On April 19, Miguel Díaz-Canel was sworn in as Cuba’s new president. This marks the first time since the 1959 Cuban revolution that a non-Castro is leading Cuba.

While there is much speculation around what this will mean for Cuba’s future, one thing is certain: Cubans are in the midst of a new political era, and a new generation of leaders must navigate serious economic and political challenges fueled by the Trump administration.

Travel to Cuba from the U.S. has dropped by more than 50 percent since the start of 2018. This is largely seen as a result of the Trump administration’s tightening of travel restrictions and the State Department’s travel warning, which was issued due to unexplained and unverified health incidents affecting U.S. diplomats. Many, including our partners at RESPECT and Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee member, regard the travel warning to be unfounded

Given that Cuba remains one of the safer destinations for travelers in the world, the Trump administration’s rollback of the Obama-era travel opening can be seen as a return to a tried-and-failed U.S. strategy: strangle the Cuban economy to undermine Cubas’ leadership and facilitate regime change. This policy hasn’t worked over the last 60 years, and it won’t work moving forward. The loss of visitors has put a tremendous strain on economic growth and ultimately hurts the Cuban people. Tourism is Cuba’s third largest source of income and is considered central to Cuba’s economic development.

The administration will likely double-down on its punitive approach with Senator Marco Rubio at the helm of U.S.- Cuba policy, and now with hardliners John Bolton and Mike Pompeo in top national security and diplomatic positions.

In response, we are doubling-down on our solidarity with the Cuban people. Global Exchange has offered legal travel to Cuba for more than 25 years.  We invite you to travel with us to take a stand against Trump’s rollback on U.S./Cuba relations and to demonstrate your solidarity with the Cuban people.

Check out four of our upcoming people-to-people Cuba trips below.  You can find more on our website.

Cuba: Revolution and Change

October 5 – 14, 2018

This unique people-to-people Reality Tour will highlight key cities and history behind the Cuban Revolution while celebrating a new era of leadership and exploring changes underway. We’ll move from Santiago de Cuba to the mountains of Sierra Maestra, the beautiful city of Camaguey, Santa Clara and then on to the sprawling city of Havana.

Cuba: Baseball and Culture

November 18 – 25, 2018

Play Ball! Join us for our Second Annual Baseball themed delegation to Cuba. We’ll meet with Cubans working in the baseball and softball sports sector, learn about Cuban baseball, culture, and history, and learn about the impacts of U.S. foreign policy on Cuban athletes and society at large. We’ll even have the chance to catch a few playoff games!

Cuba: Afro Cuban Culture

December 5 – 15, 2018

On this trip, we’ll examine the African roots of Cuba’s vibrant culture and history.  From Havana to Santiago de Cuba, the cradle of African culture and the Revolution, we’ll experience Afro Cuban religious music and performance while hearing from Cuban experts on race, gender, art and religion.

Cuba: New Year’s Celebration & Global Exchange 30th Anniversary Delegation!

December 28, 2018 – January 6, 2019

Join us on this special delegation celebrating our 30th year Anniversary, the 60 year anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, and New Year’s! We’ll examine Cuba at a crossroads in the ​areas of arts, culture, community, sustainability and history. After ringing in the New Year in Havana, we’ll make our way to Cojimar, the setting for ​Hemingway’s Old Man and The Sea, the port city of ​Matanzas, and ​Varadero. We’ll stop in Cienfuegos, the birthplace of Cuban musical icon Benny Moré and the renowned ​film Fresa y Chocolate as well as Santa Clara, and finally enjoy our last few days of exploration inside the ​enchanting walled city of Camaguey.

 

We must respond to Trump’s military build up, continued funding of repression abroad and consolidated war cabinet with a surge of people-to-people solidarity across borders. While U.S. formal diplomatic communications are signaling hostility and intolerance, we, as private citizens, can instead build relationships, enhance mutual understanding, and build trust between people.

This is the purpose of Global Exchange’s Citizen Diplomacy Delegations.

Your voice carries more weight than ever before in determining foreign affairs. A sprawling network of global coalitions, partnerships and initiatives undertaken by cities, NGOs, universities, foundations, businesses, and determined individuals are gaining traction. And history has shown that when statesmen are at dangerous impasses, a connected civil society can make a difference in lessening tensions and averting war. Your voice is needed now more than ever.

