit: www.stelladot.com/content/spreadthelove.

The program will last through Wednesday, December 21, 2011.

Over the last 20 years, buildOn’s mission has inspired the support and passion of many individuals whose enthusiasm has, in turn, rallied the aid of others. But Geoffrey Norman is a special case. “Once you come into contact with buildOn, you get infected with it,” he told me over the phone. “And there’s no known cure!” What he didn’t mention then, but what became clear throughout our conversation, is how quickly one can spread the contagion. A former asset management executive at General Electric who witnessed one of the first presentations that our founder and CEO Jim Ziolkowski gave to the leadership team at GE, Norman inspired his entire family to join the buildOn team.

Norman described his initial meeting with Ziolkowski fondly. “In the early 1990s, probably around ‘93, Jim was invited to present his story to GE Asset Management’s leadership team. He was such a young guy, and spun an incredible story about building schools in places like Nepal. I was intrigued by the story, and impressed by Jim’s passion and charisma. I went up to him afterward and asked if I could help. I still am.”

Norman’s initial relationship with buildOn was as a sort of traffic cop within GE. He arranged meetings between Ziolkowski, COO Marc Friedman, GE leaders, and potential donors, and helped to organize events as well. “But somewhere along the line,” he said, “I became more like a mentor. I counselled Jim early on that despite the great things that were happening, he needed to prepare for growth with a strong team and money to be put away for a rainy day.”

Norman eventually filled a slot on our board of advisors, from which he continues to provide incalculable assistance. As our U.S. afterschool programs were taking off, Norman’s wife Christina also became involved, starting a buildOn program at the high school in which she taught. “My sister and I saw our parents getting involved with buildOn around 15 years ago, I think, when I was 22,” said Norman’s daughter, Catarina Schwab. “I grew up in a very European family. I heard from my parents that living in England and Sweden, the government takes care of things through social services. Neither of them grew up with an organization like buildOn. But my grandparents gave back in other ways–volunteering during WWII, etc. Social good is in our blood.”

The support of Norman, his wife, and his two daughters–Schwab and Camilla Field, both of whom nurtured buildOn’s fundraising presence in the San Francisco Bay Area–has been important to buildOn’s growth. Norman remembers when buildOn events were raising “maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars,” and how he hoped to break that mold. “In 2000 John Myers, also from GE, and I planned a breakfast in New York rather than a dinner in Connecticut. Breakfast was cheaper, and we thought the location would attract a difference audience.” Norman also used a surprise announcement for that year’s honoree to make buildOn’s impact relevant to his corporate audience, amplifying the drama achieved by Ziolkowski when discussing the needs and successes of inner-city high school students and overseas villagers. “Myers, who was the honoree that year, didn’t know was that a school was being dedicated to him in Haiti. He took the stage with his wife and they had their arms around each other when the announcement was made. It was an emotional moment, absolutely astounding, and when it was all over, we’d raised $1.3 million.”

Geoffrey Norman, Catarina Schwab, Camilla Field, and Christina Norman

This emphasis on family is a crucial element of buildOn’s culture, and it’s also part of what inspired Norman’s wife and children to get involved. “It was fun as a family activity,” said Schwab. “Something we could all bond around. When my English grandparents passed away, the buildOn leaders dedicated a school to them…that meant a lot because we all knew that if my grandparents had had a buildOn in their neighborhood, they would have been involved, too.”

Schwab’s participation also grew through the years — the more she heard, the more she wanted to help. “We all went to the Connecticut dinners and I started helping my sister Camilla host the dinners out in the Bay Area as well. Camilla had already been working for buildOn in the Bay Area, drafting applictions for fund grants throughout the country. I remember the first Bay Area dinner I helped with very well. The student speaker was Haben Girma, and she blew me away–the fact that a student who was visually and hearing impaired could do so much for her community, and even go overseas to build a school, just floored me.”

She adds, “We did the Bay Area dinner for a year without a VP. After I was asked to join the regional board, I offered to help the search for candidates and, a few weeks in, I realized that I was interested in the job. So I interviewed for it, and got it! Three years later, we’re so much more than just a dinner on the west coast, and I was really proud to be part of expanding the presence out here. We really understand how programming and development go hand in hand at buildOn.”

Schwab also made the decision last year to embark on a school building trip to Nicaragua, an experience she describes as “life-changing,” and one that cemented the global importance of buildOn’s work for her. “When I said goodbye to my host family at the end of the trip,” she noted, “the mother said that until the school was built they hadn’t felt like part of the world. But now they were going to start writing their history.” She added, “While we were talking, she was holding her baby, and the baby started going to the bathroom down her arm. She continued our conversation without removing her gaze from me and it occurred to me how distracted we are in this culture, always on our cellphones, checking email etc. That memory will always be with me.”

The Extended Norman Family

Both Schwab and Norman hope to make even more memories with buildOn–indeed, the future is much on their minds. Norman continues to provide counsel to our CEO and COO, and Schwab is raising a collection of soon-to-be buildOn supporters. “My son is 5,” Schwab said proudly, “and he tells me he’s going to go and build a school in Nicaragua. He’s seen my photos. That’s the next big step for us: To have a family trip to build a school. I’d love for my immediate family to be able to do that. It’s been such a big part of our lives.”

We’re proud to announce that buildOn has partnered with the new social gaming company SoJo Studios to bring you a Facebook app that lets you complete international outreach from your PC. WeTopia, as it’s called, elevates the fun of game play with friends and family into the joy of helping children around the world.

So how does it work? First, you sign up from Facebook here. Then each player gets to build their own WeTopia world, a children’s utopian village. This includes building houses, shops, and buildings, decorating with flowers, trees, fountains, and pets, and increasing population. By inviting Facebook friends to be “neighbors,” players can venture in to other players’ worlds.

Players reach new levels through different opportunities in the game where they accrue “Goodwill,” “Experience,” “Energy” or “Joy,” that unlock new goods, structures, and decorations that can be used in the game. A charitable aspect underlines the entire game; players have the opportunity to choose what projects Sojo and partners will support.

buildOn will have several different charitable projects available in WeTopia, where you can contribute to a new school for young children in Haiti or help support an afterschool program for struggling teens in innercity Detroit. As you get further along you’ll get updates directly from construction sites and afterschool service project locations — with pictures, video, and text showing the difference your dollars are making on children’s lives!

Join the revolution on Facebook with WeTopia! See you there!

Runners/fundraisers, here’s your chance to make a difference while participating in the oldest marathon race in the United States! Join buildOn’s Boston Marathon team and make a difference in the lives of youth home and abroad! The Boston Chapter of the non-profit organization buildOn is looking for 8 individuals to join our Boston Marathon Team!

With the opportunity to run in the world’s most premier race comes the opportunity expand buildOn’s impact on a local and global level. buildOn’s Boston Marathon team will help globally by raising money to sponsor the construction of community schools in buildOn project countries. In addition, we are making a local impact through sponsoring inner-city high school students from the US to participate in the life changing experience of traveling abroad to assist with the construction of a buildOn school. Our team will help to unlock the potential of under-resourced communities around the globe.

Already have a bib? No problem! Runners who already have bibs are also invited to join our cause!

Learn more here!

Please direct applications and any questions to kristina.s.boston.buildon@gmail.com

Thanks to our legions of supporters, our 2011 buildOn Dinner on November 17th was a huge success, raising $2.3 million – a buildOn event record!

The evening honoring Keith Sherin, Vice-Chairman & CFO of GE, and his wife Janet was attended by 840 supporters from across the country and raised 10% more than the previous event record set at last year’s Dinner.

Savannah Guthrie, of The TODAY Show, hosted the evening’s program, which featured two alumni of buildOn’s afterschool programs. Both Luis Alonso, a recent Bronx buildOn alumnus, and Haben Girma, a 2006 alumnus and current Harvard Law student, shared how buildOn has impacted their lives. You can read both Luis’s and Haben’s stories on our blog.

Honorees Janet and Keith Sherin, and buildOn dinner Emcee Savannah Guthrie of The TODAY Show

buildOn CEO & Founder Jim Ziolkowski spoke passionately about our work over the last year in the Bronx and in Nepal, where we built our 400th school worldwide. He was joined onstage by an emotional group of students who paid tribute to his efforts over the last two decades.

Global Partners for the event included American Airlines, British Airways, CLSA, Deutsche Bank Securities, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP, GE, and GE Foundation.

Thank you to all of the sponsors and attendees who helped us celebrate 20 years of building a movement!

Check out photos of attendees, students, and speakers on our Flickr account!

Earlier in November, buildOn students in Oakland and San Francisco attended a writing workshop to explore how community service has affected them personally. The students were broken up into groups (of their own choosing) and worked on poetry, Essay/Story writing against the prompt: “Why do I do community service or why did I join buildOn?”, or art and life maps. Here’s some of what the students produced on this inspiring day!

When I was introduced to buildOn at my high school, the door of opportunity slammed open. This was an opportunity to legitimately do something for others. This was an opportunity of being a part of making a difference in this world of imbalance and inequality. I wanted to be that person I imagined that possessed the good and love of humanity in their souls.

Karren Moore

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Georgia Reid's Life Map

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I Am/ We Are
I am pain & bliss.
I am a Rabbits and a piano.
I am Cambodian with a click of desires.
I am the sound of another who can see me on fire.
I am the one who run through a red forest.
I am too, the one that can hear crying.
I am feeling small right now but someday I’ll open a chest.
I am rhythm that floats in mid air gasping to be visible.
We are the keys and the combinations.
We see sadness and tears chopping out side our community.
We believe that there’s a fire out there that needs to be lit.
We dream to find more knowledge and wisdom within our heart beat.
We fight for more smiles day by day until we could no longer bite.
We change over time as we accept what we see.
We are find and trying.
We are buildOn!

LimHeng Sung

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Growing up in the San Francisco Mission district, I was exposed to drugs, violence, and gangs. After a while I learned to live within it. When I was in 8th grade I moved to Richmond City, which really changed my point of view. I saw how these things really affect other people. Then I asked myself: Why is it normal to see a homeless person on the street? Why don’t people believe that is a problem? Is it a lack of education in the community?

I believe every person beyond the less fortunate deserves a new start. To be able to re-live and be able to feel or do what was missing. All we need is hope and we can change just about anything. There is no need to be shy. Speak loud and free to be heard and change what you believe is wrong. From crime to education problems, even out of the country and poverty around the world. There is no limit to your beliefs. Together we can shape the future however we would like it to be.

Jonathan Aleman

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Alex Faynleyb's Life Map

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I am an inked eraser with lead
I am the blank concrete slate
I am a city in the west
I am the bridge near the golden gates
I am the cultural trail mix
I am part of a system
I am anonymous
I am or am I?
We are Builders with paper and rebels with pens
Who see the silent revolution
We believe in the world around us
We dream the idealistic reality
We fight the invisible shroud covering the abandoned children of the capitalistic society
We change the ends of the means
We are E Pluribus Unum: out of many, one
We are buildOn!

Terence Yang

The Youth Engagement Zone at Banana Kelly has engaged a small part of its senior class this year in local internships that provide service-oriented job experience. This year we have 5 interns: Keylen Barahona and Anthony Rosario, who work with children at La Peninsula Head Start; Yanique McKenzie, who works at Assembly Member Marcos Crespo’s office; and Jessica Garcia and Lianabel Frias, who also work with children at the Bronx Charter School for the Arts.

On November 8, the interns participated in a reflection and lunch. Here’s what four of them had to say in response to questions!

The YEZ's interns discuss challenges and triumphs

What are three things you have learned at your internship?

Anthony: Kids aren’t as bad as you think. They don’t judge and if you’re actually there to help people will be happy to see you.
Yanique: I’ve learned that is it important to help our community members. I’ve also learned that Marcos Crespo is contributing to the community in many different ways. And I’ve learned to act professionally.
Keylen: Three things I have learned at my internship are that teachers have a lot of work when teaching the kids, they need a lot of patience, and they have to get accustomed to the personality of
each child.
Lianabel: The three things I’ve learned at my internship are that teachers have a lot of work besides teaching in class. Kindergarteners cry a lot. Hard work pays off.

What has been the biggest challenge at your internship?

Anthony: Reading in front of a group of four year olds.
Yanique: The biggest challenge is not being bilingual. I think that if I was bilingual I would be able to help more Latinos.
Keylen: The biggest challenge is to find an activity that the kids enjoy and can learn something important from. Because they all like to do different things.
Lianabel: My biggest challenge is fire drills because they are crazy. My other biggest challenge has been having to translate the kids homework into Spanish so the parents can understand.

Has anything surprised you? If so, what?

Anthony: How quickly the kids bond to you.
Keylen: Something that has surprised me is that the children at La Peninsula Head Start are very smart in a unique way. Although they each have their own difficulties, they seem to know a lot about what surrounds them.
Lianabel: What surprised me is that being a teacher isn’t such a bad thing.

The YEZ's 2011 Interns

How would you prepare a peer for this internship? What would you tell him/her?

Anthony: I would just warn them that the kids are all at different stages and to be patient with each child.
Yanique: I would prepare a peer for this internship by informing him/her about the community. I would tell him/her some of the problems in our community and how we could help to solve these problems.
Keylen: I would tell them to be understanding with each kid, and interact with the kids and teachers as much as they can.
Lianabel: I would tell him/her to always go in with a positive attitude, because you’ll always have fun no matter what you’re doing or what class you’re placed in.

Last week, Western International High School’s buildOn program held the first TasteFest of the 2011-2012 school year. At the highly anticipated TasteFest, lines of students and teachers prepare home-cooked meals in an effort to raise money for buildOn’s Global School Construction Program.

Twenty students from buildOn brought food, served fellow classmates and teachers and had a great time during this annual event. Food overflowed: Burritos, Liberian dishes, American fried chicken, mac n’ cheese, peppered steak and rice, potato salad, nachos and salsa, meatballs and mashed potatoes. If that isn’t enough the desserts were abundant and delicious: cupcakes, sweet potato pie, vanilla cake, flan, crepes, cookies and pound cake.

The event fed over 100 people while raising money for the buildOn Global School Construction Program. Western students lead the best TasteFest in the history of buildOn at Western!

Western International High School's full buffet

On Wednesday, October 26, about 85 people gathered at the Palace Ballroom in Seattle for a night of dinner, drinks, a silent auction and an appeal. Auction highlights included David Letterman tickets, a San Diego Getaway, a 4-hour interior design consultation, British Airways Club Class Tickets, and selection of Haitian crafts.

The evening was organized by Seattle Chapter Director and buildOn board member Randi Hedin to raise funds for schools in Haiti. The guests were treated to a Haitian-inspired dinner, while Skyler Badenoch, Director of Development on the east coast, recounted his first-hand experiences of living through the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Skyler and the buildOn staff were among the first to respond in the aftermath. He shared some of his journal entries, which were paired photos he had taken there. He witnessed unimaginable suffering and hardship, but also first-hand experiences of Haitians who stepped up and inspired him with their heroism and courage. “More than anything,” he says, “I’ll remember the tireless effort of the buildOn Haiti staff to provide care to those who passed through our lives.”

Skyler went on to talk about how great the need for education in Haiti is, with 50% of the population illiterate. buildOn has taken strides and has completed 12 schools in Haiti since the earthquake and will complete another 4 by the end of the year. It is with groups like the Seattle chapter, that buildOn is able to continue the efforts in Haiti and build another 2 schools with nearly $73,000 the dinner raised!

Seattle Chapter Director and buildOn Board Member Randi Hedin with COO Marc Friedman with supporters on either side

buildOn COO Marc Friedman with supporters Katie Frink and Mayten Gross

buildOn CEO and Founder Jim Ziolkowski with Randi Hedin and Marc Friedman

Guests were enthusiastic and there was such a great energy in the room. People were engaged by the stories told by Jim and Skyler, and were happy to be out supporting buildOn.

Erica rides a camel in the desert of Qatar

Born and raised under the same roof in Connecticut my entire life, I never pictured myself living in any other country, ever.

buildOn changed my view of what my life could be. At the age of 15 (nine years ago), I got a taste of Nicaragua that left a lasting impression on me. Traveling to Palo Verde, a tiny village of 200 Spanish-speaking, salsa dance-loving, family-oriented, schoolhouse-needing villagers showed me that my actions could make a difference. I mixed my first batch of cement, dug my first latrine, sucked on my first sugarcane stalk, ate my first bean and met the first group of people that directly benefited from my service. buildOn gave me a chance to better understand the win-win situation that is achieved by empowering American students to then help empower communities worldwide.

My path after buildOn has been similarly inspiring. I moved to Education City, in the tiny Muslim country Qatar, to finish my art degree. Living in a Middle-Eastern culture was eye-opening, but traveling with another buildOn-like student group (Reach Out to Asia) to a Cambodian Orphanage reignited my Nicaraguan-inspired spark for international community service.

That’s it! I was on a mission with three-goals in mind:

1 EXPERIENCE THE WORLD
2 BE USEFUL
3 POWERFULLY CREATE THE FUTURE OF MY CHOICE

After graduation, I waited tables just long enough to fund my next adventure: volunteering in extremely-rural Thailand. I earned my TEFL-certification online, then hopped on a plane. Teaching English, living, cooking, eating, singing, dancing and learning from my host family was such a productive way to become instantly enveloped by the Thai community!

Erica with Vincentien Boys Swimming

Choosing to continue to live abroad, but being cautious of my dwindling bank account, I accepted a year-long job teaching English to South Korean elementary school students.

As a fun-loving, adventurous, outgoing, responsible traveler who tries to always say “yes” to every new experience offered (except for the ones that involve me digesting the raw meat and blood delicacy that my Thai host grandfather tried to serve me on several occasions).

Always on the go, I love to do, do, do in order to experience everything a country has to offer. I am the person that you run into wherever you go because I am, well, everywhere!

I have perfected my body language, grunting- and charade-capabilities to get my point across to non-English speakers. I love to learn about the world, and first- hand experience is my favorite way to do that. In the past 3 years, I have gone to 15 countries, lived in 4, studied in 1, worked in 2, volunteered in 5 and loved every minute of it all.

Currently, my buildOn spirit has led me to live and volunteer in the Caribbean at Richmond Vale Academy (a community service leader training program). Soon I will fulfill my dream of beating a drum whilst standing on the rich soil of Africa. With determination, flexibility, creative problem solving skills and a can-do attitude, you too can make your dreams of traveling the world a reality.

I cannot thank buildOn enough for introducing me to the wonders of volunteer-travel and showing me that I can make a difference.

In Bank of America’s words, they are “committed to the communities in which we live and work, and believe that we are able to succeed and prosper when our communities do. As such, we understand the important role we play in community development – not only working as an employer, lender, and investor, but also as a philanthropist, a sponsor, and a community partner. The Neighborhood Excellence Initiative was designed to recognize and reward individuals and groups that are making a difference in their communities.”

• Students post drawings and poems on the wall

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• A buildOn teen reads to a younger student

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• Students write and draw

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• Basketball

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• Face-painting

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• Students check their heart rate after exercising

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• A Wall of Stories

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buildOn student Dariela Colon was particularly touched by the event, as it was held at her old elementary school. “It’s incredible to interact with the kids because it doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was that age,” she said, noting that she’d connected with several PS 47 students who have the same teachers that she was did. “And we never had anything put on for us like this when I was here. So I know how much it means to them. Every little bit like this counts.”

A Banana Kelly science student talks to a Bronx resident

This year, Banana Kelly’s Youth Engagement Zone is transforming science classes with service learning. During my last update, I talked about how our work with 10th grade students would be scaffolding upon 9th grade activities from last year. Our goal, once again, is to provide the teens with an opportunity to complete their own neighborhood investigation, data gathering, and research. During the first session, we discussed the differences between healthy neighborhoods and unhealthy ones, and then we developed a survey we could take to the streets. We wanted to discover what Bronx residents think of their community in terms of health.

We went out in small groups this week to a variety of locations: Subway stations, grocery stores, laundromats, and in front of Banana Kelly itself. The students interviewed whoever would stop and answer the following questions:

1) Do you think the Bronx is a good place to live?
2) Do you think the Bronx is healthy?
3) Does your community have a local farmers market and/or healthy food choices?
4) If yes, how often do you shop there?
5) What are the most common health problems among your family and friends?
6) How often do you eat fast food?
7) Do you smoke?
8 ) Do you recycle regularly?
9) Do you feel safe in your neighborhood?
10) Would you be willing to go out and help the community for a day?

The students collected and entered over 200 survey results themselves. YEZ Program Coordinator Haddi Waggeh noted this approach. “What’s great about this,” she said, “is that instead of us coming to students with a plan, they are determining the flow of the project and what direction it will take. Even the process of entering data was enlightening for the students as they saw the results coming in.”

A student holds a copy of the survey administered to over 200 people

So far, most survey respondents say they think the Bronx is a good place to live, but that it is not healthy. The top health problems are asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. Interestingly, most citizens are aware of local farmers markets and produce stores, but shop at them infrequently.

“Some neighborhoods have farmers’ markets,” commented student Christina Merced. “But some just have unhealthy food, like fast food. Overall, the Bronx is in the middle of healthy and unhealthy.”

Another student, Sabrina Dalmau, discussed the experience of administering the survey. “It was fun because we got out the classroom and we walked around Prospect Avenue,” she said. “We met some cool people and we met some weird people. Looks can be deceiving, because one lady didn’t look drunk, but she was drunk.”

“I was nervous at first,” mentioned Merced. “But then I built up confidence in myself in asking people what they think about the Bronx. I got negative and positive responses. But then again that’s their opinion. It was a good experience, because I wanted to get outside my shy comfort zone.”

Another student talks to a Bronx citizen about health

Taking to the Streets in Philly

150 buildOn students from California marched around Dolores Park wearing buildOn 20th Anniversary shirts, holding signs, and shouting “When I say ‘build’ you say ‘On’! Community members soon got the hang of it and when students shouted, “build!” members of the community shouted “On!” Afterward, students made human sculptures representing the path from oppression to empowerment, and handed out sandwiches to the needy in the Misson. The day finished with a buildOn birthday cake.

buildOn students marched down to the Millennium Park “bean” (giant silver bean-like sculpture) in Chicago holding signs with inspirational words like “I believe we can change the world.” Students then engaged with Chicagoans by asking them to design a fabric square for a three different quilts. People were asked “how can we serve our community?, “why is education important?”, and “what makes our community great?” as a guide for their designs. The finished quilts will then be presented as a gift to the Mayor’s office.

A student in Detroit

155 buildOn students gathered at a Detroit high school to raise awareness about buildOn and inspire the community to make change through service. At 1:10 pm they froze while holding up signs with messages reading, “I believe we can change the community,” “I believe in rebuilding and diversity,” etc. The two-minute freeze created quite a buzz in Detroit’s Eastern Market. After the freeze, the buildOn members asked the community what they believed in and recorded their thoughts and displayed them around the market.

In Philadelphia the day started with a clean-up in a very littered area, and then continued with a march down the famous South Street. Some students chanted and wore face paint to draw attention to their efforts, while others passed out business cards asking people to “buildOn” to their communities and held signs explaining what they “believe” about service.

Helping out the Homeless in San Francisco

A collection of students in Harlem, New York, started with PSA skits in Marcus Garvey Park, then marched down 125th street chanting until they came to a small public area across the street from Harlem’s culturally significant Studio Museum. They passed out business cards, held signs, and performed several chants before crowds of shoppers passing through before lunchtime. A moment of silence was held for the individuals we work with in extreme poverty overseas.

115 students met at a downtown library in Connecticut and broke up into groups. Each group organized a chant or “flash mob experience” that in some way expressed their feelings about service and about buildOn. At 10:45am, everyone performed their routines for the public and handed out business cards asking citizens how they would “buildOn”. Afterward, the students stood with “Honk for buildOn” signs on a busy street corner and spoke to several curious motorists about the buildOn message.

It was an exciting day for buildOn marking a true milestone in the organization’s growth, and our students could feel the excitement in the air. “It was an empowering day,” said one young man. “I feel like we gathered and actually made a difference in this community, and even if we didn’t make a huge difference today, I think we set up the foundation.”

Celebrating 20 Years of buildOn in Harlem

“Everyone was surprised that a bunch of teenagers were in the street chanting for buildOn, for community service, for something that doesn’t just benefit us,” commented another student. “It was an amazing time here at buildOn, and it’s amazing how all the teenagers just get together and do our thing and try to help the community.”

Last Saturday, buildOn students in Philadelphia participated in a very special project – a neighborhood clean-up around the home of buildOn program member Jamie Blackny, who lives in Kensington. Blackny asked buildOn’s director in Philly, Joanna Branch, to organize the clean-up in her neighborhood. Branch was happy to arrange the activity to directly impact one of her students.Our programs stress how easy it is to make a difference with a little bit of effort, and in this instance one of the lives being touched was part of the buildOn family!

To complete the cleanup we partnered with Neighbors In Action, a local community outreach group, who brought all the maintenance tools. Ray Gant, who leads NIA, commented on the project. “It really brings a sense of hope,” he said. “People in these areas not only live among a lot of trash but a lot of crime, too. This showed that we can live in a cleaner neighborhood if we want, and that we’re not alone in that hope. And it gives the kids a sense of pride and leadership, too.”

Before and After the Cleanup in Kensington

Over 100 buildOn volunteers helped clean Blackny’s block, including Blackny’s mom, sister, and dog, Princess London. We ended up cleaning not just Blackny’s block but also 5 additional blocks, including clearing 4 overgrown vacant lots. We removed 4 or 5 mattresses, old tires, and mountains of litter. Many of Blackny’s neighbors came out to say thanks, and also lend a hand. “A lot of neighbors brought out their brooms and shovels when they thanked us,” Gant observed. “That’s the kind of reaction we want to get.” Another resident brought out 6 2-liter bottles of soda as a token of gratitude.

Jamie and her Mom

“I think this showed that some people actually DO care what our neighborhood looks like,” Blackny said. “We got thank-yous from passerbys who may have wanted to do something like this but didn’t have the power. I didn’t think people in my neighborhood would appreciate it. It was overwhelming that so many people were thanking me.”

Blackny also considered the lasting impact of the clean-up. “A lot of people are more aware now of what they were throwing on the ground. There’s not as much trash around. People seem to be cleaning up after themselves.”

We’re very excited to present a whole new online look for buildOn!

This week we are pleased to launch an updated buildOn.org, with the passion that fuels our organization’s work coded into every page. The new site features several navigation enhancements and updated information on our work that will lead users through the social and emotional impact of buildOn’s afterschool and school construction programs.

Some of our favorite new features include:

• -A new Who We Are page that outlines our philosophy and vision for the next 20 years
• -We buildOn, a social fundraising tool where you can start your own online campaign to support buildOn afterschool programs or build a school internationally
• -Updated program pages for buildOn’s Afterschool Program as well as our Global School Construction Program
• -A revamped Get Involved section where you can choose one of the many ways to join the movement

The new buildOn.org will share our mission, our passion and our impact with supporters all over the globe, and we’re thrilled to share it with you.

buildOn Alum Rebecca Garfinkel

Last summer, I was selected through buildOn to become an intern for Recycle Detroit, a non-profit based in downtown Detroit. I was on the Wayne State University campus for buildOn’s required professional development workshops along with nine or ten other interns assigned to different organizations. Each of the interns were young women from inner-city Detroit; being white and from an affluent suburb near the city, I already felt like an outsider.

This feeling intensified when, during lunch one day, the girls started complaining about their schools. One of the first friends I had made, Odessa, told me that her English teacher had once called her an idiot for pronouncing a word incorrectly. Her twin, Vanessa, added that in the last few weeks of her school year, the students had staged a protest by walking out of the building during school hours. The protest had been shut down by the police, and students were threatened with jailtime if they did not return to class. The reason for the protest: None of the restrooms in the school were stocked with toilet paper, so the administration locked the doors of every single one.

Each girl had a story to tell of the injustices committed by her school administration. They turned to me and asked: “What’s wrong with your school?” I stopped short and, incapable of thinking of anything to complain about, bowed my head in disgrace. It was not for anything I had done, but rather, what had not been done to me. I had never been told by a teacher that I was stupid; never had to share a desk with a friend because there weren’t enough in the classroom; never been afraid to walk to school in the morning because of the disappointment or danger expected with each new day. Should I not feel lucky to have had such opportunity in my education? Perhaps, but at that moment, all I felt was shame.

At my high school, to achieve an IB Diploma, each student must compose a research essay on a topic of their choice. Galvanized by the aforementioned discussion, I chose to write my paper on the Detroit Public School (DPS) system: its decline, current struggles, and how it can improve. I was sure to use testimonies from the young women I spoke with in order to communicate the complete injustice that DPS are inflicting on their students. I even created a Facebook Group to raise awareness of the poor conditions in Detroit schools. In short, I felt I had to do something, and this is what I did.

While at the University of Michigan, I plan to apply to the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy during my years as an undergraduate. An education in public policy will provide me with the necessary tools to create real change in the city of Detroit, especially through reform of the public school system. Although my efforts to change the system have been largely grassroots-themed, I know that with a sound foundation in the principles of domestic public policy, I will be well on my way to ensuring that students like Odessa and Vanessa are not cheated out of the education they deserve.

-Rebecca Garfinkel, attended Michigan International Academy, now attending the University of Michigan.

buildOn Alum from CA, Alan Lin

I grew up with severe asthma as a child. I was imprisoned in my home, connected to a machine that allowed me to breathe. This confinement left me with no social interactions with my peers to harvest essential life-experiences for my growth as a person. For the majority of my rueful childhood, I would end each day of school by going home and play videogames until my mind would rot.

My parents were born and raised in Burma (Myanmar), so they did not know how to help me out of this depression I developed. They did not understand what I was going through and they did not seem to care too much, because they were too focused on my older brother’s growth and education. It is the traditional Burmese custom of putting all the effort into raising the perfect, eldest son. I am the second eldest son. I only got the leftovers, along with the asthma. My view of the world spiraled downward and in turn, I isolated myself from all my peers, not having any dreams or aspirations.

During my sophomore year in high school, I attended a meeting for buildOn. I had found out about this program from a flier on that was lying on my desk during homeroom. I thought I might as well attend the meeting, since I had nothing better to do. This single event would be a revitalizing breeze in my self-loathing life. During the meeting I met Jimmy Chen, a senior from my high school with a marvelous and radiating personality, who walked right over, introduced himself and shook my hand. He asked me a few general questions; who I was, how had I found out about the club, and how my day was. The most amazing thing I liked about him was that in the next meeting, he remembered my name. He acknowledged my existence. Jimmy is remarkable, not only for his ability to run a highly successful club, but his confidence and strong affirmation as a leader. He is my role-model, the pinnacle of my dreams; he is who I want to be.

In buildOn, I learned to become a leader and gained really powerful public speaking skills. The biggest experience I gained in the conversing arts was when I canvassed crowded public streets for donations. I was canvassing at San Francisco’s Powell Station on a bright and sunny afternoon. I already had trouble simply talking to my peers, so requesting money from strangers was a herculean difficulty. I had to force myself to push out all negative thoughts and focus only on the goal and, like Jimmy, have a strong affirmation for the cause. Luckily, there was an abundance of foot-traffic that day, so I was able to practice continually with many people until it became verbatim in my mind. At the end of the day I counted the money and found I raised $600 dollars for schools in Malawi. I became overwhelmed with a warm glow of accomplishment.

My experiences with buildOn greatly shaped my dreams and aspirations. Not only did I gain social and life skills, but I met my life-long role-model. As far as “shaping my dreams and aspirations,” buildOn opened my heart to do good for the local and global community. To be completely honest, my dream is to save the world. I have dreams of becoming a doctor, of saving lives. I have dreams of becoming a pharmaceutical researcher, of developing cheaper medicine for those who cannot afford it. I have dreams of becoming an ecologist, of saving the planet. My aspiration is to do positive things for our global community.

One of the greatest and proudest talents that I have developed throughout high school is my charisma. Before, I was unable to talk anyone because of my asthma. However, after long hours of discipline and courageous practice, I am now able to engage with everyone. buildOn gave me experience in speaking to crowds, grasping their attention and motivation.

In buildOn, I give weekly presentations with my fellow officers to our members. I teach them about local and global issues that plague our society with the fundamental principles concerning issues of the lack of education. If a child attends at least primary school, that child will earn twice as much than if he or she had not attended primary school. If a girl attends primary school, her chance of contracting HIV/AIDS decreases by fifty percent. This is a small introduction of an activity called, Stand in Solidarity, in which I shout these alarming statistics into wandering crowds of people and ask, “Who will stand in solidarity with those without access to education?” Inspired by my speech, the people stand up to represent our conviction to spread education. It is a very powerful and soul-moving activity.

-Alan Lin, attended California Balboa High School, now attending UC Davis

On Tuesday, September 28th, buildOn students Ron Daldine and Rayia Gaddy participated in NBC’s Education Nation panel, “Voices of a Generation”. The panel was moderated by buildOn supporter and honorary board member Ann Curry. Click on the picture above to play a video of the discussion, which focused on the student experience in American high schools, and how certain persisting issues might be addressed.

The entire Education Nation summit was an amazing event where leaders from all over the country spoke about the dire issues facing education in America today, but as we all know, the most important voices in this conversation are those of students. We applaud NBC’s decision to let the students themselves speak about their relationships with teachers and their career aspirations, and we thank them for inviting buildOn to participate.

Also, read about Ron and Rayia’s experience at this year’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service.

Students respond to a prompt about what makes a healthy community

buildOn’s Youth Engagement Zone is back in session for the new academic year! We’re very excited to continue integrating service learning into Banana Kelly’s classrooms, and upcoming projects will build upon the experiences students had in the winter and spring. Last year’s 9th grade science classes took field trips to Kensico Dam and the Bronx River to study the locations and, eventually, in the case of the latter, go canoeing!

This fall, we’re scaffolding upon those efforts with the same group of youth, who are now 10th graders; science classes will focus on health issues affecting Bronx neighborhoods, and what can be done about them. To achieve this, I’ll be teaching service learning lab classes once a month along with science teacher Emily Chakwin, who’s also been on a school building trip with buildOn and serves as one of our YEZ advisers.

Our goal is to provide the students with an opportunity to complete their own neighborhood investigation, data gathering, and research. In our first session, we had the classes brainstorm the difference between healthy communities and unhealthy ones–among the problems identified were dietary issues, asthma, and drug addiction. We furthermore expanded the definition of “healthy community” to denote an environment that is free from violence. By treating health as a holistic concept and ensuring that the students have ownership over their own outreach projects, we hope that these science classes will produce a group of peer educators and community activists that can inform and assist those around them.

A students organizes healthy things and unhealthy things in her community

“What we want to instill in the kids is the sense that they can do something in their communities to make them a little more healthy,” my collaborator Emily Chakwin adds. “I find as a science teacher that it’s difficult to make academic information stick because we have so many misconceptions about the way the body and the scientific world works. But if the students can have some real-world context in which to apply what they’re learning in the classroom I think it will help, especially if they’re passing on what they learn to other people.”

At the end of our first session, we developed a health survey with the students that they will administer in their communities this October to determine what health issues are most pressing. The students are nervous about engaging with strangers about what could be private topics, but we’re hoping that the experience will promote openness and frank discussion that curbs the spread of misinformation.

Notes on how to foster healthiness in one's neighborhood

We’re also looking forward to building on what the students discover on their own in the form of guest lectures and field trips to various clinics and health-related organizations in the Bronx. Eventually we might even set up a student health advisory board to provide a space for peer counseling. We see this as a chance to engage youth in service learning activities that have an immediate impact, and we’ll be blogging about the outcomes through the year. Look for our update next month!

Read about buildOn Chapters!

Read about the Chapters Roadshow and the first stop in Pittsburgh !

Stop #2: Washington, D.C.

