Campus California TG: program

Showing posts with label program. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Our life in CCTG

Friday, December 19, 2008

Poverty Fighter – Central or Latin America

Poverty Fighter – Central or Latin America

1. USA - Central America - Belize courses
The USA – Central America courses have this structure:

Period 1: 2 months at the school – USA and its backyard: Rich and poor in USA and in Latin America
Period 2: 1 month bus travel from the school to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador - The people of USA and Latin America their culture, living conditions, hopes and fears
Period 3: 4 months work in Belize / Nicaragua / Guatemala - Fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Poor
Period 4: 2 months at the school - Alerting Americans to yield support for the poor

During these periods the course offers you, the participant, to learn and develop in multiple ways

Period 1 : 2 months at the school – USA and its backyard: Rich and poor in USA and in Latin America

For two months your focus is on learning about rich and poor in the USA and in Latin America and on preparing for traveling to Belize / Nicaragua / Guatemala and working at the projects. You read, investigate, discuss within the team and with many others. You build friendship in the team and a team spirit as a foundation for your travel and for the tasks ahead.
The Americas is a diverse continent that has been peopled by immigrants from all corners of the world, since the earliest Native American settlers made their way through the arctic to settle all over North and South America to the European conquest and numerous waves of immigrants including those forced into slavery.
Driven by poverty in their home nations, millions of Hispanic migrants continue to head north of the Rio Grande in search of jobs in the far wealthier USA, willing to take the lowest paid jobs often without the legal papers that secure social rights.
You explore the issue from the northern side of the border. You meet people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, talk to business owners, to opponents of immigration, to human rights organizations, to journalists on Spanish radio stations, to farm workers and street vendors in San Francisco. You learn about poverty in the USA among migrants and minorities. You look for reasons in the history, geography, culture and economics of the USA and the world for the current state of affairs. You consider what the future might hold.
You train Spanish, how to make investigations, how to repair and drive a bus and facts about the countries you are going to visit on your travel.
You train the skills needed to work as a volunteer:
How to mobilize; how to teach about and implement improvements in health, nutrition and hygiene; how to organize small scale income generation, child care and preschools; how to raise funds; how to organize a community, run a youth club, a women's or a farmer's club.

Period 2 : 1 month bus travel through Mexico and Central America - The people of the USA and of Latin America their
culture, living conditions, hopes and fears
lture, living conditions, hopes and fears

You wave good-bye to the school in Etna, California as your bus leaves for the open road. Beforehand, you have planned a route and where you intend to stop for investigations. You visit factories, schools, slums, Californian farmers and fancy neighborhoods. Some stops are brief. You disperse for a snooping tour taking in impressions of different parts of a city or town and join again in the bus for a discussion of your impressions and what they may tell you.
You make a stop at the border to see the southern outpost of the US, you cross, you see and consider. This time the stop is not so brief, as you intend to make a more thorough investigation. You read about life at the border, legal and illegal trade and its consequences. You ask questions, you see for yourself.
You continue through Meso-America the land of once mighty indigenous cultures that was so devastated by Spanish conquistadors that only 5% of the highly populated region survived when epidemics and hunger had run their course. You visit historic sites of the ancient civilizations and take your bus to visit impoverished villages in the mountains inhabited by their descendants.
Crossing the border to Guatemala you enter another Hispanic nation where the Indian population dominates large parts of the country but not its economy and politics. You learn about the gruesome civil wars of Central America, about life in the slums of Guatemala City and at the large ranches. You continue into Honduras as your Spanish skills continue to improve and learn about this quintessential banana republic. At this point, you may choose to take a right turn and visit El Salvador, the most densely populated country in Latin America with a turbulent history from its occupation by the Spaniards right up until the end of its long-running civil war in 1992. Otherwise, the Pan-American Highway takes you across to Nicaragua. A country that was occupied by US forces early in the 20th century, where Sandinista Rebels deposed the Somoza dictator only to have to fight a protracted war with rebels sponsored by the Reagan administration through shady Iran-Contra deals. After many years out of government, the Sandinistas are back in government, and you explore what this might mean.
By now, 1 month has passed, and you are ready to turn the bus around and head towards the projects: The first teams will go to Belize and later teams will also go to projects in Nicaragua and Guatemala.