Please consider joining us in:

Iran; As President Trump threatens to abandon the hard won Iran Nuclear Deal. Through visiting cultural and historical sites like the beautiful Golestan Palace, the tomb of Hafez, Zoroastrian fire temples, the bridges of Isfahan and bustling bazaars and gardens, we’ll have the chance to engage with Iranians as they go about their daily lives.

Cuba; As Trump backtracks on Obama’s sensible policy of engagement, which is hurting the Cuban people. Join us as we meet with Cuban urban planners, economists, doctors, teachers, students, artists, and others to learn about the triumphs and challenges of the 60 year old Cuban revolution as well as the current historic changes underway (like the recent leadership transition from Raúl Castro to Miguel Díaz-Canel).

Palestine; As the U.S. continues to back Israel’s crippling occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Our delegations connect with Palestinians working at the grassroots level for peace, justice and human rights. We’ll learn about the impact of occupation on economic, cultural, and urban development as well as access to scarce resources like land and water. We’ll also learn about the creative ways Palestinians have organized in resistance, from building viable local economies through fair trade cooperatives to addressing politically imposed water scarcity with hydroponic production.

Afghanistan; As Trump presses ahead with an open-ended military commitment after almost two decades of war.  We will meet with Afghan women, grassroots organizations, students, human rights activists, and others working to rebuild from a history of conflict. We’ll visit demining projects, schools, vocational training centers, micro-financing projects, and more.

We hope you’ll join us in building a connected global civil society dedicated to a peaceful and just future for all!

Gustavo Palma, a native of Brazil, traveled with Reality Tours on our Community Rights and Democracy delegation to Venezuela in January 2015.  Join us on one of our many Citizen Diplomacy Delegations to Venezuela. 

-1NjvVUGRWaD-2T6cUvKyy2dC2y7DPtGkZ9AZR9oZ7EVenezuela was my first destination with Global Exchange. I was very attracted to the proposal of the organization, but I had some trepidation to join on one of their expeditions because the organization is not well known in Brazil. My fears, however, were soon removed. The staff is very caring and honest. Everything was arranged with much clarity and plenty of information. I spent ten days in Venezuela, with total support and security, forewarned of all discomforts that such a trip – which does not seek comfort or sightseeing but to confront the harsh reality of the country – could lead me to.

My other fear was that the frame that Global Exchange would present to me, through the people whose encounters it promotes, would be biased and partisan, something less than desirable in a politically polarized country such as Venezuela. Again, there was nothing to fear. The trip was far from an apology to the Bolivarian Revolution. Next to the defenders of the Bolivarian Revolution, I spoke with many of it’s staunchest critics. And, most importantly, I had contact with social forces and trends – oriented mainly to the common organization of civil society – that were created by the Hugo Chavez government.

rAynkWoH7-uZkdqWFsVU2krFULibGV6bSXlTKKxu61YThe local Global Exchange staff in Venezuela is excellent. Leo, the translator, is an academic enthusiast and politically free, the owner of an inexhaustible kindness. He introduced me to the rich Venezuelan literature, particularly Héctor Torres, a little-known genius. Alvaro, responsible for logistics, is a man of the people, a talented musician, and active community leader. His knowledge of the Venezuelan people is deep, and his insights into the social conflicts in the country alone would be worth the trip. My traveling companion – Jo Rawlins, a freelance blogger from California, is a person who is wise, tolerant, friendly and inquisitive – I will remember her with great nostalgia.

As a result of this balance that Global Exchange strives to make, I returned home fully satisfied, with a feeling of understanding, deeply, at least lucidly, of a national situation about which the information in Brazil comes scarce and distorted. I highly recommend Brazilians to experience Global Exchange’s Reality Tours. My experience was innovative and deeply satisfying.

Middle East Reality Tours Director Drea Hightower ponders her upcoming Reality Tour to Iran. Learn more about Reality Tours to Iran.

As the July 20th deadline to reach a broad nuclear deal with Iran approaches, eyes are focused on Tehran and the six major powers working toward a deal. But beyond news reports of diplomatic meetings, discussions about the future of Iran are happening on the streets.

Like so many others, I have this driving curiosity to visit and learn firsthand about the countries in which the U.S. has little to no diplomatic relations or strained relations with. Whether Cuba or Palestine, many people I’ve talked to on my travels have been able to make the distinction between the relationships of governments and that of the people of each nation. When given the chance to interact and have dialogue, the thing that shines through every time is that which we have in common: family, friends, laughter, love, and more.