Chapters Director Tom Silverman visits an iconic site in Washington, DC

With all the newspaper and blog headlines focusing on the corrupt and partisan culture of our nation’s capitol, it was relieving to visit Washington D.C. and experience the goodness of people in that city. I had many meaningful and inspiring conversations with folks in various D.C. Universities and throughout the wider community. But while D.C. is truly internationally minded, global endeavors often lack a service component. Our Regional and University Chapters in D.C. are looking to change this by introducing buildOn to their city!

I started my trip to D.C. by paying a visit to the newly erected Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial with buildOn’s Development Director on the East Coast, Skyler Badenoch. I often think of buildOn as a continuation of Dr. King’s vision of service and global brotherhood. As the full moon lit the memorial that autumn night, I reflected on what an opportunity we have to continue that vision. I’m thankful to have the opportunity to serve through buildOn and to meet so many amazing people who share the belief that we have the power to positively change the world forever.

Our D.C. Regional Chapter is aiming to spread this message throughout the city! Led by Jailan Adly, this group is determined to keep Dr. King’s dream alive through service and education!

In addition to our D.C. Regional Chapter, there are two buildOn University Chapters in our nation’s capitol. It was an honor to meet with our Chapter leaders from American and Howard Universities. The Howard Chapter is led by two buildOn Alumni from Philadelphia, Nykia Sizemore and Natasha Graves. While they didn’t know each other back at home, they have found family in one another and their shared buildOn experience. Together they are engaging the community at the historical Howard University to help others in the D.C. area and provide educational opportunities to children and adults across the globe through buildOn’s school construction program.

buildOn’s American University Chapter is also led by two buildOn alumni: Monica Floyd (Oakland CA) and Shikha Gurung (Philadelphia PA). Monica and I served many hours together in the Bay Area and Shikha and I met during a school building trip to Mali in 2009. Meeting these women in D.C. was an inspiring experience for me. Both of them are very strong leaders and I look forward to seeing buildOn thrive at American University.

After great adventures in Pittsburgh and D.C., I’m now headed to Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts to visit our Chapters there. I’ll keep you all posted as to the progress we make and the stories we create!

“I could never talk,” said buildOn student Harona Osbourne. “I don’t usually talk to people. I don’t socialize. But through buildOn I’ve met so many friends…they’re the first friends I’ve had, really, since moving to America from Jamaica.”

buildOn Students Volunteer as Mentors to Young Children

Osbourne is one of hundreds of teens encouraged to confidently seize social opportunites through buildOn youth service. buildOn students are often introduced to like-minded individuals they wouldn’t have otherwise met through the afterschool programs. Working in their own urban environments on structured volunteer projects with their peers contributes to a sense of local community.

“The friends that you make while doing service you tend to talk to everyday at school,” Osbourne adds. “You just approach them when you see them in the hall. For a shy person like me that’s a big deal; that I can just be myself and have people come up to me, or feel like going up to people after we first meet.”

Before buildOn, Osbourne lived abroad with her parents and was a self-described introvert with few opportunities to reach out. “I did some service in Jamaica but it wasn’t the same,” she notes. “There was no group to help you find opportunities, you had to sort of find them yourself. It was very disorganized and not a lot got done.”

Osbourne was attracted to buildOn’s afterschool program at Stamford High immediately; aside from offering service hours to graduate, it provided the chance to do good that she had been looking for. She signed up after seeing a recruitment poster and couldn’t stop volunteering after completing a few youth service projects. “I’ve done a lot of service,” she comments. “Volunteering at soup kitchens and organizing walkathons. My program coordinator really pulled me out there, got me to socialize and be myself. It’s been tremendous.”

Student volunteers help construct flower beds.

buildOn’s afterschool program is just one of the methods of outreach provided by the organization. Students like Osbourne are also offered chances to participate in international school builds, where they work side-by-side with villagers to construct schools in developing nations. These trips not only create strong bonds between the high school students that travel overseas together, but also between the students and the residents of remote communities in countries like Nepal, Nicaragua, and Malawi.

Osbourne’s enthusiasm for the afterschool program has grown so much that she is now president of the program at Stamford High, a position she feels she has taken on with new-found charisma. In planning for the school year she’s interacted with a number of incoming freshmen and has been pleased to find them excited about doing youth service with buildOn. “buildOn gets you out in the community,” she says. “They push you, and get to meet so many wonderful people if you really go there and talk and socialize. You’d be amazed at how much you gain.”

High school student Luis Alonso has never had it easy. In foster care for most of his adolescence, he’s considered buildOn his family and support group since joining as a freshman. At a recent event, he shared his inspiring story with our attendees, and we’ve reprinted it below.

Did you know that only 13% of youth placed in foster care actually make it to college?

My name is Luis Alonso and I spent the majority of my adolescence in the foster care system. I was placed in the system because some very difficult family issues, and then my dad died before I reached high school. The odds were stacked against me. Growing up I had no convictions to follow, no ideal to pursue, no purpose in my life. I was a lost soul in the woods of darkness. Then my freshman year at the Bronx Center for Science and Math High School, I found buildOn.

At my high school we needed to earn community service hours to graduate high school and I heard that buildOn could help you get those service hours. So, I went to my first buildOn meeting and I did my first service activity the following Saturday. That year I contributed over 70 hours of service to my community.

Then, my sophomore year, life became difficult. My relationship with my foster parent was deteriorating. She would refuse to give me money for transportation to and from community service events. She lied to me frequently. She sent me to a mental ward even though I had no mental illness, and she would never give me recognition for my accomplishments. Of course she would refuse to allow me to make a difference in the lives of other people.

My program coordinator, Missy, was questioning why I no longer participated in service activities – for three straight months I did not attend a single project. But during that time, my perception of buildOn, community service, and myself changed drastically. Originally, I only participated in events to accumulate the hours I needed to graduate.

I did not fully understand the social impact I had on my community. I now realized that community service is something greater then I had ever imagined, and that buildOn’s goal of promoting volunteerism to children like me was nothing short of honorable, noble, and just. With this inspiration, my brother and I advocated to leave our foster home and be placed in a new one.

After moving to a new foster home, I was more committed to service than ever before. I became president of the buildOn program at my school and engaged in every service activity I could. One of the most memorable service projects I’ve done was the Father-Hearts Ministry food pantry and soup kitchen. I had prior experience with soup kitchens myself, while living with my father, but I never expected to be in the other side – serving food to people who were once in my predicament. The sheer amount of people who came also gave me insight in the real problem of poverty, as well as what it meant to be grateful. I had a fantastic time serving some of the 400 people that arrived at the Ministry that day, and will never forget my experience there.

I also travelled to Nicaragua, my first time out of the country, and helped build a school in El Portal. The village became a second home for me. I even helped my school’s program to raise more than $80,000 for 16 of my fellow students to travel to Mali, West Africa and build a school.

I would not be the person I am without buildOn. It is an understatement to say that buildOn was a pivotal part of my life. They helped to mold my character and find the right path for the future I am going to make. Currently I am a freshman at University of Rochester and am studying to be a teacher, a decision that was cemented by my experience in Nicaragua. Now, I know that whatever comes across my path, I will overcome because that is who I am. That is what buildOn helped me to be. Thank you.

Haben Girma truly embodies the spirit of buildOn. A deafblind woman who overcame incredible obstacles to help construct a school in Mali, her resilience and passion inspire nearly everyone with whom she comes into contact. and culminated with Haben’s helping to build a school in Mali. Since graduating, Haben has written extensively about her buildOn experiences in college application essays, which won her a full scholarship at Lewis and Clark College and acceptance at Harvard Law School. She met President Obama to discuss disability rights last summer. She delivered the following address as an alum at our buildOn Dinner in the Bay Area in 2011.

The Saharan sun attacked my sun-screened skin. The 130-degree temperature was almost unbearable. I bent over and shoveled sand repeatedly, until exhaustion forced me to pass the shovel to the next member of my team. I had come to West Africa to help build a school for 800 children eager to learn. These eighteen days were among my most memorable experiences of triumphing over difficult obstacles, and as a deafblind woman I have certainly encountered many difficult obstacles. It required months of insistent self-advocacy to convince my Ethiopian father to let me volunteer abroad. His were valid worries: how would a girl with limited vision and hearing participate in a program that had little experience with students with disabilities? Through strong self-advocacy, I succeeded in both earning my father’s blessing and making a place for myself among the brick-making and culture-sharing.

High school is a time of change. When I joined buildOn my sophomore year of high school, I was searching for skills that would allow me to change the world. Before I joined buildOn, I asked myself whether a woman with disabilities could have a positive influence in the world. I shared my worries with Abby Hurst, the program leader at my high school. “So, can I really go to Mali? How exactly am I going to help build a school?” Her answer held optimism and determination, “We’ll find a way, we’ll figure it out.” Long after my memorable trip to Mali, buildOn’s spirit of optimism and determination has continued to propel me forward. My college admissions essay described how buildOn inspired me to study cultural anthropology, and as a result, I won a full-tuition scholarship at Lewis & Clark College. A few years later, in my law school application, I symbolized my commitment to public service through an anecdote from Mali. Thanks to the magic of Mali, I am now in my second year at Harvard Law School.

High school students stand waiting and ready to take on challenges that guide them into a productive adult life. When you give these students the opportunity to engage in meaningful community service, you give them the skills of leadership that will remain lifelong assets. Without the positive support I received from buildOn’s staff members or the volunteer opportunities in my community and abroad, I probably wouldn’t have survived Harvard Law or even met President Obama at the White House last summer. And it all started at fifteen, “I want to go to Africa and build a school.” I learned people with disabilities have the power to change the world. I learned courage. I learned my limitless limits. I would have never guessed back in high school that joining buildOn would have lead me to so many more great things.

A child and his father in Malawi

The people of Malawi are facing economically challenging and politically turbulent times. During my most recent trip to the country for buildOn, I witnessed the daily struggle that was taking place. I left most concerned about the potential for conditions to deteriorate further.

Economically, Malawians are facing three main interrelated challenges. The first is that the heavily relied upon tobacco industry has seen close to a 50% reduction in revenues this year, and everyone from the rural tobacco farmer to the large exporter is feeling the pain. One scary consequence of the reduction in tobacco revenues is that rural (mostly subsistence) farmers are selling their corn harvest to make up for their shortfall in cash, causing much anxiety about their food security in the immediate future.

Second, the Malawi government has a shortage of the foreign currency they use to purchase fuel, which has led to acute fuel shortages throughout the country. In Kasungu, the district where buildOn works, fueling stations went weeks without supply, forcing people to purchase gas on the black market for as much as $13 per gallon! For people living in bigger cities like Lilongwe and Blantyre, fuel queues stretched for blocks and required wait times of up to fifteen hours and more.

A Malawian man with bricks to construct a buildOn school

Lastly, the price of goods in Malawi has increased significantly due to both the imminent devaluation of Malawi’s currency and rising fuel prices. A bag of cement in Malawi costs an astounding $23 per bag (it only costs $8 per bag in the United States). Meanwhile, the cost of food items such as cornmeal, sugar, flour and cooking oil have all gone up.

Politically, Malawi faces an uncertain and increasingly unstable future. Dating back to April of 2011, the current administration has been at odds with the international donor community, resulting in the expulsion on high-level diplomats from Malawi, and the suspension of foreign aid to Malawi by important bi-lateral donors. As a result, the Malawian government is faced with finding a way to make up for a 40% revenue shortfall that used to come from international donors.

All of these factors culminated in July when Malawian civil society leaders tried to stage a non-violent protest against the current administration’s intolerance to outside criticism, and its failure to handle the economic problems. The protest quickly turned into riots putting the police and national military against the protestors.

Cooler heads prevailed in August of this year, and things seem to be calming down a bit. There is, however, no question that the conditions are unacceptable for many Malawians. As is almost always the case, people living below the poverty line in Malawi are impacted most by these difficult economic and political times.

The conditions that I saw in Malawi during my last trip underscore the importance of buildOn’s work in the country. Education and literacy continue to be the backbone of development, and in a time when many large donor agencies are reluctant to fund the government’s budget, the most rural and isolated communities will be in even more in need of the type of partnership that buildOn provides.

Allison Garvey

My second home is in La Estrella, a rural Nicaraguan mountain village. In a cozy three-room wooden hut, I have laughed with my host sisters as we discussed our boyfriends, played countless games of tag with my host brothers, sung songs with my host mom, and cried out for my host dad to rescue me from the massive spiders that emerged at night.

I fell in love with La Estrella during a two-week stay last February, when I pick-axed, sifted sand, carried bricks, and shoveled cement alongside villagers to build a school. When I returned to the US, I received a photo of the completed school and an occasional phone call from my host family, but I did not feel a sense of completion. I dreamed that I could wake up in my hammock once again with an opportunity to give more to this incredibly welcoming community.

Three of my closest friends from the trip and I began toying with the idea of returning to La Estrella over the summer to teach English. No one believed my outrageous dream would ever become reality, but the cynicism of others only fueled my ambition. After five chaotic months, my dream came true. On the second day of July, my eyes immediately swelled with tears as I caught a glimpse of the completed schoolhouse for the first time. I was speechless, and not just because of my limited Spanish vocabulary. That night, I fell asleep feeling like I had never left. La Estrella looked the same as before, except a beautiful brick schoolhouse replaced the bustling worksite I remembered.

But after a day or so, I realized that the village had changed. The rainy season drenched the sunny, green paradise of my memories and turned every path to mud. Barely any sunlight glistened over the mountains, and not one night did I see the sky bursting with stars like I did in February. Even the school, which I had proudly worked on months before, did not live up to my expectations. The government provides no school supplies except for chalk – their only supplies are those that we donated.

Volunteering has always given me a sense of empowerment, yet I spent much of the trip feeling smaller and more insignificant than ever. One day, my host family led me up the same mountain that we had hiked in February. Our English lesson that day focused on emotions, and my host brother paused to exclaim, “I am happy!” I asked him why, and he responded in Spanish, “Because I have a new school and a new sister.” I let his words sink in as we reached the top of the cliff and cleared the last of the brush, revealing a gorgeous valley that stretched for miles.

Three Students in a buildOn School in Nicaragua

It was the same breathtaking view that I remembered from the first trip, but my perspective was different this time. I finally realized how much happiness our return had brought to the community. From that moment on, instead of being discouraged by the tiny impact that I made, I celebrated it. When I was younger, adults constantly told me that I could “make a difference”. It took two trips to Nicaragua to understand what they meant. It was hard for me to accept that I may never fix all the problems that my host family faces, but I now understand why it’s important to keep trying anyway.

Anyone who doesn’t see the point of trying wasn’t lying beside me as I fell asleep to the sound of a ten year old boy blissfully counting to ten in English. They weren’t standing next to me as I read a book to a swarm of children inching closer and closer to gape at the pictures of the first storybook they had ever encountered. They weren’t sobbing with me in the car after saying goodbye to the 200 villagers that I now consider my family. I am looking forward to a lifetime of striving to alleviate poverty in communities like my home in La Estrella. I know that as long as I keep trying, I am making all the difference in the world.

- Allison​ Garvey​, attended Connecticut ​Westhill High School​, now attending SUNY Binghamton

It is with great excitement that I head out on a national tour to engage buildOn Chapters across the United States. Through advocacy and fundraising, our Chapters program spreads awareness of buildOn’s global empowerment goals and supports our school construction work in developing nations. Over the course of the next 2 ½ months, I will be meeting with Regional, University and High School Chapter members in 9 States to help with recruitment, fundraising and advocacy. And also to have a great time traveling and connecting others who are fueling the buildOn fire!

I’ll be blogging throughout my journey: Documenting my experience, sharing stories from the field and introducing you to some of buildOn’s dynamic Chapter leaders.  I encourage you to participate by posting comments, sharing the blog with friends and, if you haven’t already, start a buildOn Chapter of your own!

Stop #1: Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Chapter!

It seems somewhat significant that I begin my buildOn Chapter Tour in Pittsburgh, because that is also where I began my life.  Growing up in Pittsburgh I saw, first hand, the need for programs that engage youth on a meaningful level and expose them to the greater world around them. I had no such opportunities at my high school and the same was true for most students in the Pittsburgh region (with the exception of a few elite schools). Even today, opportunities to travel abroad on international service trips are few and far between.

I often think of how impactful a buildOn school building trip would have been on a teenage me. Having lead 5 of them with buildOn, I have seen the powerful and transformative effects that the program has on the youth we engage. Students are exposed to a new world and in turn, discover a new part of themselves. And they do this through helping communities in developing nations build schools! What a powerful experience for all involved. It has been a dream of mine, since starting at buildOn 3 ½ years ago, to see our impact in Pittsburgh. Thanks to the efforts of the dedicated individuals in our Regional Chapter, that dream is becoming a reality!

We kicked off our efforts by hosting the first buildOn Pittsburgh Chapter meeting on Sept. 7th. Hosted by Kate Porigow and Taku Ohkawa, our group of 10 discussed the need to engage Pittsburgh youth in international service and brainstormed ways in which we could make it happen. Hours of talking, joking and eating great food (thanks Mom!) lead us to a game plan. We decided, like many of our other Regional Chapters have, to seek a partnership with the school district in the city and other Community Based Organizations operating within the schools. We hope to be able to offer a buildOn school building trip to students in the Pittsburgh school district who show commitment to bettering their own community and who would gain from the experience. We plan to engage the Pittsburgh community to fund the construction of a buildOn school and the travel costs for the students participating in the trip.

Although we are starting from scratch, we are committed and hopeful. There is a clear need; both in Pittsburgh and the developing world. The buildOn Pittsburgh Chapter is determined to answer those needs in creative and dynamic ways. When buildOn was first started, 20 years ago, we were building one school a year, a dramatic difference from the 60 we built this past year. Like the organization as a whole, our Pittsburgh Chapter knows we have to start somewhere. We know that changing our local and global communities takes real effort and begins with us.

Three students limber up before practicing their public speaking skills

Many students enjoyed authoring “I am” poems, rhythmic collections of detail about themselves and their work in buildOn. Kamel Yousfi went on a school building trip to Malawi with buildOn last year, and turned in the following poem:

Two students practice speaking about buildOn with a Program Coordinator

buildOn's First Treasurer, Tim Owens

Our first treasurers came from this pro-bono GE pool. These individuals devoted much of their own time to helping balance our books, secure our grants, and build the financial infrastructure for donor confidence that has allowed our organization to celebrate 20 years of success this autumn.

Tim Owens first met Jim Ziolkowski when the two were working in GE’s finance department. After Ziolkowski’s departure, Owens kept hearing stories from other volunteers who were visiting the house in Stamford to construct buildOn from scratch. “I started asking about it and next thing I knew Jim was asking me to help with the books,” Owens recalls. “I wound up being their first volunteer treasurer and worked with them for 4 years.”

Owens was instrumental in developing a professional environment for buildOn’s donations. “My main contribution in those early days was to transition the books from paper and binder to Quickbooks,” he says. ”I also dealt with all our 1099 consultants, getting them set up, and I kept track of all matched gifts from GE.”

Owens was a full member of the buildOn team during his tenure, even orchestrating service projects in Stamford. “We did volunteer work all around the city…helping out in homes, freshening up yards, painting. I really enjoyed it because those guys were just such a positive influence. Jim would always say to me: ‘Do it for the kids, Tim!’ I still remember that battle cry.”

Jane Hackney, Our Second Treasurer

After Owens relocated to Atlanta with GE, fellow finance professional Jane Hackney stepped up to take his place. She remembers being fascinated with buildOn’s approach from the get-go. “We’re very interested in investment, being in finance…and this was an investment in education, really. An investment in a whole new generation.” Hackney would continue in Owens’ footsteps, helping with our books and allocation of funds. “I put Marc Friedman on the payroll!” she proudly points out.

By the time Hackney joined the team, buildOn had expanded from the Ziolkowskis’ kitchen to a small office space donated by GE. “I remember the tiny room with four cubes or so where everyone worked. Those were definitely the bootstrapping days! We often had to really think about purchases to ensure that we wouldn’t run out of money by the end of the year. It’s incredible that now buildOn has offices all over the country.”

Commenting on buildOn’s success, Hackney observes that ”Jim and Marc really are a yin and yang. Jim has a lot of passion and Marc is sort of quietly behind the scenes with a plan to make the passion work. And their dynamic, along with mentoring from business executives, has really allowed buildOn to scale. It’s not a lot of Kumbaya fluff. They aren’t afraid to measure themselves.”

Owens similarly states, “I was always amazed when Jim and Marc would come back from overseas trips, the stories they would tell. They were going out and representing our organization and getting involved in global issues, but they didn’t just throw money at poverty. They wanted to work in tandem with people in remote and urban areas. Folks in the communities where we work take ownership in what they do with buildOn. We help create community pride.”

eBay Giving Works provides an easy way to contribute to buildOn. Direct friends, family, and fellow ebay users to our new page, where they can post and bid on items. Between 10% and 100% of every sale goes directly to buildOn! You can also save us as your “favorite” nonprofit and donate $1 every time you checkout on eBay. List, bid, and JOIN THE MOVEMENT!

We spoke to Adam Barnum, eBay user adamcaddesign, who recently listed a great many items on buildOn’s eBay Giving Works page. If you’re looking for any rock concert memorabilia from the 2000s, check out Adam’s listings!

buildOn: How did your eBay store start?

Adam: So, I’ve been a stagehand for over 13 years doing various gigs and shows mainly in Las Vegas, where I live. I’ve acquired, bought, and traded a number of crew shirts from many concerts that I’ve worked and that friends have worked. These things are sometimes handed out to the crew as a token of their hard work and can be very rare items at times. There is a lot of blood and sweat that goes in to these concerts and shows so sometimes a t-shirt is a really cool way of showing the crew that the production and talent appreciates them.

The way I started my store was–I was operating a lighting board in Vegas for an eBay sellers meeting and after sitting through some of the amazing stories I decided to find my niche and start my own. After selling a couple of random items I decided to offload my collection of concert shirts and memorabilia.

buildOn: What made you interested in buildOn’s eBay Giving Works page?

Adam: While posting items on eBay I noticed that I could donate a percentage to a charity of my liking and felt that it would be a good way for me to give back a little. After researching many charities and non-profit organizations I came across buildOn. I think buildOn is a great organization: Instead of just supplying food, clothing, shelter, etc. buildOn builds schools around the world. I believe education is the key to stopping world poverty and hunger. I thank buildOn for what they do and eBay for making it easy to donate to a good cause. These are two great entities in today’s times.

• Students enjoy a day of getting their hands dirty at Chicago's City Farm.

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• Students serve breakfast to seniors in Chicago!

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• Students remove an invasive species from Skokie Lagoons.

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• Students hold a cardboard box sleep-out to raise awareness of homelessness.

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• Cooking dinner for homeless veterans in Connecticut!

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• Students carry water jugs to raise awareness of lack of access to clean water worldwide.

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• Students clean up the east coast!

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To join the fight for service that gives hope and opportunity to millions of at-risk youth and marginalized groups in the United States, visit Save Service.

Ziolkowski goes on to note that: “The act of service itself is transformational. Studies have shown after engaging in service the achievement gap for low income students narrows, academic engagement increases, and graduation rates rise. At buildOn, 95 percent of the high school seniors participating in our program not only graduate, they go to college.

“Right now, federal funding for the Corporation for National and Community Service is at risk of being zeroed out…From the young adults involved in AmeriCorps to the retirees engaged in RSVP, from students supported by Learn & Serve America to low-income communities improved by the Social Innovation Fund; these eliminations would have disastrous effects on American communities, youth unemployment numbers and the nation’s economy.

“If CNCS is eliminated, more than 500,000 positions for young adults and seniors serving on the front lines of natural disasters, the dropout crisis and many other community challenges would be eliminated. More than 3 million at risk children would lose vital educational support provided by service organizations, and $800 million in private investment would be taken away from essential services for local communities.”

Read the remainder at the Huffington Post!

In this year’s Summer Internship Program in Chicago, a total of 27 students committed 1510.40 service hours!

Students interned at a wide variety of locations, including local youth centers, humane organizations, and a Chinese-American coalition. Many worked well past 8 hours a day, with some putting in as many as 11. They did this not because they were forced to but because of their personal commitment to their internship schedule.

The work site facilitators were in total awe of our buildOn students’ overall dedication to service. Facilitators were most impressed with how students not once complained about working under the summer’s grueling heat wave, as many of the jobs took place outdoors or required students to travel. Even I was amazed by how our students individually put in some long daily hours. This further strengthens my belief that the city of Chicago does not have enough community youth centers.

Juvenal Jaimes Impressed at his Internship with Compass Public Services

For some students, interning was a life altering experience. Juvenal Jaimes, a recent graduate of buildOn, left his internship with knowledge and motivation he can use in his freshman year at college. I purposefully placed Juvenal Jaimes at Compass Public Affairs, a public service and government marketing firm, because of his charisma and desire to change the world around him.

When I personally went to check in on Juvenal at his worksite, I had a long meeting with both him and his supervisor, James Robinson to talk about his work performance. Mr. Robinson spoke highly of Juvenal and admired his commitment to learning. Mr. Robinson couldn’t believe how dedicated Juvenal quickly became to his job duties, stating, “this kid is a machine, he goes above and beyond his hours”. He explained how Juvenal was always thirty minutes early to work and worked well within their professional environment of attorneys and politicians, including aldremans, senators, and our state governor Pat Quinn.

Through this internship, Juvenal was able to experience a professional environment in Chicago’s Downtown business community. He explained that it resolved one of his many curiosities about working in the fast pace of today’s industry. The worksite was so impressed with Juvenal that they are bringing him back in soon to work on various major political projects; they even are committed to helping him finding permanent work once he is ready.

I had a great summer working each student. It was truly a blast and I’m so proud of how hard they worked. They did a phenomenal job!

The YEZ Gang Heads to Philadelphia to Feed Homeless People

buildOn’s Youth Engagement Zone just finished its 4-week summer program, a series of service projects that got students out of their homes and interacting with the Bronx neighborhood through the month of July. Previously on the blog, we discussed the YEZ’s trip to the James Monroe Housing Development with local Assembly Member Marcos Crespo and their efforts to spread awareness of urban violence prevention methods. On August 4th, students ventured even further out of the bubble of summer leisure and met at Times Square at 7am to ride a Greyhound Bus into Philadelphia to volunteer at a homeless shelter.

We wanted to show the students the similarities between inner-city environments in different locations; to illustrate how the problem of homelessness extends beyond the Bronx. We set up a service project with the Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission, an organization that runs a temporary shelter and transitional housing for homeless men, as well as a soup kitchen for all that serves three meals a day. After we arrived on the bus, the students were given a tour of the facilities by the community outreach director, who provided a brief history of the organization and an explanation of why their approach helps homeless people.

The director led us upstairs through the soup kitchen to the dorms that act as emergency housing. Student Andira Rodriguez was particularly impressed by the set-up. “I had never been in a shelter or a soup kitchen before,” she said later. “It really opened my eyes to see how a shelter was run – to see the bunk beds where the men sleep. I felt like the whole concept of a soup kitchen with a shelter was really good, because it gives the men the option to sleep there.”

Volunteering in the Pantry

After this, the students volunteered in the pantry, sorting cans in an assembly line. The director was impressed at how quickly they were able to organize themselves, and I was proud that the students could interact so intimately after 4 weeks of service together. I explained to the director that the students really take the lead; I often find myself following their instincts.

We volunteered through lunch, which served about 80 people. The students acted as soup kitchen waiters of sorts, placing food on trays and carrying it out to any arriving for mealtime. “The people we served were nice,” reflect student Sirley Lopez. “They were kind of surprised that we came all the way from New York to serve them food.”

Rodriguez added: “I was expecting the men to be more stand-offish when we brought the food out, like questioning why we were there. But they were so nice and thankful. And they were calling me ‘sister’ and asking me where I’m from.”

In addition to learning that homelessness is a universal affliction, the students afterward seemed to be thinking most about the impact of their own involvement as teenagers–the fact that they’d traveled so far to do a little bit of good at their age. “The men were surprised to see young people helping them out, I think,” mentioned Shabany Pereyra. “You usually don’t see young people helping anyone.”

But the students consider that other young people may not help because they don’t know how, or don’t think they’ll get anything out of the experience. buildOn, and the YEZ, is one way of exposing teens to what it feels like to make a difference. “I like helping people,” says Rodriguez. “Coming all the way over here to do that makes me happy.”

buildOn Afterschool students in Chicago have periodically visited senior apartments in the city to engage with residents–playing games, helping out, or just chatting. This summer, we had our students write reports on specific members of the senior community. They conducted interviews in an effort to examine key differences between older generations and their own, as well as to mine pearls of wisdom from their elderly friends. Several of the students were told fascinating stories that brought them closer to the residents of these apartments and enriched their understanding of the senior citizen experience.

“Jesse is an old woman who likes to talk about love a lot. Her age right now is 87, and she was born in the southern state of Arkansas. Her grandparents were born in Arkansas as well; they spoke Indian and a little bit of English. Jesse smiles a lot when she brings up the word ‘love’. During my interview with her I could tell that she wanted to cry a bit. I saw the happiness and all the love she had in her eyes.

I asked her, ‘What are the most serious problems that you think teenagers have to face?’ She replied, ‘Drugs and no love.’ And by ‘no love’ she meant that teenagers are sometimes treated badly for the things that they do.

Overall Jesse is a really kind and sweet old lady, I really had fun interviewing her. I would like to see her again someday.”

- Richard Jara

“I interviewed Catalin Padilla. She and most of her family before her were born in Puerto Rico. She lived there the first 11 years of her life. She came to the United States at the age of 11 with her parents for better living and more opportunities. She says that a serious problem all the people in Chicago and all Americans face is injustice – people just can’t live for peace! But Catalin describes herself as able, friendly, and calm. She is still able to take care of herself without needing the help of anyone. She is really nice with everyone she meets and almost never dislikes anyone.”

- Catalin Padilla

“We started to play bingo and I met Mr. Johnson. He was from Bari, Italy. He also served in World War II and showed me a picture of him and his brother in the war. Bingo was not going well for him until he won twice and went to get his prize. He got some shampoo and a light blue hat. So me and this other lady kept telling him that with the shampoo he won he can take a shower and then get all the ladies in the apartment.”

- Marco Mercado

“My interview was on an elderly African American woman from Greenview Apartments. Her name is Ms. Burrell. I learned that she had about 16 children and took care of them all on her own. She needed to balance a family and two jobs. Her life was more work than play. Her most treasured possession is her family and life itself. ‘I consider myself lucky,’ she said, ‘to have a big a family and people like you and your friends to care for me. There are people that die sad and even angry because they have no one. Although being here today might not seem like a big deal, it really is for people like me.’

Being at the retirement home was educating. It made me think of my future and how I would spend my time. I thought of where I would end up and who I would be with. How many children I would have and about my brothers and sister and where they would be. Being there made me want to come back in the future and help out even more.”

- Clara Aguirre

Welcome to Sousounkoro-Sanso

When our US students go overseas on school building trips, they live in a remote village for about two weeks, working side by side with the local people on the construction. They dig and make dozens of bricks by hand. When they leave there’s typically a small wall that will, in time, be expanded to a schoolhouse that they’ll never see in person. Due to this, we often take these students to previously-constructed buildOn schools about halfway through the trip. While in Mali last month, School Building Trip Coordinator Brian Socall enjoyed the rare experience of revisiting a village he had journeyed to one year ago. Here are his thoughts on seeing the fruits of his labors in the form of a completed school for the first time.

School building trip coordinators such as myself usually don’t get a chance to revisit village where they construct. buildOn is constantly moving into new areas, and it’s just not practical to set it up that way. But on the trip to Mali I took with some Chicago students in July of this year, I got to go back to a school I helped build a year earlier. This was really awesome for me; I got to see a lot of the same people I had worked with a year ago on the school. It’s also a really helpful experience for the teens because they’re working 4 hours a day in the village and they’re not really seeing what it’s going to look like as a finished product. It’s incredibly motivating for the students to see what their work will eventually turn into.

We were in the village of Ble this year; I was returning to Sousounkoro-Sanso. The villages are a few hours away from another, and require long drives through the bush. We only allot about an hour for these visits due to the travel time and the logistics of the construction schedule.

US Students are Welcomed with Traditional Dancing

Upon re-entering Sousounkoro-Sanso I was reminded of the rapport I had established with the locals pretty quickly. On the work site a year ago we would all say “Walla Walla!” to each other constantly in an effort to bridge the language barrier with a nonsense phrase. When I went back some of the guys who remembered me approached me and starting saying “Walla Walla!” Even though we couldn’t speak the same language, they remembered me. It brought back a lot of great memories of our time working together, and finding ways to communicate using only the few bambara words we learn there.

After entering the village we do some dancing, take a tour, and give some speeches, and we ask questions about the school’s success. I was really overwhelmed because the school looked phenomenal, as well as the latrines and a separate structure for teachers to meet in that we’d constructed. It all looked fantastic and really gave the students a “vision” of the completed project.

Inside the Completed School in Mali

I saw a lot of the students and their families, who acted and spoke very appreciative. So far the school is sending boys and girls to the school in equal numbers as outlined by the Covenant; it’s not a huge village, so there are about 70 students, but it’s nice to know that they don’t have to worry about rain or storms. The schoolmaster has continued to urge the parents to send their kids to school, too. It was overwhelming to see how the community wanted to show off everything they’d worked for.

This trip really motivated the students from the US to return to the Ble and put their all into the build; they were able to see a little bit of how a school can transform a village. This also helps the fundraising projects they do back home, because they’ve seen the tangible project of buildOn’s efforts and can make an emotional connection. And for me, personally, it put my work here at buildOn in a whole new perspective, being able to see what my students and I did a year ago in this small village.

US Students and Villagers Pose in Front of the Completed School

In addition to local outreach, buildOn’s afterschool youth service programs feature global education activities that connect themes of community activism with obstacles others are overcoming around the world. Global education activities have included  in-depth studies of humanitarian and woman’s rights issues plaguing the countries in which buildOn constructs schools, as well as cultural exposure programs that provide students with a crash course in a particular nation’s socio-political landscape.

Earlier in July, students from our programs in California’s Bay Area enjoyed Revolution Week, a 3 day celebration of world-altering action. A diverse number of functions were held, all focusing on the countries in which we construct schools, but perhaps none was as robust or inspiring as Nicaragua Day. An eight-hour tour through the Sandinista revolution organized and funded by the very generous non-profit MangoMundo, the events of Nicaragua Day continue to resonate with participating buildOn high school students.

Solidarity Movement Poet Alejandro Murguía

Through the day, teens enjoyed presentations given in the Mission District’s beautifully mural-laden Women’s Building by local poets and journalists who participated in the United States’ Sandinista solidarity movement. Poets Daisy Zamora and Alejandro Murguía discussed the importance of verse to the Nicaraguan revolution, while journalists Daniel Del Solar, Nina Serrano, and Elaine Elinson offered accounts of how they kept the masses informed of the late-70s movement with photos and self-distributed newspapers.

Catering by Sasonao Nica

Photographer Lou Dematteis also talked about his experiences capturing the action of the Sandinista, and then distributed free copies of his photobook to students. The event  featured a lunch of plantains, mango salad, and a cake with buildOn’s logo catered by Sasonao Nica. Paul Katzeff, founder of Thanksgiving Coffee and a fair trade activist, provided Nicaraguan brews for sampling throughout the entire day.

Students were enthralled at the opportunity to see a political movement from a non-US vantage point. “They really opened my eyes to a completely different perspective of Nicaraguan history,” said Cindy Jiang. “Our textbooks emphasize what is important to the United States, for obvious and non-malicious reasons, but as a consequence, important events can be overlooked.” The relationship between poetry and politics also resonated with some teens. “[They told us that] every Nicaraguan is a poet,” noted Jorge Gomez.

