National Office Blog

In 2005, a young and enthusiastic Ugandan woman named Jenifer Tumwizere found herself deeply troubled by the number of orphaned and neglected children in her community. Tuition fees kept these children from attending government-run schools, leaving them without access to education or constructive daily activities. It was then that Jenifer decided to start the House of Hope.

Jenifer began House of Hope by setting aside wages from her job as an English teacher. House of Hope now serves 250 children and has grown into a full primary education school offering 10 grades, daily nutritious meals for staff and students, medical care, and social service to ensure safe home environments for students. The House has also created 28 much-needed full-time jobs for residents in the Masaka District.

This summer, the Nourish chapter at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville teamed up with the House of Hope to cultivate farmland and construct a water tank to provide sustainable nourishment, fresh water, and income for the House. The project team also built a new schoolhouse. All of these additions will help the House sustain itself for years to come, ensuring that orphaned children gain an education while having their basic needs met.

Click here to read the project team’s blog about their experiences in Uganda. Though they experienced some challenges, they were excited to work directly alongside Jenifer and even found time to do some sight-seeing at the Equator, Kampala, and Lake Benyoni.

The National Office is excited to welcome four 2011 summer interns:

Ethan Fujita is a rising junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill majoring in philosophy and international studies with a minor in Japanese language. He will join Nourish as the Operations Support Intern. Ethan is looking forward to working with the passionate and committed team at Nourish to make positive changes and impacts on both the local chapters and on the communities we serve. Besides working with Nourish, Ethan enjoys working with AIESEC, a student-run organization and exchange program committed to providing international experiences for university students looking to create positive change. He enjoys being active, spending time in the community and with his friends, and learning Japanese.

Laura Jasmine, a rising senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, is serving as the Grant Writing and Public Relations Intern this summer. She is double majoring in journalism and religious studies and plans to pursue a Master’s of Social Work. In addition to doing public relations for other organizations, Laura recently served on a committee of UNC students that awarded grants to North Carolina nonprofits with funding provided by the Sunshine Lady Foundation. For her, the most exciting aspect of Nourish is the organization’s emphasis on providing communities with the tools to lift themselves out of poverty, rather than putting a temporary “band-aid” on the problem by giving free handouts.  In her spare time, Laura enjoys working with the special needs population, traveling, riding horses, and attending sorority functions.

Megan Straubel graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill  in 2011 with a Bachelor's degree in biology and a minor in African studies.  While at UNC, Megan had the opportunity to study abroad in Geneva, Switzerland, taking part in the Global Health and Development Policy program.  Through a summer internship with Advocates for Grassroots Development in Uganda (AGRADU), Megan found her passion for the eradication of poverty through community-driven development.  She has worked as the intern coordinator for AGRADU and a classroom presenter for Carolina Navigators.  This summer, Megan will serve as the Assistant to the Executive Director at Nourish.

Natalie Prince is a rising junior at UNC-Chapel Hill and is double majoring in Spanish and political science. As an intern for Nourish International, she will be responsible for the planning, implementation, and follow-up of the Summer Institute, Nourish's annual summer conference . Natalie enjoys traveling and plans to study abroad in Spain during the upcoming school year. She is excited to be working with Nourish and believes in the organization's mission of creating responsible partnerships with grassroots partners.

After a year of hard work, brainstorming, planning, and venture implementation, Nourish International chapters around the country have culminated the 2010-2011 school year with the launch of 14 unique summer projects. More than 80 students are traveling abroad this summer to fulfill Nourish's mission of empowering communities and eradicating poverty. Four of these summer project teams have already departed for their designated countries and are now hard at work collaborating with communities to bring the resources they need and impetus to implement their desired development projects.

The University of Miami in Ohio has teamed up with Brown University to build an elementary schoolhouse in El Salvador. Partnering with FUNDAHMER, an NGO that assists Christian Base communities in El Salvador, the project team hopes to address the lack of early education in the Morazan community. In addition to providing a place for education, the schoolhouse will serve as a meeting place for community leaders during after-school hours. Follow their journey here.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Nourish chapter, which has multiple project teams this summer, has partnered with JUVILUS for one of their projects, who connected them with the Santa Maria de Los Angeles village in Ecuador. There, seven students will spend six weeks working with JUVILUS to expand a cuy-raising business venture on the organization's farm. For those who have yet to experience the tasty delight that is cuy, it's the local speciality of roasted guinea pigs, and the village hopes to bring in profits from their farm to fund additional community projects. The team will also work with children at a Franciscan Village for orphaned children living with HIV/AIDS and assist with HIV education and awareness campaigns. Follow their project here.

Another project in Ecuador, led by N.C. State University and the University of Virginia in conjunction with community partner Triple Salto, focuses on the Quito community. These students are building greenhouses for schools with a goal of  promoting student nutrition and drawing additional income for the community. Nourish has worked with Triple Salto for three years now, and is happy to continue this partnership. You can follow their project progress here.

The last summer project already underway is the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and the University of Georgia's Ugandan House of Hope. Partnering with World Action for Humanity, the project team will work at the House of Hope in the Kyazanga Village in Uganda, which provides necessities and education to orphans in the area. Students will build a new classroom, cultivate farmland and build a water tank, allowing the House to reach out to greater numbers of children, provide better nutrition, and generate income. Follow their progress here.