School girl in Iran waves peace sign.

School girl in Iran waves peace sign.

As I begin this journey with a group of mostly strangers, I wonder what we will all find in common with those that our government has demonized for so long. And with the next round of Nuclear Talks scheduled for June 16-20 in Vienna, the conversations we’ll all be having with the people of Iran will certainly give us better insight and a different perspective than what the media will report.

I also begin to ask myself those exact questions I have encouraged so many of our travelers to ask themselves before they leave; why is this important? What are my preconceived ideas about Iranians and their culture? Will I be witness to any of the changes implemented by President Rouhani? And most importantly, what will I learn? What would the Iranian people ask of me, of us, as North Americans?

So while there is still so much work to be done before I leave, I smile at the thought of seeing the beautiful minarets at dusk, hearing the melodic call to prayer and watching myself and 11 other participants be transformed by the experience of Citizen Diplomacy; a unique opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue in a way that even our governments haven’t been able to.

rumiquote

We look forward to hearing from Drea when she lands back in San Francisco, hopefully with many stories and Persian sweets to share!

Vaya! A l o Cubano

Many of our  Reality Tours Cuba  alumni will remember Karen McCartney. Karen lived in Cuba for years and regularly facilitated Global Exchange groups. Today Karen shares one of her memories about Cuban chivichanas while leading a Reality Tour trip we used to call “Following Che’s Footsteps”. 

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Chivichanas in Cuba: Tour Facilitator Karen McCartney Shares her Story by Karen McCartney

Elizardo, the ICAP represententative takes the microphone from our driver and turns to face our tour participants:

“Where we are going today is historic, for it was here, in the heart of the Sierra Maestra mountains, that President Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl, Che Guevara and their band of guerrilla fighters waged the battle that brought down the dictatorship of Fulgencia Batista and ushered in the Revolution. That was back in 1959. It took them three years to succeed and we are going to take this opportunity to retrace their steps. We’ll go into the mountains and see their headquarters for ourselves.“

Looking out at the Hotel Nacional, Havana

Just then our driver, Juancito, calls Elizardo over to him. They confer for a minute or so. From the concerned looks on their faces it is apparent that something is wrong. They beckon to me and Diana. It turns out that our coach is an older model and Juancito is doubtful about its ability to climb the hills that lie between us and our hotel in the tiny mountain village of Santo Domingo. We stop at the base of the steepest hill I have ever seen. Someone a few seats behind me mutters that the gradient would be illegal in the United States.

“What we really need is a fifth gear for the ascent and hydraulic brakes for the descent. Our coach has neither,” whispers Juancito.

“So what do you recommend?”

He looks up at me apologetically.

“Walking.”

We agree to let Juancito drive on at his own pace and for us to follow on foot. It will take a couple of hours longer but it’s safe. The students are elated at the prospect of getting out of their seats and eagerly rush toward the exit.

Joining in the Dance at Love and Hope, Pinar del Rio

All twenty-five of us set off, walking on occasions at an angle of what must be about 65º to the perpendicular tilt of the road. The landscape is undoubtedly the most magnificent that I’ve seen so far in Cuba. Lush vegetation springs from sheer drops, and abrupt upward sweeps arrest the gaze and guide it skyward into the clouds. The sky is shrunk, framed by verdant peaks. I too am shrunk, made delightfully small, humbled by the power of these mountains. I remind myself that I am in the east of Cuba, somewhere between the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, surrounded by topography which has not changed in millennia. All of us are quiet now, content to pay homage to the moment, knowing that it will never come again. Around us there is birdsong, insistent calls produced by exotic creatures I cannot see and cannot name.

An ugly clattering, suggestive of metal colliding with concrete, intrudes on my reverie. It is getting louder, faster, and it’s coming toward us. From around the bend – at speed – comes a chivichana, a guider steered by an elderly campesino, his face frozen into a grimace. G-force, or perhaps the immensity of effort required to keep his vehicle under control at such speed? It’s not clear. Both hands are on the reins, pulling hard now, and his heels slam against the front wheels, jamming them to a halt a few metres away. Mules and home-made guiders are the most common forms of transport in the Sierra. The students are already gathering around enthusiastically. I stay back, content to watch and let the encounter develop under its own dynamics. A few words are exchanged in broken Spanish between the wizened, bright-eyed sprightly driver and his admirers.