Kathy Lien added: “We got to walk out of the building with not just free coffee and a super cool book of photographs, but with the fact that we actually learned something. It just made you think: No matter what your first intentions were or how you live your life, you’ll always have the ability to make a difference. Which was cool. I was inspired.”

buildOn's Students and Staff with the Nicaragua Day Presenters

A very special thanks to all the local artists and vendors who helped make Nicaragua Day so entertaining and enlightening, and a huge thanks to MangoMundo for organizing the entire function!

An Urban Student from the US Helps Builds a School in Mali

Caitlin Flanagan’s vicious generalization of students doing service and volunteer work overseas merely to bolster their résumés (“The Do-Good Zeal of the College Bound,” Review, July 16) is hurtful and misses the point.

Last summer, I worked with 14 students to build a school in a village in Mali called N’tiola—in-CHO-la, which is hardly “unpronounceable.” We went through the organization buildOn, which covered all expenses except clothing and vaccines. We were selected for our commitment to service; we earned our way through our participation in buildOn’s volunteer service projects. My group came from diverse socioeconomic strata, from the inner-city to more well-off areas. We worked alongside villagers for two weeks in the scorching sun.

Students and Villagers Share a Moment in Mali During their Hard Work

When we weren’t working, we were learning about the culture and history of Mali, as well as exploring the village and playing with N’tiola’s kids. This wasn’t “edutainment” or a vacation; this was sweaty, dirty work. This wasn’t “luxury”; we lived with host families in whatever accommodations they had, without electricity or indoor plumbing. This wasn’t “throwing money at the problem”; buildOn’s philosophy is to empower villagers to use education as a tool to begin breaking the cycle of poverty.

Believe it or not, many of us want to do good for good’s sake. We want to “give back” because we understand that there are many places where people are struggling. Our passion is to change that, one step at a time.

Perhaps if the college application arms race were to slow down, this dialogue would be unnecessary. However, for the time being, Ms. Flanagan’s article is offensive and part of the problem.

Jorge Gomez: One night our host family said they were going to play Konpa music for us, and then took out 3 buckets and found some branches and started playing. There was a singer and 3 drummers making beats. We danced all night with our host family, making our host dad dance with our host mom. Our host sisters were cracking up.

Jamie Pelusi (Program Coordinator): I miss hiking mountains, wading in rivers, eating coconut, and saying “bon swaaaaaaaa” every 5 minutes.

Courtney M. Winterbauer: I was craving plantains yesterday odd enough! What if there is plantain ice cream. Yum!

Jorge Gomez: The Haitians laughed at us when we started working. But working with them and getting so much done showed that anyone could work together and do a lot.

Asha Vitatoe (Program Coordinator): Woke up craving grenadine juice and a coconut…

Courtney M. Winterbauer: I’m gonna miss waking up to 12 am roosters,
Or 3 am roosters…any-hour roosters,
And cicadas at night,
And thunder and lightening and rain storms,
Tropical storms,
And the river,
And crickets,
And unhappy donkeys,
And my host dad that snored,
And my loud sisters,
And the mostquito net,
And goats,
lol
and the quiet…

Ronah Baha …and speaking French in your sleep!

Earlier this week, staffer Rosann Jager reported from the ground on the construction of our most recent Haitian school, which was built with the help of our youth service students. Every year, a select number of students from buildOn’s afterschool programs around the United States are granted the opportunity to help construct a school in a remote village overseas. During the trip, they live with a “host family” right in the village, pick up the local language, absorb the regional culture, and incalculably broaden their realm of possibility. Many of the students who participate in these ventures have never been outside of their urban neighborhoods, and many are inspired by the beauty and resilience of the people they encounter abroad to commit themselves to serving their communities after returning home.

buildOn Students Draw Strength from Haiti

Student Courtney M. Winterbauer had never been outside of the US before, and noted the simplicity of the lifestyle that she and her fellow students were exposed to. “We took with us the bare necessities of toiletries, a few changes of clothes, malaria meds, 2-liter water bottles, sunscreen, shoes, flashlights and gifts to our host families in our backpacks and duffel bags,” she wrote in an article for the Alameda Journal. “It was all we needed. Bucket-bathing first thing in the morning made me appreciate not only running water from an actual shower head but water in general. You can sufficiently bathe in a bucket or less of water.”

This has been the first time that our students have traveled to this country, which not so long ago swelled with tragedy in the face of natural disaster. Luckily, buildOn has had a presence in Haiti for nearly a decade, and we were able to partner with local NGOs such as Hope For Haiti to provide urgent support during the earthquake. In the hard days and months that passed, we never lost sight of our mission to bring education to the nation’s most impoverished inhabitants. All of the schools we’ve built in Haiti remain intact and in use.

A buildOn Student Poses with an Elderly Worker on the Construction Site

This spirit of resilience left a strong mark on many of the students who participated in the trip. “My favorite memory of Haiti was seeing everyone motivated to build a school in their community,” noted Jorge Gomez. “An old man showed up almost everyday and he would carry buckets of cement back and forward all day long. Another man with only one arm worked hard to make bricks. It motivated me a lot to try to work as hard as I could every day.”

Jamie Pelusi, a coordinator on the trip, echoed this. “It was great to see little kids, elderly people…everyone come out to contribute to the worksite. It was amazing to watch. A few people who had to be in their late 70s or 80s just got pick axes and worked all day. I can’t even imagine someone in the US doing that…just being so thankful and willing to participate.”

Winterbauer further comments that the culture’s richness paired with the dedication of the Haitian people helped to make the trip truly special. “During work, a RaRa Carnival parade of Haitian women and drummers [who] carried buckets of sand to make cement with on their heads took a friendly break for traditional dancing to music.” The hard work of Haitians is a kind of celebration, a way of seeing the world optimistically. Winterbauer took this to heart, adding: “Each planned and unplanned moment embraced on the trip brought us closer to Haitians, who we are as individuals and what we value in our personal lives.”

Students Enjoy Local Produce

First three pics courtesy of Emily Shur’s photo essay for Time Magazine

Leigh Ann Llarena: Arriving at Facebook headquarters was surprising because there’s no Facebook logo on the building that notifies you that you’re there.

Xiaofan Wu: Facebook actually gave us individual tours. We each paired up with a Facebook intern. At first I was shocked, because I thought we were just going to have a big group tour together. I learned a lot about my tour partner, too, like what college he goes to and how he applied for this internship.

Leigh Ann Llarena: The Facebook interns were very friendly. Doing the community service with them was fun. It’s nice knowing that we are improving the Bay little by little.

Kathy Lien: We got to learn about all the perks of being a Facebook intern. The most admirable part, I think, would have to be that the free food, awesome electronics, rip-board freedom through the halls, and unrestricted dress code, wasn’t why these interns were here. It was because they actually had a real interest in what Facebook does. It was pretty motivational.

A Lounge at Facebook

Amy: Many of the employees seemed relatively young. Makes one feel more reassured that such sophisticated jobs are attainable early on, not something that takes years of a career to achieve (just get the education and determination to do what you want!).

Xiaofan Wu: The food at Facebook was awesome too, my partner told me they eat a different country’s food everyday. We ate Mexican food that day, which tasted great. Facebook company tries everything to keep you there, they even have tooth brush in the bathrooms. And the waterbottle that Facebook provided was really cool.

Finn Wurtz: Other highlights of the tour included the extensive facilities (think couches galore and high-tech gadget vending machines), and writing on the ‘Facebook wall’ (an interior wall open to free expression by any and all visitors). A few people were disappointed that we didn’t get to see/meet Mark Zuckerberg who the employees at Facebook endearingly referred to as ‘Zuck’.

Leigh Ann Llarena: I can’t believe they have showers there, too! Having all these things make you want to live there and that’s their goal, for you to never leave. Hahaha.

Most of Facebook's Employees Work at Desks like These

Kathy Lien: Going to the headquarters was great. It kind of convinced me that, hey, not all jobs are going to be boring when we get out of college.

Finn Wurtz: The greatest thing about visiting Facebook’s headquarters was, of course, having ample time to talk with a generally friendly and interesting group of people who have experience working at the forefront of social networking technology. I had an excellent time discussing pretty much everything about Facebook with the interns, and was able to explore topics relating to both Facebook as an employer and Facebook as a supreme, omnipresent part of the lives of millions of people.

Amy: I think the most awesome thing about the visit to Facebook was realizing that because these employees on the Facebook team had interest and passion for their careers. If they weren’t as passionate or diligent, they wouldn’t have had the chance to experience the freedom (no set work hours and unlimited paid sick days, for examples!) that Facebook offers.

Program Coordinator Laura McKinney and the buildOn Team at Facebook Headquarters

The buildOn Haiti Construction Crew

Students from our very first buildOn school building trip to Haiti have just returned to the United States. I was in Haiti with them for the week of set up and the first few days, and I wanted to take a moment to share some highlights with everyone.

The team arrived in the village – Cherettes – to a warm welcome. The church was packed with community members eager to see the visitors. People were looking in windows and crowded around doorways in order to be a part of the celebration. Among them was Gary Clerge, a fabulous buildOn staff member in Haiti. He has been working on our Haiti programs for 5 years.

At the church, he addressed the students and the entire community and told us all how people thought he was crazy for trying to build schools in Haiti with so few resources. He was just one guy dedicated to the mission of a small nonprofit…passionate about helping his own country through education. It was a powerful moment as Clerge was overcome with emotion. In tears, he told us all (hundreds of us in the church) that this was a great moment for him…having the students come to Haiti. This was a real wake up call to me. I often get caught up in the logistics of making things happen and forget about the impact of the work we do.

A Student from California Constructs in Haiti with a Local Teen

This trip also showed me the strength of our methodology. On our first workday, there were 250 people working alongside us to build the school! It was amazing to see all ages working on the school. We had the president of a women’s group 300 people strong walking across the river to collect sand and rocks. We had young men and old men swinging pick axes and both men and women digging. There was even a guy walking around with a bull horn motivating people to join in. At the end of the day, it was 250 VOLUNTEERING to build a school. TOGETHER we had completed 3 days of work on the first day!

On day two, I spoke to a young boy who was moving rocks onto the foundation. I asked him if he was in school and he told me he was not. He said that he could not afford the school fees. I asked him why he was building this school. He replied that he was building this school in the hopes that he would be able to attend.

Community Leaders, buildOn Students and Volunteers Congregate in Front of a buildOn School Completed Earlier This Year

Haiti has more NGOs per capita than any other nation. There are so many groups going to Haiti with good intentions, but instead they are creating a culture of dependency. This makes our work in Haiti even more difficult, but we stand in stark contract to many other organizations. We are creating self reliance through education!

All of our school building trips involve cultural activities — visits to local midwifes, landmarks, and more that provide a deeper understanding of the way people in remote villages live. One of the cultural activities offered in Haiti was a trip to the local baker — a man who bakes bread twice a week using a huge concrete oven in the back of his home.

A group of students gathered around to watch the baker knead the bread dough using a slab roller. Each of them took turns helping to crank the rolling mechanism that allows the baker to make bread in large enough quantities for his entire village.

The dough gets kneaded through the slab roller into flat squares that are then placed in the oven until they rise.

The end result is similar to French bread; soft, doughy, warm, and delicious!

By: Clarisa Ramirez, buildOn Communications Intern

buildOn Program Coordinator Laura Reardon from Connecticut was inspired by the popular Bravo series Top Chef to create a culinary-based service project. Earlier this year, she organized Restaurant Wars: Community Meal Style. Eighty-nine students were divided into teams that had to compose a menu from food donations and serve the meal to five groups of people at soup kitchens and shelters. Laura’s co-worker Lara Levin said the event was the participating students’ favorite project of the year.

“She’s a really, really hard worker,” Lara said, describing Laura as being a team player who looks for ways to make their region’s programs better. “She puts in that extra step to get things done so everything’s perfect… so we have more meaningful projects that are really great for our students.”

We interviewed Laura about her experiences for this week’s They buildOn.

Years at buildOn: I just started with buildOn at the end of August, 2010.

What were you doing before you joined buildOn?

I was working up in Rochester New York as a refugee resettlement case manager.

How has buildOn changed your life?

In the nonprofit world, my job is to volunteer, but for the students, school is their job, and they inspire me to do service during my personal time. I volunteer at the library. I do ESL Conversation Partners weekly at the library. Lately it’s gotten down to one or two Mondays a month with refugees.

It’s restored a lot of my hope in community development and youth. I think that I’ve met students that are without a doubt changing and impacting their communities – and that’s continued to inspire me to do work here.

A Student Checks Her Restaurant Wars Submission

Tell us a little bit more about the Restaurant Wars project.

This was a project that I really wanted to come to fruition. The program’s participants have different challenges and one of the challenges is to create a restaurant and they’re judged by the quality of the meal. Our idea was to take it out to the community. The students were in six teams and they used the food they collected from a food drive to make a meal in one day. They had to be creative by thinking about what types of food they could use to make a healthy and nutritious and delicious meal. The recipients of the meal got to rate the students based on their creativity, their friendliness, their service, and their decorations. The winners received a meal book by the buildOn staff.

What’s another favorite memory you have working with buildOn?

We made over 1000 paper cranes to donate for Japan relief through Students Rebuild. They donate $2 per crane.

I really enjoy when we’re doing a project where the students are learning a new skill, whether it’s cooking or making cranes, because it’s something that they can use where they’re empowered by not only what they’re able to give, but also through the skill that they gain it.

buildOn Spelled Out in Origami for Japan!

Complete this sentence:

buildOn is… an avenue for youth to see and create change in their communities and their world.

The YEZ's Students At James Monroe Housing Development

School may not be in session, but the Youth Engagement Zone, buildOn’s service learning program at Banana Kelly High, is still going strong with a number of community outreach activities. On Friday, July 8th, students ventured to the James Monroe Housing Development in the Soundview area of the Bronx to spread the word door-to-door about what residents can do to help prevent violence. The students were accompanied not only by community volunteers but by local assembly member Marcos Crespo.

“There’s been a number of high profile crimes in Soundview recently,” Crepso commented. “Everything from a young student who was shot while coming out of a high school to a gentleman who was picked at random and also shot. There’s a lot of gang activity going on and drug sales and it’s leading to a lot of these shootings. In response to that we’ve done some peace rallies with both students and seniors. And for this project we wanted to get buildOn’s students to go door to door spreading the word about how to report illegal guns and crimes through an anonymous hotline. If a tip leads to an arrest the caller could be rewarded up to $1000.”

Assembly Member Marcos Crespo with YEZ student Yanique Mackenzie

In the morning, students were given tips by Assembly Member Crespo on how to approach the residents of the Monroe Houses, and then they started knocking on doors. Not everyone was friendly, however. Recent YEZ graduate Stephanie Velazquez noted that “Some people were nice — saying hi, shaking your hand, appreciating what we’re doing — and some people didn’t even want to open their door.” Another student, Shirley Gonzalez, explained the importance of providing resources even to those who refuse to engage. “We respect their privacy,” she said, “and just put a pamphlet on their door.”

Crespo added: “In a community that’s been plagued by crime, for the residents to see that we’re not afraid to come here and speak about positive information…it puts a face on the good things that are happening in our neighborhood. And it shows that not ALL our youth are involved in gangs and crime. The bravery they exhibit by coming here and talking is really powerful. I think it’s a great experience for the students, too…when they leave here they’ll feel empowered.”

YEZ student Stephanie Velazquez and Program Coordinator Alex Balliard pose with pamphlets for the community

Indeed, this is one of the most hands-on service activities we’ve ever done, and engaging in a service project this challenging requires courage. But our students, as usual, rose to the occasion. Velazquez further stated, “At first I was scared to do this. This is a community I don’t know. I didn’t know how people would react to us going door to door…but then I got the hang of it.”

Repeating a favorite activity of ours from last summer, buildOn students from Philadelphia attended a Phillies game over the weekend to help collect recyclables from throngs of fans at Citizens Bank Park. Part of the Philly Goes Green initiative and an attempt on the ball park’s part to adopt more sustainable practices, the afternoon’s service involved walking up and down aisles after each inning and collecting cans, bottles, and paper containers in large trash bags. After the seventh inning, students were free to watch the remainder of the game.

Program Coordinator Crystal Collins noted the fun that all the students had getting involved with a hometown institution. “One teen was really surprised at how eager people were to recycle,” she said. “She wound up with a huge bag full of bottles and cups. Other students had never seen a baseball game before, and this provided a great opportunity for them to get the know the sport’s logistics. It made them want to follow their hometeam more consistently being among so many passionate fans.”

Collins looks forward to a similar partnership with the stadium next year, as the recycling activity provides an appealing way for students to get involved in their communities over the summer. “We see so many of our students complaining on Facebook that they have nothing to do during these months,” she commented. “We’re trying to give them an awesome reason to leave their homes and do some good.”

The buildOn Team at Citizens Bank Park

I’m sure you students have noticed a lot of differences between us older folks and yourselves. But really, we have a lot in common.

You’ll be old like us someday, and I want you to know that we are blessed to have you here. Just remember there are lots of lonely people out there with no one to visit them, imagine that- no one!

Coming here and helping out, you brightened our day!

Thank you for coming. I love you and I thank God for you.

Over the phone, Corinne Lowe doesn’t sound like an average high school sophomore. Despite being out of breath from running home after a late lunch to catch our interview, she smoothly and confidently launched into the story of her recent accomplishments with buildOn. “It started in the summer of 2010,” she said. “My family had dinner with the O’Connors [editor's note: The O'Connors are enthusiastic California-based buildOn supporters.] And they were talking about their experience and how they’ve been building schools all over the world. It was just over a casual dinner but it was something I immediately wanted to be involved in.”

Lowe’s involvement over the past year has blossomed into a full chapter at Sage Ridge High. Like all buildOn chapters, Lowe’s is a closely knit group of passionate buildOn advocates who support our international development programs. But she has achieved an unprecedented feat for a buildOn supporter her age — her chapter has now raised enough money for an entire school in Nicaragua.

“Most student chapters only raise like $5-10k,” she noted. “But I liked the idea of building an entire school. I know $30k is a pretty lofty goal, but I thought I’d be able to do it. And with the help of a bunch of my friends and other kids at school, I was.”

Corrine Lowe, third from left, and the Sage Ridge buildOn Chapter

Lowe admits, however, that the path to achieving this goal was not easy. Getting her school on board with the project, and corralling interest around a fundraiser with such a steep objective, was no small task. “There were a lot of people who didn’t think we could actually do it, and there wasn’t a lot of motivation. The faculty and administrators at the school were somewhat reluctant. But through the year, as it became clearer that our goal was attainable, the support has really increased. We’ve been featured on the front page of our local paper.”

Located in Novato, just underneath Northern California’s world-famous wine country, Sage Ridge and its students have access to a rich community of philanthropically active individuals. Still, I was curious what tactics Lowe used to differentiate herself from the world of asks in her neighborhood. “Back in February we had a fundraiser that brought in nearly $10k,” she responded. “We had a friend who knows an astronaut. So we held a ‘Meet an Astronaut’ benefit event and got a bunch of people to donate.”

“In addition to benefits and fundraiser events,” she adds, “We make a lot of phone calls and house visits. Generally they’re people we know. That’s the most efficient way to raise money…really it just took a lot of outreach.”

It’s clear, however, that Lowe’s passion for buildOn’s mission allowed her campaign to succeed so wildly. She explained with great conviction her dedication to international development. “I find education to be very important. I have a wonderful education and most people, especially people in third world countries, don’t have that luxury.”

She added, “When I was in China a few years back I saw some people who live with next to nothing…in homes the size of my bedroom, and don’t have access to education. My dad also went to Ethiopia a while ago, and while he was there he heard about the building of a local school and how happy it made the people there. That’s something we don’t often appreciate, we think we HAVE to go to school, but so many kids don’t have that opportunity.”

Lowe and her buildOn chapter will now get the opportunity to personally observe just how much a single school can do. “In mid-August we’re gonna go down to Nicaragua and live with the residents and build the school,” she mentioned. “I’m incredibly excited…I just love traveling and I think it’ll be an amazing experience.”

If you are interested in starting your own buildOn Chapter to help support the construction of schools worldwide contact Tom Silverman at tom.silverman@buildon.org

There was striking passion and confidence in Pylvainen’s voice as she discussed injustices that so many others have taken for granted. And behind that passion and confidence is a burning curiosity that demands answers. “Why are some people so poor and others so rich?” she interjected at one point during our conversation, then adding: “I’d really like to work for a government agency some day and be part of the ‘change from within’ process.”

One has to wonder where this outlook came from. As a teen, Pylvainen attended Michigan’s renown International Academy, and was exposed early on to the nuance of hardship both in the United States and abroad. But thinking back, she attributed much of her current perspective to her years with buildOn. “I first heard about the organization when I was in the 9th grade at IA,” she commented. “A student a few years older than myself gave a presentation about her school building trip. And that got me interested.”

Pylvainen joined in the 10th grade with the hopes of going on a school building trip herself, and was selected as part of IA’s second international excursion ever, to Porto Banco in Nicaragua. “It made a huge impression on me,” she claimed. “I was 14 years old and had never been to a developing country before.” She still remembers discussing the future with a Nicaraguan 8 year old and realizing for the first time the randomness of socio-economic privilege. “He said he wanted to be a doctor,” she recalled. “But his school didn’t even provide classes past the 8th grade. So I started thinking about all these challenges that this child would have to overcome in order to become a doctor versus my own, and there was a huge disparity.”

After witnessing poverty in Nicaragua, Pylvainen felt ready to ask some very tough questions of her homeland and herself. “I got really upset in Nicaragua, learning about their civil war, and how the US was involved. We spoke to people in the village who had fought in that conflict and were missing limbs. And the communist government ran a really successful literacy campaign in Nicaragua, despite the United States’ attempts to take them down. It’s unfortunate that we can’t acknowledge the success of conflicting political ideologies.”

With her political convictions blossoming, Pylvainen returned to the States, and continued her participation in buildOn with renewed passion. As a senior, she eventually became president of her school’s program, and orchestrated fundraisers and projects that would raise, along with money, awareness of the diversity and inequality in Michigan’s own backyard. “IA’s a very ethnically diverse school. One project I remember well was our multi-cultural cookbook. We put the whole thing together and sold it. It made a ton of money, which really surprised us.”

Helena in South East Asia

Pylvainen would go on to study international relations at Wellesley College, and has just been accepted to the Harvard Kennedy school to study public policy. “I still talk about my trip to Nicaragua,” she said. “I wrote about it in my application to Harvard Kennedy. I learned how easy it is to make a difference in your local community at buildOn. The more you think about disparities that exist globally the more you start to think about them in your own country. Coming from Michigan, from the suburbs, it’s obvious what inequalities there are.”

Indeed, the relationship between a worldwide perspective and the motivation to act in one’s own neighborhood is a crucial one, and Pylvainen’s advice to current buildOn students speaks to this. “One of the great things about buildOn is the way it ties together the local and the global,” she explained. “Often some of the best ways to help are in your own local community and you don’t need to go on a big glamorous trip to help out. Inequality happens everywhere.”

When buildOn constructs schools in Nepal, yoga is a required activity for all students and staff members, often beginning as early as 6:30am and lasting over an hour. It’s a physically demanding start to the day, but our urban youth and staff teams have again and again risen to the challenge.

I was in Nepal earlier this year and got to experience this firsthand. The sun would be rising over the hills as the mist began to burn off, and we would embark morning after morning on a crazy journey of dancing, stretching, straining, breathing and chanting in Nepali. Our instructor gave lengthy explanations for all the ailments and potential cures for each position; it was as much a mental exercise as a physical one. I’m sure a lot was lost in translation but we all sat patiently and tried to really appreciate the surreal nature of the moment. Often times host family members would join us in the morning ritual and there was always lots of laughter as we unsuccessfully tried to contort our bodies and balance in precarious ways. Most of the buildOn students had never done yoga in the U.S, so this was a new and unusual experience right from the start.

Our  instructor’s recommendation for a healthy/happy life:

- Eat 1/2 as much food

- Drink 2x as much water

- Do 3x as much yoga

- Laugh 4x as much.

In the video above, our yogi demonstrates a series of laughing exercises that one can follow to achieve his recipe for happiness. I really think the world would be a much better place if we followed this simple advice. Seriously, who can argue with more laughter in this world?

Behind every enthusiastic buildOn youth service program is an active advisor. Advisors are teachers who volunteer to act as buildOn’s connection to each program’s host high school, and to help navigate the school’s bureaucracy when planning activities. The buildOn program at Balboa High School in San Francisco boasts 50 to 60 members, and one of the two advisors in charge of coordinating the healthy-sized team is Sarah Brand, an elective teacher. buildOn coordinator Ashley Shult said the group owes a great deal of its sustainability to the district’s peer support and Sarah’s leadership.

“Sarah is really well known in her district for taking an idea and making it even better,” Ashley said. She’s been working with Sarah for four years and they both went to Mali together in 2008 to build a school. “She was fantastic,” she said. “Not only does she put energy into buildOn but she’s also one of those teachers who carries a lot of energy. She’s been great at assisting communication between buildOn and Balboa High’s principal.  She keeps students to their promise and makes buildOn their priority.”

Sarah Brand constructed a school in Mali with buildOn in 2008.

Years worked at buildOn: 5 years.

How did you get involved with buildOn?

I remember hearing about it and thinking, “Oh, that’s so cool.” I’m the Peer Helping teacher and I try to support youth development. It’s an elective that trains the students on social justice and health issues, and they figure out how to make changes in their community based on knowledge of those issues. It was a very natural fit.

What do you bring to buildOn?

I bring the keys to the room. Just kidding! I bring knowledge on how to help youth make interactive workshops. I bring my own love of global issues. I bring a very high standard of what I believe youth can accomplish.

What are some of your favorite memories working with buildOn?

I was able to go to Mali several years ago and it was a really unique experience to just be in a community that really didn’t have much garbage. It was a very small community and they just didn’t have a lot of plastic or a disposable culture like we do in the United States. I think that was very eye-opening that the material objects that are really important to people in the U.S. are different for them.

I also really appreciate the moments when we do peer-education… and the youth are leading other youth and making it acceptable. And I also think it’s really exciting when something comes up and the students get really into it. This year one of our community service projects was Cookies for Bookies. If you give a book you’d get a cookie, and we got a lot of books. The books were going to this Oakland organization that was putting on this book fair that families could go to.

Complete this sentence:

buildOn is… giving to ourselves by giving to others.

We travelled from all over the USA to come together as one,
With the earnest hope we could give some help and at the same time have some fun,
We were mostly BA, proud and true but some folk we’d never seen,
We soon put our world behind us and became the BA buildOn team.

We knew not what to expect or even what we would do,
But with the leadership of ‘El general’ we knew that we’d get through,
The task ahead was enormous but a challenge that we could embrace,
We had no doubt that we’d get through once we saw the smile on each child’s face.

———————————————————————————————————————————————–

To be able to experience first hand such profound differences from our daily lives was truly a privilege.

My own personal special moment will be just passing a Rugby ball around in our host family’s home with the children and their friends who came to stare at the strangers. Despite our inability to communicate through speech, the common bond of playing pass quickly broke the barriers and we laughed with each other. To me, it seemed as if the children momentarily forgot their hardships and had a few moments of fun.

———————————————————————————————————————————————–

One cannot really appreciate the need of people and what a difference we make without experiencing it personally. I am glad we had the chance to experience this.

I also cherished our time together as it gave me the chance to get to know my colleagues better. Nothing like sharing a village experience to get to know someone really fast!

———————————————————————————————————————————————–

I had visited Central America before, even spending some time in an orphanage, so I thought I had an idea of what we were heading into. I was completely wrong. This trip has brought my experience to a new level and I am so grateful.

The warm affection and love I ( we) received from the village was amazing. It amazes me how these people do not have a lot and they are so happy, yet here in the US we have everything at our fingertips, and sometimes that is not even enough.

———————————————————————————————————————————————–

If I had to pick one word to describe our trip it would be “eye-opening.” Actually a lot of the trip was amazingly surreal.

My wife and I were getting ready to sleep in our not so water-tight “kitchen” and Isabella, our host, knocked on the door and insisted that she and her family sleep in our room and we spend the night in their house. Of course we turned down her special gesture. She truly touched us.

It’s funny, we are now finding ourselves looking at things and saying: “that would pay for 20% of a school, that would pay for half a school.” Wow, how we live ? .. . . .

———————————————————————————————————————————————–

A chance to build a school we hear, helping kids get on their way,
to attain an education and offering them a brighter day,
What better way to spend your time, reaching out to those in need,
‘Beware’ they say, it might be tough, this warning we will heed.

Tough were the conditions, living in one room old and young,
and should you need to use the loo, go through the field with wet cow dung,
Chickens, Parrots, Dogs and Geese all indoors and roaming free,
but a loving family living simply with hearts wide open for all to see.

Humbling does not cover it, our disbelief could tell no lies,
To live like that for just one day really opened up our eyes,
We were so grateful for that chance to see how the other half lives,
and from today a change of heart on what it means to give.

I’ve travelled the world, both far and wide in an endeavour to open my mind,
But my heart and my soul were touched so much more by this trip I’ve just left behind,
I hope that I can continue on this path of giving more,
And thank you for all your efforts and love, great people to the core.

When Joanna Branch, buildOn Program Director in Pennsylvania, needs to hire a new youth service coordinator for her region, she whittles down candidates to who she feels is the best fit and then conducts an interview–with her students.

“It’s crucial that the students have a voice in this,” she says. “For one thing, whoever fills this particular position will act as a ‘chaparone’ on international school building trips. So they’ll have a powerful influence on the students’ experience in those new, foreign environments. The students also ask things that are important but that I wouldn’t necessarily think to.”

Taylor, seen here with her tutees, represented Delaware Valley Charter High School at the interview

Branch designs the interview to give students a taste of what it’s like on the other side of the employment process. Last week, she singled out Aubrey Millert, a stellar applicant for a vacant program coordinator position, and then held a workshop with students from each of the 3 schools that the hired coordinator will be working with. Millert’s resume was passed around, and the youth discussed issues they face in their high schools to question Millert about.

On the day of the interview itself, Branch had Millert develop an icebreaker activity. “She was great,” Branch notes. “She introduced her background in international travel and then had the students share about whether or not they’d ever used the bathroom in a developing country. Then she presented a roll of toilet paper and had everyone pull off how much they’d need to use the restroom. For every square of tissue they broke off, they had to share a personal anecdote about their work in buildOn.”

The students then grilled her with inquiries. “What would you do if a student got homesick while building a school in a remote village?” “What would you do if students weren’t fulfilling their service obligations, not showing up to projects and the like?” After answering these and more, Millert asked the students questions of her own. The session ended with a presentation by the students about what they feel makes a program coordinator great.

“Millert won the students over on many levels,” Branch notes. “One girl had been encouraged to go on a school building trip last year but was apprehensive. She told me that Millert’s responses to her questions put her at ease enough to want to go this year. That’s exactly the kind of effortless comfort level we hope a buildOn program coordinator can foster.”

After Millert was offered the job, the students from the interview sent her letters of congratulations.

Taylor from Delaware Valley Charter High School: “Dear Aubrey, I can’t wait for you to start working with our school! I think you can really add some new things to our program and also teach us new things. Can’t wait for you to start.”

buildOn Student Kim in Malawi

Kim (seen right), also from Delaware Valley: “Dear Aubrey, It was nice to hear you respond so well to the questions we had for you. I feel so lucky to have met you and have a head start on knowing who you are. You’re going to be great!”

Aubrey Millert responded to Branch via email as well: “Thanks so much for inviting me to Philly to meet the students. They are truly remarkable and I can tell what a positive impact buildOn has had on their lives.”

We warmly welcome Aubrey into the buildOn family, especially knowing that she comes with our students’ seal of approval.

With summer comes opportunities for both travel and leisure–either way, one is usually granted time to catch up on their reading! As part of buildOn’s international staff, we thought we’d provide a list of suggestions for those wishing to globalize their perspective through a good book. Here’s buildOn’s reading list for summer 2011!

Skyler’s Picks

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
By far my favorite novel out of those that I’ve read in the last 5 years. It incorporates a bit of autobiography with lots of fiction. Most of the storyline takes place in India and has everything you could ever ask for in an epic summer read. It captures you from the first sentence and sends you on a journey laced with love, betrayal, deep rivalries, intense loyalty, war, survival, and irony.

Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat
Edwidge is my favorite Haitian author and this book is just one of her many must-read books if you are interested in Haiti. It’s a book of 9 short stories, and what I call a perfect commuter book because you can finish a chapter on your way to work.



Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen
This is a book that I enjoyed reading in graduate school. It helped me define my world view on international development and poverty. It’s an academic read, so don’t bring this book to the beach.




The Man and the Storyteller by Brett McNaught
Written by buildOn’s Vice President of International Programs, Brett McNaught, this book will get you in the mood for travel and life on the road in developing countries.

Brett’s Picks

A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
V.S. Naipaul writes about his native Trinidad in a way that shows great humor, sadness and truth in A House for Mr. Biswas. The story follows a seemingly ordinary man, one that is not even necessarily likable, through his quest to one day have a house of his own and to get out from under his in-laws. What struck me most about this book is how fiction can be a rich and wonderful window into a time and place that non-fiction has trouble replicating with the same power. If you like this I recommend A Bend in The River as his next book, which takes a look at post-colonial Africa.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A magical journey through multi-generations of a Columbian family called the Buendias. Marquez is famous for his Magical Realism. If you like this you will also like Love in The Time of Cholera.



The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
The amazing and true story of William Kamkwamba of Wimbe village in Malawi and his resourcefulness to build a windmill in his village. buildOn has partnered with William in Wimbe and has completed the first of multiple schools in Wimbe, Malawi.



The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
A quick, inspiring must read that is perfect while you are travelling to get you in the travelling mood or while you are at home wanting to feel like you are getting away. It’s hard to go wrong when it has sold something crazy like 65 million copies and been translated in 65+ languages. Timeless.



Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
An insightful book that examines history in an interesting way that seems to logically explain many mysteries of human society. Jared Diamond is a serious academic who writes in a way that allows most anyone to understand what he is explaining, even me.



A Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
Inspiring, educational and a very important part of world history that happened not too long ago.




American Creation by Joseph J. Ellis
Pulitzer Prize winning author of Founding Brothers Ellis is a great historian and storyteller who I believe honestly portrays the complexity of America’s founders at a time of great change. Ellis looks at Adams, Franklin, Washington, Madison, Payne and Jefferson to name a few and exposes their greatest strengths and weaknesses. It is an interesting read for anyone interested in creating social change.

Some other non-profit related reading lists were recently published by Fast Company, who notes a book about KA-BOOM!’s genesis, and LearnPhilanthropy.net. Hope your summer provides lots of opportunities to curl up with one of the above tomes!

Team Achemwali: Emma, Caroline, Charlotte, and Monica

buildOn is very fortunate to have supporters all over the world, including the UK. One of those supporters, Caroline Rolfe, is running a campaign on our fundraising site, We buildOn, to construct a school in Achemwali, Malawi. She recently organized a buildOn Bash to raise awareness of buildOn and money for her school building trip. Read Caroline’s report from the fête!

Update: The buildOn bash in Britain raised over $20,000!

Team Achemwali with Auctioneer Mike Cattermole

Taking place on Friday, June 17th in the beautiful club house of Buckinghamshire Golf Club, the buildOn Bash was a large success. Rain was the order of the evening but did not manage to dampen our guests high spirits in the least! We started with a champagne reception, and I then made a welcoming speech and thanked our guests for their support. I also thanked my friends Charlotte, Monica and Emma for agreeing to come on this life-enriching African adventure with me!

Charlotte and Caroline with James Holliday, the owner of The Chateau

Silent Auction

A hog roast dinner was then served, followed by a quaint old fashioned candy bar, which many guests commented reminded them of their childhood. Guests frenetically bid on silent auction items throughout dinner. The guests then assembled for our loud auction. Charlotte spoke in depth about buildOn as a charity and its huge accomplishments thus far. Monica then talked about the importance of education–which was a very personal speech as she is a teacher. The loud auction was, appropriately, very loud and fast, as well as great fun, with guests out-bidding each other at every turn. We then had a fabulous live band and DJ to continue the fun into the early hours.