Period 3 : 4 months work - Fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Poor in Central America

The bus heads for the areas in Central America where Humana to People to People has established its projects in Belize, Guatemala or Nicaragua. This might mean that your team goes to different countries in groups of four to work at different projects, the bus dropping you off as it passes by.

Say the bus drops you off in the Southern part of Belize, where you join up with Humana People to People who are running Farmer’s Clubs for 3000 small farmers. Every day, you visit the farmers, standing shoulder to shoulder with them, assisting them in improving their agricultural output and their life and welfare. You learn about, teach and put into practice simple, efficient and sustainable methods of cultivation. You figure out and help to organize how cash crops can be grown and gotten to markets, national or international.
You find partners for micro financing to start new farming ventures such as rearing animals or planting new types of crops. You assist farmers with building rope pumps for water availability. You help to establish vegetable gardens for growing nutritious food for the families.
You take part in Farmer’s Club meetings. You also work with the farmers and their families to ensure that their children can go to school and preschool and to improve their health, nutrition and sanitary conditions.

After four months, time has flown and the Farmer’s Clubs have accomplished a lot. It is time for you to say good-bye to everyone. A farewell party is arranged, hugs are generously distributed and the bus is ready to leave to go back to California, again picking up everyone along the way (During the four months you have been at the project, it has taken the new team traveling). You head north. This time you do not make many stops for investigations but the bus serves nevertheless as familiar home and center of wide ranging discussion and studies of all that you have achieved and learned.

Period 4 : 2 months at the school - Alerting Americans to yield support for the poor

Once back at the school in California, your team undertakes a major effort to mobilize understanding of and support for the projects in Central America that you have been part of building up.
You put together a road show with films, pictures, stories, presentations, exhibitions, street theater and more about the people in the projects with their families and children, about the situation of the poor in the Americas as you have seen it in one country after the other, and not least the concrete and pertinent and overwhelming need for North Americans and well to do world citizens to help out in this dire situation.
The action combines many ways of acting as messengers: Passing on knowledge to the Americans about the Latin part of the Americas. Spreading the idea that people in North America have an obligation to both know about the situation in their hemisphere such as in countries like Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua and to do something about it.
You suggest many concrete ways in which North Americans may help and what can be done and how to set up these ways and make them work in the USA so that funds and help is gathered for projects in Central America and other nations in need.
The action takes place initially producing the road show at the school for the whole team to then fan out - or bring along the bus as a center of action on wheels - so as to visit and mobilize American homes, streets, board rooms, meetings, churches, assemblies, government bodies, neighbors, children in schools, inner city community centers and not least the well off middle and upper classes of America with means to spare. The team has to be selective and efficient and quick on the money as two months quickly pass by but will anyway not be selective but inclusive in how they plan their Big Action.

Period 1 : 2 months at the school – USA-Ecuador- two vastly different countries
2. USA - Ecuador courses

The team will use the first 2 months of this period to gain knowledge on and ponder the two vast and neighboring countries of the USA and Mexico - both one by one in each their own right and also the two countries together and here included the trend that they have become more and more intertwined. You will study the histories of the countries, their interchange, on the drug interaction and border issues and much more. Furthermore you will use the two countries as examples on how Globalization as a term and a practice has influenced and will influence - if continuing on the present trend - the two countries. The period will take place in USA and your team will occasionally undertake investigations of a number of study themes in this US environment.
You will visit many different rich and poor people, among these people from Mexico, who are by now living in the US. You will interview and investigate US government institutions, companies, schools and other entities to get closer to the US reality.
You learn about the history of Mexico from its early settlements, the Spanish colonialism, the war for liberation and the French occupation. You also learn about the Mexican revolution during which 1 mill people lost their lives due to violence, hunger and illnesses.
You get to know about economical crisis during the 70-ties and 80-ties and about the growing dependence of USA and the IMF.
You learn about the history from books and from stories told by Mexican immigrants in the USA.
You prepare for working alongside the poor of Mexico. This means training a broad range of skills: economic planning, production and marketing for small scale farmers, how to clean water, avert disease and stay healthy, how to improve the nutrition quality for a poor family, how to mobilize, how to implement simple technologies that can change lives, how to run a preschool, fundraising and more.
Period 2 : 1 month travel by bus- meeting the Mexicans, learning about their lives and their dreams for the future
Finally you learn and practice Spanish, which will be your working language in Mexico.