“Qué lindo. What a beautiful guider. Did you make it yourself? What speed do you go? Is it dangerous?”

And then, inevitably,

Delegates Laughing with Cuban Architect, Miguel Coyula

“Would you mind if we take a few photos?

Photos taken, the students give the old man the thumbs up and he manoeuvres his chivichana into position to continue its downward journey. Just as he is about to lift his heels from the front wheels one of the group calls out to him,

“Señor! Señor! Por favor.”

We turn our heads to see Jeremy, one of the quieter boys, hoist a bottle of Havana Club rum on high,

“Muchas gracias!”

And then he tosses it with a long slow motion to the old man who catches the bottle in a single deft sweep of the hand. Only a talented baseball player would have been capable of such elegance, and the group applauds. Then he is gone in a flash, followed by a rapidly retreating commotion that can be heard echoing through the mountains for a minute or two after we have lost sight of him. We see more chivichanas over the next few days; sometimes they are little more than a blur as the locals power down these slopes at breakneck speed on this most unique form of transport.

Living Inside the Revolution, An Irish Woman in Cuba. Book by Karen McCartney

To see more of Karen’s impressions please see  her blog. If you want to create a memory of your own,  learn more about the US Embargo against Cuba, or explore Cuban culture and history join us on a Reality Tour today. 

 

Cuban School Children

Since 1989, Global Exchange has played a leading role in the national campaign to normalize relations with Cuba our Caribbean neighbor. Our primary goals are:

-End the U.S. blockade of Cuba

-End travel restrictions between the U.S. and Cuba

-Get Cuba removed from the U.S. list of “potential terrorist countries”

-Support and learn from Cuba’s struggles and successes in achieving sustainable development.

To this end Global Exchange organizes Reality Tours to Cuba. Learn more about how to travel to Cuba here.

Take action and support The International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5’s call to solidarity organizations and friends in the United States to support ‘5 consecutive days of freedom for the Cuban 5′, April 17-21 in Washington DC. Action in DC will include a demonstration and lobbying efforts, and thousands of ‘Obama, Give Me Five’ posters will be placed throughout the city.

Obama... Give me five!

Background on the Cuban 5: They are Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, Ramón Labañino Salazar, Rene González Sehwerert, Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez and Fernando González Llort and in 1998, they were imprisoned in the United States. Danny Glover explains their case here in Danny Glover on the Five.

For a more detailed account of their case, read here. Also, check out the documentary called, ‘Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up?

Past Reality Tours participant Bill Patterson wrote this reflection on the changes that Fidel’s revolution brought to Cuba. For more information read here.

 

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruiz

By Bill Patterson

Cuba, after half a century of our country’s less than benevolent despotism was a small, plundered shell of a nation controlled by bloody handed President-dictator Fulgencio Batista, United States financial interests and the Mafia gambling structure. Over one-half of the 6,500,000 population lived in slums without electricity or sanitation. There were over 600,000 workers unemployed. Over 70% of the children had no teachers. Illiteracy was 37.5%. United States financial interests owned or controlled 80% of farm land, power generating companies, telephone services and banking interests, In the 1950-1960 decade the balance of payments favored U.S. interests by one billion dollars!

Cuban Doctor

When Fidel’s revolution triumphed in 1959 other militant rebel groups faded, including the Communist Party with which he later united. Victorious Fidel fit the classic description of a multi-talented Renaissance Man. Famed as a military conqueror, he was a skilled head of state, athlete, educator and humanitarian. While traditional Western governments might scoff at the unconventional Latin leader, none duplicated his generosity in nationalizing his family’s 25,000 acre ranch property!

Smarting financially from U.S. industries’ financial losses our government chose to militarily reverse Cuba’s political independence. Cubans defeated the counter-revolutionary army at the Bay of Pigs with surprising ease, capturing thousands of mercenaries.

Our CIA attempted eight highly imaginative attempts to assassinate Fidel. It’s efforts to destabilize fragile Cuba included 5,780 acts of sabotage, terrorism and subversion between January and August in 1962. The Cuban Olympic fencing team was destroyed when the CIA downed their aircraft in 1976.