- Caroline Rolfe

Caroline with Mercy Tahuna, Press Officer at The Malawi High Commission in London

When I phoned buildOn alum Megan Massey on a Wednesday, mid-morning, one of the first things out of her mouth was an apology. “Right now I’m on call for a few end-of-life situations…” she explained, that might cut our conversation short.

Massey is a certified child life specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Her occupation is grueling but people-oriented, and rewarding as a result. “I work with children and help them cope with the stress of hospitalization,” she said. “We prepare them for procedures, and make the hospital environment feel safer by providing play. In end-of-life situations we work with brothers and sisters and help them to understand what death and dying really mean, and also do some ‘memory making’.”

It all sounds overwhelming, but in Massey’s words, “It’s really about connecting with people.” She describes the desire to reach out to others as a lifelong passion, one that buildOn helped to ignite. “When I was a freshman, Jim [Ziolkowski, CEO and founder] did a presentation about the program, and a recent school building trip to Nepal. As soon as I saw that work it really changed my perspective. Jim has a way of grabbing your attention and getting you to think about those who don’t have the same opportunities as you. I joined the year after that presentation.”

Massey attended Lumen Christi High, Ziolkowski’s own alma mater, in Jackson, Michigan during the early 2000′s. As a sophomore, she was part of Lumen Christi’s second school building trip ever, to Mali. “It was right after my sixteenth birthday,” she said with a mix of nostalgia and disbelief. “But the trip was…it was amazing. I went with a very diverse group; I was one of 3 Caucasian people who went.”

Megan in Mali

She’s now come to view this experience as monumentally formative. “We were in a village with no running water and no electricity,” she reminisced. “Their only food source was the crops they grew. It was drastic exposure to a different world. It gave me the chance to not just see a problem from afar and throw money at it. It was a chance to engage and be present in the suffering and be present in part of the solution. That’s something my husband and I still do today. If we want to make a difference, we don’t stand on the outside and offer vague support, we really like to get involved.”

After returning from Mali, Massey stepped up that involvement immediately, entrenching herself in buildOn service. “My junior and senior year I was student president of the buildOn program,” she mentioned to me. During her tenure, she focused on promoting the awareness of and reaching out to regional human suffering. “We did one activity called ‘Homeless for a Night’ where we’d spend the night in a parking lot. The cops would usually move us, sometimes it would rain. It helped us not to take things for granted and to support the underserved in the community.”

Since leaving high school, Massey has continued to nurture her interests in education and community development. “Mali gave me the perspective of joining people in their suffering and helping them come out of that, and not from a distance,” she explained. “I don’t travel anymore, but I’ve been able to apply that knowledge to my own community. It’s followed me around.”

In addition to her day job as a child life specialist, she and her husband are foster parents, and are also involved in Common Ground, an organization that supports the rights of underprivileged youth in Milwaukee. “…which is a hot topic, if you’ve been following Madison in the news,” she points out. “There’s a lot of change and budget cuts. We want to support kids in their education here, because there’s a lot of downsizing of staff going on.”

Through it all, Massey often thinks back to the school she constructed in Mali with buildOn. “It inspired me to reach beyond myself. It came at a vulnerable teenage time in my life and allowed me to view things outside of my ego-centric self. It was great at an early age to be able to reach out to people.”

To flip through, click and drag the lower right hand corner of the image below!

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Abbe Ewell and her Dad

My dad has always been involved in the community – doing everything from taking on projects and leadership roles to support the Boy Scouts, emceeing fundraisers for the local Salvation Army, and recruiting friends and community members to get involved with various causes. The most memorable project that my dad started over 25 years ago is called Santa Feeds the Kids. Every December he collects donations to purchase groceries for 20+ local families in partnership with a local children and family services agency. Then, a couple days before Christmas, he recruits friends and family from the community to do the grocery shopping early in the morning. It’s an inspiring experience to see 30-40 people come out at 6:30am to fill carts with groceries for families in need. And it definitely confirms the fact that one person’s idea can positively impact many, many lives. My dad’s investment in our community and big ideas for giving back have long been an inspiration to me – helping me better understand the difference that I can make in our world.

- Abbe Ewell, Program Coordinator & Training Specialist

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My Dad has truly made me who I am today. He is a rock solid, driven, creative, passionate man who has faced challenges and setbacks in his life and always viewed them as opportunities. He loves baking anything and everything (he made 9 pound cakes and 90 cupcakes for a party for me a few weeks ago!) and him and his wife make a sweet Georgia wine. His door is always open to the world and he is always ready for an adventure.

My dad is a man of very few words, but I still ask him questions all the time. One day we were talking and I asked him, “What is happiness?” And he said, “happiness is when I look in the mirror, and I can honestly say, I did a good thing today.”

Simple words, but they have always stuck with me and I think about them all the time. Over the past three years, in my work with buildOn, I feel lucky to be able to truly know that I am living his words everyday.

- Missy Shields, New York Regional Manager

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Tamsyn, her dad, and her son Miles

My Dad is the best for more reasons than I could ever list! He is always there for me and all of my brothers and sisters, whether we have to ask him how to cook Grandma’s famous Acini de Pepe or if we need his advice on buying a car or house. The only thing he does better than being a Dad is being a Grandpa to his favorite grandchild of all time, Miles!

- Tamsyn Ambler, Program Coordinator

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My Dad has taught me so much over the years. He taught me to understand the importance of understanding the other parties’ perspective during conflict. In fact, I still call him when I need to talk through a difficult situation. But other than being my emotional rock he is also one of the funniest people I know. He once offered me a spoonful of vanilla ice-cream, it was only when I had the spoon in my mouth did I discover it was sour cream. He also sent me an empty carton of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream when I was in Peace Corps Kiribati. Keep in mind I was on an island that was regularly hotter than 100 degrees. He is a jokester. He is my favorite person.

- Danielle Gilbert, Program and Trek Coordinator

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Catarina and her Dad, Geoffrey Norman

My Dad was the one who first introduced me to buildOn. He met Jim & Marc while he was at GE (worked there for 36 years!) and then slowly but surely our whole family got involved. My mom was a buildOn Co-Advisor at New Canaan H.S., my sister opened the buildOn office with Abby in CA, I was a volunteer for many years before joining full-time, my sister-in-law in Seattle is one of the Seattle Chapter Chairs and now all the women in my family are raising $ to go to Malawi to build a school in October. And it all started with my Dad!

- Catarina Schwab, VP, West Coast

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My father has a laugh that one can never forget and a heart that spans the cosmos. My dad can do anything — I have always thought so and I’m still convinced. Growing up he supported my feline adoption habit — I’m quite sure he only liked them because they made me happy. He made it so there was always time for the little things — the moments that make life worth living. He knows how to turn hard times into the best memories…and when it’s appropriate to have ice cream and popcorn for dinner.

My father is the source of my hope and compassion. He and my heart are one.

- Kimmy Kunkle, Program Coordinator

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Erika Robers' Dad and her Son

My Dad has influenced me perhaps more than any other person in my life.  His open heart, willingness to empathize with others and deep love of humanity inspires me to continue to dedicate myself to the work we do here at buildOn.

When I was 12, my dad volunteered through our church to travel to rural El Salvador. The stories of struggle he was told by ordinary Salvadorans about what they had endured in their civil war humbled him. They wanted, and continue to want, the most basic of things – education, food for their families, health and safe communities. The love and openness that strangers showed my Dad when he visited really touched his heart. I have a vivid memory of sitting in Sunday mass next to my father after he returned from El Salvador and seeing him break down. I think it was the only time I had ever witnessed him cry. I saw the frustration and sadness in him, knowing he could do so little to alleviate others’ pain.

- Erika Robers, Program Coordinator

~

Jim Snodgrass

In 2008 I bought my first house. Little did I know that said house had been infested with termites and the damage had been covered up to pass inspection. In short I planned to remodel the kitchen and that turned into gutting the entire house down to the brick. My dad moved to Chicago for a year and helped physically rebuild the whole darn house from top to bottom. In that year I got to spend more quality time with him than any time in my whole life. That one termite infested, rat hole of a money pit was the reason I got re-introduced to my dad, and learned more about him and myself than I ever would have otherwise. Thanks Dad!  Thanks for coming to save the day, and for being an all around great dad.

- J. Quinton Snodgrass, VP, Midwest

~

My dad loves to cook and eat. Growing up he would travel to foreign countries for work and he would come back with full rolls of film, not of amazing sites and cultural landmarks, but of the new foods he got to try. I’ve learned so much from my dad. He taught me that food is one of the great joys in life and that I should be open to new experiences. I always think of him when I’m overseas with buildOn trying exciting new foods like guinea hen, T’oh, sesame candy, and so much more. After a 30+ year career as a chemist he went back to school to earn his culinary degree, so he’s taught me to follow my dreams as well as food.

- Joanna Branch, Philadelphia Regional Manager

~

Antonia DeMichiel and her Father

Giving back to the community has always been a key family value in the DeMichiel-Madson household. As a toddler growing up in Minneapolis, my dad took me to visit homebound elders during the holidays through a non-profit called Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly.

Shortly after joining buildOn, two students presented a powerpoint about their Trek for Knowledge experience in Mali. I thought to myself, “How cool that they went to Africa and built a school! I could never do that.” I was born with a neurological disorder called cerebral palsy which affects the muscle function in my legs. Since I walk with crutches, I was certain that my physical challenges and the desert like conditions of Mali wouldn’t mix well. But my dad, being the supportive man that he is, told me to go for it without hesitation.

I went on Trek in June of 2008, and the experience definitely deepened my commitment to the buildOn mission. My dad has also given me numerous late night pep talks about the challenges of starting a buildOn chapter from the ground up, edited many fundraising letters, and listened to me rehearse my buildOn gala speeches until they were perfect. I owe my passion for helping others to the values my dad instilled in me at a very age. Thank you dad, for believing in me when I couldn’t believe in myself.

-Antonia DeMichiel, buildOn Alum,

buildOn Chapter Leader at University of Oregon

By: Clarisa Ramirez, buildOn Communications Intern

Curie Metro High School has a modest program advisor. Sharon Yu would rather talk about her phenomenal students than herself, but buildOn programmer Danielle McCarthy tells us that she’s stellar. “This is my third year of programming, and no insult to any other advisor, but she goes above and beyond,” Danielle says of the history teacher. “Every Saturday she is out there with me and the students, taking photos. She’s a buildOn cheerleader to the max.”

Danielle says Sharon’s enthusiasm has been infectious as she’s committed herself to programming for the past two years, doing everything from filling out paperwork to running to Cosco for snacks to chaperoning dances. We’re proud to have such an excellent role model supporting our organization.

What were you doing before you joined buildOn?

This is my third year of teaching. During my second year, the person who used to run buildOn at the school was doing grad school so I took it on along with another teacher. I knew about community service when I first got hired… I went on the Martin Luther King Day Chicago Cares trip and it was great.

What do you bring to buildOn?

I bring leadership, and I’m very humorous around the students. I bring students knowledge about service learning, about helping other people. In the process of reaching out, they’re learning about different people, different situations, and they’re learning about themselves and gaining knowledge.

How has buildOn changed your life?

Immensely. I am going to Mali in the summer with buildOn and two other students. I’m sure it will be once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. I would not have gone to Africa on my own. I think with buildOn my relationship with the students has changed immensely, too… I love interacting with the students who join. They’re so funny, so hilarious. Their personality in the classroom is very different.

What are some of your favorite memories working with buildOn?

The forest preserves trips were very fun and interactive with the environment. We had a bonfire where the students cut the buckthorn, and then we burned the invasive species. Another memory I really enjoyed was the CTA (Chicago Transport Authority) scavenger hunt where students took public transport and went around the city learning to use CTA and looking around for sites. It was pretty cool.

Complete this sentence:

buildOn is… an opportunity for me to work with various people. I don’t think I would have this opportunity to meet so many people in various fields of work otherwise.

We’re very pleased to announce that one of America’s foremost journalists, Ann Curry, is officially joining the buildOn team as an honorary board member. Curry has displayed a passion for service, philanthropy, and human issues throughout her career; she was one of the first to report from Haiti after the earthquake, and has filed crucial reports from Darfur and Chad. And despite her globe-trotting, she’s taken the time out to offer buildOn hands-on and enthusiastic support.

She joined buildOn students during their service in the South Bronx, helping to maintain a community garden that now acts as the neighborhood’s only local source for fresh produce. She’s also helped our students run athletic and crafts workshops for disabled youth. Attendees to our Connecticut Dinner in 2010 may further remember her as our keynote speaker.

We’d like to formally congratulate Curry on her new position as co-anchor of The Today Show alongside Matt Lauer, and we look forward to a mutually enriching relationship with her. Stay tuned for more news about Ann Curry’s honorary board membership by following @buildOnEmpowers and @anncurry on Twitter!

A worker at Esteli Dump carrying a load of scraps

My international work with buildOn has taken me to some truly unique parts of the globe–Misomali, in Malawi, Africa, where one school blossomed into a 10 classroom campus, and a community of former slaves in Lathaiya, Nepal are but two examples. But La Cruz, a small village in Nicaragua, may trump them all with its singular circumstances.

I was introduced to La Cruz while working in Nicaragua with an NGO partner, Fabretto, who helps impoverished youth with education, nutrition, and health programs. I could hardly believe the particulars of the project. “The entire community,” they told me, “sits beside the massive Esteli Dump.”

Like all too many who live in poverty in South and Central America, a dump provides La Cruz with the nearest thing it has to an economy. No one owns land, and as such there’s little agricultural motivation, and no farms or crops. To earn a living, every day the people of La Cruz sift through the mounds of city trash all around them, collecting items that can be recycled or re-sold–pieces of glass, scrap metal, plastic.

Founded in 1951, La Cruz remains small: 37 small “houses” provide shelter for roughly 150 people. When I first visited, it struck me as substantially poorer even than the other under-developed Nicaraguan villages in which we’ve built schools. They have no electricity and no sanitation system. And much of the refuse they can’t sell they take home with them and attempt to put to use in their household.

A row of La Cruz homes fashioned out of recycled garbage

The entire town consists of several rows of ramshackle structures pieced together from discarded items and debris–there wasn’t a single brick in sight among the scraps of roofing sheets, wood splinters, and torn plastic tarps. It looked more like a refugee camp than a village, per se, and yet a conversation I had with a town elder who’d lived in La Cruz for 20 years revealed that these were not temporary homes. If you’d looked across the dump to the horizon two decades ago it’s hard for me to think that much progress could have been made.

Our school in La Cruz was easily the most challenging project we’ve completed in Nicaragua, partly due to the way that life is oriented around the dump in the village. Since all men, women and children were accustomed to organizing and collecting refuse every day, the idea of investing even one day a week of volunteer labor in a long-term project was met with confusion.

A Boy in La Cruz who Works in the Dump Every Day

The community is, in addition, very fractured due to a family feud. Nicaragua is rife with blood battles, the sources of which are very vague. In La Cruz I was told that a few generations back one family’s cow or donkey had been stolen, and when the crime went unsolved violent lines were drawn. To this day, while all townspeople work in the same dump side by side, a strip of land divides La Cruz’s residential area, and the families rarely venture over into opposing territory. A poorly built school stood on one side of town when I first visited, but it only educated very young children who belonged to one of La Cruz’s two fractured sides. It was obvious that much work would need to be completed in order to get the school built and both familial sides of La Cruz to send their children there.

I’m proud to say that, working with Fabretto, we were able to show the people of La Cruz the value of walking away from the dump and their feud to build something permanent for the community. Fabretto helped us to communicate the importance of volunteering on the construction, and have also implemented health and income generation plans that can improve the quality of life in La Cruz. Food workshops and meal plans are in place to alleviate widespread malnutrition, and the villagers are learning the importance of hand washing and oral hygiene. The school was completed in Spring of 2011, and due to the lack of electricity in La Cruz is powered by solar panels.

It was an incredible thing to watch men and women who have toiled amid mountains of trash every day for nearly their entire lives break from that routine and build something for themselves. And while the opening of the school on June 6th was, to be certain, one of many steps for La Cruz, it was ultimately this community pride that overcame the numerous obstacles standing in the way of education.

Some villagers and members of our Nicaraguan staff pose in front of the completed school

buildOn presented a session at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service this year about engaging and mobilizing youth. Our CEO and founder Jim Ziolkowski gave a speech that illustrated the impact our afterschool youth service program has on participants–our students broaden their perspectives, go on to college in astoundingly high numbers, and help to build schools for impoverished villages around the world. We also shared our engagement methodology, focusing on the structure of our programs in high schools and how we function with our many partner associations.

But the highlights of the session, without a doubt, were provided by our student panel, who first offered highly emotional testimony about how buildOn has altered the course of their lives, and then fielded questions from a truly inspired crowd of attendees. Some quotes from their biographical addresses:

I have done over 380 hours of service through buildOn and I can tell you that if it wasn’t for buildOn, I could be dead or in jail. - Ron Daldine Jr.

During the past two years, I have had two of my cousins murdered, lost a friend to cancer and another to suicide. Through each of these events my buildOn family, both staff and students, have helped me get through this difficult time…. It is because of the people who are invested in buildOn that we are able to make an impact in the world and our communities. - Rayia Gaddy (Rayia has completed over 540 hours of service)

When I came to NY three years ago from the Dominican Republic, I didn’t speak any English and I had no idea how to get around. Language is still a barrier for me but through buildOn I’m able to express myself because buildOn is like being around family. This past February of 2010, I traveled to Mali, West Africa to build a school in Chessana. It was like ‘Wow!’ This experience made me understand that it doesn’t matter the difference of countries and environments, we can help each other and there is always someone who needs help. - Faustino “Junior” De la Cruz, Jr.

Ron Daldine and Rayia Gaddy at NCVS in New Orleans

Throughout the various parts of our session, we emphasized above all else how our program works because of our staff, and the positive safe space our staff provides students.  We do little things that make a big difference in our students’ lives: Learn their names, constantly invite them to projects, encourage them, recognize their contributions, identify strengths.  Students respond to that, to the relationship, to the caring adult. And then they begin to see themselves differently, and begin to interact with their community differently.  We view youth as a part of the solution and are dedicated to finding ways to harness their creativity and idealism to make positive change.

We look forward to NCVS 2012 in Chicago, IL!

With the school year winding down, we’re taking the opportunity to recognize the hard work our students and staff have put into making the Youth Engagement Zone at Banana Kelly such a success. No one was quite sure what to expect–integrating service learning with urban high school curriculum presents challenges for which there are no ready-made solution. But as stories right here on the blog have shown, the last semester in particular has been a rewarding one. We’ve seen students reaching out to their communities, to each other, and to themselves–to the selves they might not have realized they had within them.

Our Year End Celebration was designed to engage in the same manner that our service project and field trips engage. We handed out lots of awards and watched a video montage with footage and stills from the whole academic year. 9/10th grade Guidance counselor Sandra Rivera-Perez noted to me how moved she was by the festivities–”So many of the students getting awards are those that feel invisible or alienated at school,” she said. “And many others might be considered ‘bad’ or unwilling to engage.” Today was about putting the spotlight on all of them.

Ezequiel Osorio, Proud Recipient of 2 Year End Awards

Engagement across the board has led to achievement across the board. Many of the Youth Engagement Zone’s projects, such as the community garden and the school store, are still going strong and will continue into next year. We handed out awards to our gardeners, as well to students who excelled at our Paint4Change Service Day, our senior interns, our The Point volunteers, students with notable service hours, and many others.

Joshua Martin Poses with His Award

Reflecting on strategy is a crucial part of service learning, and I was happy to be able to fuse assessment with celebration for this year end event.. It was a truly emotional few hours at Banana Kelly; students and teachers are still coming up to me with inspired reminiscences about the “energy in the room.” And as I welcomed next year’s class at new student orientation later in the day, I was reminded that this is only the beginning. I look forward to continuing my reflections here on the blog, and to engaging with the Bronx’s youth in even more exciting ways.

William Bowles is the driving force behind buildOn’s afterschool program at Detroit’s Western International High School, according to buildOn staff member Keisha Brooks. She said he expects great things from his students and holds them accountable. William has been an advisor with buildOn for so long he doesn’t remember the date he started; his memories have all melded together.

William got involved with buildOn because of his passion for global issues. He is a Library Media Specialist at the school, and through his resources, he gives his buildOn students access to computers and introduces them to books. “Considering literacy is something important to buildOn’s goal, and with our illiteracy rate being so high (in the region), having interesting books to read for the students is imperative,” Keisha said.

Keisha and William have been working on Taste Fest, a popular potluck fundraiser that transforms the library into a restaurant. William, who goes into full character as the maitre d, says the program is successful because it brings the staff and the students together. The fourth and last Taste Fest of the school year will take place in May and feature karaoke.

“He is very fun and at the same time very serious,” Keisha says. “He’s really an activist for maintaining the quality of education.”

Years worked at buildOn: I joined in 2003, 2004, 2005 or 2006. I’m not quite sure.

What were you doing before you joined buildOn?

I started working at the school in 1993. Before that I taught overseas in Zaire, I spent a year in Nigeria as a grad student and I taught in Turkey.

How has buildOn changed your life?

It really increased my awareness (of service organizations) and appreciation for the need to do service and the satisfaction that it gives.

What are some of your favorite memories working with buildOn?

One of the things I remember was a cold October morning, Saturday, maybe 8 o’clock, and I think we were doing tree planting with my school and a few other schools. I remember looking at the faces of some of these young people and thinking, “Wow, these kids have gotten out of bed to come out and help.” It’s sort of an iconic image for me. They’ve been given the opportunity to serve and what they end of doing is having a lot of fun.

What does buildOn mean to you?

The bulk of buildOn is the ongoing service. So, when I think of buildOn I think of the value the students receive in the act of helping others — and in that act they learn so much. It’s not only increased awareness of the needs of the community but also the multiplicity of organizations that do outreach, that serve the community in different ways. It gives the students an opportunity to develop a philosophy of life, and one of the main components of driving meaning to one’s life comes from service.

Complete this sentence: buildOn is… necessary.

Student Isac Herrera Presents His Speech at the buildOn Breakfast

Our student speaker at the buildOn Breakfast in Chicago last month was Isac Herrera, a resident of the city’s South Side and a shining example of the social power of volunteerism and youth service. His story, from near-expulsion to college matriculation, is posted below.

I find the words of philosopher Albert Pike very meaningful. He said, “What you do for yourself alone dies with you. What you do for others and the world remains and is immortal.”

My name is Isac Herrera. I grew up in a gang-infested neighborhood in the South side of Chicago. My dad tried to protect and isolate his kids from the drugs and bad company, but I got sucked into that world at school. I was a mediocre student in grade school. In eighth grade I did my best to fit in with the crowd, and although I wasn’t gang affiliated I would do everything I could to be liked by the those who were. Eventually I was suspended and nearly expelled. I needed a clean start in high school.

Unfortunately, the high school I entered was worse. This year alone, there were three shootings at Gage Park, two in the first month of school. I was scared that nothing would change, that I could not change, and I would fall in with the wrong crowd again. Luckily, that is not my story.

I am currently a senior at Gage Park High School. Although Gage Park is known for gang violence, drug dealing and many negative stereotypes, I found a different path for myself. I found buildOn.

I joined buildOn in my freshman year. The program helped me with my new beginning by giving me something to do after school and on weekends. While my peers from middle school continued running with gangs, I was introduced to new people — students and buildOn staff, people who I should be affiliated with because they would have a positive influence on me. My life could have taken a very different direction, but buildOn continued to make sure I stayed out of trouble throughout freshman and sophomore year.

My buildOn Advisor, Mr. Ratterman, and some buildOn students would go to a homeless center for women and children to sort donations. We would also visit homes for the elderly to cook them a healthy meal, play games and spend quality time with them. The people at these projects appreciated me, and helped me gain more confidence.

More importantly, volunteering showed me that the choices I make matter. They matter not just to me but to every life I touch. My junior year I was chosen to build a school in Mali, Africa. Living in a rural village made realize how fortunate I was to have everything that I have — from the material things to the people in my life. This experience helped me to embrace my education, because I got to see what education can do, and how desperate people are to get it when it’s not available. I overcame certain obstacles in Mali, but I got to come back home. What gives me more confidence to face the obstacles in my life here in Chicago is remembering how my friends in Mali were so determined to create better lives for themselves and their children, and I helped them do it.

buildOn has helped me stand out instead of fitting in, when fitting in means a life of low expectations. I no longer think people see me as mediocre because I don’t see myself as a mediocre person. I see myself as someone who has made huge changes in his life and above all has made a great impact in the lives of others. buildOn has helped me find my purpose not only in high school but also for the rest of my life.

I am determined to be the first person in my family to graduate college. This fall I’m going to attend the University of Cincinnati. I want to work hard to provide a better education for my children. I want to be the kind of person few people believe I can be, the kind of person buildOn believes I am.

buildOn’s afterschool programs in the Bronx have partnered up with none other than the Yankees to turn one of the United States’ most famous franchises “green”! Since the start of spring, a group of buildOn students has attended every homegame at Yankee Stadium, where they spend the first four innings cleaning up, recycling, and composting waste. They also provide brief tutorials to fans about proper disposal of recyclable and biodegradable products, and how they can do their part to keep the stadium eco-friendly. For the remaining five innings, the buildOn students get to watch the game from reserved Green Team seats.

buildOn Students are Interviewed on Yankee Stadium's Jumbo Screen

buildOn Program Director Missy Shields describes the partnership as a “great on-going service opportunity. It’s been one of the students’ favorite activities for the entire year. We’ve had about 50 different volunteers from our high school programs so far.” In addition to teaching the students about how to remain environmentally friendly in urban settings, Shields also notes that the project has helped to spread awareness of buildOn. During several games, the students have been interviewed on Yankee Stadium’s jumbo screen, and Shields has been approached by fans afterward each time. “I ran into a former buildOn staffer of ours at one game,” she notes. “It’s great to be able to make those kinds of connections from this project.”

Stay tuned for more news as buildOn’s Green Team helps to make Yankee Stadium environmentally friendly!

buildOn Students are Helping to Clean Up Yankee Stadium!

Ram Tharu leads construction on buildOn schools in Nepal like this one

This September, buildOn will be celebrating 20 years of breaking the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education. To prepare for this milestone, we’ll be posting tributes to the heroes who have defined the success of our programs over the last two decades. Look out for more “20 years of buildOn” features!

Ram Krishna Tharu, a Construction Supervisor from Nepal, is a rare link between buildOn’s auspicious beginnings and its continuing achievements. Tharu was present at the ground-breaking and subsequent development of buildOn’s very first school, and has just recently participated in the building of our 400th. We caught up with Tharu to discuss his background, his passion, and any memories he has from buildOn’s two-decade tenure in Nepal.

How did you first get involved with buildOn?

The first buildOn school in Nepal was built in 1994, in Haupur village. And I have a relative from Haupur who informed me that buildOn was looking to hire people to help build schools. So I came to Haupur village and talked with the staff, and buildOn selected me as a head mason.

What were you doing before that?

I was working as a contractor of construction near my home town.

How many schools have you helped build?

I’ve helped with about 42 buildOn schools.

What’s the usual construction process like for building a school?

First, we make a school building map with the design. After that we have to get the covenant and commitment from the community. [Note: Covenants are contracts signed by the villages that commits them to providing labor for the build, abolishing any child labor in the community, and ensuring gender equality in the subsequent education system.]

Then we collect construction materials, break ground, and start working.

What kind of relationship do you have with the students and coordinators from buildOn?

A harmonious relationship!

What has it meant to the Nepalese villagers to have these schools built?

The communities are very thankful to get a new, safe, and strong school building. The kids need not escape from school during heavy rain and wind anymore.

What changes have you observed in the past few decades in terms of bringing volunteers to construct schools in Nepal?

The communities recognize that every kind of project can be done if they do it in a group. Unity is the best policy.

What was it like having American youth work with you to construct the 400th school? What do you think the impact was on the community?

I’m very happy American youth travel so far to work with Nepalese people and contribute to their communities. This is an inspiration. The community gained more power from American youth.

How is building a school more meaningful than a basic construction job?

The school belongs to the whole community, not only single family. And schools help to produce teachers, doctors, and engineers.

The segment details Jim’s epiphany while seeing a celebration in Nepalese village after the building of a new school, and the subsequent development of our first programs for urban youth in the South Bronx. Flashing 20 years forward, Michelle Miller then follows Jim back to Nepal as he travels to break ground on buildOn’s 400th school with a team of students from the Bronx who later return home to contribute service to their own community. We were very proud to have the support of CBS Evening News and want to thank them for recognizing our hard work in the US and abroad. Please share this video with friends and family!

Left to right: buildOn CEO and Founder Jim Ziolkowski, buildOn Student Speaker Isac Herrera, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and buildOn Global Leadership Award recipient Neal Zucker.

Thanks to the generosity of buildOn supporters throughout the Chicagoland Region, the 2011 buildOn Breakfast has broken the event’s previous attendance achievements and has raised a current grand tally of $460,000. We’d like to applaud our supporters and students for sharing with us this morning of inspiration, celebration, and frittata in the Grand Ballroom of the downtown Chicago Hilton on Wednesday, May 25th.

NBC5 Chicago’s charismatic co-anchors Rob Elgas and Zoraida Sambolin proved charming and amicable hosts, and we were proud to welcome our honorees. Neal Zucker, President & CEO of Corporate Cleaning Services received buildOn’s Global Leadership Award as presented to him by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Groupon’s COO Margo Georgiadis was on hand to accept the Social Entrepreneurship Award for Groupon’s G-Team. And, Aon’s Kip Kelley accepted the Corporate Leadership Award for the company’s commitment to Chicago’s youth.

Local business and philanthropic leaders were greeted at the ballroom by a collection of dedicated buildOn students from 26 Chicago public high schools across the city. These students were the focus of the festivities, and they joined founder and CEO Jim Ziolkowski on stage during the climax of his address acknowledging heroes from buildOn’s afterschool and school building programs around the globe. The breakfast provided an unprecedented opportunity for many donors to connect with the youth that our programs (and their dollars) serve.

The morning’s most emotional moment occurred when buildOn program member Isac Herrara shared his inspirational story. A resident of Chicago’s south side, Isac described how buildOn motivated him to evade the pitfalls of gang culture and expand his social perspective. He was nearly expelled from junior high; he’s now been accepted to the University of Cincinnati where he will attend this fall. During the course of the event, representatives from four corporations offered Herrara business cards and job opportunities.

Our gratitude goes out to all of our honorees, sponsors and supporters, and here’s to an even bigger and better 2012 Breakfast with more inspiring moments!

Project Africa members organized a wine tasting fundraiser in San Antonio, Texas

The group’s student officers Stephanie Rodriguez (president and a business major) and Ana Bribiesca (treasurer and a fashion merchandising major) work with John, the faculty sponsor. The three said it took a while for them to get their chapter off the ground, but now Project Africa has ten solid members and their events have huge turnouts. It’s also won the campus award for “Most Charitable Organization” two years in a row. The chapter’s goal is to build a school in Mali by August, making Cisse’s dream come true.

What do you bring to buildOn?

Ana: We have a lot of support with people on campus. We seem to get the community involved in our events.

Stephanie: I think that we each have our areas of concentration – from the fashion department to the business department to someone in graphic design who does flyers and advertising. You could think of Project Africa as an entrepreneurial organization because everybody gets to exercise what they’re studying and focused on.

John: I brought experience partnering agencies and groups together, so this fits in well because everything we do pulls in groups and agencies for a common goal.

How has buildOn changed your life?

Stephanie: It’s taught us about working together by acting locally and thinking globally. It’s brought out the best in everybody.

John: It’s broadened my scope of the world. I used to be very focused locally — on campus, San Antonio, maybe Texas. This has forced me to look beyond those boundaries. It’s also taught me that when students have a purpose and a goal to stay out of the way.

Ana: It’s made me more aware of what’s going on around the world and that there’s something we can do to make change in the world.

What events has the group organized since 2009?

Stephanie: There have been several fundraisers. We hosted two male date auctions. Those were fun. The girls bid to ask the guy out on a date. Then we had a talent show and a silent art auction. We had a wine-tasting for staff members, faculty and other business people. We just recently had our fashion mixer… We have a wine dinner coming up at a really exclusive country club here in San Antonio, and we have a silent art auction going on.

John: We participated in the Basura Bash, which helps the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word with an environment cleanup around the river. This is an environmentally sensitive campus.

Have you had any particular notable donations?

John: There was a donation from the Sister’s congregation, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, for 1000 dollars. They’re the ones whose mission we serve… why we’re here. For us to win that, we felt like we were doing the right thing, although we had to fight and struggle to get our ideas and our events approved. We had our own little justice battle and stood up to a lot of people because it was too much with what the students are interested in; we had college nights at local clubs. We were stretching boundaries by involving students to raise money.

What are some of your favorite memories working with buildOn?

Stephanie: The fashion mixer is probably the biggest experience we’ve had so far. That brought in 350 people. And I think everybody was really satisfied with the mixer because we all knew how much work it involved, with partnering and stress.

Ana: I think most of the great memories came from planning this fashion show. It took three months … We had fittings at local stores and each store had their own show. They chose some outfits and got models to volunteer. And then we had a salon do African-inspired hair and makeup.

John: My truly favorite moment was the end of last year, during the awards banquet. They didn’t tell us anything about it and told us to come, and that’s when we realized we had been nominated for all sorts of awards. We won four that night: best new organization, most charitable organization, most consistent with the mission, and then most creative event of the year. It was like the Academy Awards for us. We were never recognized before and it came at us real fast.

Complete this sentence:

Ana: buildOn is… an opportunity to help people around the world and make a difference.

John: buildOn is… a role model for thinking big and reaching out really far.

Stephanie: buildOn is… the opportunity to educate those in most need.

After studying the Bronx River all year, Banana Kelly's 9th grade goes canoeing!

“I’m floating on the river! The river I’ve been studying all year!”

- Banana Kelly Student
Yaxeny Vasquesz

Service learning implementation at Banana Kelly’s Youth Engagement Zone has taken on many forms. We’ve completed community mapping so that students can develop the skills they need to recognize and troubleshoot problems in their neighborhoods, and we’ve planted trees in abandoned lots to explore how the environment fits into the Bronx’s urban landscape. Most of these have been projects undertaken by Banana Kelly’s 9th grade who, throughout the year, has also been examining water from the Bronx River in lab sessions that have fused science, math, and community awareness.

On May 16th and 18th, the 9th grade experienced the culmination of their curricular interaction with the river as they embarked on a class-wide canoe trip. These students had previously spent much time on the river banks, studying, but most of them had never actually been in the water, or even in a boat of any kind. Coordinating with the Bronx River Alliance, we prepped the students with safety instructions and a discussion of how they could connect the thrill of canoeing to the science they’d learned earlier.

A canoe tips over, but the students remain calm and execute a rescue.

This was an exciting field trip for many in Banana Kelly’s 9th grade. During the first outing, two students actually tipped their boat over and fell into the river. Luckily, 9th grade science teacher Nicola Vitale was with them, and everyone managed to remain calm while executing a speedy rescue. I imagine the students who fell in will always remember this day; it brought them a tremendous sense of accomplishment to have thrust themselves so confidently into this new activity.

We were equally proud that the students made a connection between the canoe trip and the studies they’d completed on the river’s water for the last semester. Many, like Yaxeny Vasquesz, were exhilarated by the opportunity to physically interact with a body of water whose properties they knew so intimately. Exploring both the natural and urban elements of one’s environment isn’t only about asking questions and observing outcomes–it’s about getting one’s hands dirty, or maybe even drenching one’s body, in what his or her world has to offer.

