A Lasting Impact

I’ve been known to do things a little bit differently from the rest, and my choice of traveling has been no different. I spent my past spring semester studying abroad in Uganda, and two years before that I took a gap year and traveled to Tanzania.  Looking back on my travel experiences I can confidently say that living in a developing country has its challenges- its ups and downs, but I have never been so

Read more ...

Educational Challenges Faced by Children in India

Far too often we as inhabitants of a developed country take for granted the simplest of luxuries available to us. Unfortunately we easily fall victim to our routine lifestyles and fail to recognize that we have the simplest of necessities, such as clean water running from our tap while 783 million people in the world do not. Most children begrudgingly get out of bed in the morning to pack their backpacks with their books, notepads,

Read more ...

Barriers to Education

Although having only working at Profugo for a short time, the incredible results of their projects are evident. When reading the students responses to the opportunities given through The Student Sponsorship Program, I found one student stood out to me. Sujeeth, after two years in the English Speaking program, explained “I am learning many new English words. After each class my parents ask me what I have learned, so I am also teaching them a

Read more ...

Cultivation of a Quality Education

During the academic year I volunteer at Henderson Middle School, an under-funded school in the city of Richmond, Virginia.  I’ve been mentoring and tutoring the same group of students for two years now. In this short span I have already been able to form a strong bond with my students and witness them mature and develop their interests in and out of school. All of the students at Henderson have so much potential, but they

Read more ...

Volunteerism & Sustainability

In 2015, U.N. officials and leaders of international development programs announced that volunteers would be an essential part of efforts to meet the newly proposed Sustainable Development Goals. It was also a year in which volunteers demonstrated their potential to create change. Thousands of volunteers responded to the Ebola crisis in Guinea and helped to strengthen social services in Togo; however, despite the scope and significance of volunteers’ accomplishments, their contributions are often unrecognized or

Read more ...