That the world’s strongest nation would label tiny Cuba a terrorist state and impose decades of cruel sanctions is shameful. One wonders if freedom and independence of small Latin countries is tolerable only if financial bondage is demanded and granted.

Sources: First paragraph statistics are from Fidel’s address to the United Nations September 26,1960, reported by Julio Garcia Luis, Dean, U. of Havana, Cuban Revolution Reader. Third paragraph statistics are fromFabian Escalante Font: The Secret War: Covert Operations Against Cuba 1959-62.

Last June I journeyed to one of my favorite destinations on the planet, Cuba. Despite the fact that I have lived and worked there off an on since 1991, and have had the honest pleasure of facilitating over twenty some delegations over the years, this last group was one of my most enjoyable ever. I am not sure really why. We were 13 dynamic, well traveled and inquisitive individuals with only one thing in common…the intrepid travel writer Jeff Greenwald.

I met Jeff in 2003, after he had recently founded, the Ethical Traveler. I  loved the idea of ET and was honored when a few years later he asked me to serve on its advisory board. Since then we’ve been on countless panels together; collaborated on campaigns that mobilize the international community of travelers as a global PAC to use their clout and advocate on important social and ecological justice issues; and promoted “voting with your travel budget” at the World’s Best Ethical Destinations.

Having Fun at the Muraleando Community Arts Project

I remember the day Jeff and I spoke about creating a tour for him and his friends. I felt awestruck. There is so much to see, do and learn. As we brainstormed about an itinerary, he said, “Malia, I want to see your favorite places and meet some of your favorite people”. I smiled and thought, well it will be one trip of many for you then.  I love that personally he trusted me with this challenge and a few months later, our group met in Miami and were off to soak up the sights, sounds and stories of Cuba.  It was wonderful to reconnect with communities and friends from the Mureleando arts project and the intergenerational voices at the Convento de Belen in Havana, to engaging with the teachers, parents and kids at the Love and Hope arts program for children with Down’s Syndrome and advocates for community development and conservation at Las Terrazas in the provinces.  I encourage you to read more about Jeff’s ever thought provoking insights from his “Dispatches from Cuba”. Today, I have the honor to feature a few of Jeff’s thoughts and share the word about his upcoming and yes, second trip back to Cuba.

The Beauty of the Vinales Valley, Pinar del Rio

The trip was a watershed event in my travel career. The country affected me profoundly—just as Nepal did, during my first visit in 1979. The art, music and mojitos were a revelation …. Not to mention Piñar del Rio’s gorgeous landscape, Havana’s neoclassical architecture,  and the warm, generous Cubans we met along the way.

This coming June, I will be leading another trip to the island. It’s called “Exploring Cuba: Sustainable Development, Community & Art,” and will take place June 12th-20th. Though the trip is a benefit for Ethical Traveler, the cost is very reasonable. Like last year’s trip, we’ll meet with social leaders, artists, naturalists and entrepreneurs. We’ll explore spectacular landscapes, and tour World Heritage Sites like Old Havana. Again, this will be a fairly small group — between 12-18 people. This really is a wonderful opportunity to visit a remarkable, fast-changing country. I hope to hear back from you, and promise that this will be a journey to remember (in a good way!!).

Sonrisas en Havana

Learn more about the background of Global Exchange’s  Cuba program and future Reality Tours to Cuba after you have read Jeff’s Dispatches. If you still want to read more, check out more coverage from our Alumni in the news. Recently Stelle Sheller and Janet Young, traveled with us and were featured in their local newspaper in the article, “ Local women travel to Cuba and discover two worlds” and they share  their “unexpected” findings.

 

 

A4T Science Fair in Kabul Afghanistan. These students (4.5 to 7 yrs. old) sang the Afghan National Anthem to the audience before the Fair’s presentations.

Today’s special blog  is the last commemorating a decade of Reality Tours in Afghanistan and features the insights of Marsha MacColl, on behalf of our partner Afghans4Tomorrow (A4T). On behalf of Global Exchange we thank all the tremendous energy and efforts of A4T and look forward to a dynamic future of continued collaboration.