Sailing on the River

On Sunday May 22nd, the 50 buildOn students from New York with the most community service hours were recognized by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. as the Volunteers of the Year. These students’ families convened along with city officials and buildOn representatives in the rotunda of the Bronx courthouse to applaud the wealth of inspiring community service completed throughout the academic year.

During the ceremony, buildOn founder and CEO Jim Ziolkowski spoke along with regional program director Missy Shields about the organization’s rich history of community outreach in the Bronx – a relationship spanning the past 16 years. buildOn students Isacar Chavez, Gabby Ramirez, Luis Alonso and Keara Knight also discussed their experiences in the Bronx and how buildOn’s youth service program has impacted them.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. recognizes buildOn students from local schools for their community service hours

After a brief ceremony, each school was awarded a certificate for their students’ service, and pictures were taken with Diaz Jr. We’re thrilled to have collaborated with the borough president to celebrate buildOn’s presence in the Bronx, and the efforts of our tireless NYC-based students.

The students with the most community service from each buildOn program in the Bronx accept their school's award.

This week we brushed up on our Spanish to interview Anibal Rodriguez, buildOn’s Nicaragua Country Director. Rodriguez has been with us for nearly a decade,  and he’s helped to expand our international development program in his home immensely. Under his direction, many students in rural villages have benefited from the construction of schools. Anibal has told us that several of the first Nicaraguan students he met through buildOn are going to high school, and some are applying to universities.

buildOn’s International Programs Manager Skyler Badenoch speaks very highly of him. Skyler found Anibal through a Peace Corps contact in 2007 while he was living in Nicaragua.

“We were preparing for a big donor trek and we were hiring for a country director. We ended up doing a trial run with him,” he says. “ He did such a great job.”

Anibal also makes an effort to show donors and volunteers the best side of his homeland, and is skilled at organizing partnerships.

“He was instrumental in getting $94,000 from the Japanese Embassy [to build schools],” Skyler says. “He took that challenge and went out and impressed them. It was a team effort, but mostly it happened because he was able to get that grant.”

Country Directors are the gatekeepers of the buildOn’s methodology, implementing the steps that complete schools efficiently and effectively. Besides being the main source of communication between the Nicaragua office and our US Office, Anibal overseas the local staff, manages contracts with the Ministry of Education, visits mayors all across the country to gauge regional interest in education, selects construction sites, ensures the quality of our labor teams, and leads the construction process with the buildOn staff.

City: Esteli, Nicaragua

Years worked at buildOn: 9

What were you doing before you joined buildOn?

I worked with Peace Corps Nicaragua as a temporary technical trainer for culture. And I was a farmer.

What do you bring to buildOn?

Enthusiasm to work with poor neighborhoods, and to attend to the real needs that children have…. We connect buildOn to the community.

How has buildOn changed your life?

We talk with the villagers about their experiences. This is what changes my life because it makes me feel closer to my people.

There’s a connection with the students. We participate in the people’s conversations and I explain their experiences to the buildOn volunteers. We talk about what their life is like. It’s different in every country.

In Mali, we went to an International Country Directory’s Conference (in May 2008) and then went to a few sites to see the schools and how different they are from the ones in Nicaragua. The culture of Africa is very different. For me it was a motivating experience because there’s poverty in Africa but the people are very spiritual and happy.

What are some of your favorite memories working with buildOn?

Working in community Los Encuentros in Madriz. It’s a humble, indigenous community and the people were so well organized and very loving. We contacted them, and in a month they had everything organized. The school was built in six weeks. They had their own work to do but they were getting up early in the morning and completing their daily activities, and then after 7:30 they worked with us [on the school]. It was their dream to build a school. They didn’t want to lose out on this opportunity.

Complete this sentence: buildOn is… changing lives. It brings people together to work side by side to create new opportunities for children and the people.

Nikhail James from Philadelphia has overcome tremendous hardships in his mission to reach out with service.

During my last my last Leaders From the Field blog entry I discussed how buildOn’s youth service programs help high school students explore their communities and broaden their horizons. One of the students I profiled, Nikhail James, has since expanded his realm of possibility even more profoundly: Pushing himself beyond his comfort zone, he traveled over 7,500 miles from his home in Philly to help build a school in the rural village of Kharula.

I had the pleasure of sharing two incredible weeks with Nikhail and a group of students from Philadelphia as they explored a beautiful and different culture. On April 12, 2011, we broke ground on buildOn’s 80th school in Nepal. It’s a notable milestone, and one that I was happy to see Nilhail take part in: He is truly one of those amazing individuals who has taken up the buildOn mission as his own.

Nikhail, like many of our students, is intimately acquainted with perseverance. At 17, he already lives on his own, and he’s had to make difficult decisions for himself from a very early age. But he faces these challenges with determination and shrewdness. A chess player, Nikhail thrives on strategy, and is able to predict the outcomes of decisions made both in games and in life. And with his rich desire to be a positive and productive member of his community, and I knew he’d find the experience of building a school in Nepal rewarding.

Nikhail knew the trip was going to be demanding, but he had no idea how much strength and courage it would require. The dust and smoke of daily life in Kharula caused his asthma to intensify, and he labored to breathe for nearly the entire trip. But Nikhail’s primary concern was not for himself, but for the efforts of his teammates, his friends, his host family, and the children of Kharula to construct the school. Nikhail’s bravery was profoundly inspiring.

While in Nepal, Nikhail was deeply influenced by Lilla Choudhury, a village girl not much younger than himself whom he lived with. Nikhail at first attempted clumsily to communicate with Lilla using language, but eventually found that they share a common interest in games.

Lilla Choudhury, shown here with a village infant.

The turning point, Nikhail tells me, was one they played Connect Four one evening. Towards the end of the game, each player had 5 chips left, and Nikhail counted out the remaining moves on the board to see who would win. Lilla simultaneously did the same thing. They recognized the fate of the game at the exact same moment. “We really were able to communicate without language,” Nikhail says. “I made a friend without words.” Nikhail realized that Lilla is an incredibly smart young woman who simply doesn’t have access to education; he could feel his perspective shifting as he recognized the connection between his own life and the lives of millions of people like Lilla without many opportunities.

Nikhail adds that his trip to Nepal has motivated him to get involved at a global level. “When I went there I really liked the people. I didn’t believe that I would connect with them the way I did. Now I need to find a way to help people in developing countries.” I have no doubt that Nikhail will do just that! His courage and the manner in which his vision has expanded truly embodies the essence of buildOn.

For Kasiemobi Udo-okoye, community service has never been easy–but it is necessary. One of the student speakers at our buildOn Dinner in San Francisco last month, Kasie has transcended remarkable personal trials to become one of the most active of our west coast high school students. “It’s difficult to go to service after a long day of school and then come home afterwards to cook dinner, care for my brother, take care of the house, and do homework for seven classes,” she says. But she adds, “I have never regretted giving my time to buildOn, because doing it has made me a complete human being.” Read the entirety of Kasie’s inspirational speech below!

Good evening. My name is Kasiemobi Udo-okoye, I’m a senior at St. Mary’s College High School in Berkeley, I live in Oakland, and I’ve been in buildOn since my freshman year, 2007 and an officer since 2008. I’m the first-generation American daughter of a Nigerian mother, who raises me and my four-year-old brother by herself.

I want to make it clear that being in buildOn has never been effortless for me. Because my mom has two jobs, I help raise my little brother when he’s not in school– meaning that I haven’t had a free weekend or holiday since I was in the sixth grade, when my brother was born. Up until very recently my mother was an illegal immigrant, and we’ve dealt with abuse, poverty, homelessness, and the threat of separation. Even now that our life is more stable, the ever mounting pressures of school, and my mother and brother’s dependence upon me, make it difficult to be a fully participating member of buildOn.

It’s difficult to go to service after a long day of school and then come home afterwards to cook dinner, care for my brother, take care of the house, and do homework for seven classes. In addition to the difficulties I face at home and at school, there are emotional difficulties as well. It’s intimidating to step outside of my own problems and approach the problems of others. It’s a lot of work and the only person who can really keep me consistently motivated and excited about it is me.

So why bother? Why do I do it? I’m not always sure, but one of the things that keeps me motivated is my ongoing service project, which buildOn introduced me to: tutoring and supervising kids at St. Martin DePorres school in Oakland. Each weekday from three o’clock to six o’clock, I become responsible for fifteen kids in the kindergarten class. I become at least five different people: maid, disciplinarian, paper puppet doctor, “it” (during tag), and trained parent negotiator (because some people just can’t be convinced that their kid needs more tutoring or can’t handle cheese).

The best thing about the job is that the kids are amazing, walking bundles of manic energy. I love them. I knew I was a positive influence when one of my kids, Josue, who hated math before I came and was constantly in trouble for bullying, started being commended by his teachers for his class work. By my second month he was playing happily with the other kids. He knew I cared about him. “Thanks for being my best friend, Kasie,” he said.

What I gain from buildOn is firsthand experience and evidence of the fact that my love for people is valuable not just because it’s pleasant or moral, but because it effectively makes tangible changes for good. Genuine respect for human beings is a mechanism for shaping my reality. I believe that empathy and firsthand experience in the community are critical to create a fully good person.

I have never regretted giving my time to buildOn, because doing it has made me a complete human being. I have a strong influence on my world and the part I play in it. This power and perspective came from the same source, which I cultivated in buildOn: caring. You’re nothing until you find your give-a-damn, the motivation you have for going through life, the ability to get over yourself and just care. buildOn is where I’ve found mine, and I can only hope that it helps other kids find theirs too.

This year the New York office had a huge turnover rate, so Alex became a major team player in training and mentoring new staff.  When the buildOn team received the Youth Engagement Zone grant, she was redeployed to recruit students to get involved and has been running a lot of the programs related to the grant.  In March she organized a service day with only two weeks notice. The event had approximately 160 buildOn members working on five different community projects across the Bronx. It was a big deal because a film crew and several people came to witness the event. “Alex did an incredible job and it was a big success,” Missy said. “That summarizes how she is with everything.”

One of Alexandria Ballard's favorite memories was a Secret Santa swap with the buildOn staff.

Years worked at buildOn: 2 years

What were you doing before you joined buildOn?

I had recently graduated from University of Michigan and I had a summer internship in New York. I was working with College Summit, which prepares high school students for college. And I started working with buildOn in October 2009.

What do you bring to buildOn?

I think I bring a lot of positive energy, being optimistic, and I think it’s important to have that for this job. Sometimes it’s challenging when dealing with a lot of issues in the school, but we’re able to still be positive and motivate the students, and think of creative ways to recruit students and keep them in the project. And whenever I’m in the schools I’ll say hi to everyone and people know me for being an energetic and enthusiastic person. I have a great presence in the school and it’s because of my positivity and ability to make the program work.

How has buildOn changed your life?

I’ve never looked at the importance of education abroad in the way that I see it now since I’ve never been outside of North America. I’ve never been able to see the disparities and challenges within third world countries in other parts of the world. I’ve learned not to take the things that I have been blessed with for granted, such as a family that loves me, and an education that so many people don’t have. I’m fortunate to have buildOn to know these things, and to share that with other people.

What are some of your favorite memories working with buildOn?

The year-end celebration. It brought everyone together from the entire region. We were at a recreation center and we had a DJ and food. This is a regional project where the students are highlighted for their service and commitment. There are three awards that we give out to the students during that time. It felt like a party, and they dressed up really nice for it. I’m looking forward to it being even better this year.

Also, with the New York staff we had our Secret Santa giveaway. We were in a small café in Chinatown where we meet at every Friday, but we decided to do it differently that Friday. We were able to give each other small gifts that we made on our own… the gifts had to be handmade gifts. Matt (Pryfogle) was my Secret Santa and he made me this bag out of colorful tape.

Complete this sentence: buildOn is… a family. Is a group of people working together to make a difference in the lives of not only high school students but the community as a whole; to be mentors and role models and communicate the confidence within themselves to boost their self esteem, to be leaders in their community.

Read Part I of Brett McNaught’s recent journey to Misomali in Malawi, the site of our first school in Africa. Part I describes how the school was constructed amid political upheaval and widespread epidemics; our CEO and founder himself contracted malaria while on the site. Part II continues with an update on the state of the village in 2011.

Ellen Misomali, now 19, was one when buildOn's school was built. She went through grades 1-8 in her village.

As I made my way through the bush I ruminated on these events and wondered what I would find in Misomali. Would anyone remember buildOn? Had our methodology impacted the village with the same strength we see in buildOn communities today?

Upon arriving, I was greeted with warmth and gratitude. I happily discovered that Chief Misomali, the figurehead who’d been challenged in the early 90s, was still alive and more respected than ever. I first introduced myself as a member of buildOn/Building With Books, but no one seemed to remember our organization or efforts. After thinking for a moment, I mentioned the name of our founder, Jim Ziolkowski; there were great exclamations immediately. “Is he still alive?” a few villagers asked. I was intensely moved by their recollection of Jim’s illness all those years ago. He may have brushed shoulders with death, but his efforts to bring education to Misomali touched many lives.

I told everyone that Jim was doing fine, and the villagers were very happy and thankful to hear about him and about buildOn’s subsequent success all over the world. I then began speaking to older community members to see if anyone could offer a sense of how our school had affected the village over time. But the most inspiring testimony wound up coming from Chief Misomali’s 19 year old daughter.

The story of the first buildOn school is a part of Misomali's official history.

Ellen Misomali was only one year old when our first school was built. She’s now 19, attending 12th grade classes at a secondary school nearby, and hoping to go to a teacher’s college after she graduates. Ellen attended every grade from one through eight in Misomali itself. Our one single school had eventually blossomed into a 10 classroom campus that currently teaches 992 children daily, 47% of them girls.

Furthermore, the village built some of these schools independently. And over the years a secondary school had also opened nearby, giving kids the opportunity to attend the 12th grade and then go on to college. Despite the significant hardship experienced during that first construction, our methodology had enhanced the village’s confidence and illustrated how much can truly be achieved by working together.

Ellen shared with me a written history of Misomali that every member of the village has adopted as their heritage and communal story – I was honored that the completion of buildOn’s first school is cited as a pivotal point in Misomali’s narrative. It has, in a way, become a part of their mythology, a part of the way that they perceive the world.

Another village leader, Chief Romoliwa, sums up the school’s significance in a manner that needs no
embellishment:

“This school being built changed everything in the village. Its impact has been seen in every aspect of life. Kids now have a chance to go through secondary school. Five people have become teachers now and many more will graduate from secondary school and go on to college over the next few years. I have witnessed a great change in the people. Women are more knowledgeable about health and healthy babies. Families have increased their income and opportunities. And the community has gained a greater status in the region with the school. The first school was the beginning of all this.”

Children in Misomali still attend our original school, seen behind them.

buildOn International VP Brett McNaught tells the story of our first school in Africa, and what buildOn found when it visited the village earlier this year. Today’s installment focuses on the original construction of the school, and tomorrow we’ll share Brett’s thoughts on the state of the village now.

buildOn schools have helped hundreds of villages worldwide take those crucial first steps out of extreme poverty. The road to prosperity and reform is a long and arduous one for many of these communities, to be sure, but the start is often more difficult than the journey.

Our school in Misomali, above, was only completed by the resilience and dedication of the buildOn staff and the local volunteers.

The first steps that Misomali, a village in Malawi, Africa, took on the way out of extreme poverty are among the most memorable in buildOn’s history. It was the site of our first school on the continent; buildOn itself (then called Building with Books) was just beginning to take shape, but the core pieces of the methodology were already being put to the test. And while our experience there was arguably one of the most discouraging our organization would have, it was also an early indicator that our methodology was solid enough to withstand any pressures. We had no idea, in fact, just how well it would succeed in this tiny, troubled village.

Earlier this year I visited Misomali to observe firsthand how the school had grown over the last two decades and look beyond the usual statistics we collect. The village was still very remote. I had hoped that some of the dirt roads I was told to go down would have been paved over the past 18 years, but they were not. On my drive to the village I spoke with our CEO and founder, Jim Ziolkowski, over the phone to get directions while he was driving to one of our schools in the Bronx. I could sense the emotion in his voice and hear the memories welling up in his eyes as he offered surprisingly accurate directions to Misomali using natural landmarks.

When Jim arrived in Misomali in 1993 to build a school brick by brick with his brother Dave, his friend Eric, and Marc Friedman (who would later become our COO), it was their first time on African soil. And their determination to bring gender-equal education to southern Malawi was met with unthinkable challenges. The country was in the midst of political upheaval. Authority was being questioned everywhere, including within Misomali, which made community organization a struggle. The AIDS epidemic was quickly reaching unprecedented heights throughout the continent, and malaria was also widespread. Several laborers and friends of the buildOn team would succumb to these illnesses before and shortly after the school was finished. Both Jim and his brother contracted malaria and came within a hairsbreadth of death. It was only through the iron-clad determination of the buildOn team and the Misomali villagers that the school was completed at all.

Chief Misomali greeting Brett McNaught as he enters the village. Read Part II for the whole story!

As I made my way through the bush I ruminated on these events and wondered what I would find in Misomali. Would anyone remember buildOn? Had our methodology impacted the village with the same strength we see in buildOn communities today?

Check back tomorrow for the second installment of the Misomali story and learn what Brett discovered when he entered the village!

buildOn’s International Programs methodology is designed to include women in every aspect of its work. In places where women are frequently marginalized and have fewer opportunities, buildOn opens the door to personal and community development. Here are some photos from women in buildOn programs who have walked through those doors with grace, dignity, and perseverance.

• Signing for a School in Haiti

  http://buildonfromthefield.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/buildOn-be-counted2-e1304702575354.jpg

  There is no age limit for women who participate in buildOn programs. buildOn has completed two
  school blocks in Rousseau Village in Haiti in 3 years. The woman in this photo helped build
  both school blocks, and proudly signed the buildOn covenant with her fingerprint both times.

  

• Community Development in Nepal

  http://buildonfromthefield.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/BWB-Nepal-CEP-5.jpg

  During the first few months of buildOn’s Community Education Program, participants take stock
  of local assets and identify areas in their community that are in need of development. The women
  in this photo are taking part in a community mapping exercise designed to help them decide the most
  important needs of their village. To date, more than 2,700 women have participated in buildOn’s
  Community Education Program in Nepal.

  

• A Nicaraguan Classroom

  http://buildonfromthefield.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/buildOn-Nicaragua-Classroom.jpg

  In the remote areas of Nicaragua, girls’ education is crucial to alleviating poverty. Each day,
  almost 2000 girls attend classes in a buildOn school. Before these schools are built, buildOn forms a
  formal partnership with local mayor’s offices, the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education, and parents to ensure
  improvements in the quality of education, especially for girls. The young girls in this photo were
  attending classes in a private home before buildOn partnered with their community to build a two-classroom school.

  

• Women Volunteers in Chimpinilla

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  During construction, women volunteers participate in every aspect of the project. They are indeed
  key players in the success of our schools: they mix cement, lay bricks, dig foundations, and carry water.
  This photo was taken in Chimpanilla, Nicaragua, where two women worked to cut rebar for the schools’
  beams and pillars.

  

• Lila Guillaume Helps Build in Haiti

  http://buildonfromthefield.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Ravine-Sab-Woman-Volunteer-2.jpg

  Jeunise Guillaume and her mother Lila will always remind me of the strength and leadership
  in the countries where we work. I first met Lila in the village of Ravine Sab, Haiti in 2007.
  She was relentlessly digging a hole for one of the footings of our first three-classroom school
  in her village and she was inspired to help improve education for her 4 children who attended
  the school. One of those children is Jeunise, who not only helped build the school during her free hours,
  but is now attending secondary school in a nearby village.

  

• Jeunise Guillaume From Haiti

  http://buildonfromthefield.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Jeunise3-e1304702795298.jpg

  Jeunise is now attending secondary school after attending (and helping to build) a buildOn school.

  

buildOn alumnus Jowhara Zindani is a global ambassador dedicated to saving the environment. She spearheaded Save Yemen’s Flora & Fauna, an advocacy group that educates the Yemeni community in Dearborn and Hamtramck, Michigan about the importance of sustaining a green environment. They are also spreading awareness about qat, an addictive plant that is cultivated and chewed by the people in Yemen. SYFF mission focuses on Agricultural restoration, Water conservation, Anti-qat mobilization, Reforestation and Education (AWARE).

Jowhara started the initiative as a Facebook page while still an undergrad in 2008, using the social network to recruit students who were equally enthusiastic about saving the environment. Her focus was to reach out to the working class community where she was raised, to those without access to environmental information. She was also concerned about the dependence to qat in her community: People in Yemen traditionally use the plant as a stimulant, but, according to Jowhara, many don’t think it’s addictive. Qat is also a cash crop that takes up a lot of water and “Yemen is the first country threatened to dry out in five years,” Jowhara said.

SYFF recruits experts to give presentations about endangered plants and species, and additionally completes community service, such as clean-ups in Michigan’s gardens. They’ve also traveled to Yemen to plant trees during the rainy season, and have organized an Arbor Day there for the past three years. Now the group is collecting funds from donors for future projects in Yemen.

Jowhara said her passion for community service is tied to her experience with buildOn in Flint, Michigan. “[buildOn] taught me that I can do something and take it and expand it overseas,” Jowhara said.

SYFF is planning a Spring Clean Up from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 14 at Hamtramck and Dearborn, which will be followed up with a Picnic Celebration. Visit the SYFF website for more information and to make a donation.

Current city: Flint, Michigan

High School attended: International Academy in Bloomfield Hills, MI

Years at buildOn: 2002-2005

How did buildOn change your life?
It made me believe that if you put forth time, commitment and dedication you could do anything. It made us look at bigger problems in communities and I grew to know other communities outside of my bubble. It helped you realize you could help someone by doing something so simple and it makes you feel good.

How has buildOn made a difference in your city?
It helps engage the youth and give them something better to do after school instead of going home and watching TV or slacking off. It gives you something to look forward to do after school that’s not school, and get to meet new people who want to do good things.

What are some of your favorite memories working with buildOn?
During my junior year of high school buildOn offered a program for volunteer interns during the summer, and I was accepted. I was working with the medical director of a psychiatric ward.

Besides doing buildOn activities, we did things to help build camaraderie to get to know people from other schools, and I’m really happy I’m still connected to these few individuals. And you stay connected forever.

What have you done since graduating high school?
I went to undergrad at Michigan State University and studied psychology. I also had a specialization in bioethics and health promotion, which influenced my decision to go into public health. I’m applying to medical school and over the year do research on qat… I want SYFF to be the link between the USA and Yemen. I think it’s important to establish communication so we can establish something greater.

Complete this sentence: buildOn is… a powerful inspiration to youth around the world. It teaches members the importance of giving back not only to the local community but to the international one, as well.

As Mother’s Day approaches, we’d like to encourage you to get that special woman in your life a gift that makes a difference. Consider Stella & Dot’s Foundation bracelet. The proceeds of these bracelets go to three nonprofits that support women and children through education and economic empowerment.

Over the past nine months, the company’s 18,000 stylists have raised over $80,000 for buildOn through their bracelets, all of which is going to fund schools in Nicaragua – they almost have enough for three full buildOn schools! Last month we told you about Shaina Haller’s goal to become the top-selling stylist in the fundraiser and win the trip to a buildOn construction site in Nicaragua. Well, she’s going and taking her husband with her to help us build! She ended up raising $2,969. Elizabeth Spivey from South Carolina came in second place and will also accompany Stella & Dot’s CEO Jessica Herrin on their trip in August.

We encourage you to visit Stella & Dot’s website. Remember, there’s only two business days left to shop!

School attendance is a staggering problem among youth living in urban areas today; 20% of all students in New York City alone miss one month of class or more throughout the academic year. Last September, Mayor Bloomberg initiated a new program to help reduce this chronic absenteeism and truancy at 25 targeted high schools. Describing the effort, Bloomberg said: “1,500 students who are most at-risk for attendance problems will be matched with a supportive school mentor, who will work to keep them in school and on track throughout the year. We are also using data and community support groups in new ways.”

buildOn brought extensive experience with teens in cities like the Bronx and Detroit to the Mayor’s initiative. The original plan partnered every chronically absent student with an adult volunteer; we felt, however, that our own buildOn students would make the most effective mentors. We launched a program in January 2011 pairing youth with attendance problems in two NYC high schools with a buildOn mentor from a senior class. These mentors provide peer encouragement and guidance, and have been meeting weekly with a coordinator to assess the strengths and weaknesses they’ve encountered with this approach.

Since February, 51% of our mentees from one high school have improved their attendance.

“The NYC Success Mentor partnership is really exciting for buildOn,” says buildOn’s VP of US Programs Abby Hurst. “This is a great example of youth solving critical social problems and leading change. Through the initiative we are able to provide meaningful ongoing service opportunities in school and the mentors are working to solve chronic absenteeism, which is derailing the school’s educational objectives. This is a win win on many levels.”

Umair Ilyas, the Program Coordinator for this initiative, provided some insight as to how the mentors are forging relationships with the troubled students. “One student, Amaranta, called her mentee directly to find out why he wasn’t coming to school. She found out that her mentee was being picked on, and she spoke with his teachers as a follow-up.” He continues, “Another mentee decided she didn’t want to go to her last period class because she wasn’t ‘feeling well.’ Joann, her mentor, was able to convince her to go to class. Joann stated, ‘It’s only 45 minutes, and it’ll be done before you know it!’”

According to Ilyas, the mentors are discovering that attendance issues often arise due to social and personal problems through which the younger students seek guidance. “This is more than just a fight against absenteeism,” he says. “This is a fight for passion.”

Joann Nguyen, mentioned above by Ilyas, has been keeping a journal of her efforts as a mentor. As with all the volunteer work she completes with buildOn, she feels this opportunity has illustrated her ability to make a difference, and to touch lives. “As a buildOn Success Mentor, I feel like I can change the status quo in the school,” she writes. “I constantly talk with my mentees in between classes to get to know them better. They do not feel intimidated to speak to me because I am their mentor; I will not penalize them for what they feel and what they tell me.”

This is, for many of these students, the first time that a peer has taken a genuine interest in their personal lives, and Joann insists that this one-to-one connection must be built on forgiveness and openness. As Joann beautifully states, “the buildOn Success Mentors initiative gives students a second chance to fix what was wrong, gain a more positive head start, and become better people.”

Banana Kelly’s 9th grade trip on April 27th took us out of the classroom and into one of a handful of local urban farms that are changing access to healthy food in New York City. Partnering with Bronx Green Up, the Youth Engagement Zone’s students ventured to La Finca Del Sur, the Bronx’s first urban farm to be founded and operated entirely by women. Their mission is as simple as it is crucial: they seek to provide the space, resources, and training to produce fresh, affordable, quality food locally. They’ve turned three acres of land in the city into a veritable health food center, including the farm itself, a marketplace, a health & wellness hub, a children’s science program, and a community gathering/performance space.

We’re always seeking role models in service to which we can expose the students at Banana Kelly, and La Finca provided great ones. Near the start of the day, La Finca volunteer Regina Ginyard asked our class to describe the picture that comes to mind when they think of the word “farmer”. Most of them associated the term with white, rustic men – a stereotype Regina herself challenged by being an urban woman of color. Seeing an individual they could identify with inhabiting the role of farmer and gardener was a subtle inspiration – paired with the fact that the students participated in wood chip mulching, compost spreading, and weeding, the day provided a snapshot of nutritional and community confidence.

In this photo by student Rebecca Ruiz, a 9th grader from Banana Kelly transports soil.

Student Tanjimun Nahar reported that this was the first time she had ever planted seeds in a garden, and it made her proud to think that someone would be eating from a harvest to which she’d contributed. Rebecca Ruiz, a student with attendance issues, commented that “it was fun and showed me that I like being in school.” Catherine Rodruguez liked the work so much that she has decided to apply for a part-time summer job at La Finca.

Tanjimun Nahar plants seeds that will grow into fresh vegetables for her neighborhood. Photo by student Rebecca Ruiz.

A while back when we were looking for buildOn advisors to profile for the series, we asked buildOn staff for recommendations. Joanna Branch, Pennsylvania’s Regional Supervisor, sent us an email touting Maeve O’Hara, a math teacher at Bodine High School for International Affairs. “She really gets our program,” Joanna wrote. “She joins us for service regularly and always goes above and beyond.  She’s totally energetic, passionate about education, AMAZING and supportive.”

We called Maeve just a couple of days before she headed out to build her second buildOn school abroad, this time in Nepal. During our interview she managed to make photocopies for her students while simultaneously giving us thoughtful answers for this profile, then promptly sent us photos of herself. Multitasking while under stress after a full day of work: that’s what makes our advisors truly amazing.

Maeve O'Hara (on the left) during her trip to Mali.

What are your thoughts about this second trip?

I’m really excited about it. I’ve felt really prepared and I’ve been preparing the students for it, but I’ve never been to Asia and it’s a completely different and new experience. I absolutely love embracing new cultures and explaining them to people. [The chance to build school abroad with buildOn] enables students to truly be immersed and to embrace the cultures of their new home for two weeks.

How did you get involved with buildOn?

I was a new teacher at my high school and they needed a new sponsor for buildOn. I heard that the organization was about education and global awareness and that every year they take students to developing countries to build a school, and I said, “Me, me, me, that’s right up my alley.” I love service. And it was it was just a great fit. I was a lot like these buildOn kids myself in high school. I went to Ecuador on an immersion mission trip in high school, and the idea of traveling abroad and bridging cultural gaps and truly seeing how others live is really important to me. And I know the difference it can make in students’ lives because of the difference it made in mine.

How has buildOn changed your life?

I’d say that as a teacher it enables me to share my love of service, culture, education, global awareness and all those things that buildOn stands for in a way I couldn’t have otherwise. I’m a math teacher. buildOn helps me bring that other side of myself to the classroom and I’m really thankful for that. So my kids know that I do African dance, and know that I do service on the weekend, and know that I have traveled to many different places in the world and seen how people lived because I’m able to put that in the spotlight in the program. It’s not about me, but it really helps foster meaningful relationships with kids beyond mathematics. Seeing them as well-rounded human beings is a really important thing, and with my work in buildOn they can see me in that way.

What are some of your favorite memories working with buildOn?

The Atlantic City beach sweeps are really fun because kids get out of the city and do service, and they’re having fun. And they see, oh my goodness, all this trash is on the beach and people shouldn’t smoke because there are cigarette butts everywhere. I love seeing that knowledge by being awakened.

In regards to my school building trip to Mali, my favorite memory was one night when the women of my village brought pots of water out and started playing just on these gourds of water, and we just started dancing – just the women and children. It felt like out of nowhere these women were just emerging and it was totally fabulous. It was magical to be there. I studied African dance in college and it became very near and dear to my heart. Anytime there was dancing in the village it was like this piece of me was coming alive for the first time and I was so deeply, profoundly happy.

Complete this sentence: buildOn is… action. buildOn creates space for students to explore who they are and who they want to become in the world.

We’re very excited to announce that our founder and CEO Jim Ziolkowski will be contributing occasional op-ed pieces to Huffington Post Impact, an editorial section of HuffPo concerning social issues and non-profits. In his first essay, Jim takes a look at the recent Greg Mortenson controversy from his perspective as an international development non-profit executive, and hopes that disillusioned feelings towards Three Cups of Tea or the Central Asia Institute will not deter anyone’s efforts to bring education to those who need it most around the globe.

Please share Jim’s message with your respective networks, and look out for his next piece on HuffPo!

Here’s an excerpt:

The allegations made in the 60 Minutes piece about the veracity of Three Cups of Tea left many of us with a feeling of betrayal and a sense of doubt. The CBS story raised important questions about transparency, integrity and even the feasibility of actually building schools in impoverished countries. The accusations regarding Pennies for Peace and how donations from children may not have been put to good use are most troubling. With thousands of school children across the country raising money for non-profits, the situation raises larger questions about the line between involvement and exploitation.

Having founded (and still leading) an organization that mobilizes urban youth in the U.S. to contribute intensive local community service while building schools in developing countries, I feel compelled to weigh in. Through buildOn, American youth from some of the toughest high schools in the U.S. are transforming their own communities through service and are changing the world by building schools. A bold statement, but it can backed up with verifiable metrics and outside evaluations. Allow me to explain, using BuildOn’s after-school programs as an example.

And another:

One of the important lessons from the 60 Minutes piece is that you should NOT place your trust only in the word of a nonprofit CEO. Visit the projects and verify the results for yourself. If that’s not possible, look at the metrics, study outside evaluations of the impact, study the results and scrutinize the financial statements. If that’s not possible, you should not contribute to that organization.

Please, do not lose faith in nonprofits or the ability of American youth to change their communities and the world. Instead, elevate your expectations and demand more from not-for-profit leaders. If you don’t, the children and communities who are in greatest need of education will pay the price.

After more than 5 years at buildOn, I’ve become a firm believer that one of the outcomes of our work is self-confidence. Those who participate in our programs both domestically and internationally are provided the opportunity to gain new experience, and with that experience comes the belief in one’s ability to maximize life’s potential and address daily challenges.

Here are a few images that remind me of the confidence that results from participating in buildOn programs.

• Nan Sab Women Volunteers

  http://buildonfromthefield.org/wp-content/uploads/slideshow-gallery/Nan Sab Women Volunteers.jpg

  This is one of the first pictures I ever took for buildOn. It was 2007, we were in a distant fishing
  village named Nan Sab. It was challenging on many levels, but our new staff and the village leaders
  were able to persevere in the end. By the end of the project, the community members were
  confident that they could work together to improve their own lives, and both our Haitian staff
  and myself gained confidence in implementing buildOn's methodology.

  

• Torrey Hubbard Ambassador Trek

  http://buildonfromthefield.org/wp-content/uploads/slideshow-gallery/Torrey Hubbard Ambassador Trek.jpg

  In February, I was able to spend a few days with a group of buildOn students from Connecticut
  who traveled to Nicaragua to help build a school. I’m always amazed at how quickly
  the students find their footing in a village. After two weeks of hard labor, beans and rice, and
  sleeping in a hammock, there’s no wonder why many Trek students return home and write their
  college essays about what they learned while living and working in a rural village.

  

• Nicaragua Trek for Knowledge

  http://buildonfromthefield.org/wp-content/uploads/slideshow-gallery/Nicaragua Trek for Knowledge.jpg

  In 2007, I helped lead the Torrey and Hubbard families on a Trek to Nicaragua. Both families
  were engaged throughout, and enthusiastic about buildOn’s methodology.
  Having never been on a Trek before, everyone in the group seemed a little nervous about the unknown.
  But after a few days, the apprehension dissolved and both families were feeling fully integrated in
  the village and working hard on the worksite.

  

• Wilma Victoria, CEP Student in Malawi

  http://buildonfromthefield.org/wp-content/uploads/slideshow-gallery/Wilma Victoria, CEP Student in Malawi.jpg

  Wilma's image comes to mind when I think about how buildOn programs help instill confidence in people.
  Following the construction of a two-classroom primary school in her Malawian village, Wilma enrolled
  in buildOn’s community education program. At the age of 63, she overcame her inability to read and
  write. As she told me back then, buildOn helped her gain the confidence to travel to cities and towns
  without being ashamed to ask people how to read street signs.

  

• Woman Volunteer in Nepal

  http://buildonfromthefield.org/wp-content/uploads/slideshow-gallery/Woman Volunteer in Nepal.jpg

  Women in developing countries are key stakeholders in buildOn’s success. Our methodology
  stresses the importance of women’s participation in every aspect of a project. At buildOn, women
  volunteers don’t just carry water and make food for the work teams, they do the same jobs as men.
  The woman in this photo was helping one of our masons lay bricks in Nepal, something she had
  never done before.