Heading off from Etna in the schools bus- your home for the next 4 weeks- you travel through California to Mexico.
On before hand you have planned a route and where you intend to stop for investigations. You visit factories, schools, slums, Mexican communities in San Francisco or LA. Some stops are brief. You disperse for a snooping tour taking in impressions of different parts of the American society. In the group you discuss your impressions and what they may tell you. You continue south, cross the border and stop over to visit some of the American companies, which have been established along the border on the Mexican side to take advantage of the cheap Mexican labor.
You continue further south, visit villages in the Sierra and metro poles, schools, companies, government offices, oil people, prisons and churches. You get into many aspects of both the poor, the middle and the very rich part of the American hemisphere and you get a detailed and varied grip on the country, its strength and weaknesses and the road of its people.
You take a deep breath before entering the smog of Mexico City, one of if not the most populated metropolitan area in the world - to learn about life for rich and poor in this vast city. You learn about the Mexican revolution and about the ongoing struggle of the Zapatistas in Yucatan as you head further south.
You make friends with people from all walks of lives, you ask questions, you consider the answers, you discuss with your team mates and you make up your own mind. You get ready to fight alongside the poor Mexicans for the next 4 months.
Period 3 : 4 months work - Fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Poor in Ecuador

In this 4 months period the you and your team will fight alongside the poor at the Humana People to People Child Aid projects, improving the life of the children, who are going to carry the future of Mexico.
You head for the areas where Humana People to People has established its projects. The projects are new and in groups of four you will get the task to implement the activities at the project, to make seminars for the staff and for volunteers, to start income generating programs and to form family groups or other organizational entities within which to work to improve the situation of the families and their children.
This might mean that you start by making a baseline survey in the geographical area of the Child Aid Project. You investigate the situation of the families and their children on a number of parameters such as their material standard, their income, access to primary schooling, the status of health and sanitation and access to available services, literacy, the nutritional situation and the status of other areas of welfare or lack thereof. From this study you make a concrete action plan together with the Humana People to People project leader for further activities to start following the “10 lines” within the general Child Aid program. You might be involved in starting preschools and train the preschool teachers and will mobilize children and youth in a number of community and knowledge based activities with the aim of making the children and the youth an active part of supporting a better future for 5000 families and their community. You might be involved in teaching about health and hygiene or you might be involved in improving the sanitation and make sure that people in the villages get access to clean drinking water.
In the end of the 4 months period you conclude on the results achieved and you make sure that the experiences gained can be handed over to your successor.
Period 4 : 2 months presentations on Mexico in the US

During this final 2 month period your team will travel back to the school in Etna, and will elaborate on your experience and at the same time prepare a number of BIG PRESENTATIONS to be marketed all over the US with details on all you have done within the framework of your study and work, thus comprising why this is of extreme interest to both people, and telling about their experiences and conclusions from people and life in the USA and in Mexico, what they expect from the future, what are the strengths and the weaknesses - and how can the two countries and their people help each other into this - in one way or the other - ultimately shared future.

DI Program Africa

Development Instructor - Africa

Overview
THE DEVELOPMENT INSTRUCTOR PROGRAMThe Development Instructor program is a “People to People” activity where many people meet under the umbrella of positive change, and where all parties involved, benefit mutually from the activities. In this way all parties develop into a diverse and unified whole around the interest and activities, furthering change and positive development.The Development Instructor programs are 14/20 months long with 3 very different, yet mutually dependent periods. Here follows a short description of the specific periods
First Period –Training and Work Camp at Campus California TG

A 6 months training and work camp. A period aiming to equip each individual and team of people with the necessary tools, knowledge, experience and understanding to be able to place themselves in middle of the turmoil of which we define as development.
In other words, to be well prepared and able to create a positive change at the development projects of organizations connected to the Humana People to People movement.

Second Period – Development work in Africa

A 6/12 months work period at a project in Mozambique, Zambia, Namibia or South Africa.
This is when each person involved gives his/her gift to mankind by having a humanizing influence upon development. Let this be fighting the spread of AIDS/HIV, instructing at schools for children, in training future school teachers, in community work empowering families and implementing low-cost “high technological” improvements for example “wood saving stoves”, “latrines”, “small scale water filters” and more.