Congratulations to Global Exchange Reality Tours on the 10th Anniversary of your tours to Afghanistan and on your partnership with Afghans4Tomorrow (A4T). Each delegation has stayed in the A4T Guesthouse since 2004, enjoying the warm hospitality of the staff.  The house, located in a quiet secure area of West Kabul, has 5 guest bedrooms upstairs and a lovely garden in the back. Depending on the size of the group, the rooms sleep between 2 and 4 people.  The guides who helped plan the tours and activities of these Global Exchange Reality Tours are Najibullah Sediqi and Wahid Omar, who also have volunteered with Afghans4Tomorrow for 10 years and serve on its board. Their tours have included, among other things, interesting in-depth meetings with Afghan women from all sectors of Afghan society, visits to primary schools, hospitals, universities, watching a buzkashi games and attending the International Women’s Day celebration in Kabul.

Najib has also been a wonderful guide for these delegations. The many delegates I’ve talked with over the years highly recommend these tours. They said Najib put them at ease with his warm welcome, his concern for their safety, his quick wit, compelling stories and the Afghan history he shares on the tours. Many have kept in touch with him over the years.  Some delegates in fact have been inspired to get involved in helping one of the many Afghan-related NGOs (or start one of their own) after they return from the tour.

Here are some of the 35 third graders reading in their home school class. If you would like to help us raise funds for chairs and school supplies for these students, please make a donation at: http://www.afghans4tomorrow.org/donate

There have been several GXRT alumni who have helped Afghanistan through A4T since their tours. They are:  Kim O’Connor (GXRT ’04), who joined A4T when she returned in 2004 and recently served as President for the past 2 and a half years;  Adrienne Amundsen (GXRT ’10), who joined A4T in January ’12 after volunteering since ’10; and Asma Eschen (GXRT ’03), an honorary A4T Board member, who co-found the Bare Root Trees Project and has led a group to plant trees in Afghanistan six times since 2005. The Bare Roots group has planted/distributed a total of over 130,000 trees in rural and urban Afghanistan. See Asma’s post on this GXRT Blog in this series.

As an A4T member since 2004, I’ve enjoyed the stories and photos that many GXRT alumni have shared with me over the years. It has been a life-changing experience for many! Our board members have helped the GX program directors over the years with information they’ve needed for their delegates, guesthouse arrangements and helping delegates to meet some of our members and staff. I volunteered to teach English in our A4T school in Kabul for 10 days in 2007 and greatly appreciated Najib’s help with all the arrangements of my work and also a visit during the Nowruz holiday to Istalif village near the Shomali Valley. This reality tours program is great for travelers wanting to learn more about ordinary Afghans, their culture, history and how they’re overcoming many difficult challenges.

The NGO which inspired me to volunteer to help rebuild Afghanistan is Afghans4Tomorrow.  A4T is a non-profit, non-political, humanitarian organization founded in 1998 and dedicated to the development of sustainable, community driven projects focused on education, agriculture and healthcare.  A4T has an all-volunteer board residing in both the US and in Kabul. We are able perform our work thanks to the generosity of our donors and volunteers from around the world.  We hire local Afghans to be the managers of our programs and teachers in our schools. We have established relationships with multiple sponsors, foundations, and non-profit organizations. 

In our Shekh Yassin School, Wardak Province, 162 girls are in three Home Schools, from 1st to 6th grade. Here are the 25 first graders reading their books in Pashto.

Afghans4Tomorrow currently operates a school in Kabul and one in Wardak Province. Our school, located in the Chelsetoon area of Kabul, opened in 2004 and has nearly 300 students, 170 girls in kindergarten through 9th grade and 110 boys in 1st through 7th grade. This school is one of the best private schools in Kabul. We plan to add 10th grade this year.  The school started in 2005 as a “catch-up” school for older girls who had been deprived of an education during the wars. Now most all those students have caught up and are the normal age for their grade level. Several A4T alumni have graduated from high school and are in a community college or a university.

Our School in Shekh Yassin, which opened in 2005, serves students from three villages in the Chak district of Wardak Province. It has a boys’ school of 568 students, in 1st to 9th grades in two shifts per day, and more than 175 girls in three Home Schools, from 1st to 6th grade. We plan to add 7th grade this year. We are unable to add 10th grade to the boys’ school until we can build 3 new classrooms. 

A4T held its second Science Fair program on Oct. 15, 2011 in which 17 students participated in 9 teams. They did research on their experiments for one month, assisted by their science teacher.