  

But success has not been easy for Donovan. His family has lived under the poverty line since he was born, and there were times where they lived out of their car or without electricity. Despite these hardships, he remained optimistic and dedicated himself to his studies and to service. He spoke about these experiences last week at the Michigan Nonprofit Association’s Celebration of Giving and Volunteering event on the steps of the state capitol. The event was held by the Michigan Community Service Commission to honor Michigan’s leaders in community service.

In his speech he said, “I always knew that having a life was the only way I’d ever be able to live. I wondered why things happened the way they did. Why was there trash on the side of the freeways? Why were there so many abandoned lots and homes in the neighborhood? And why is it even though we live in the richest country in the world, there are still so many of us living on the streets, wondering where our next meal will come from? I still don’t have the answers to these questions, but I always found my own solutions in doing my part to give back.”

Donavan McKinney talks to Lloyd Carr, former football coach for the University of Michigan.

Current city: I’m a freshman studying Political Science and Economics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

High School attended: Renaissance High School in Detroit, Mich.

Years at buildOn: Four.

How did you get interested in community service?

I had this motivation to (make a change), because no one else was going to do it. I didn’t grow up with a lot. My family and I were always living under the poverty line. I felt like other families, especially in my own neighborhood, were going through the same things. I realized that no one was going to help us out. I realized I had to do everything I can.

How did buildOn change your life?

The experience of trek was amazing. It was one of the best experiences of my life. It really changes your perspective on life. It made me be more grateful and not take things for granted. When I came home from trek I ran upstairs and I kissed my toilet. I was so crazy. A running water system: they don’t have that in Nicaragua.

How has buildOn made a difference in your city?

It partners up with every organization I can think of. I remember doing some community service at the Detroit Veteran’s Center about every year I was there. They have a soup kitchen where we pass out food.  [Volunteers are involved with] planting trees, making Detroit more beautiful, painting murals, cleaning parks, going to senior citizens homes and talking to seniors who want to talk and don’t have anyone to talk to. buildOn is just there when the city needs it.

Complete this sentence: buildOn is… awesome. Everyone should do it. It has given so much to me.

What have you done since graduating high school?

I’m coming back as a student leader in the MCSP (Michigan Community Scholars Program). It’s like a service learning community where you live in a dorm with other people who are in MCSP and take classes together.

In MSCSP, I’m working with Brightmoorr Youth Garden on the west side of Detroit. People in the community created their own garden. They’re trying to grow their own food and sell it in their local markets. It’s a profit sharing thing where people can harvest their own crops and share the profits among kids in community. It gives kids something to do; learn a work ethic and make money while doing it. It keeps them off the streets and gives them the opportunity to make their own money if their parents are struggling.

Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

I graduate in 2014, hopefully with a double major in political science and economics or a public policy degree. And then I want to go to law school… I got this whole plan where I wanted to probably run for political office one day. I feel like my whole goal is to make change through policy, maybe at the state level as a state representative; I feel that’s how to make major change in Detroit. I want to do something tied to the community because once you get to the Federal level a lot of people get in the way.

The allegations made will likely cause a severe breach of trust and could shake stakeholder confidence in international development work and in the not-for-profit community. If this happens, the children and communities who are in greatest need of education will pay the price and suffer the most.

As you know, we strongly believe that integrity and transparency are among the most critical assets of any not-for-profit organization. buildOn is diligent in providing complete transparency and has earned the unwavering trust of our stakeholders. We’ve won this trust by providing mountains of data and metrics that support the results of our programs. In the last twelve months alone, Brandeis University and the Academy for Educational Development (AED) have conducted comprehensive evaluations of our programs in the U.S. and in developing countries. They have produced extensive reports that go well beyond validating the results of building 400 schools around the world and running after school programs in 118 urban high schools in some of the toughest neighborhoods in the U.S.

Internationally, AED found that, among other important results, buildOn programs “have significantly increased access to and quality of education and have inspired communities to send their children to school,” and that buildOn has built “a foundation from which [they] can advocate for school enrollment and gender equity in education.” (Read the full evaluation commissioned by the GE Foundation.)

Further, American students, board members and donors visited and worked side-by-side with local community members to help build 50% of all buildOn schools constructed last year. This is significant since we are working in very remote regions within some of the economically poorest countries on the planet.

In the U.S., Brandeis University identified “academic engagement, mentoring and hope as outcomes of buildOn’s after-school programs, and found evidence in the literature to support a causal link between these outcomes and improved academic achievement.” For instance, buildOn is working at Jane Addams High School in the South Bronx—one of the lowest performing schools in New York City. At this failing school, buildOn recruited some of the lowest performing students for our programs. In one year alone, 37% of buildOn students improved their attendance compared to only 7% of students in a comparison group. 64% improved their GPAs. Read the full report here.

In addition, at buildOn we track our programs at all levels of engagement. We know exactly how many people contributed how many days to build every buildOn school. We also know how many children and adults attend these schools every day. We know how many urban American youth are involved in our programs and how many hours of service they contribute every week.

We also take financial management and our responsibility to our donors very seriously. We have earned the unqualified rating (the highest rating possible) by certified public accounting firms on our audit for 15 straight years. (Up until 1996, we were not big enough to warrant a full financial statement audit. During that time we had the CPA firm BDO Siedman conduct a full compilation of our financial statements.) Additionally, we have earned the highest ranking on fiscal responsibility from Charity Navigator for seven straight years, since they began rating non-profits. In 2010, 88% of every dollar spent went directly to program costs. All of this puts buildOn in an elite category in terms of fiscal management and resource allocation.

We are proud of our programs and our transparency, and invite anyone interested to review our results and financial practices. Further, we are eager to share our program methodology so that our success may be replicated by others. We believe that trust is the cornerstone of our success. We work hard to win that trust every day.

The objective of the service learning we complete at Banana Kelly’s Youth Engagement Zone is a challenging one: We seek to engage students who have reason to be deeply disengaged. Some of them have chaotic home lives, others are disillusioned by the violence and crime rampant in their neighborhoods — all of which, naturally, affects academic performance. Our school-wide service days are an attempt to transcend some of these issues by encouraging students to ask questions about the difficult environments they inhabit.

A student's rendering of a Bronx neighborhood

We’ve now engaged the entirety of Banana Kelly High School — meaning all students and all teachers — in three full service days, and each one has built upon the goals and methodology of the last. Our first took place right before 2010′s winter break, and was conducted entirely in-class: Students made alphabet “Books of Hope” for villagers in Haiti, as well as holiday cards for senior citizens in the area. The next project, Paint4Change, was a mural painting activity held on February 18th, and took Banana Kelly out of the classroom while remaining within school grounds.

On April 15th, however, at our most recent service day, the high school’s entire student body and teaching staff left the campus to interact more intimately with the Bronx. Groups of 9th and 10th graders were each assigned city blocks to observe; they recorded their impressions, created artistic maps, and shared their vision for future community development. 11th and 12th graders spent the day working in local gardens such as William Rainey Garden, Brook Garden, Padre Plaza, and La Finca Del Sur Urban Farm.

A student observes a block in the Bronx

With the neighborhood map exercise in particular, students who would not typically be engaged in service or inquiry-based learning considered like never before what makes a city functional. Brittany Williams noted in her observations the lack of plant life on the street she visited; she further concluded that the addition of trees could change the block merely “by blooming”. Another student, Jaylene David, wrote that she thought nothing was “good about the neighborhood because of the trash everywhere”. Responding to the question “What is missing,” she simply said “People who care.”

We reminded each of the 9th and 10th graders that Banana Kelly is full of people who do care — people able to make a difference. While the younger grades examined their community, the upper grades worked in it, illustrating the important connection between observation, planning, and action.

After the service portion of the day the entire school was rewarded with a pizza lunch, and even students who normally avoid the cafeteria could be seen eating alongside their classmates. Teachers, too, approached me afterward, saying they felt that “hanging out” with their students and “sharing the experience” of the day ineffably strengthened their relationships with them. Indeed, though the school was empty for a few hours while outside neighborhoods were visited, the community of Banana Kelly may have been developed most profoundly.

On Saturday, April 9th, students from buildOn’s afterschool service program planted over 140 trees in the University District area of Detroit, Michigan. Working with foresters from The Greening of Detroit, a nonprofit devoted to abetting and inspiring the reforestation of the city, students dug, planted, watered, and mulched across 12 city blocks in addition to learning how to spot infections in aging trees. This project engaged over 150 local high schoolers.

After the project, the students were asked to connect the reforestation of Detroit to the greater goal of rebuilding the city socially. This objective was conceptualized visually as a buildOn tree with “branches” representing responsibility, compassion, inspiration, and empowerment. All the students came to the front of the room and placed their thumbprint on the buildOn tree, linking their efforts with those of the illiterate villagers that fingerprint buildOn’s school building covenant in developing countries.

A Student Adds his Fingerprint Signature to the buildOn Tree

In a city like Detroit, greenery is considered precious, and the students took pride in the ecological benefits of their service. “We did something good for the environment,” said one buildOn program member. “Something that you could immediately see.”

Mark’s involvement with buildOn runs deep. He and his niece, Bridget Webb, raised money and built a school in Nicaragua during September 2007. Since then Mark has truly been an ambassador for buildOn. He and members of his leadership team at British Airways are going to break ground on another school in Nicaragua in June.

“BA is rolling up their sleeves and breaking ground on a school to demonstrate the commitment we have to buildOn,” Mark said. “Hopefully this will lead to a greater knowledge of buildOn for the BA community where another eight or ten ambassadors will experience it directly and help spread the word.”

Time affiliated with buildOn: 5 to 6 years.

How were you introduced to buildOn?

A friend of mine went on a trek to Mali. After hearing his experiences, and ultimately meeting Marc Friedman (buildOn’s Chief Operating Officer), I was interested in getting more involved. In 2006, my niece was fresh out of college and I was on sabbatical. We raised the funds and we traveled to Nicaragua. I was really impressed and inspired by how organized buildOn was in the country, with the selection of the village, the mobilization of villagers, their appreciation, and obviously the need was stunning. That was a very satisfying experience.

I raised funds to do two more schools, and then I joined British Airways in November 2009. I figured out a way to get BA involved with buildOn — and that was by initially providing free tickets, business class and first class tickets, as part of fundraising work at buildOn’s events. My partners and I have also donated our use of a ski house in Colorado for a few events. Lastly, I invited Marc (Friedman) and Jim (Ziolkowski, buildOn’s Founder and CEO) to come out here to BA in New York and meet some of the senior executives, to explain the mission of buildOn. Based on that, we ended up making a commitment in the form of free tickets to take high school students to Africa this year.

How have you seen your contribution with buildOn make a difference?

I’ve seen it make a difference with my own eyes when I was in the village and saw the need and the level of excitement among the villagers at the prospect of a brand new schoolhouse.

What buildOn initiatives mean the most to you?

I think buildOn has a unique and compelling combination of domestic inner-city afterschool programs, that make a huge difference to the students who get involved, as well as the international programs, which make an enormous difference in the lives of villagers who benefit from a proper school. I think that it’s made a tremendous impact. And when you bring them together, it’s magnificent; when you take those inner city kids and actually bring them to a poor country it empowers them and it changes them forever.

Complete this sentence: buildOn is… working very well.

As buildOn’s new Global Airline Sponsor, British Airways is donating 50 round-trip airline tickets to Malawi to buildOn’s after-school service program. A group of students left from Chicago, IL for Malawi this week using this generous gift.

“British Airways has always been a proud supporter of causes like buildOn,” says Simon Talling-Smith, Executive Vice President, British Airways Americas. “We are a global airline and believe that there is an important part that we can play in improving people’s lives around the world. buildOn does exactly that with an impressive record of success and we are delighted to partner with this unique organization.”

In addition to sponsoring the students’ airfare, British Airways’ employees will raise funds and travel to construct a buildOn school in Nicaragua. Through this partnership employees will also contribute significant volunteer hours alongside buildOn students in their local communities.

A group of high school students are en route to a Malawi village now on British Airways tickets.

“We are extremely excited by this powerful and inspiring partnership with British Airways,” says buildOn Founder & CEO Jim Ziolkowski. “We are honored that they are not only supporting our programs with the donation of airfare, but that their employees will be working side-by-side with our students and in the villages to help end the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations.”

To learn more about British Airways visit: www.ba.com

In Mali children like these will walk miles in order to attend school in other villages.

Many don’t realize that buildOn’s work in remote villages around the world doesn’t end with the completion of a school. Most of our schools are built according to government guidelines so that the countries in question furnish (and support) local teachers that will educate these communities. But in order to ensure our program’s success, we continually keep track of each school’s progress. We analyze enrollment numbers to see if girls and boys are being taught in equal numbers. We also look at what grades are filling up and determine what villages need additional buildings. We know the importance of every single classroom in our mission to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education. And very often, these statistics tell remarkable stories about the impact that a single school can have on impoverished regions.

We’ve been building schools in Mali for over a decade, but perhaps the most memorable of these was our very first. Nestled in the very remote village of Massamakana, the structure was completed in May of 1998, fulfilling a widespread desire among local residents to better themselves and their world through the power of learning. I was unsurprised that almost immediately after the school opened, enrollment exploded. And within only a few years, they would add more buildings in order to meet the demand for higher grade levels.

A decade went by with steadily increasing numbers. We were impressed every time our contacts in the region reported back — the people of Massamakana were truly dedicating to learning. But then, unexpectedly and without warning, enrollment in the tiny village began to dip.

Puzzled and worried that something had happened to make the residents of Massamakana disillusioned towards education, I made the trip out to the village myself to seek an explanation. On the way I was reminded of how truly remote the area is – we were far out in the bush where rarely-sighted chimps and monkeys roam the trees.

A completed buildOn school in Mali

I finally entered Massamakana and was relieved to discover that its school buildings and programs were intact and in use. I began talking to elders who I thought might have witnessed the reason for the decline in enrollment numbers. I explained my confusion to them: Massamakana’s schools were producing the highest test results in the region, and a lot of kids were moving to other, bigger cities to go to high school. So why the shift?

After a few conversations, the answer began to take shape. buildOn built the first school in Massamakana in 1998, and it filled up immediately. Another school was constructed shortly after for grades 4-6, and it, too, was soon over-capacity. These schools were not only educating Massamakana’s children — all the villages in the region were sending their kids on very long walks to attend.

Eventually, these surrounding villages became motivated by the changes the schools brought to Massamakana. They organized, lobbied, and got schools of their own built by other NGOs. And, slowly, children from miles away who’d been journeying to class in Massamakana didn’t have to walk so far. Enrollment became more evenly spread throughout the region, and the student-to-teacher ratio improved. From one single school came very many.

buildOn recognizes not only a desperate need for education worldwide but a deep desire for education to harness and convert into action. The above story illustrates how buildOn’s programs truly engage leaders who, once given the proper tools, change their situation and inspire others to do the same. We were proud to have been a part of Massamakana’s first steps out of extreme poverty — steps that that made an entire region rethink its realm of possibility.

Our honoree for the evening was Jessica Herrin, CEO of Stella & Dot. The philanthropic arm of Herrin’s company this year donated all proceeds from the sale of a specialized line of bracelets to three organizations who empower women worldwide: buildOn, Accion USA, and Girls Inc. (Read more about the bracelets.)

Alum Haben Girma, who overcame two sensory disabilities to win a scholarship to Harvard Law, provided an inspiring personal narrative. High school student Kasie Udo-okoye also delivered a speech about her motivation to continue working in her community with buildOn despite the challenges of helping to raise her young brother while her single mother works two jobs.

Thanks to all who contributed to the evening’s success!

Students Plan the Tree Planting Project

For the last two weeks my blog posts have described specific service learning activities at Banana Kelly’s Youth Engagement Zone. The goal of these, as we’ve seen, is to engage our students within their own environments and expose them to opportunities for success. Our internships, for example, are preparing participants for conflicts in the workplace. And a recent trip to Bronx Community College taught the importance of sustainable living while suggesting that higher education is well within the reach of those who want it.

This week, however, our service project encouraged not only interaction with our surrounding Bronx community but environmental awareness. Partnering with MillionTreesNYC, on April 6th we brought the entire 9th grade class to Garrison Park to plant trees. Garrison Park is a former “brown-field” site—essentially an abandoned, unused lot–and I knew the students would respond to the themes of rejuvenation and communal strength implicit in this task. Our day engaged 65 students who, throughout a total of 99 hours of service learning, planted 80 trees and 1,000 herbaceous plants. These included green ash, birch, red oak, swamp white oak, aspen and persimmon trees as well as asters, goldenrod, clover, sunflowers and Joe Pye weed.

One Student Digs in to the Project

MillionTreesNYC is a citywide program with an ambitious goal. Over the next decade they plan to plant and care for one million new trees across New York City’s five boroughs. “New York City is growing!” They point out. “But, like in any thriving metropolis, it’s important to make sure the Big Apple and its residents—meaning you!—are healthy and happy while adjusting to the growth and the many changes it will bring with it.” We shared MillionTreesNYC’s mission statement with the 9th grade class in preparation materials, and made the connection between plant life and cleaner air that could help a myriad of local health issues, such as asthma.

On the day of the service project, the MillionTreesNYC crew was there, led by Jason Stein. He again emphasized the importance of the work they were going to be doing, and made the connection between the environment and health. The students thrust themselves into the activity itself with passion; a few competed with one another for the honor of “most trees planted” for the day, and one expressed his intimacy with the project by calling his sapling “Daniel” after his brother. These trees aren’t just decor; they’re organic equals, like family.

The hands-on intimacy required by the project instilled a strong sense of personal pride–even students who were resistant to plant at first were won over by the chance to help build a brighter future for the Bronx and nurture life in a previously barren location. On his way to the park, Danny Garcia announced “I don’t plant trees”. Garcia planted five saplings throughout the day and bragged about his accomplishment. Another initially hesitant student, Elliot Patterson, approached me the day after the project. “When can we go back to see how are trees are doing?” he asked. I would not be surprised to see our students returning to places like Garrison Park year after year to see the fruit that their outreach has yielded.

Another Student Poses with a Troweling Tool

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.
- Maya Angelou

Gina and Nikhail plant trees in Philadelphia with Green Corps

Adolescence is a natural time for young people to spread their wings and explore their nascent independence. Unfortunately, however, there isn’t a roadmap for this kind of exploration, and high school students often don’t know where to begin — some teens don’t even know how to navigate their own cities when they join buildOn’s afterschool youth service program.

“Before buildOn, my world was my neighborhood in southwest Philly and my school,” says student Gina Dukes, who started with our program 2 years ago. “But now I know west Philly, where I do a lot of volunteering, and north Philly, where I work with little kids. I know how to get around more. I feel more connected to the different neighborhoods.”

Learning how to successfully go from the north side to the south side is, of course, one of the easy parts of growing up, but I’ve discovered that as our students broaden their geographic perspective, their comfort zones and confidence often expand with it. Gina adds, “In every community, despite differences, people want a good neighborhood –where there isn’t violence and where students are doing well in school.” In times of confusion, our mutual vision for a better future is often what unites us – and what encourages personal development as well.

buildOn strives to help its members navigate not only their cities but their lives. Students learn about helping people regardless of what neighborhood is in need — and in doing so they learn what activities build their self-esteem. They learn about their strengths, develop communication and interpersonal skills, and, naturally, gain self-confidence.

“buildOn opened my world,” Gina continues. “I knew there were problems, but I didn’t know I could do anything about them.” Student Nikhal James, who enjoys “working with kids,” adds that “If you can make people laugh and play ball with the kids, you can make a good moment in their lives.” And as our students observe the impact that they themselves make, their expectations for the future often change — if I can brighten the lives of those around me, they seem to ask, why can’t I go to college? Why can’t I change the world?

Gina and Nikhail at Philly's Sweat Shop Free Fashion Show

Nikhal will be accompanying me on a Trek to Nepal, where he’ll see firsthand how broadening one’s perspective and pushing one’s boundaries can lift an entire village out of poverty. I look forward to posting more updates from this trip and its influence on participating students.

When asked how buildOn has influenced him, Nikhal said “I have become a much more outgoing person. On a lot of the projects, you can’t be shy. One day we went to 3 homeless shelters…homeless people can be really aggressive. It is important to recognize people in these situations, you’ve got to smile and say hi and lift up the moment.” Nikhal adds that buildOn has specifically helped him with speaking, approaching strangers, and social interaction.

“buildOn has made me a much more active student in my school,” claims Gina. “I am known as the ‘poet or the buildOn girl.’ When I go to projects I always introduce myself to other students and talk with people. Today I am more confident in myself. If it weren’t for buildOn I wouldn’t be this person.”

Banana Kelly Student Chavelis Rosario Shares Her Goals for the YEZ School Year. Rosario Interns at Bronx Charter School for the Arts

Many of the service learning programs at buildOn’s Youth Engagement Zone at Banana Kelly fuse outreach with inquiry-based education techniques — encouraging our students to interact with their environment both sharpens their critical thinking skills and inspires them to plan for the future of the Bronx. But our students are planning for their own futures as well, which is one of the reasons we initiated a service-based internship program with our local partners. Twice a week for two hours, 15 of Banana Kelly’s top-performing students explore service-related occupations within walking distance of their high school — at St. Vincent’s Senior Center, La Peninsula community preschool, and Bronx Charter School for the Arts (via The Point community development center).

From the start, the internship program was an optional endeavor, and we were thrilled when the 15 students selected chose to participate. Before their positions began we held a workshop on professional behavior; these internships are the first workplace experience for many of the students involved. We exercised communication skills, such as the art of “good listening” and eye contact, and role-played to practice conflict resolution concepts. The goal was to build confidence and professionalism, and to foster a sense of self-sufficiency. I wanted these students to interact with their supervisors and address any on-the-job issues with their own creativity.

La Peninsula Preschool Intern Angela Sarfo Snapped this Photo of a Student She Works With

As the students have settled into their positions we’ve seen their interpersonal abilities grow along with their responsibilities in inspiring ways, and many of them feel as though they’re receiving practical work experience. Those at La Peninsula and Bronx Charter School for the Arts are leading activities with younger children on their own, while St. Vincent’s is teaching its interns the use of recreational therapy with seniors. The students are learning that every job has challenges, too – one intern approached me with a conflict she felt she couldn’t resolve with her supervisor. But they’re also becoming aware of the social graces that encourage success; I was proud to learn that this intern approached the dispute coolly and calmly.

One student, Sirley Lopez, even feels that her English language skills are improving — she strives to speak to the pre-school aged kids in her care with with impeccable grammar. In a recent internship journal entry, she wrote: ”Working here with the kids I have learned patien[ce] and responsibility. I really like this internship.” She adds, “I can’t wait to graduate and find out what my future job would be.”

De la Cruz spent his formative years in the Dominican Republic; he admits to struggling with English before joining buildOn. But after getting involved, he found he could learn English effectively from interactions with people during community service activities.

“He lives and breathes buildOn,” said Glenda Hernandez, a buildOn’s Youth Development Specialist. Junior, now a senior, was one of Glenda’s first students when she started the academy’s buildOn program as a coordinator two years ago. Junior was one of three students who attended the informational meeting. After that, he recruited dozens of students to join.

Glenda describes him as an ideal team leader who motivates youth.  “He’s in everything. He’s president of the student government,” she said. “He’s just this charming character: girls flock to him, guys flock to him. He’s also the type of person who is compassionate and leads by example.”

Junior during his trek to Mali.

buildOn member since: 2008

How has buildOn changed your life?

The most important thing I learned is how to express myself. Also, I learned how to plan. [At first] my schedule was full. I didn’t have time for me. I always went home at seven, eight or nine. And Glenda said I had to organize myself. One day she was after school with me and taught me how to make (to-do) lists. She told me to have a “no” day. And from then on my schedule was light.

Tell me about your trek experience:

We went to Mali, Africa. And that was amazing… During the trek, I realized life is not what we think it is in New York City. Here in New York you want more things to be happy. You have to have a lot of things to be happy. And over there, there was a village. They didn’t have anything at all and they were happy anyway. They live better than us. It should be that way in New York. We’re so materialistic. When we came back, I talked to my friends and said that we shouldn’t buy sneakers for 120 to 130 dollars. Even up to now, I haven’t bought sneakers for over 60 dollars.

How has buildOn made a difference in your city?

95 percent of students in buildOn are going to college. That’s something amazing. Where I live, a lot of students don’t care about school. They don’t know what they’re going to do in the future. buildOn shows them the reality of what we have to do if we don’t prepare ourselves.

What are some of your favorite memories working with buildOn?

It was at a soup kitchen, Part of the Solution. And that was the best memory because at that time I realized what I’m doing at buildOn is really important for other people. When I went there I was giving food to homeless people, and they looked at me like, “Wow, you’re so young and you’re doing that because you want to do it.” Those people really want to thank you and they don’t have anything. And if it wasn’t for that location, they wouldn’t have food for the day.  One person, an old man, looked at me – I’m never going to forget that look – and I was like, “Wow, we’re doing something that people appreciate and people need.”

Complete this sentence: buildOn is… change and opportunity to create a better world.

Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?

I want to have a family, and I want to have a job but I still want to keep working with buildOn. I want to be like Jim (Ziolkowski, buildOn President and CEO) or Marc (Friedman, buildOn COO) in the way that they’re trying to raise money to build schools.

I want to open a buildOn branch at the University of Bridgeport, in Connecticut, where I will study psychology and criminology.

On the surface all villages in which buildOn constructs schools look exactly the same, and suffer from the same problems — poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations. But these universal blights only characterize the tip of these  global communities. The individual personalities of villages even within the same country can vary wildly due to differences in culture and experience. They all have the same goals — to send their kids to school, to learn how to read and write, and to achieve socio-political autonomy — but the path to success in each instance is marked with distinct challenges and solutions. Promoting self-reliance internationally requires a great deal of creative problem-solving on the part of all parties involved.

buildOn's Adult Literacy Classes Like this one in Nepal Address Gender Roles by Empowering Women through Education

In the nation of Nepal, buildOn just completed its 400th school, and I’m reminded of the particular challenges we’ve experienced there in the past. I think back to the village of Lathaiya, which was settled in a cleared jungle. Every citizen of Lathaiya was once an indentured servant working off an unpayable debt to a “landlord”; like the Zamindar mentioned in Jim Ziolkowski’s blog post last week, these landlords are higher caste families who come from prosperous, educated backgrounds and take advantage of those without self-reliance or opportunities for schooling. In 2000, the Nepalese government cracked down on indentured servantship and excused several outstanding tribal debts. Dozens of families walked away from their emancipators but had nowhere to go.

Lathaiya was formed by 50 families who were lucky enough to procure land from the government. But after the settlement, community development stalled. These people only knew life in slavery; they weren’t decision-makers and worked together as a group uneasily. Still, they knew that they wanted better for their children, and when they became aware of buildOn’s international school building program, the fires of communal problem-solving were lit. They held village meetings to discuss how to bring education to Lathaiya, and then chose a representative to speak on their behalf. The possibility of getting a school built brought them together in profound ways.

The Women of Lathaiya Gather in Front of a New School

When we entered Lathaiya, we knew it was unlike any other village we’d previously been in. The shared experience of slavery had an intense influence on the daily lives of these people, and they viewed both their independence and the need to work with others with an understandable amount of skepticism. But their passion for education proved stronger; their desire to learn in this case became a solution. And buildOn’s methodology is designed to illustrate the immediate and positive effects of collaborating: After spending each day managing their resources, the people of Lathaiya could see the fruits of their construction labor. Slowly but surely, they began to build confidence in themselves, and in one another.

Lathaiya is also special because of the number of other initiatives that have since taken place there. Some of buildOn’s NGO partners, such as BASE and Save the Children, have set up preschools and adult education centers, and have started irrigation and forestation projects as well. We’re happy to report that Lathaiya has no child laborers as a result of this development, and it is currently educating a new generation of leaders who will further evolve their community. But it all started with that first school. The school that taught a group of former indentured servants how to push the boundaries of their newfound freedom.

We’d like to briefly invite all our supporters to participate in two upcoming events. First, the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco will come alive on April 7th with silent and live auctions, inspiring messages from our CEO, and moving stories from local student speakers. The buildOn Bay Area Dinner is our premier fundraising celebration on the west coast and provides an occasion to celebrate our achievements and recognize our organization’s heroes.

The evening runs from 6:30 to 9:30pm, with an After Party at Michael Mina’s Clock Bar following. Our 2011 Honoree is Jessica Herrin, CEO of Stella & Dot, and our Honoree committee features Willie L. Brown, Jr., Superintendent Carlos Garcia, and Gavin Newsom.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit the Bay Area Dinner website.

And on May 25th, buildOn promotes the awareness of its Chicago programs and applauds the contributions that have supported us through 2010 with our annual Chicago Breakfast at the Hilton. This year buildOn will be honoring the dedication of Neal Zucker, President/CEO, Corporate Cleaning Services; Groupon’s G-Team and Aon. The 2011 Global Citizenship Award will be presented by Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan.

The morning begins at 7:30am with coffee and networking, then continues at 8:00am with our program and breakfast. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the Chicago Breakfast website.

Hope to see you in attendance!

Eric Capina and his host mom in Nicaragua during his Trek for Knowledge

High school attended: McMann High School in Norwalk, Conn.

Years at buildOn: 2006 – 2010

How did buildOn change your life?

It made me a believer in the power of community service and youth empowerment. It gave me a new group of friends just as interested as I am in community service.

How has buildOn made a difference in your city?

One of our partners is the Mid Fairfield AIDS Project. We would go there often and do food drives, and on the weekends we’d stock their shelves in Norwalk.

There were plenty of beach cleanups. I know people who would see us during the annual coastal cleanup and would smile seeing these teenagers walking around the beach and picking up trash.

In my school community, I know we’re one of the largest groups to show up for school beautification days. The sports teams were mandated to show up. We would show up on our own.

What are some of your favorite memories working with buildOn?

Regional service projects, the New York City AIDS walk and my Trek for Knowledge (in Nicaragua). I had an awesome program coordinator, Melissa Sanseverino, for four years.

Complete this sentence: buildOn is… a lifestyle.

What have you done since graduating from high school?

I joined City Year Louisiana and I’m dedicating a year of full-time service in Baton Rouge at an elementary school. I’m having a fun time. I serve third grade during the day, helping kids who are behind with their studies. I’ve learned a lot of things about the public education system and education reform… how things changed after Hurricane Katrina.

I have a passion for youth. I don’t think I’ll be able to not work with kids in my lifetime.

- Ram Dulari Chaudhary

Ram, Seen Here with Her Child, was Enslaved Along with her Parents at a Very Early Age

2/7/2011

Read Jim’s previous post on buildOn’s 400th School and meeting Ram Dulari.

When Ram was a baby, her family’s home and land were seized. They were forced into slavery by the “Zamindar,” the tribal aristocrats who stole their property. Throughout her childhood, Ram’s family was bought and sold like cattle. They were forced to do hard labor seven days a week. If they refused to work, the Zamindars would starve them. Other families were beaten for disobeying their masters.

When Ram was five years old, the same age that my own son began kindergarten, she would rise before the sun to be sent out into the fields. Along with her parents, sisters and brothers, she was forced to work fourteen hours–straight.

Through buildOn's Community Education Program, Adults in Nepal now Learn to Read and Write in Bright, New Classrooms.

Many of the Tharu families of Pakariya Village and the generations before them were enslaved like Ram. Then they began teaching each other how to read and write to the light of candles when their Zamindar captors were asleep. Once literate, they united and began petitioning for their rights and after a long struggle, they won their freedom.

The Tharu people were liberated through the power of education. Now youth from the Bronx are working side-by-side with Ram and all the families here in Pakariya to build its first school. For 20 years we have been relentless in our effort to build schools for the Tharu people. So far we have built 78 schools here in Nepal. All are the first schools these children have ever attended.

Yesterday Ram told me that because of this school, “No one will ever enslave our children the way we were enslaved.” She was emphatic and I am convinced that she is right.

Ram Dulari Builds Her Village's School with buildOn Students from the Bronx

An Illiterate Man in Nicaragua Signs His Community's Covenant with a Thumbprint, the First Step in a School Building Project

The seldom-told truth about the schools we build in villages across the globe is that some communities have been waiting for education for decades. Imagine this for a moment. You want to send your child to school. You’re willing to lobby the appropriate parties for support, lay the bricks with your own hands, and ensure that the school thrives. You know that all this effort can transform and strengthen your community across generations. But despite your desire, and your toil, you must wait.

I deeply sympathize with this frustration despite realizing how I’ll never quite grasp it. Those that wait for education abroad in many cases cannot read. Others have educational systems in place that are disorganized and operated out of unsafe structures; children flee from their ramshackle classrooms when rain approaches.

I encountered an example of the latter situation recently in the remote Nicaraguan village of El Bosque, where parents had been forced to send their children to the same dilapidated yet symbolic schoolhouse they built by themselves nearly twenty years ago. They had spent nearly two decades of petitioning their local government and the various international organizations that had worked in their area with little result.

Admittedly, there were major challenges involved in building a new school in El Bosque, both economic and geographic. With a modest budget each year, the local mayor’s office and Ministry of Education faced severe constraints prohibitive of school construction. Simultaneously, El Bosque was considered by most to be too remote and isolated for development work.

But these are exactly the kinds of conditions where buildOn thrives. Leveraging the generous support of our donors, and a significant grant from the Embassy of Japan in Nicaragua, buildOn created a partnership with the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education, the local Mayor’s office of Yali, and volunteers from El Bosque to eliminate the economic barriers to building a new school.

The Village of El Bosque After Excavating a Plot for their New School

The challenges that then remained were mostly geographic. In order to build a new school thousands of bricks and hundreds of bags of cement, as well as tons of rebar, roofing materials, sand and gravel, had to be transported to the worksite — which is only accessible by a 30 minute walk down a steep mountainous trail.

For two weeks, the men and women of El Bosque carried materials to the work site by hand and on the backs of donkeys. They collaborated with passion and determination knowing that twenty years of waiting for a school was nearly over. They did it for themselves, but most of all for their children.

With all the materials at the worksite, the community worked to overcome its next challenge: Excavating the land where the school was to be built. For almost two more weeks, volunteers in El Bosque removed tons of earth and rock until a level foundation existed on what was once a steep, rocky slope.

With the walls of the school now complete, and the project in El Bosque weeks away from completion, the community and the buildOn Nicaragua staff are close to realizing a dream that has been 20 years in the making.

Read more about buildOn’s work in Nicaragua.

Banana Kelly's 9th Grade Enters Bronx Community College

We’ve touched upon the central goal of buildOn’s Youth Engagement Zone at Banana Kelly in the past: We want to inspire a new generation of Bronx natives to draw what strength they can from their surroundings and reform the issues that have held their neighborhoods back from prosperity. Before that can occur, however, some shape must be given to the social problems that our students interact with on a daily basis. And our 9th grade service learning projects are in part designed to sharpen our students’ perspectives on this matter — what would they change, if they had the power to?

On Wednesday, March 16th, Banana Kelly’s entire 9th grade class along with a group of teachers rode the 25 minute subway ride to the Bronx Community College’s Center for Sustainable Energy. The CSE is a green think-tank attempting to implement a host of clean energy practices not only across the CUNY college system but throughout New York City.

We collaboratively planned this service learning trip to introduce our students both to the experience of college education and to the elasticity of the sustainability concept. After all, sustainability isn’t only achieved through solar energy and hybrid cars. It’s achieved through strengthening communities and fostering a sense of social responsibility. Poverty and violence, much like pollution, are not sustainable approaches to living.

It was truly exciting to watch the students interact with the Bronx Community College campus; their intrigue was apparent as soon as they stepped onto the grounds. I could see them processing the differences between the college and their own high school — and the similarities as well. Many members of Banana Kelly’s 9th grade class noted that the college students they encountered didn’t look too different from them; I think seeing individuals near their age group wandering the campus made the idea of college more approachable.