Third Period – Bring the past experience into the future.

A 2 month period called “Camp Future” or simply just the “Third period.”
This period is orientated towards the future and how to effectively use the experiences of the past year to encourage more people to follow in our footsteps and to be inspired. Each participant will use the past experiences to define their future direction in life. This is information work, in the broadest sense of the word, to educate many people as well as ourselves

Training - the 1st period
Being enrolled in the program does not guarantee you a position at a Humana project in Africa. You must qualify.
To qualify as Development Instructor you
The goal of the first period is to qualify you so you are able to fill a position and make a significant contribution at the project where you will volunteer in Africa.

1. Must show you can work with people from different backgrounds
2. Must be able to communicate, orally and in writing, in the language of the country where you will work
3. Must demonstrate you have the necessary skills to work at the project you are going to.
4. Must demonstrate that you can take initiatives and responsibility for development
5. Must demonstrate that you can plan, and use, your time well
6. Must show that you can instruct in the language of the country where you are going.
7. You must reach your fundraising through outreach goal

Guidance during your first period
Your team will receive some common input from the CCTG staff (who have recent experience in development work). You will also receive guidance from the staff as to how you can qualify yourself as a development instructor.
You will have regular meetings with a staff member, where you review your progress together and plan your future development.
You will probably receive a job description for the position you will take in Africa early in the first period so you can prepare specifically for that position.
The educational system at CCTG
The educational system at CCTG is set up so that you can, and must, take responsibility for your own development, and own qualification, as a development instructor. You will be part of an international team, from different backgrounds. Because your background will be different from others on your team, what you need to do to qualify as a DI will also be different. Therefore you will plan and implement how to use the educational system at CCTG so that you can enhance your skills to qualify as a DI.

Project period - the 2nd period
You are in this period working closely together with Humana People to Peoples projects’ leadership and staff, and are fully integrated in the organizations development work.
Through this period you work as Development Instructors (DIs in Humana). You will get first hand field work experience and will be given opportunities to be part of developing the project with your own efforts, skills and ideas throughout the whole period. The DI positions are mostly given within the field of education; - from street children schools and preschools to teacher training level, HIV/AIDS prevention programs, Child Aid and Community development projects, various kinds of fundraising and environmental projects.
You will be going to the project where there is most need for you at that moment. Early in the training period each of you will get to know which project you can concretely prepare for and learn about the actual tasks there. This can still change during the preparation time so it is important to be flexible and open for changes.
It is also important to bear in mind that: - "where there is a will there is a way". This means that all kind of technical preparations are not enough. It is our experience that the Development Instructors, to a large extent, also need to use all their best human qualities and fully understand Humana's Solidary Humanism to make a successful project work period.
The structure of the Development Instructor's stay at the project in Africa
You are at the project for six or twelve months.
cannot travel to other countries during these months
cannot stay longer in the country than the planned months

The six months at the project has the following structure :
3Days
* Arrival.
* Get to know the project.
* You should have a briefing from the project leader or a key staff member on how to keep yourself healthy and safe while at the project, and what to do in an emergency or if you are sick.
▶Note : CCTG will expect you to take malaria prophylaxis during your period in Africa. This will be provided before you leave the US. If you feel unwell when in Africa you should always suspect malaria and take a malaria test as soon as you can.
2Weeks
* Thorough introduction to the work at the project
* Get started
* Meeting with the project leader to confirm your responsibilities at the project
4Weeks
* Project period : you work at the job
1Weeks
* Golden Cut Meeting : meeting with project leader to review your progress and plan for remainder of the period at the project.
1Weeks
* Task Force Period
(actions or production of information outlined by the Federation and the project and planned in detail with the project leader)
1Weeks
* You plan a trip of your own choice. The itinerary and goals of the trip are qualified and approved by the project leader. You make the trip.
15 weeks
* You continue working at the project
2 days
* Conclusion, hand-over to project leader, and departure