The students presented their research results to 4 qualified judges at the fair. After their evaluation the judges gave prizes to the top 3 winning teams. The project that won 1st place showed the filtration of dirty water using four kinds of sand and one kind of charcoal. Government officials, private school principals and the media were invited to attend the Science Fair celebration.  A4T hopes to see this same program in all government and private schools throughout Afghanistan in the future.

Afghans4Tomorrow’s goal for both schools is to help improve Afghanistan’s very low literacy rate, to provide a superior education and to have a substantial number of our graduates continue to college.

Teacher demonstrates an experiment in copper and iron ions in solution to a 7th grade Chemistry Class at A4T Boys School in Shekh Yassin, Wardak.

Since 2007 A4T has operated the A4T’s Abdullah Omar Health Post in Sheikh Yassin village which provides a doctor, pharmacist and staff offering basic health care, medicines and immunizations. Last year A4T added a midwife to better serve the women coming for pre-natal checkups, deliveries and post-natal and baby checkups and to help reduce the high maternal and infant mortality rates in Afghanistan. Our health post has improved the lives of thousands of people each year.

A4T’s Agriculture Stream is pleased to report the successful training of 120 rural farmers the last two years by helping them to raise poultry and supplying them with equipment for their chicken coops, and healthy birds. The women poultry farmers sell the eggs to help support their family.

Volunteers are needed to help A4T continue there great work. Please visit their website to learn about their projects, affiliates, members, photos, videos, and how you can make a difference.

Join Us on an Upcoming Reality Tour to Afghanistan! Learn more. Visit our website for all you need to know about upcoming transformative journeys.

 

 

Yesterday I shared with you some of the background on our Reality Tours trips to Uganda. Today in Part 2 of this two-part series, you’ll read my firsthand account of traveling on a Reality Tours trip to Uganda:

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Follow along on a Reality Tours trip to Uganda

Arriving into Kampala I recall the delightful heat of the air. I had to wait in line to purchase my visa and was behind a group of missionaries from the US who were eager and complaining about the slow speed of our processing. I felt awkward about one of the gentleman’s statements about bringing God to “these people” and decided not to engage in a discussion about salvation and religion at that moment. Instead, I pondered about what I was about to experience,  and the stereotypes I brought with me.

After arriving at the airport I was met by one of the hotel staff and was whisked away into the night for a long drive to the hotel. There I met up with some fellow trip participants, a group of free spirited students from Suffolk University. We sat and talked about our first day in Uganda. These young women knew the issues and were really excited and nervous to meet with youth from Sister Rosemary’s Girl’s Tailoring project the next day.

Over the course of the next week and a half we met with many individuals and organizations that are committed to rebuilding their communities and lives. We met with folks who work to rehabilitate and provide psychological support services to children who are former “child soldiers” and “bush brides”.

Here are highlights from some a of the many amazing stories that came out of this inspiring trip to Uganda:

Meeting with “Child Mothers”: Picture a large living room shared by about two dozen North Americans and two dozen Ugandans. We had invited two women from some of the groups  working with the child soldiers in Gulu and Lara to travel to Kampala to meet with our group, share their stories and exchange. What a fabulous encounter this was.

First we met with Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe who is the Director of the St. Monica’s Girls Tailoring School located next to a refugee camp in Gulu, Uganda. Her school works with ‘child mothers’ -a term Ugandans use to describe women ages 12 to 18 who were abducted child soldiers.

During our visit, the young women shared personal stories of abduction and rape by their captors, their struggles to survive and their hopes for their future and for those with children, their families’ future.

The next day we were joined by Lina Zedriga (who now runs  the Trauma Healing And Reflection Centre-Gulu or THRACE-GULU) and heard similar but unique experiences shared by the youth under her care. Lina is a lawyer and magistrate who has tirelessly advocated for women, peace and security. We all listened silently to story after story told by the courageous young people, each of us connecting to the stories, some of us with tears, some of us with clenched arms, and others feverishly taking notes.

This was quite a moment for many of us, including the children who were able to listen and share with each other their stories of struggle. For many this was their first visit to the capital. As one of Lina’s girls spoke, she had to stop and gather herself to resume her story. Her strength was admirable.

As the exchange ended, we dispersed after hugs and thank you’s, ready to break for a spell before dinner. Some of the youth went off to play soccer. Over dinner our group processed and discussed, but also shared moments of laughter, a choir of voices, all of us mingling, talking, and sharing. I closed my eyes and listened to giggles and heard people talking about music and the best places to dance. Plans were made for groups to go out and enjoy some local night life.