Jameelah Muhammad, the director of the Center for Sustainable Energy, provided an introduction to college life and higher education before launching into a crash course in sustainable practice. Sustainability was introduced first and foremost as a concept integral to community survival, and the students responded by considering what in their neighborhoods could be transformed for the long term.

Guns for Trees Would Replace Firearms with Saplings

The 9th graders then broke up into three groups and collaborated on posters, improvisational role-playing sketches, and activism action plans that explored sustainable ideas they could implement in their communities. With the sketches, they illustrated how they might approach violent situations calmly and patiently. Another student, Rudy, was so engaged in his poster project that he rejected his original draft, focused, and completed a superior second attempt.

Two other students developed an activism strategy called “Guns for Trees”: A program that would allow individuals to trade their firearms for an earth-ready sapling. I was impressed by how this plan in particular successfully integrated two separate sustainability concepts–environmentalism and pacifism–as if to suggest that the opposite of violence isn’t merely calm understanding but a desire to promote healthy living. The future of the Bronx lies in the hands of students such as these who recognize that bullets are no match for birch.

- Ram Dulari Chaudhary

Ram Signs the Covenant to Bring Education to Her Village

2/3/2011

Twenty years ago, we began our effort to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education. We established our first programs for urban youth in the South Bronx and our idea to build schools internationally was born in Nepal. Over the next 20 years we expanded our work in the United States to Detroit, Philly, Chicago, Oakland and San Francisco. We built schools in ten countries on four different continents and are now working in Mali, Malawi, Senegal, Haiti, Nicaragua and Nepal.

Today, 20 years later, I am back in Nepal with a team of youth from the South Bronx. Today we break ground on our 400th school in the place where it all began.

This morning hundreds of people from the village of Pakariya covered us in flowers and smeared bright red “tika” on our foreheads as they welcomed us into their community. There was traditional drumming and dancing as a crowd of beautiful indigenous people led us to the center of the village.

Ram Dulari Celebrates the Building of a New School in her Village

The mood became very serious and quiet when community leaders read aloud a covenant between buildOn and all who lived in Pakariya. The covenant outlines our commitment to contribute the materials, engineering and technical supervision necessary to build a school. It also outlines the village’s commitment to contribute all the labor. But most importantly, this covenant outlines the promise that every family in the village will send their daughters to school in equal numbers with their sons.

Almost every adult here is completely illiterate. Many can’t even sign their own name.

Ram Dulari Chaudhary was one of the women who could add only a fingerprint to the covenant. Ram and many of the adults in Pakariya have lived most of their lives in slavery. In my next diary entry, I will share her story and explain how she and so many others here were liberated through education.

Tomorrow we break ground on the new school—Ram will never again weep because she can’t sign her name. Nor will the 150,000 children, parents and grandparents who have attended buildOn schools around the world.

Mark in Mali at the water pump.

What do you teach? English for 9^th grade.

How did you become affiliated with buildOn?

buildOn was starting up at [my] school and there were definitely some students who were interested. They needed to have an advisor, so they went to one of my colleagues and she got involved. It was a really committed group of students who wanted to do it… When my colleague went to a new school, I took it from there and I’ve been advisor ever since.

What do you bring to buildOn?

I bring a strong and a long commitment… The students [need to] know they can count on you – especially in urban schools where students face a challenge of instability. My commitment means that there’s going to be a story, there’s going to be flow. They know that if they make a commitment someone else will make a commitment with them.

How has buildOn changed your life?

It’s really two things. It’s made me even more committed to social justice through education. I know exactly why I’m a teacher and buildOn accentuates that. And the other thing is it’s made me even more simply purposeful. What I mean by that is knowing who I am as a person and as a teacher, and knowing that — being in two villages — what’s important and what’s not. How can I create change and positivity in the world by doing service here and doing the Trek for Knowledge…things become very clear about what’s important and what’s not.

What are some of your favorite memories working with buildOn?

The first really successful ongoing fundraiser (to build a school internationally): It was a pizza sale. I remember it was just so great to see the students really taking that on, and that became an institution at our school.

Another great memory was waking up in Mali and getting out of my hut and then turning around and seeing a full beautiful rainbow across the sky, over the beautiful trees. I took a picture of that in the early morning.

In your own words, what does buildOn mean to you?

I think it means young people coming together to put positivity and generosity into the world to promote education and social justice.

Over 300 grade school youth convened at the Richmond Public Library on March 5th to enjoy literacy motivation and awareness activities, as well as festival games like raffles and face-painting. Local author Summer Brenner read from her book Richmond Tales, and mayor Gayle McLaughlin spoke to applaud the city’s parents for supporting their children’s education.

Home of the infamously crime-ridden “Iron Triangle,” Richmond, CA further encompasses school districts with some of the state’s lowest test scores. “We’ve heard stories about kids only having one or two books at home to read,” says buildOn coordinator Angel Sandriepe. “It was incredible to see them walk away from the event with stacks of books. West County Reads got over 1600 books donated for the festival.” Most of the event’s activities awarded stamps for participating kids to later redeem for books. This promoted reading as a reward rather than a chore or a task, and allowed underprivileged children to push the boundaries of their language skills.

Notably, buildOn’s youth service students from high schools around the bay ran all of the festival booths themselves, and interacted with the younger children to show them the power of literary. “Most of our buildOn students claim that this is their favorite event,” Angel adds. “They look forward to it every year.”

If you were to call 10th grader Alex Costner’s cellphone right now, you’d likely hear the following voicemail message: “Hi, this is Alex. I can’t get your call right now, I’m probably doing community service…”

buildOn Student Alex Costner in Mali

This might not immediately seem noteworthy. But to those that know her, Alex’s bright smile, optimism, and passion for service are truly miracles. Living in Detroit, Michigan, Alex is surrounded by decay, apathy, and violence. “In Detroit, people don’t act like people,” she’s commented. “People don’t speak to each other.” And yet, Alex has found a way to peer past the challenges she faces on a daily basis to recognize the opportunity for rebirth residing in her community.

I first met Alex in September of 2010, where she was one of the youngest students to participate in buildOn’s “In Depth: Detroit” event. Alex had been involved in buildOn’s afterschool youth service program since her freshman year, and I admired the manner in which she’d pushed herself to rise above the influence of her neighborhood. She attends Osborne High School, which has garnered a problematic reputation even by Detroit’s infamously lower than average standards. Michigan’s Department of Education awarded a composite grade of “D-Alert” in 2008, and Alex reports that “the school is on TV almost daily for shoot-outs and gang violence.” But, she adds, “I try to surround myself with positive people who like to do community service and want to make change in life like I do.”

Along with her buildOn friends and program leaders, I encouraged Alex to go on Trek in the upcoming year and participate in the building of a school in Mali. The people of Mali are a continuing inspiration for me and I knew the experience would be powerful for Alex. In Mali individuals survive great hardship with laughter, love, and dignity that provide a communal strength from which we could all benefit. I was thrilled that Alex viewed the Trek as an opportunity to push her boundaries and challenge herself to grow. “I thought it would be great for me to go out of my comfort zone,” she says. “Before buildOn I didn’t even know people were living like this in other parts of the world.”

The Trek Coordinator, Brooke Barnum, recalls that after Alex arrived in Mali it took time for her to come out of her shell. “At the beginning she didn’t really like to leave her room when she was at home. But after a few days, she started teaching her host brothers and sisters English, playing games and making the family laugh. She always asked great questions and did her best to learn about her surroundings with care and pride.”

Since returning from the Mali Trek, Alex has been dedicated to applying that care and pride to her Detroit surroundings, and to exploring what she learned from her host family. “They don’t have TV [in Mali]. They enjoy their company and laugh together. [And] they respect the elders so wonderfully. Here we disrespect our parents in lots of different types of ways.” She further states: “I want to push myself even more outside of my comfort zone because of this experience. For example, I am not a person to do physical activity. But I am going to try to be more active.”

Alex’s growth is emblematic of the success of buildOn’s afterschool program. By providing opportunities for personal development, we foster our students’ ability to uncover seeds of change that enable social transformation. While pushing herself to go on Trek, Alex found the courage she needed to continue rebuilding Detroit despite its many challenges, and she’s now returned to the rhythms of weekly community service with renewed vigor.

But don’t take my word for it. The pride in her voicemail message really says it all.

The Stella & Dot jewelry company’s foundation has been donating proceeds to buildOn and two other nonprofits since summer 2010. Its stylists are selling turquoise and jade charity bracelets for women and children to benefit the construction of a school in Nicaragua.

Stella & Dot Stylist Shaina Haller Plans to Sell Enough Bracelets to Accompany her CEO to Nicaragua

The stylists going on the trek will be selected by a raffle. Stylists earn a raffle ticket for every ten bracelets sold. Stylist Shaina Haller (left) is currently the top saleswoman for the charity bracelets. The winners will accompany Stella & Dot’s founder and CEO Jessica Herrin to Nicaragua in August 2011. The foundation scheduled the trip for Mother’s Day to symbolically celebrate the company’s mission: To create positive change in women’s lives through education and economic empowerment. And since several of the company’s stylists are mothers themselves, departing on that particular holiday made perfect sense.

“It’s our greatest pride that our Stylists have built a business that can give back in such a significant way,” Herrin says. The company has been training entrepreneurial women in the United States and Canada as Stylists since 2007.

We interviewed Shaina Haller to explore what might be motivating her passion for the campaign; when we last spoke to her she had sold nearly 400 bracelets online and through trunk shows. Determined to go on the trip, she wants to sell 500 or more bracelets by the end of the month. “My goal is to reach out to people in our community and share with them how important buildOn is and to support it through our foundation,” she claims. “This is my year to give back and travel and do things for my family.” If Haller is chosen, she’ll go with her husband.

Learn more about Stella & Dot from this video.

City: Danville, California.

What are three words you’d use to describe yourself? Motivated. Grateful. Inspired.

How have you seen your contribution with buildOn make a difference?

The money that I’ve personally been able to raise is helping children involved with afterschool programs, and will build schools in low-income areas. It makes the people buying the bracelets feel good and makes me feel good about helping on a small scale.

What buildOn initiatives mean the most to you?

I value helping other woman and other children and (contributing through the foundation) makes us have that connection.

Complete this sentence: buildOn is…

An inspiration.  But it’s also a huge goal in the initiative for the Stella & Dot to help us work together, to help those in need.

How did you end up being a stylist with Stella & Dot?

I was a stay at home mom with three kids and looking for something fun to do. I saw Jessica [Herrin] on The View and Google-ed the company, and signed up to be a stylist. A few months later my husband’s job changed, and this became an amazing vehicle to help support my family. I think it’s done that for so many women, helping us get back on our feet. And now I think it’s the perfect opportunity to help others… It’s changed me and my family in ways I didn’t think were possible.

Corresponding from the Bronx, where she manages buildOn’s Youth Engagement Zone at Banana Kelly High School, Stephanie Gilman provides buildOn From The Field with breaking insight and personal reflections on this unprecedented service learning project. To learn more about the YEZ at Banana Kelly click here or search for posts under the “Youth Engagement Zone” category.

Stephanie Gilman and the Banana Kelly Student Store Staff

Since starting work at Banana Kelly High earlier this year, I’ve been continually impressed by the student body’s readiness to engage in service despite their dramatic lack of resources. Our first service event, Paint 4 Change, attracted over 75% of Banana Kelly’s enrollment. But this is a school without an auditorium. Without a library. Without some very basic things that many other schools have. And because of the issues they face at home, as well as in their under-resourced school and community, many students at Banana Kelly have trouble finding their way to class.

We opened a student store last week to address some of these attendance issues with an opportunity for practical work experience — and to provide the youth at Banana Kelly with a resource that they can manage themselves. (It’s for students, by students.) The store’s hours are every Tuesday and Thursday at lunch, and aside from selling healthy snacks, water, and basic supplies, we encourage it as a socializing venue with music and ongoing conversation.

Students Rashien Cooper, Danny Garcia, Marcantony Torres, and Jerry Canela run the store’s inventory, set prices, and advertise to classes under the guidance of part-time YEZ coordinator Quinn Cushnie. They’re learning some economic principles as well — store prices are low to invite participation — and will eventually earn academic credit for their effort.

Our entrusting the store’s employees with money and inventory has already been a source of pride and inspiration. Cooper now identifies the project as “my store,” and is pushing the boundaries of the endeavor by offering delivery around campus. These responsibilities are meant to provide a sense of stability that will, in turn, make the idea of coming to school a little less daunting.

A few days ago, Marcantony Torres’ science teacher asked him how the store was coming along. “Really well!” he replied. “Look, I’m in class!”

The From the Field blog has always kept an illuminating finger on the pulse of buildOn’s day-to-day activities in inner-city high schools and impoverished villages around the world. With that in mind, we’re introducing Themes, a feature intended to inspire retrospection on our part and more conversation from our readers and supporters.

Every week we’ll explore a different aspect of buildOn’s afterschool youth service and international school building programs through the filtered lens of a Theme — examples include “problem-solving” or “vision”. These Themes are meant as a road map to guide readers through the emotion, character, and thought process behind our work in the US and abroad.

This week’s Theme is “Pushing The Boundaries”; we’re featuring stories that show how we’re always testing our limits as an organization and how the students and villagers we encounter are experiencing perpetual growth.

For more information, be sure to check the top paragraph in our right-hand sidebar. And to catch up on past Themes, visit the THEME CLOUD, also in the sidebar, directly underneath the category section.

Two Volunteers at the Paint 4 Change Service Event

The newly initiated Youth Engagement Zone (YEZ) at Banana Kelly High School, funded by a grant from the National Corporation for Community Service, will answer that question. A dedicated team of buildOn educators, under the leadership of Stephanie Gilman, is working directly with Banana Kelly’s teachers and administrators to fashion a series of service learning programs. Unlike buildOn’s other afterschool service projects, however, these programs will be fully integrated with Banana Kelly’s classroom curriculum. Designed as an Attendance Improvement Dropout Prevention solution, the YEZ won’t just engage youth with their community: Banana Kelly students will interact with fundamental academic principles and earn school credit.

buildOn’s programs reach out to the toughest districts and neighborhoods in the United States, and the Youth Engagement Zone is no exception. Banana Kelly High School is situated in an especially troubled area of New York’s Bronx borough; 55% of inhabitants receive some form of public assistance, 49% of all families are living beneath the federal poverty line and the unemployment rate (24%) is the city’s highest. But with the YEZ, buildOn plans to harness the passion of Banana Kelly’s community through service, setting the stage for empowerment and broader social change.

Ninth Grade Science at Kensico Dam

Education through the YEZ will take on various forms in an attempt to get as many students involved as possible. All ninth grade science classes, for example, have been replanned in collaboration with community partners, such as Bronx River Alliance Bronx Green Up, Bronx Community College and Million Trees. Students have already enjoyed field study at Kensico Dam, and the school paper will be publishing their findings. The program also reserved 15 internship placements for seniors in good academic standing at local institutions like La Peninsula Head Start, Bronx Charter School for the Arts and St. Vincent’s Senior Center.

The YEZ plans to reach out to students with low attendance in collaboration with the Children’s Aid Society using service learning projects. All current buildOn programs at Banana Kelly will additionally be expanded, and leadership workshops will develop a core group of student mentors and buildOn ambassadors. And beginning in the fall 2011 semester, a 10^th grade elective course in community health will address issues such as asthma, adolescent HIV/AIDS and diabetes while integrating social studies and/or English curriculum.

The Paint 4 Change School-wide Service Day

Perhaps most notably, Banana Kelly will hold three annual school-wide service events where every single person on campus will be engaged in service to their community. Students and teachers alike created mural designs about diversity and community during the first 2011 event, ”Paint 4 Change”.

The YEZ is an opportunity to create a dynamic, youth-driven community around Banana Kelly High School, and show everyone in the Bronx the empowering importance of local service and activism. With the leadership of principal Joshua Laub and the buildOn team, buildOn believes the YEZ could transform education in New York City.

We’ll be offering frequent updates on the YEZ, closely tracking the progress of this exciting new service learning experiment. Check back in for updates, and look out for “Youth Engagement Zone” in our category list!

Courtney and her friend Taylor Engleson, another buildOn alumnus, began reminiscing about their treks in the summer of 2010. Soon after, they started making plans to reconnect with buildOn. They wanted to visit a new country and have another unique building experience. Courtney started raising money that November, mostly through email solicitations, and she is planning two fundraisers this year.

The women are looking for approximately 12 other interested buildOn youth service alumni who have been on treks and who are now young professionals. “In our minds, someone who has gone on a trek, who has had an experience of no running water and no electricity will be in less of a shell shock,” Courtney says. She expects that the group’s adult experiences will provide fresh perspective and enrich their impact on the country in need that they visit.

If you’d like to participate in the trek, contact Courtney at courtney.a.gallo@gmail.com.

Alum Courtney Gallo Plans to Build a School

Current city: New York, New York

High school attended: New Canaan High School in New Canaan, Conn.

Years at buildOn: 2001 to 2005

How did buildOn change your life?

I think it really exposed me to something that was larger than myself and made me feel inspired.

How has buildOn made a difference in your community?

It made a huge impact. We used to volunteer once a month at a soup kitchen as a whole club in Westport and loved that experience. We really made certain bonds with that community and the people that we were serving.

What are your favorite memories working with buildOn?

Certainly going on the trek to Nicaragua. You’re exposed to things you’re not previously exposed to. You’re in a really rural village forming a sense of unity with members, collaborating on something positive. I still talk to many, many people from my trek… I lived with another from the Bronx. We lived in a home with four generations. The grandma wouldn’t talk to me. The last day when I left she smiled and waved.

What have you done since graduating high school?

I work at the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, a nonprofit based in New York that helps parents prevent, intervene and treat drug and alcohol abuse with their children. I’m with the media group locally. We distribute public service announcements.

Complete this sentence: buildOn is…

…an incredibly powerful organization that truly changes lives for good.

To read more about “Voices of buildOn” in Chicago, click here.

In the workshop’s first exercise, each student brainstormed themes relevant to their connection with buildOn and how their involvement in it began. These themes were then developed and linked to buildOn’s mission statement, and to how the organization empowers at-risk youth in the U.S. and poverty-stricken individuals in developing nations. Using these ideas, the students composed and practiced 30-second “Elevator Speeches” about buildOn — highly focused and compelling pitches that can be used to pique the interest of fellow classmates or casual contacts.

The workshop’s next activity engaged the students’ creative side, assigning each participant to a group where they explored buildOn’s significance through modes of artistic expression: Charcoal drawings and collages, interpretative dance, songwriting, poetry, and improvisational acting.

After fine-tuning these creative works with buildOn afterschool program coordinators, the entire workshop put on a performance showcasing what had been accomplished. In many cases, the students were intimidated by their peer audience, but overcame their stage fright to share stories of growth from their tenure at buildOn and abstract meditations on what the program has meant to them personally.

An Art Piece from Voices of buildOn's Visual Workshop

A freshman from Amundson High School in Chicago named Octavio Medina, for example, was somewhat hesitant to read the poem he’d written in the workshop. His verses not coincidentally discussed the awkwardness he felt during his first few service projects with buildOn, and how this eventually gave way to a sense of pride and community he hadn’t felt before. (Medina is one of Amundson High’s most active buildOn participants.) These emotions were re-enacted through the experience of his recital, which was one of the afternoon’s most memorable.

“Voices of buildOn” attracted a wide range of students from various Chicago neighborhoods and grade levels. In all cases, however, the participants left the workshop feeling more confident in their communication and public speaking skills, which in turn produced new motivation towards their personal goals and professional aspirations. I spoke to a pair of seniors who feel that what they’ve learned in buildOn has prepared them for post-high school success. “I can’t wait to graduate,” one of them remarked. “There’s so much to do.” Then he paused. “But I’m really going to miss buildOn.”

Brian Socall Builds a School Mali with buildOn

What were you doing before you joined buildOn?

I was working on my master’s degree in social justice, focusing on sexual violence against Native American women. I was doing an internship at Amnesty International through my graduate program. I worked at a psychiatric hospital for two to three years doing group counseling for troubled teens with emotional and psychological behaviors.

I also helped start a nonprofit that brought college-age and post-college age students abroad to do international development. I was planning local social justice events, raising awareness of poverty in the suburbs of Chicago. I brought in Nobel Peace Prize nominee Wahu Kaara for an event, Wake up to Poverty. I had 150 people crammed in my house for that event.

Finally, I was in Peace Corps as a youth development volunteer in Nicaragua for two years, where I did everything form teach English to start a community bank to help women in the village achieve financial independence. I also started a youth leadership training program.

Recent accomplishments:

I started a new initiative called CORE to train student leaders in my four programs… It’s a seven-workshop training program focused on leadership, project planning, fundraising/development, communication and public speaking. They’re getting a lot of challenges in a fun way.

It’s a mixture of practical team building where we debrief and analyze the students — how they acted as leaders, how did they communicate and deal with each other’s needs.

What do you bring to buildOn?

I bring creativity. When I’ve noticed there’s been a need for something, I try to either create an activity or come up with a new program that would solve that issue – whether it’s “chat circles” on the Trek program or global education activities that are experiential and fun. One of the things I appreciate at buildOn is that it’s a flexible organization, so there’s room to be innovative.

How has buildOn changed your life?

It’s allowed me to establish deeper relationships with high school students and, through Trek and different experiences, open their minds and expand their world-views. Facilitating that process gives me energy and inspires me. I love to see when students are changed and when their minds are blown – whether it’s with working with a homeless person, and they think all homeless people are crazy or drink, or being without their iPods during a trek…  Or how people sleep on the floor and go without shoes and socks. I love seeing that realization happen with my students.

What are some of your favorite memories working with buildOn?

In Mali, this past spring, with a Trek for Knowledge team. We were told there was going to be a celebration in the village, and so at night we started hearing drums being played. And the children were told there was going to be a surprise but didn’t know what was going on. We were telling them there was going to be a dance party, and so the entire village came out to this one meeting spot, and they had drums and all sorts of local indigenous instruments. And we were dancing all around the bonfire in a circle. It was fun to see the kids let loose. Dancing on the sand and the dirt caused it to create this dust storm to form, so every 30 minutes a woman would come around (pouring) water to keep it from being too dusty.

At the end of a trek in Nicaragua, during a closing ceremony, one of my students was giving a closing speech and was sharing how much he was going to miss his host family, and his time in Nicaragua and how much he’s grown from his experience. A lot of us were surprised because he was going to drop the team because he was so scared of living with another family… To see him with tears about how much he connected with his new family was inspiring.

Complete this sentence: buildOn is… a mission and a lifestyle.

buildOn Students Explore Their Experiences with Humor

One year later, a mostly new selection of program participants are convening for another four hours of inspiration. “Last year we were really blown away by how excited the students were to share their stories,” says program coordinator Abbe Ewell. “They felt very connected to buildOn at the end of it.”

She also noted that this is currently the only buildOn event that brings together youth from all corners of Chicago, giving many attendees a stronger sense of the program’s community and the various forms of service that their peers are engaged in. Some students participating in “Voices” have built schools during international treks, where others have done outstanding work in their local communities.

At “Voices of buildOn,” shared values and program experiences become a meeting ground where youth from different neighborhoods and backgrounds can become more confident discussing how buildOn empowers them. Working together, students hone a 30 second “elevator speech” about why they like buildOn, and also explore how the program has changed their lives through an assignment in one of four categories: theater, poetry/music, visual arts, or creative movement. The resulting poems, videos, songs, and dances are then presented to the entire workshop in a talent show at the end of the afternoon.

buildOn Students Express Themselves with Art

“Last year some students made a buildOn commercial that was anti-laziness,” Ewell remembers fondly. “The speaker ‘jumped out’ of the TV, ‘grabbed students’ and compelled them to get involved with their communities.”

Ewell is looking forward to exploring the full potential of the workshop on Saturday,  February 19th, and to helping train a new group of  ambassadors for buildOn. She comments that even the process of selecting participants to “Voices” has had an empowering effect. “The students are taking this opportunity very seriously,” she says. “They feel special that they’ve been selected to participate in this.”

buildOn Students Compose Poetry

]]> http://buildonfromthefield.org/2011/02/18/2nd-annual-voices-of-buildon-on-february-19th/feed/ 0 http://buildonfromthefield.org/2011/02/18/they-buildon-student-mark-hall-of-michigan-addicted-to-service/ http://buildonfromthefield.org/2011/02/18/they-buildon-student-mark-hall-of-michigan-addicted-to-service/#comments Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:44:18 +0000 buildOn http://buildonfromthefield.org/?p=1564 “They buildOn” is a new blog feature profiling the special people who make buildOn such a diverse and unique organization. Each week we’ll interview one of our students, staff, donors, teachers or alumni. We’re starting our series today by spotlighting a student who attended Oak Park High School in Oak Park, Michigan.

buildOn helped Mark Hall regain interest in his studies and, more importantly, drop the bad habits and influences that took him down a dark path. In a moving testimonial, Mark writes that he became “addicted to service” after joining his school’s chapter. He was originally apathetic about the group and completed only the bare minimum of work, but eventually got involved in every buildOn project at his high school. And when he hit a rough patch in his life, his buildOn family didn’t give up on him. The buildOn “love monster” grabbed him and didn’t let go, he writes.

Here is an excerpt from his testimonial:

Little did I know how much this program would affect me… Soon I was trying to go to EVERY buildOn project available and more… Though I did hit a little road bump in my life from bad past decisions and ended up in jail. It was something I’m not proud of and where I disappointed a lot of people. To the point some of my own family no longer claim me, and I thought it would be the same with buildOn. Was I ever wrong. It seemed to be the exact opposite. They supported me throughout the whole ordeal and never once gave up on me.

buildOn has impacted my life in ways I could have never imagined. Given me friends and a second family, and most importantly memories, and experiences that will last a lifetime. Things I hope to one day pass on to my children and future generations – a positive message and outlook on life.

buildOn member since: 2009

Why did you join buildOn?

Two reasons. My friend got me to join because he thought it would be fun, and I needed 40 hours of community service to graduate from high school. It’s required at my high school to have 40 hours of service.

How has buildOn changed your life?

It’s changed a lot of my personality and how I view life. I used to be very violent and angry. I had a serious drug problem: marijuana. buildOn was there for me the whole time, supported me, talked to me when I needed it. They helped me a lot. When I was going through my whole court thing (for charges of drug possession last year), Dianne (Michigan Program Supervisor) was there every day… She supported me, and all of my buildOn friends were always there for me.

How has buildOn made a difference in your city?

I remember we did one project at Oak Park Community Center and an elderly woman was so surprised that kids were helping out. She thought all kids were delinquents and was just happy that there were kids that wanted to help. I think it changes people’s views about the community and the people that live there.

What are your favorite memories working with buildOn?

St. Patrick Senior Center. That’s one of my favorite places to go. Sometimes we play pool with the elderly men. They’re fun to be around and they make jokes. I never had a grandfather so it’s really fun to have that experience.

Complete this sentence: buildOn is… an organization that helped me through my life. They’re a great cause. They’re helping around not just in our community but around the world.

Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?

I hope to have graduated from college with at least my bachelor’s degree. Maybe a wife and one kid. And I still want to be a part of buildOn, even if it’s not as a coordinator. I’d want to be a designated driver because a lot of kids don’t have the opportunity to go to programs without transport. I want to help give transportation.

The team at Brandeis examined buildOn’s goals and current success measurements, as well as the impact metrics of comparable non-profit organizations. Then, with questionnaires and interviews, Brandeis studied a sample of buildOn members from Jane Addams High School, a low-performing public institution situated in New York’s Bronx neighborhood. (Only 32% of 2005’s freshman class graduated in 2009). The goal of this study was to discover not only the “how” of buildOn’s influence, but the “how much”.

100% of pilot survey respondents strongly agreed that because of buildOn, they have a more positive attitude about themselves. Others felt that the program’s focus on “communication skills” was particularly helpful: “I communicate with my teachers a lot more so I get higher grades,” reads one quote.

Indeed, data shows that 37% of buildOn students improved their attendance over the course of one year in the program, compared to only 7% of students in the control group. Furthermore, 64% of buildOn students increased their GPAs over the course of the same year. Students learn best in environments where they can take pride in their ideas.

Below is a chart showing the effect that buildOn’s youth service program has had on student confidence in specific areas. The students reported on, among other things, their ability to empathize with others before responding in disputes; to organize other students towards social projects; to participate in community service activities; and, more generally, to “make a difference”.

brandeisgraph

A recent Gallup Poll surveyed U.S. children in grades 5-12 on their level of hope, engagement, and wellbeing–the qualities experts have associated with “readiness for the future”. Only 34% scored high in all three categories, with the first receiving the weakest feedback (53% of students—barely a majority—are “hopeful”).

By contrast, 100% of the pilot survey respondents in our Brandeis evaluation “agree” or “strongly agree” that buildOn has provided them with a wider range of post-high school options. And Brandeis has identified that, along with hope, compassion, empowerment and self-worth are direct outcomes of participation in buildOn activities. We’re proud that our afterschool youth service programs are not only enhancing the day-to-day academic careers of our students but also instilling within them the qualities they require to succeed and lead their generation in the future.

While the ads were satirical, their goal was to raise funds and awareness for four important non-profits including buildOn.  Groupon is putting up $100,000, which along with another $100,000 from a group of anonymous donors, will be used as a matching grant to help buildOn build schools in Mali and Nepal. This “doubled donation” will provide buildOn with $400,000 to build 12 schools in some of the poorest and most remote villages in the world.

These schools will educate over 3,000 children just in the first year. They will be used to run adult literacy classes for parents and grandparents. Bottom line – these schools will dramatically change the lives of generations of families living in poverty.

We are grateful that Groupon is helping us break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education.

So check it out and make a $15 donation to buildOn, have it matched and make a tremendous impact. http://www.groupon.com/deals/buildon

“The kids just took it really seriously, and they’re in really difficult circumstances,” said Joanna Branch, Philadelphia’s buildOn program supervisor.”To hear the dreams they shared through that activity was really beautiful, and the support they got from their moms was really inspiring.”

Take a look at our video below featuring two of the speeches:

Lower Merion High School at the Hope for Haiti event.

Philadelphia

• Lower Merion High School threw a Hope for Haiti event for students and parents. The night included an art display, a dinner and jazz concert. Project Coordinator Chad Zibelman said the event was entirely focused on Haiti from the décor of Haitian posters to the creole food served. At the end of the night the school awarded buildOn with a check for $1,500 to go to Haiti.

Chicago

• Hancock High School sold purple commemorative bracelets during a Purple for Peace “dress-down day” and Global Visions Academy sold red bracelets, raising a total of $1000 to go to Haiti.

Connecticut

• buildOn’s corporate sponsors collaborated in a project with students sending hygiene supplies to Haiti. Staff at the Hilton and Aladdin Capital Holdings helped students gather and package bundles of T-shirts, toothpaste, toothbrushes to send to Haitian refugees. “It was something the Hilton was really interested in because 30 percent of their staff are Haitians,” said Greg Billionis, buildOn’s North East development director.  The hotel staff taught the students Creole sayings to write in the cards they sent.

New York

• Students created mini-Haiti flags from safety pins adorned with beads for a campaign called Haiti Pins. The students raised over $300 by selling the pins, worn in memory of the tragedy. Additionally, students at Banana Kelly High School raised over $200 by selling Hearts for Haiti during Valentine’s Day.

San Francisco, California

• 15 students practiced Haitian drumming and dancing, and ate Caribbean food during Haiti Week. They also chatted electronically with Skyler Badenoch, buildOn’s manager of international programs, who was in Haiti during the earthquake.

Detroit

• Presswood High School organized a pajama day where students paid to wear their pajamas to school.  Student raised over $1000 to help pay for an elementary school in Haiti.

Skyler 3

Photo by Skyler Badenoch

There are many things that I will remember about the days in Haiti immediately after the earthquake. I can close my eyes and still taste the dust. I can recall the smells, visualize the images, and feel the same sorrow I felt for the country and the families who lost so much. I can hear the sound of the aftershocks that woke me as I slept ear to earth with the buildOn Haiti staff and thousands of earthquake survivors in a quickly growing tent city.  It has been one year.

The immediate efforts of the international community to respond to the crisis in Haiti saved lives, and eased the suffering of hundreds of thousands of victims.  There is no debating this. The response I saw from Haitians themselves was greater and much more heroic. This is what I will remember most.

When I asked my close friend and buildOn colleague, Clerge Garry, how he reflects on our time establishing a health clinic for earthquake victims near the epicenter in Carrefour he said, “I’ll remember the feeling that I had knowing that I was helping my country. As Haitians, we were proud to be able aide our countrymen. It was the most important thing that we’ve done in our lives, and it makes me believe that we as Haitians can work together to make our country a better place.”

There are many people besides Clerge who believe that Haiti can be a better place. The truth is that even despite the earthquake, the cholera outbreak, tropical storms, and the political instability that overwhelmed the country in 2010, there is potential for Haiti to recover and develop. However, that potential is not something that will be unlocked in one year, or in five years. It will take decades of a disciplined and coordinated effort to gradually rebuild what has been destroyed.

As an organization, buildOn is committed to helping rebuild Haiti. Just as in the past, we will provide Haitians with the opportunity to improve education for themselves and their children.  We will focus our work in rural and isolated communities in the southern region because this decentralized approach to development is one of the most important components of reconstruction. Improved education in rural Haiti is crucial for the development of the country.

Through our work, buildOn will stand in solidarity with the Haitian men and woman who sang out in the streets in the hours after the earthquake, “Nou pap jamblie jou sa, nou pap jamblie lè ca.” We will never forget this day. We will never forget this hour.

In the weeks following the earthquake, as hundreds of thousands of people fled Port au Prince to resettle in the countryside, we knew what we had to do.  We made a commitment to the people of Haiti to help them rebuild their country in the best way we know how.  By building schools.

While much progress in Haiti has been slow, buildOn has completed construction six schools in the Les Cayes region of Haiti since the 2010 earthquake.  Not new to the island (we have been building schools in Haiti since 2001), we recognized the increased need for schools in rural areas shortly after the quake.

The communities agree to send to girls buildOn schools in equal numbers to boys.

“Before the dust settled, we realized that there would be an exodus from Port au Prince into the country side where many had extended family, so we knew we would need to increase our efforts,” said Brett McNaught, Vice President of buildOn’s International Programs. “We have built six schools since the earthquake, providing space for more than 900 students to attend school every day.”

In response we pledged to build 36 schools over the next three years.  These schools will educate more than 4,800 children annually. Acting also as community centers, the schools will be used to host adult literacy classes, regional polling stations and can act shelters during natural disasters.

“Providing educational access to Haiti’s children is essential to lifting the country out of poverty,” said buildOn Founder and CEO Jim Ziolkowski.  “The earthquake in Port au Prince was the same size as the earthquake that hit San Francisco in 1989.  Sixty-three people died in the Bay Area.  More than 200,000 people died in Haiti.  The difference between San Francisco and Port Au Prince? Extreme poverty.”

While many aid organizations have been criticized for implementing projects that are not sustainable for the local communities, our methodology ensures community participation at a grassroots level.

“We target communities that are eager to work to improve their conditions,” said Ziolkowski. “Through our methodology we work closely with village leaders to gain complete community buy-in. The community members contribute the land and more than 2,000 volunteer work days on the construction site.  When the community is involved the impact is multiplied.”

As in all of our school projects, we provide the skilled labor, building plans, materials and construction supervision at no cost to the communities. The agreement between buildOn and the community also makes certain that girls attend school in equal numbers to boys.  Additionally, buildOn partners with other organizations such as Hope for Haiti, a non-profit based in Naples Florida, to provide support for teachers, health care, access clean water and public health education to the villages.

On the anniversary of this tragedy, we want to thank all of our supporters who have made these schools possible and ask that you renew your commitment to the Haitian people. Together we are building schools that are helping rebuild a nation!