Nourish had a great summer, with 65 students working abroad on 11 different projects. Nourish Ventures provided over $45,000 to contribute to sustainable development projects in Africa, Central and South America and Turkey. In the coming weeks, we will recap our summer projects and share inspiring stories from the students. This week, we'll focus on the projects from Africa, including UNC's Rwandan and UPenn's Ugandan projects.

Paper Making: Empower 100 Ugandan Women with AIDS

Five students from the University of Pennsylvania spent their summer in Uganda volunteering with their partner organization, NACWOLA, a national network aimed at providing a platform for fellowship, mutual support, hope and a voice to women living with HIV/AIDS. The partnership was born on a Nourish UPenn donation to NACWOLA for the establishment of a papermaking business that would train ten women with HIV/AIDS how to make paper and run a sustainable business. During the summer, UPenn students learned alongside members of the NACWOLA community how to create handmade paper and convert it into finished products. "While the primary goal of this trip was to set up this paper-making business training and lay the foundation for the people we met to sustain a livelihood, this was also a huge learning experience for all of us," said Nourish student Laura White. "We were able to meet a group of women, men, and youth who were determined to succeed in a business, and throughout our time we discussed the ways in which this business could thrive, and the difficulties it would still have to overcome." UPenn plans to continue their relationship with NACWOLA by promoting samples of the merchandise in various stores.

To learn more about this project, visit their blog at http://nourishinternational.org/blog/uganda-10/

Enable English Transition for School in Rwanda

A group of six students from UNC-Chapel Hill traveled to Ndera, Rwanda to work with College Doctrina Vitae, a school that provides education to students who are ineligible for public school and cannot afford to pay for private education. After a governmental mandate insisting that instructors educate students in English rather than French, there is a desperate need for English lessons. Along with teaching English to some of the school's educators, Nourish students worked with an environmental student organization to create a hands-on learning garden on the school's ground.

Project participant Sarah Edwards writes, "In the end, the thing that will stay with me most from Rwanda is our relationship with the College Doctrina Vitae teachers. Their eagerness to improve their English was both evident and astonishing, given the long days they already put in at CDV and the long commute home they had after the English workshops."  In their summary project report, the Rwandan team happily stated that "Through training the teachers in conversational, complex, and subject-specific English, we better equipped their transition into the English-only curriculum as a way of both ensuring their confidence and, in effect, their students’ performance in the classroom. Additionally, in providing gardening materials and a hands-on gardening experience, our team helped CDV’s students turn their club’s efforts and visions into practice."

To learn more about their experience in Rwanda, visit their blog at http://uncmeetscdv.blogspot.com/

The votes are in, and we have our winners!

Big thanks to everyone who submitted pictures.  It's been great looking through all of your pictures and seeing what an incredible time you all had over the summer.

1st Place - Grand Prize

"Planting tomatoes and cabbages in the garden nursery"
Haru Yamamoto, Duke University
Naama Village School
Mityana, Uganda

Hey everyone!

We’re hosting a photo contest on the Nourish Network to find the best pictures from our international projects this past summer.  We’re going to pick which photos we think best represent our work in Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, Uganda and Peru this past summer.  The deadline for entry is this coming Friday, October 3rd at 5pm.  

But Logan, what will I win!?

I’m glad you asked.  Quit talking and listen:

1st place:  $50 & a Nourish Nalgene
2nd place:  $25 & a Nourish Nalgene
3rd place:  $25 & a Nourish Nalgene
4th-10th place:  Nourish Nalgenes

This is awesome Logan!  How do I enter!?

It’s easy!  Here’s how:

1.  Go to the Nourish Network
2.  Register if you haven’t already
3.  Upload your favorite pictures by clicking the “photos” tab
4.  Send Bryon Zandt (bryon@nourishinternational.org) a message with the names of your favorite 3 pictures

We’ll announce the winner next week, and post them on here for your viewing pleasure.  Good luck!

Until next time,

Logan

Hey Everyone-

We just set up blogs for the five projects that we have for this summer! This past spring has been an amazing one for Nourish and we are thrilled to continue the trend with these summer projects. 2008 brings a wide mix of themes and locations, from clean water in Peru to education in Uganda to food security in Honduras. All of these projects are the result of collaboration between Nourish students and a non-profit partner organization already working in the destination community.

Though the projects haven't started yet, some of the teams have begun writing on their blogs. It makes for an incredibly interesting read that has just begun to unfold. Go ahead and take a look at what we have so far--and don't forget to keep reading throughout the summer!

• Brazil - Palmamix (Musical Instrument Factory)
  led by students from Duke University
• Honduras - Biodiversity and Food Security
  led by students from UNC
• Mexico - Community Learning Center
  led by students from UNC
• Peru - Sustainable Clean Water Systems
  led by students from UNC
• Uganda - Educational Program Additions
  led by students from the University of Michigan

Oh, and and one last thing: if you have any questions and comments for the students on these projects, or just really like hearing about their experiences, I encourage you to create an account and leave a comment on their blogs. Really, they would love to hear from you!