Friendships had been made. I wrote in my journal that night a rhetorical question:

“How can one so young, so innocent, see so much brutality, endure so much pain, inflict pain on others still find the internal reserve to live, laugh, heal and dance?”

I left Uganda imprinted with the faces of the children I met, remembering the image of one of them carrying a 25 kilo sack of sugar on her head into the bush, starting off on her hours-long trek. This travel experience left me with an amplified respect for the tenacity of the human spirit and with a broader understanding about our human capacity to endure, feeling compelled to hear truth, unconditionally love and take a stand.

Join Us on an Upcoming Reality Tours Trip to Uganda! Learn more  by joining us in Uganda this year. Visit our website for all you need to know about upcoming trips to Uganda.

Watch this great series! Check out  Bridge the Gap’s Uganda Series, a wonderful web-based TV program that highlights some wonderful transformational stories, including linking Uganda and community development to the importance of Fair Trade (through bees!)  Here’s a spot on Bridge the Gap about Global Exchange:

2011: Global Exchange: join the network for people’s globalization! from Global Exchange on Vimeo.

Prof. Judy Dushku with Ugandan Children, Suffolk University Delegation to Uganda

This is Part 1 in a 2 part series about Global Exchange Reality Tours trips to Uganda. 

History of Global Exchange Reality Tours Trips to Uganda: For decades many of us here at Global Exchange talked about adding more trips to Africa to our list of destinations. Given our  commitment to social justice advocacy, citizen diplomacy and socially responsible tourism surely there are dozens of African countries where folks would want to meet the people, learn the facts, make a difference.

It wasn’t until 2008 when we started seriously considering creating our educational human rights journeys to Uganda, just two years after we began working in partnership with the abolitionist organization Not For Sale.

As a human rights organization, we partner with like-minded organizations to educate groups of individuals who travel abroad to learn about the root causes of human trafficking and to inspire and mobilize participants into the international abolitionist movement.

After organizing delegations to many other countries to explore the issues of smuggling and trafficking of human beings for slave labor and sex slavery, we recognized the importance of examining what has been happening for decades in Uganda with the mass abduction of children into armed conflict.

Learning About Uganda:

Visiting the IDP Camps in Gulu, Uganda 2009.

I started reading about “child soldiers” and about the political struggles in Uganda and what led to the birth of the LRA (the Lord’s Resistance Army). Established in 1987 the LRA engaged in an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government in what is now one of Africa’s infamous conflicts.

I visited Uganda and got the chance to visit one of the IDP camps (for internally displaced peoples). We drove by one of the old haunting spots of the LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony, and I could not help but feel the immediacy of this place and the astonishment and fear that many must hold in their hearts for their leader.

Reality Tours Trips to Uganda Began:

Eventually we decided to develop a reality tour trip that would examine not only the beauty and biodiversity of Uganda, but also investigate the legacy of conflict and the last remaining active rebel group, the LRA.

The LRA is accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children, and forcing children to participate in hostilities and incursions. LRA fighters have achieved a sad notoriety by turning on the Acholis people they claimed to represent, hacking off lips, ears and noses, killing thousands and abducting more than 20,000 civilians, mostly children.

The conflict continues to have devastating effects on the Ugandan people, Museveni’s political legitimacy, and countries in the region that have experienced increased strain due to the flow of irredentist populations. The need for people to learn from the stories of communities in Uganda that have been affected themselves compelled us to offer a series of delegations in the summer of 2009 called Human Trafficking in Africa and Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Trafficked Girls and Boys coerced into being Child Soldiers in Uganda.

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That’s it for Part 1 of this 2 part series about our Reality Tours trip to Uganda. Tomorrow in Part 2 on our Reality Tours blog, I’ll share with you some of my memories and pictures of the Reality Tours trip to Uganda that I participated in. 

Join Us on an Upcoming Reality Tours Trip to Uganda! Learn more  by joining us in Uganda this year. Please also check out  Bridge the Gap’s Uganda Series. A wonderful web based tv program that highlights some wonderful transformational stories, including linking Uganda and community development to the importance of Fair Trade.  In fact, check out the Global Exchange spot live today!