Be a Tipster for your Community

Do you know about an organization that could use a helping hand?  Maybe there’s a park or public area begging for a makeover, a senior center that would benefit from smiling teenage faces or a project that needs some help getting off the ground.  Send buildOn a quick proposal to news@buildon.org on how we can get involved.

Take a Break – a Spring Break

Apply to be a chaperone for a buildOn Alternative Spring Break in your region.  You’ll be working with a group of energetic students and experienced buildOn staff members who will turn a vacation from school into an unforgettable week of community service and team building.  E-mail news@buildon.org and we will connect you to the program supervisor in your region.

Build a School

Take experiential philanthropy to a whole new level with buildOn’s Ambassador Trek Program.  Get a group of family and friends together and come up with a plan of action to raise funds for materials and construction, then travel to break ground alongside the village you will be helping.  The fundraising will be easier and more fun than you know.  Check out how others have done it before.  Plus, we’ll be there to help you all the way to your goal!  For more information contact melissa.sanseverino@buildon.org.

Get Behind the Lens

Are you a skilled photographer or filmmaker wanting to expand your artistic portfolio?  Lend your artistic eye to buildOn by taking photos or shooting footage of buildOn students and leaders in action at after-school activities and weekend events.  Reach out to carrie.pena@buildon.org.

Help Spread the Word

If you are a fan of buildOn don’t keep it to yourself!  Tell Everyone. Share your love of buildOn online by sharing the buildOn blog, liking our Facebook page or following us on Twitter.  Prefer face to face interaction?  If you are in a buildOn region, introduce us to your network by holding an info night at your home, local coffee shop or even you office – we’ll come to you.

“When [youth]  realize they can make a difference in the lives of others, and impact people on a global scale they raise their expectations, their horizons are broadened, and they step up.” -  Jim Ziolkowski

buildOn Founder and CEO Jim Ziolkowski leads a team of U.S. students into a village in Mali, Africa

Click here to read the full story. 

To learn more about Jim and buildOn’s start check out buildon.org.

Earlier this fall I participated in a new buildOn immersion program, Indepth: Detroit.  It was easily one of the most powerful and amazing events I’ve experienced at buildOn. 

The program was designed to give, in one weekend, buildOn supporters a first-hand look into the impact our U.S. after-school programs are having on the lives of youth.  One weekend is not a lot of time and our goal was ambitious, replicate the power of buildOn’s international Ambassador Trek experience here in the U.S.  

buildOn supporter Keith Cox (left) bonds with buildOn Detroit student.

The program participants were joined by thirteen incredible buildOn students who dedicated themselves to deep and personal sharing about their lives, the impact of the buildOn program, and the challenges of growing up in Detroit – a city deemed by the US Census Bureau to be the poorest in America. What transpired over the course of the weekend was truly remarkable and I imagine unforgettable for each participant.

The program gave participants a full look at buildOn’s U.S. program through activities like: A discussion panel of students who shared their personal tragedies and triumphs, shadowing buildOn students in their Detroit high schools, participating in a buildOn program meeting, and touring the city of Detroit and the communities we serve.

The weekend ended with the Fall Detroit Regional Service Project where over 150 buildOn students from across the city participated in projects from pumpkin carving with homeless Veterans to playing Bingo with the senior citizens to making crafts with adults with metal disabilities. At the end of the day, buildOn students and supporters celebrated their accomplishments and the 453 lives they had touched through their service that weekend.   

Just as importantly for the participants and students of Indepth Detroit, their lives had been deeply touched by each other. The exchange was inspiring, therapeutic and filled with transformation for the youth and adults alike. The students had a renewed sense of purpose and perspective, they saw Detroit through new eyes, a city full of hopes and dreams and opportunities.  And for the supporters? Well, just read the note below… 

“It was AMAZING meeting the kids and all of the staff that support the programs. I don’t think I will ever forget Thursday night and all that followed; my mind is still trying to comprehend everything that happened. I guess the simplest way of describing how I feel right now is to say that it was life changing; I think there are certain experiences in life that change who we are, for me, this was one of them. One other thing that I am also  certain about,  ALL of these kids are incredibly lucky to have all of you!!!”
- Stephen Resnick 

If you are interested in being added to an e-mail list for our next In Depth program, e-mail Carrie.Pena@buildon.org.

buildOn students and supporters made crafts with the residents of The ARC Detroit.

Learn more about the Trek for Knowledge program.

Every year buildOn chooses two students from each of our 118 after-school programs to travel to build a school with us.  The students are selected based not only on their participation in buildOn, but also on their dedication to service in their own communities and their ability to articulate how the experience will impact their lives.

Right now buildOn staff members are reviewing applications and conducting interviews for our spring “treks” to Haiti and Malawi.  As part of their application process, students write essays explaining why they would like to be chosen.

I read one of these essays yesterday and it was a shining example of the “trek” applications we receive every year from students across the country.  I had had to share it with you.   Enjoy!

Trek for Knowledge Application Essay

By Rodney, a junior at Global Visions Academy (Chicago)

buildOn has been a great experience for me.  When I was first approached about buildOn, Ms. Abbe [my program coordinator], was explaining to me and other classmates what a great experience it would be.  Little did I know how right she was!

buildOn has taught me to be a better leader, take responsibility, work with others, and help those who need it.  My new found traits did not just end with buildOn projects; they have carried over into my everyday activities and goals.  I find myself doing better in school, getting better grades, and taking the initiative to do what’s important first instead of putting it on hold.

I am an athlete and I love playing sports.  Thanks to buildOn and what it’s taught me I have become a much better leader.  I went from being a good football player to a great teammate.

Looking back at my first project, I did not know what to expect.  I was not even properly dressed for the activity they had planned for me.  We were going downtown to these apartment buildings that house people who need help starting over with their life.  They needed us to help one of the family’s move their stuff from their current apartment to a bigger one.

When my program coordinator told me that, it discouraged me a little bit because it was not my stuff I was moving.  I had to realize this was not about me.  It was about helping people who need it and just doing something right.  Through the entire process I was pushing myself to keep going, and reminding myself of the importance of getting it done.  After, I felt as if I had accomplished more in that one day then I did in my entire life.

The feeling I had, making a difference in someone’s life, made me feel so great.  Finally I found something that put me to the test and I did well at it.

That is what drives me to continue doing buildOn and that is what buildOn means to me.  I have done many buildOn projects since my first, and learned quite a few things.  If I am chosen to go on the trip to Malawi it will mean much more than a chance to go to Africa.  It would be a chance to make a definite impact on this world.  Building a school in Malawi will help so many kids lives and that’s why I want to do it.  10 years from now I want to look back and know I didn’t pass up such a great opportunity.  When I have kids I want them to listen to my story and encourage them to do something great.

“The service project we completed on 9/11 for our local firefighting heroes was absolutely amazing. Almost life-changing. To see men on the force talk about their experiences, their careers, and their perspectives on the 9/11 tragedy was interesting and captivating. I never thought that the fire fighters would be so appreciative of us and what we did. It was truly an emotional experience.”– Neha Malhotra

Nine years after the tragic events of 9/11 our country is still healing. In that spirit, September 11th has become the National Day of Service and Remembrance – a day where every American can honor those who lost their lives through service. To participate in the National Day of Service and Remembrance, buildOn students from Bridgeport, Stamford and Stratford partnered with their local fire stations to honor the firefighters whose lives were lost on 9/11. The day began with the firefighters sharing their personal experiences of that day, speaking about their deep commitment to serving their communities and reflecting on the brotherhood that they share.

buildOn students also shared their memories of 9/11, and although at that time they were only in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grades, they all distinctly remembered where they were when they found out about the tragic events of the day. The students then decorated a flag with the names of each of the 343 firefighters who died in the rescue efforts on 9/11.

It was a powerful and beautiful way to remember. By taking the time to remember, their lives were honored, the service and sacrifice valued, and the community strengthened.

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911Service3rs

911Service2rs

Sometime in the next two weeks, men and women from the village of Kasikidzi, Malawi will harvest and sell one acre of cassava, a starchy tuberous root used as food in many developing countries.  They strategically worked together as participants in buildOn’s Community Education Program (CEP) with the goal of generating revenue to be reinvested in their own lives.

Their journey started in 2008, when a group of U.S. high school students from buildOn’s Trek for Knowledge programs in Connecticut and New York spent two weeks in Kasikidzi working to help build a primary school for the children in the village.  The school was completed in 11 weeks and the men and women of the village contributed more than 2000 volunteer workdays to finish the project. Currently, 396 students, 210 of whom are girls, benefit from the additional classrooms.

Following the construction of the school, men and women from the community eagerly enrolled in buildOn’s Community Education Program, an 18-month course designed to teach literacy and community development skills to mostly illiterate adults. The course is now near completion, and the participants are taking stock of the noticeable improvements in their lives and in their community.

“Before the Community Education Program, most of us could not read, write, or do basic math,” Aida Akimu explained to me as we walked through her village. “Today, we can read street signs, write letters, read the bible, and understand how to account for money.” Mrs. Akimu currently serves as treasurer for a club her CEP class created to collectively increase agricultural output and invest in livestock.

The club’s chairman, Anton Chipemba, debriefed me on their strategy. “During CEP class one day, buildOn brought in a guest speaker to talk about raising pigs and goats. Afterward, we decided to work together to plant, harvest, and sell an acre of cassava and use the revenue to buy and raise pigs. Using the construction skills we learned during the school project, we built a covered pigpen that is now ready for use. Our goal is for the pigs to reproduce to the point where every member of our class has a pig of their own.”

This is the definition of grassroots development at the most basic level. buildOn programs provided the men and women of Kasikidzi with the opportunity to improve education and community development, and they met that opportunity with a high level of dedication, enthusiasm, and follow-through.

Their journey, however, is not complete. With the imminent completion of CEP classes in Kasikidzi, buildOn and the community will begin preparations on the next phase of this meaningful partnership—a second school block to meet the needs of the growing demand of primary school students in the village.

buildOn CEP Participants

Women particpants of buildOn's CEP class stand in front of the cassava they planted together

Kids in Kasikidzi

Kids in Kasikidzi in front of their new buildOn school

1 acre of Manioc

1 acre of Cassava grown by the buildOn CEP participants in Kasikidzi

The need is clear.

At buildOn we not only provide U.S. youth with a safe space afterschool; we empower them to change their communities and the world! buildOn students, from some the most challenging and under resourced schools in our nation, contribute literally hundreds of thousands of service hours to their communities.

From Oakland to Southside Chicago, from Detroit to the Bronx, buildOn students spend their out-of-school hours listening to U.S. veterans at homeless shelters, bringing groceries to individuals afflicted with HIV/AIDS, and cleaning and caring for our community. They have traveled, just as you’ve seen in “From the Field,” to remote villages in impoverished nations to help break the cycle of poverty, by bringing education to those who need it most.

And what’s more, 95% of buildOn students in the U.S. graduate high school and attend college.

This is why I’m so pleased to announce the launch of the buildOn Afterschool Campaign at buildonafterschool.org in support of our critical programs.

Through this campaign you have a direct link into each of buildOn’s 118 programs nationwide. You will meet students living in your city right now and are working to make the community better for all. You can learn about, and then support, the buildOn program that means the most to you.

We hope you will help us in celebrating the students who have the drive, compassion and foresight to spend their after school time with buildOn. We are inspired by their work and are thankful for your support.

Visit buildOnafterschool.org and make an impact today.

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One of the most powerful service experiences I have witnessed takes place each summer in the unlikely town of Lexington, MI. The YWCA Camp Cavell invites buildOn students to volunteer as camp counselors to support the women and children from the YWCA Interim House for a much needed week of healing. The YWCA Interim House is a shelter in Detroit that offers services to battered women and their children.

The buildOn students are responsible for getting the families to meals on time and taking the children and mothers to the different activities around camp. They also play games with the kids during free time. Over the week buildOn students and the women and children from the Interim House participate in swimming, kayaking, tree climbing, horseback riding, hayrides, arts and crafts, camp games and dancing.

buildOn staff and students discuss at length how this week is a critical step in the healing process for these women and children. As relationships form and trust builds some of the women share their powerful and tragic stories. Our students quickly begin to realize the strength and resiliency that it took for these women to protect themselves and their children. By supporting, encouraging and nurturing the women and children of the Interim House, buildOn students make a difference in their lives and learn from the women and children. Over the week, buildOn students learn about domestic violence and how to avoid it, but they also learn about giving and the simple joys and aching sadness of life.

Lisa Kraiza is a buildOn volunteer and teaching advisor at Oak Park High School. Here is what she wrote about her time at Camp Cavel:

My real breakthrough moment came at horseback riding. It also happened to be my wedding anniversary that day. While I was waiting for all the kids to take a turn, including my own daughter, Essence comes up to me and says, “While you are celebrating your anniversary, I am celebrating a divorce.” She then began to share parts of her life with me. Essence had this glow of positive energy around her. She knew that she had a dark past, but she was resigned that from now on she would look to the future and do what she could for herself and her son. I was so proud of Essence and so happy that she opened up to me. I told her as much.

The rest of the week I would check in with Essence and she would reveal a little more about her life to me. We cried and we hugged. I found her a stone on the beach that was worn down like a worry stone. I gave it to her at dinner and told her to keep it in her pocket to remind her of camp on those rough days. She responded with a letter to me that moves me every time I look at it. I will keep her letter forever. Her last line sums up what buildOn is all about, “Thanks for your simple, but much needed act of kindness.”

With all the service that we do in our communities- both locally and globally- my heart can’t help but melt when I see students dive in, get dirty, and make a difference.  A common misconception among many people (not just students) is that hard work is easy. Hard work is hard, but with a big heart anything is possible.

Hard work often involves sweat, exhaustion, pushing yourself beyond what you thought you could do.  On our latest service adventure, I saw my student do just that.  Not a day went by where we weren’t sweaty, hot, filthy, and tired.  They worked as a team, and they worked hard.  On our last day, I couldn’t help but ask them, “Why?  Why do you work hard?”  Here is part of what they said…

“Because I knew I had the opportunity to do something new and inspirational..”

“I know I would want someone to work hard on something that was important for me (like a house or school), and I’m sure the people in need would feel the same way…”

“I worked hard because I wanted to show that I could work as hard as I possibly can in any weather or any place.”

“I think every community should have the basics…this experience (although very painful and physically/mentally draining) was amazing and I wouldn’t take it back fro anything.”

“I put all of my heart and my strength to make my work look great, so that the people who will receive the good of my work will be proud to know that a determined person did that for them.”

“I felt I couldn’t give up because I wouldn’t want anyone to give up on something I needed.”

after moving 24,000 lbs of wet, dirty sandbags!

Haiti is no doubt one of the most challenging places to work, and the need for better schools and improved education is perhaps greater in Haiti than in most other developing countries. That’s why buildOn is committed to scaling up our work there immediately.

While the challenges are significant, progress and success are never out of reach. buildOn just completed a three-classroom school in the remote fishing village of Flammand, where community members contributed more than 1,500 volunteer work days. buildOn opened a door of opournity and the men and women of Flammand walked through it with discipline and determination. They did it for their children, for their future.

As I personally reflect on Haiti six months after the quake, I think back to the following journal entree that I made after visiting in June:

June 20th, 2010:

Deep, fresh wounds are now left to mend on top of old Haitian scars. The healing process of this recent catastrophe will take decades even if the combined efforts of the Haitian Government, the international community, and the Haitian people are successful.  This is not a pessimist’s viewpoint. It is reality.

At 4:53 p.m. on January 12th Haiti changed forever. The changes are more than just structural–thousands of flattened buildings with cement slab roofs sitting atop rubble as if they were melting under the hot Caribbean sun. The changes run much deeper than the harsh lessons of human suffering taught to us by an estimated 230,000 dead, 300,000 wounded, and 1 million people homeless. The changes are also psychological, economically crippling, and have led to a complex ripple effect of uncertainty, fear, and despair from Haiti’s major cities to its remote and isolated provincial communities.  These changes will not reverse themselves quickly, but will dissolve gradually with the help of the lime covered backs and the calloused hands of the Haitian men and women.

One thing that I am convinced will remain in Haiti is the resiliency of its people. I have witnessed some of the worst that nature has to offer mankind, and I have seen the Haitians respond with dignity, humanity, and courage.  More than the government or the international community, the citizens of Haiti are the real heroes of the relief effort.

In December 2007, we put the finishing touches on our 233^rd school worldwide in a village by the name of Shishaya, in Nepal.  The other day I had the opportunty to return to Shishaya to visit the Community Education Program graduates who had just finished their  two year buildOn literacy, life skills and community development program.   We have done a lot of work since we finished the school in Shishaya, and in fact the previous day, I had been to the inauguration of our 73^rd school in Nepal and our 363^rd worldwide.

However, what I found in Shishaya was truly remarkable.  It was a testament to how many people in buildOn villages around the world are taking control of their lives and their struggle to dig themselves out of extreme poverty.  The schools we build and the Community Education Programs we provide are an essential part of a community’s ability to create lasting and positive social change, but it is the efforts of individuals that make the difference.

I went to Shishaya to visit a woman I have come to know well over the past 3 years.  Her name is Jyoeshena and she has been an inspiration to me since we first met in 2007.  I didn’t know what exactly she was doing with her life now but I knew it would be good.  Jyoeshena is originally from Bangladesh and is now 24 years old.  Like so many thousands of boys and girls growing up in extreme poverty she was not able to go to school and instead grew up in the slums of New Delhi, India, working in a restaurant washing dishes and cleaning in order to help her family survive.  It was there that she fell in love with Rup Chandra Chaudhary, a young man from the village of Shishaya who was also forced to go to New Delhi to look for work.  Because they came from different cultures and religions they were forced to elope and she has not spoken to her family since.  They married and moved to his village in  Nepal.  That was 7 years ago, and now Jyoeshena is quite comfortable in her new life in Shishaya.  She has taken on a local name “Rekia” and has become fluent in the local language, Tharu.   They have 1 son and 1 daughter.

By Brett McNaught, Vice President of International Programs

I first met Jyoeshana when we were constructing the 3-classroom school in 2007 and she was mixing concrete for the pillars and beams.  She told me then how excited she was to be getting a school that she could send her children to because she never had the opportunity.  Then in 2008,  I met her again, this time as one of the most outspoken and influential leaders of buildOn’s Community Education Program where she shared with me everything she had learned and how much learning how to read and write meant to her and how it was going to end her family’s long cycle of poverty.

Now she has completed the buildOn Community Education Program, one of more than 11,500 adults worldwide since buildOn began the program in 2000.  She is fluent in Nepali and Tharu literacy and she has recently completed a 4-month training by a partner NGO in Nepal that taught her how to be a tailor.  She and 3 other women from the Community Education Program completed the tailor training and purchased 4 sewing machines.  They are currently each making an average of $3 per day profit on their business, literally bringing themselves out of extreme poverty and they have all the skills and confidence they need to succeed.  This is just the beginning for them.

My wife, Virginia, was also with me on this visit to see Jyoeshena and Virginia lingered on the fact that Jyoeshena had been seperated from her family in Bangledesh for 7 years.  We found out that Jyoeshena was desperate to reunite with her parents and siblings but did not know how.   We asked her if she would like to write them a letter and upon hearing the idea her smile lit up the room.  She wrote to them that she was doing well in Nepal, that she had two children, that she had learned to read and write and she had a good business and that if they loved her she hoped they would call her.  We had it translated from Nepali to her local Bengali language and mailed it to her parents with a couple of photos and her phone number.  I hope that the letter reaches them and that they are overjoyed and relieved to see that their daughter is safe and has accomplished so many great things.  It would be another wonderful story of how literacy can bring families together.

It has been my greatest pleasure over the past 5 years with buildOn to witness stories like these.  The amazing thing is that she is not alone.  I have witnessed many amazing people who have taken the opportunity of education and made lasting change in their life, in their famliy and in their community.

Today, we are in Geffrard Village where the community came together to put the roof on their school.  Three different communities, three different schools, three different stages of construction.  But all are buildOn schools, all are post-earthquake projects, and all will make room for children and families that fled Port Au Prince.

The community members in Geffrard pressed us about when we would build our next school. We pressed them about why education is important for the children here. One man stepped forward, put his hand on the shoulder of a little girl and said, “If she doesn’t have education, she is living but will not exist.”

The little girl’s name is Islaine Dorvil and she is five years old.  Her family survived the quake, but lost everything and was forced to live in the streets of Port Au Prince for three months without shelter.  Islaine, her mother and two brothers finally found their way to Geffrard Village where they now have a home and have joined their new neighbors in building this school.

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Islaine Dorvil with her mother and two brothers near the ongoing buildOn school project.

Over the last ten years we have built fourteen like the one we are building here. Over the next three years, we plan to mobilize communities and build thirty-six more.

Each of these schools will educate up to 225 children and will cost $32,000 to build.  All told, these schools will educate more than 8,000 children per year for many generations to come.  But we cannot do it alone.  In fact every donation, no matter what the size, is critical.

Why?  Because if Islaine Dorvil and thousands of other Haitian children like her do not have education they will be “living but will not exist.”

Please visit buildon.org and join our campaign in Haiti!

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Many child survivors now attend the buildOn school in Ravin Sab. We need to build 36 more schools like this throughout southern Haiti.

Bwina could barely breathe let alone yell out for her sister, and from beneath the rubble she couldn’t see a thing.  All Bwina thought about was her sister and her family.  Did they survive?  Are they alive?  Anxiety raced around in Bwina’s mind when everything slowly faded to black.  Bwina fainted.

Two hours later she was pulled from the rubble.  Unconscious.  When Bwina came too she was reunited with her sister and soon discovered that her family was safe.  Although she never met her rescuers or had a chance to thank them, she will never forget their heroic kindness.  Nor will thousands of others forget the strangers who saved their lives that day.

Bwina now lives in Ravin Sab Village and is in the 5^th grade.  Her favorite subject is French and one day, she hopes to be a doctor.

Bwina attends a buildOn school.

Bwina

Bwina Olguin in now attends a buildOn school in Ravine Sab Village

Wadechine is twelve years old and on January 12^th she was visiting the home of her aunt, uncle and cousins on the other side of Port Au Prince.  She was in the shower at 4:53 pm when the earth began to shake and bricks fell from the ceiling.  One smashed and broke her arm before she could escape and join her cousins as they sprinted into an open field across the street.

Everyone in the house made it out alive but before the sun set, Wadechine witnessed several people trying to recover the body of Rosemirline, their 26 year old neighbor.  They were only able to extract her body from the waist up.

When the quake struck, Wadechine’s father was at work, but within a few hours he made it through the apocalyptic chaos of Port Au Prince and was able to comfort Wadechine in the field across the street.  They lived in that field for 15 days without shelter.

On day three, Wadechine received word that her mother had died in their own home when it collapsed on top of her.  She was alone when she passed, and like more than 100,000 others, there was no funeral.

On day eight, Wadechine finally found medical treatment for her broken arm.  The pain was excruciating when they set the arm and it has still not fully healed.

Wadechine now lives in Rousseau Village with her 25 year old brother and two younger siblings, where she now attends a buildOn school.  Her favorite subjects are math and French.

Wadechine dreams of becoming a doctor.  And as you can see, her beautiful smile has returned.

Wadechine

Wadechine Lexine in Rousseau Village

Ravine Sab PAP Student

More than 20 children at the buildOn school in Ravine Sab told us unimaginable accounts of survival and suffering after the January 12th earthquake.

All of the children tell of how moments after the earthquake struck it became suddenly dark, as if the sun had disappeared and given way to a black cloud or a night of destruction.  After some time, the intense cloud of dust and debris settled and the light of day returned but only to reveal the gruesome images of mangled bodies and human suffering that none of these children will forget.  Each child saw people they knew pinned beneath the rubble.  They heard their screams as they writhed in pain and pleaded for rescue.  And they saw the lifeless bodies of those who were crushed in the rubble and would never be rescued.

All of the children lost friends and they all lost loved ones.

Each ran into the streets seconds after the earth began to shake.  Each slept in those streets that night, whether their houses were crushed or not.  All continued living in the streets for days and some for weeks, before finding shelter.

When the quake struck at 4:53 pm that January day, all of the kids were doing what kids do; playing soccer, doing their homework, playing with friends, doing chores or helping their parents.

All of these children have dreams and some have even formed new ones.  Some want to be doctors and nurses, while others want to be engineers so someday they can build safe homes for their own children.

Each of these kids attends a buildOn school.

Each child has hope.  And each child can still smile.

Jim and Rousseau Kids from PAP

The child survivors of the Haitian earthquake now attending a buildOn school in Rousseau inspired us with their courage and hope for the future.

_______

Over the next few days, I will try to open a window into the lives of some of these children with three short posts.

Rosseau Old School

Students in Rousseau attend class in this dilapidated school

By the time we finally rolled to a stop in the center of the village, the sounds of the celebration were deafening.  While we were absorbed into the festivities, children took turns singing songs.  Our head engineer, Clerge Garry, prepared to address the community and ask each of them to sign to our covenant.

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Community members in Rousseau line up to sign the buildOn covenant

The signing of the covenant is the corner stone of any buildOn project and the most critical step in our process.  The covenant formally establishes a leadership committee of six women and six men who will organize the village to contribute all the unskilled labor to build the school.  In Haiti, that amounts to at least twenty volunteers per day or more than 2,000 volunteer work days over the duration of the project.  Most importantly, the covenant outlines that girls will go to school in equal numbers with the boys.  Gender balance in the classroom is an absolute priority for buildOn here in Rousseau, throughout Haiti, and on three different continents where we build schools.

Though many in Rousseau are illiterate and cannot sign their own names, every member of the community eagerly signed the covenant.  Either with a pen or a finger print.

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Tomorrow we break ground!

We spent the night in the modest home of the village leader, and in the morning we organized a meeting of the school leadership committee and many of the parents of Flamand.  We held the meeting in the dilapidated; make shift structure where 235 children had always gone to class.  With no walls and a dirt floor, the condition of this fairly typical “school” provided powerful motivation to expand our work in Haiti.

Flammand Students

Students attending class in the old school in Flamand Village

The parents of Flamand had already contributed more than 1,500 volunteer workdays, and we had not even inaugurated the school. They even peppered us with questions about when we could break ground on more classrooms.  They passionately explained that there are at least 100 more children that would go to school if only we could build more classes.

Though I thought I already knew how they would answer, I asked the community why education is so important to them and how it would make a difference in their lives.  The response should not have surprised me, but it did.  It came from an elder named Bertin Pierre Louis, and it reflected the wisdom of generations.

“Without education, our eyes are open but we do not see.  We are blind. Only education will help the children of Flamand defend themselves against poverty and hunger. If everyone in Haiti had access to education, we would have another country.”

Bertin

Bertin Pierre Louis in Flamand Village

More tomorrow when we sign a covenant!

The truck overheated as we reached the top of the pass, then the engine conked out when we started to coast down the mountain.  We pulled over, popped the hood and saw that the radiator had leaked out all of its water.  The highway was deserted, but the good news was that we were on one of the few paved roads in Haiti.  We figured the worst-case scenario would be coasting down the mountain to the nearest town.

Within ten minutes, a few curious men descended from the mountainside to check out our situation.  They took a look under the hood, diagnosed our problem, and one man immediately sprinted back up the mountain in the 100 degree heat.  We were all drenched in sweat just standing outside the truck, so his effort seemed super-human.  Fifteen minutes later, he trotted back down with a five-gallon bucket of water and he wasn’t even sweating.

We filled up the radiator, and as we tried to thank him he graciously smiled and headed back up the mountain as if to say… this is Haiti.  You are welcome.

p.s.  We never got to take his photo, or even got his name, but his kindness will always be remembered.

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Checking under the hood as we are broken down in the Haitian mountains.

The difference between San Francisco and Port Au Prince:  Extreme Poverty.

PAp Destruction

People go about thier daily lives amidst the distruction in Port au Prince

Extreme poverty and illiteracy are directly correlated and extensive research proves that education is one of the first steps out of poverty.

Since the earthquake, 600,000 people have left Port Au Prince.  Tens of thousands have resettled in Les Cayes, where we are building schools.  The need for education in Haiti is more dire than ever.

PAP exedous

Victims of the Haiti Earthquake Traveling to Les Cayes from Port au Prince

Those are the facts. You can help.

We have broken ground on several schools over the last six months.  They will be among the first built anywhere in Haiti since the quake.  Tomorrow, I will post from a village where we are building one of the schools and over the next week, we’ll post from villages where we plan to build many more.

By the time I return to the U.S., you will have a close up look at the critical need for education, our progress building schools and the impact it is making.  You will also have an opportunity to get involved and help us build more schools here in Haiti.  Stay tuned!

Carrefour Tents

Typical living conditions in the camp in Carrefour

The first person I met was a five-year old boy who grabbed my hand and held it as we walked around one of the camps.  He held on the way my son Jack holds my hand when we cross a street or when he just wants to feel the love and comfort of his father.  The little boy’s name is Ailey and his own father perished in the quake.

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Five year old Aiiley just outside the camp in Carrefour

In another part of the camp we met a six-year old girl named Junie.  As a favor to her parents, Junie’s Aunt Mary left her apartment around 4:00 pm on January 12^th to pick her up from school.  Moments after they met outside the school, the earthquake struck.  Both of Junie’s parents were killed and all the people in Mary’s four-story apartment building perished.

Mary and Junie share much more than a tent together in Carrefour.  Because of each other and by the grace of God, their lives were spared.  And just as their lives have been woven together by the threads of tragedy, hope and solidarity, so have the lives of all the people living in this camp.  They survived the quake and will rebuild… together.

Junie’s dream is to be a nurse and in a few weeks, she will graduate from kindergarten.  The only path to her dream is through education.

Tomorrow we’ll talk more about how education can make a long-term impact here in Haiti.  The bottom line…we have a lot of work to do!

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Junie and Mary sit outside their tent in Carrefour

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We landed in Port Au Prince at 12:30 pm and headed towards Carrefour, the epicenter of the January 12th earthquake. We snaked our way through the city in a rattle-trap four wheel drive vehicle, passing by the collapsed presidential palace and making our way up Grand Rue. The structural devastation along Grand Rue is beyond description. Four, five even six story buildings pancaked and completely flattened. 230,000 people died in the rubble, and 1.2 million people are homeless, many of them living in make shift tents anywhere they can find a few feet of vacant ground. I mean anywhere.

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I was stunned as we headed up Cote Plage, the closest thing Haiti has to a highway, towards Carrefour. We saw children playing in the road inches from oncoming trucks and buses that were screaming by at a dangerous clip. As semi-trucks blew their mind rattling horns, the children’s parents and siblings were bathing, cooking meals, braiding their hair… trying to go about their daily lives. They too were only inches from on-coming traffic.

Out of desperation, hundreds of families built a refugee camp in the median of Cote Plage. Entire families are living in tiny tents that are only eight feet wide and ten feet long. And the tents literally
open onto the highway.

Cote Plage Median 2

As we talked with the parents and played with the children I was confused by their laughter and jovial sense of humor. They survived one of the worst natural disasters in human history. They experienced tragic loss and immense suffering and now endure the crippling Haitian heat in make-shift tents pitched on the asphalt of a highway median. Yet they were laughing and joking with me.

The Haitians must be the most courageous and resilient human beings on the planet.

Cote Plage Median Kids Smiling 2

From there we’ll follow the path of migration that thousands of other refugees took to the province of Les Cayes where we have been building schools for many years. We plan to work on the construction of several new buildOn schools that are among the first to be built anywhere in Haiti since the earthquake. We’ll also join hundreds of parents in the village of Rosseau in signing a covenant and breaking ground on yet another school.

Most of these photos were taken immediately after the earthquake. We’re taking several cameras, including an HD video camera, and plan to show you what’s been going on since.

The next post will be from Haiti!
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The South Bronx is the poorest congressional district in the United States. The people we served are not only battling HIV and AIDS, they are battling poverty. Our students let each of them know that they are not alone and that we care. They lifted up the people through their smiles, their kind words and their actions. The buildOn students are a powerful example to the entire community and to all of us.

This video features interviews I conducted with students on that day.

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You met Ron in a previous post when he gave us a tour of his host family’s home. He is an amazing student who is overcoming serious adversity on many levels. Back in Detroit, his step dad and mother are both unemployed. They live in a trailer park after being evicted from their home earlier in the year, and he thinks they may get evicted again when we return to the ‘States.

Ron is clearly living below the U.S. poverty line in the poorest city (economically) in America. Yet here he is building a school for children in the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere. And he has been lifting up people in Detroit through buildOn service every week for more than a year.

Ron’s courage, compassion and resiliency are an inspiration. His poetry is powerful. Here’s one of the many he’s been writing during our time here.

Hope in Two Worlds
Times may get challenging
But you push through like everyone else.
When you think you’re alone
Remember someone will always help.

People always wonder why I’m so happy,
And ask why.
I look them in the eye
Then explain why.

At home there’s no time to pout,
Only time to help.
I never feel like a stranger
Call me the helping ranger.

Motivation is the key
When I help a kid.
I remember when I first tutored,
I was kinda scared
But when Angelie said,
“I hope you’ll always be there.”

That was a change for me.
Try to knock me down if you dare.
buildOn has made me better
I will stay strong forever.

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I walk around with my new family
everyone is so content.
Working hard in the morning
dancing at night.
Not having much
but happy with such.

Enjoying life,
and having spirit.
Looking into their eyes
filled with hope.
Playing games
with only a rope.

I feel like my work is lifting spirits,
When I know I’m helping others.
My work is really good
I wanted to help as many as I could.

I’m pushing back
Giving people a break.
Putting in my all
For people’s sake.

The school is giving a chance
To kids who need a few extra hands.
I could see a glimpse of hope
When I look in to their eyes.

I’m working hard,
So kids won’t start to die
Education is what they need
And for that I won’t retreat.

I am going to do great things!
I am going to the store,
To buy everyone a hope ring.
I will help the old.
I will help the young.
My heart is sold.
To the happiness in others’ hearts.

We wanted you to get a taste of village life and let you partake in one of the many chores of the morning hours. Suffice it to say, the students have never done anything like this back in Detroit!

osmar1

Not long after I met Osmar on the work site back in 2007 I discovered that he often walked long distances to coffee plantations where he would stay for weeks and pick coffee beans to earn a few cherished cordobas. In fact, he left Las Trojas by himself just two weeks before we broke ground on the school and walked two and a half hours to catch a ride on the back of a truck that carried him up into the rainforest. Once there, he would wake every morning before sunrise, walk into the jungle and pick coffee for ten to twelve hours. He was able to pick sixty pounds of beans per day and would dump them into a large sac before he carried them out of the jungle on his back.

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He earned the equivalent of one dollar a day.

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When I learned about his work, I asked Osmar if he would take me up to the plantation so I could see it for myself. He agreed and when I saw the extreme conditions and how hard this twelve-year-old boy was working, I understood why his family and community were relentless and driven to build that school. Education would change the lives of children for generations to come, and they knew it.

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When I was with him last week, Osmar couldn’t find words to describe the pride he felt when he attended the sixth grade in their new school. Then he told me his dream is to get a degree and become a teacher in the very same school he helped to build.

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The next day, we had to gather the American students and begin our journey home so they could get back to school themselves. The most difficult part of this experience was not swinging the pickax or even pounding rocks in the 90 degree heat. The hardest thing we had to do, by far, was to say goodbye to the community and wonder if they would be able to complete the project without us. Our team of skilled labor would stay behind and we had delivered all the cement and rebar needed to build the school—but did the community still have the will to finish the project and build that school? I was deeply concerned. Jose Alberto must have sensed it and pulled me aside to say,

“For seventeen years we have petitioned our government to build a school. For seventeen years they have promised they would. And for seventeen years, they have lied. We will never give up on this project.”

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Then I looked over at Jose and Osmar for a long moment. We all smiled and embraced. It was good to be back and even better to renew a very deep friendship.
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