TCE
We might as well move straight to the point: Your participation is needed in the struggle to get the AIDS epidemic under control in Southern Africa. Here the epidemic is out of control. UN Special Envoy Stephen Lewis calls AIDS "Mass Murder by Complacency". World leaders allow this to happen without taking appropriate action, without channeling sufficient resources and know-how to stop this epidemic from spreading. In Southern Africa 25 million people are infected with HIV. Each day thousands more are infected. Each day children become orphans. Each day people bury loved ones. And in the wake of the epidemic there are horrifying and sad consequences, some of which will take decades to overcome.
It is our human obligation to take action. Only people can liberate themselves from the epidemic. Everyone else can only participate. But the participation of every one is needed - each one the way he/she can. Only through this combined participation is it possible to turn the situation around.
It is never too late - but on the other hand - there is no time to waste. You do not need further explanation. What are you waiting for? The task is so obvious. Inform yourself and be convinced of the urgency to join the TCE Program.
Currently our Development Instructors are working with the TCE program in Mozambique, Malawi and Namibia, we have also been offered positions in Zambia and South Africa.

Mozambique
Currently our volunteers are working or on their way to the following projects:
TCE
EPF (Teachers' Training College) Nacala, Maputo
Child Aid Nacala
Vocational Training School Nacala
Child Aid and Cashew Plantation and Training Center Itoculo
HOPE Maputo
We have also worked with the environmental project in Gabo Delgado in Bilibiza; OWU (One World University), High School and Colegio in Maputo.
Some examples of the project job descriptions
Child Aid Nacla - special position
Itoculo Cashew plantation and training center
Colegio Maputo
Zambia
Currently our Development Instructors are working with the Child Aid projects in Mazabuka and Chimombo; and Children's Town in Chimombo, 2 DI's are on their way to Child Aid poject in Samfya. We have also in the past worked with Child Aid in Mkushi.
Some examples of the project job descriptions
Child Aid in Mazabuka
Child Aid in Samfya
Malawi
CCTG has started to send volunteers to Malawi only this year - 2007. Our Development Instructors are working with 2 major projects - TCE and Farmers Clubs.
Some examples of the project job descriptions
Farmers Clubs

Camp Future

The third period, called Camp Future is the name of the 2 months follow up and information work period. During the program you will change. The follow-up period is important in the sense that it provides the necessary time to change gear and move from one activity to the next. The period has 4 elements:

Writing a final report
The final report is dedicated to Humana People to People and CCTG but it is certainly also there for your own sake.
Having completed the periods of training and development work it is time to make a stop, to look back, to consider, to deliberate, to conclude - in regard to the training, to the period at the project and to your own personal development. You give recommendations for how these experiences can be used to improve.

Producing Information Materials
Already in the first period you have considered what product(s) you want to produce in the follow up period, so this is also reflected during the time in Africa - you take pictures or video, make interviews, record music, collect materials, learn to dance, purchase things you want to use in a presentation, write diary, etc. The products can be video films, power point presentations, courses on a variety of subjects, books/booklet, exhibitions, theater plays, poems, drawings and pieces of art, portraits of the people you have met and much more. They are used in the teaching of new generations of Development Instructors, to inform the general public and for you to bring with you further on in life.

Information and Outreach Campaigns
An essential part of the follow-up period is to inform, educate and enlighten the general public in America about the work you have been doing, about the people and countries you have visited, about development issues and the world in general and about the need to do much more. It is giving back to those who supported you in the first period - the school class, the church, the community center, the college, the high school and the people in the neighboring towns. It is mobilizing more people to become Development Instructors. It is organizing collections and partnerships for your project. It is teaching the new teams at the Institute.

Doing good in the US
Having trained to become a Development Instructor and practiced the skills and knowledge at a project in Africa, part of the Camp Future is to use these experiences to do good in the US. Each Development Instructor will take part in implementing projects and actions in support of people in need. It can be life skills training for youth, improving facilities at inner city schools, support better nutrition for people with HIV, building houses for hurricane victims, or organizing summer camps for vulnerable children.
Safety
Your safety can only be measured by how safe you make your situation, just like anywhere else in the world. Use your common sense and do not make compromises. It is best to keep in mind the lessons you were taught while a child. Always make sure you tell someone where you are going and when you will return, go places in pairs or groups, do not flash expensive stuff or money, etc.
Humana believes in the safety of all volunteers and would never leave anyone in an unsafe area or situation. As soon as there is any type of instability, Humana will make sure you will be removed from the country immediately and sent to another for the duration of your time.
The school policy of no-drug, no-alcohol is also designed to assure the safety of volunteers.
During the training you will have courses about safety and advice form people who have been in Africa. Take that in consideration!
In each country, there is a person who is in charge of the volunteers. Talk to them and ask their advice, they are locals and know much better about the situation in the place.
SAFETY is of highest priority for the school, for Humana People to People - and of course for you and your family and friends.
We are proud to say that the Development Instructor program has been carried out for 26 years with thousand of people, and the number of serious incidents have been very few. This is first of all because safety is a high priority and that the DI’s in general are very much aware of how to stay safe.
However it is very important to understand that traveling to and working in a poor third world country is NOT the same as being in the US.
One fundamental thing you need to take a stand to is that as a Development Instructor you are representing Humana People to People - and NOT yourself. This means that to the eyes of people you will be "one from Humana" and everything you do or don’t do will be what "Humana does".
In projects where previous DI’s have been e.g. drinking - it falls back on everyone at the project and at the DI’s following. People lose respect for you and the organization and it takes a great effort to turn such a situation around.
Another thing you need to realize is that you are a public figure.
Everyone will notice you - how you are dressed, what you say, whom you speak to, what you do, what you eat.... etc. And they will talk about you. Therefore it is important that you consider what impact you want to have - and how you want to use this as an opportunity to show an example, and also put aside some of your usual habits out of respect for the people you work with.
We have listed 20 guidelines for how to stay safe in Africa
Use your common sense!
Alcohol is TROUBLE!
Take care of what you eat and what you drink
Listen to your body - and get checked if there is anything wrong.
Dress properly and behave respectful to the African culture
Take care of your feet!
Do not swim in rivers and lakes
Do not tempt people to steal from you
Keep your house as a private space
Do not select favorites among the people/children in the community
Do not give the stuff away you do not want to bring home
Protect yourself against malaria
Do not stay alone or go out after dark by yourself
Always let someone know where you are and when you will be back
Always carry the essential phone numbers of e.g. your project leader and the project on you
Do not bring things to Africa that you do not want to lose
Keep your passport, money and other values in a safe place
If robbed - do NOT resist - just give what you have away
Do not start sexual relationships as a DI
Take a special stand to safety when traveling - e.g. the condition of the cars and the driver

While in Africa you all have a health insurance. We do not have the health insurance to cover minor things - like getting a malaria test. We have the health insurance in case - hopefully not -the worst case scenario happens - that you are injured in the bush and need a helicopter and special staff to pick you up and bring you to a good private hospital.... All of which would be extremely costly.
There is a 50 USD self-payment before the insurance will cover.
So if you get sick, just gather all the receipts from the doctor and if they exceed 50 USD for the same treatment, you can send in a claim form and the receipts and get reimbursed.
In case it cost a lot of money - eg. hospitalization, home travel ... You need to contact the insurance company - or someone at the project/school must do so.
Pls. read the policy to know what the insurance covers and what not.
What you need to bring is the policy number and contact information for the insurance company. The Project Leaders know how to deal with this and the school as well.
One thing you should notice is that the health insurance also covers a ticket home in case someone in your close family gets very sick. You will need to get a note from the doctor treating the family member saying his/her condition has drastically changed/or the person has died. Then you can get a ticket back home and return to your project if your contract is still running.
BUT - only if the school purchases the ticket. There is a limit to the amount of 15,000 dKr - app 2600 usd. If the insurance company buys the ticket they will only be able to get a one way ticket - but if we buy it - in agreement with the insurance company - we can get a round trip ticket.

How to Enroll (Application)

Here the archives you need to enroll our programs and know more about the programs.

How to enroll
http://rapidshare.com/files/175023799/How_to_Enroll_Available_Teams.zip.html

Africa Program
http://rapidshare.com/files/175023238/Form_AFRICA.zip.html

FP Program
http://rapidshare.com/files/175023474/Form_Fight_Poverty.zip.html

You can send your questions to us!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Our life in CCTG

Friday, December 19, 2008

Newsletter

Poverty Fighter – Central or Latin America

DI Program Africa

How to Enroll (Application)

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