2014 Travel Trip Summaries

Brief summaries for each trip offered in 2014 are below, as provided by the trip organizers.  Please feel free to contact trip organizers directly with any questions or for additional details.

Chaplains’ Interfaith Service Team

Destination: Tuscaloosa, AL

Trip Organizers: Chaplains Rick Spalding ([email protected]) & Bilal Ansari ([email protected])

  • This will be our 3rd annual spring break experiment in interfaith service and dialogue – during the second week of break (March 29-April 6). During the weekdays we work with the Tuscaloosa chapter of Habitat for Humanity, rebuilding homes lost during a HUGE, devastating tornado in the spring of 2011. In the evenings we talk about our work (and many other things!) from the vantage point of the different faith/spiritual perspectives represented in the group. We also visit local Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and Protestant communities. And going to Alabama, the cradle of the civil rights struggle, also gives us a chance to think about ongoing struggles for equality and dismantling systems of privilege and mistrust that have characterized, not only race relations in the U.S., but relationships between religions around the world.

Children & Leadership in Nicaragua

Destination: Managua, Nicaragua

Trip Organizer: Sarah Vukelich ’15 ([email protected])

  • This trip builds on previous years’ work during Winter Study courses with the Escuela Asociación Kairós para la Formación, a small NGO that fosters sustainable partnerships between communities in the U.S. and Nicaragua. Participants will spend most of the week in a rural community engaging with children to promote non-violence, gender equality, environmental stewardship, and leadership development, helping them to define their own norms and values. It’s all about education in dialogue, empowering children to see themselves as agents of change in their communities. The beauty of Nicaragua is matched only by the beauty and integrity of the Nicaraguan people!

Claiming Dominico-Haitian Identity in the Dominican Republic

Destination: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Trip Organizers: Anyela Perez ’14 ([email protected]) & Ofelia Carrillo Dorado ’14 ([email protected])

  • As a result of recent legislation, Dominicans of Haitian descent continue to experience many hardships in order to regain citizenship rights in the Dominican Republic. The students participating in this trip will work with Centro Bono, a non-profit organization that is launching many campaigns to advocate for the citizenship rights of Dominicans of Haitian descent. The students will help coordinate a spring event with the organization to raise awareness, translate documents for the organization, as well as helping with other tasks. Additionally, we will create a series of practical workshops for Dominicans of Haitian descent as well as for Haitian immigrants including: Spanish lessons, English lessons, and basic computer training. This trip would be an amazing opportunity for students interested in citizenship rights, immigration, and social movements, and interested in being an ally to Dominicans of Haitian descent.

Global Medical Training

Destination: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Trip Organizers: Tre’Dez Colbert ’14 ([email protected]) & Patrick Joslin ’14 ([email protected])

  • Global Medical Training is an international humanitarian organization that provides free medical/dental services to medically deprived communities in Central America – while offering healthcare students, professionals and interested others an opportunity to expand their understanding and experience of medicine outside North America. Our group will probably include students from another college in the U.S.; we’ll travel to several regions of the country, gaining hands-on experience with the work of a rural clinic and the adversities inherent in practicing medicine in the enveloping world.

Global Water Brigades & Williams Initiative for Global Health

Destination: Honduras

Trip Organizers: Eugene Song ’16 ([email protected])

  • GWB/WIGH will be going to a rural community in Honduras for a week to work on a water development project. We will be collaborating with Global Brigades staff and local community members to implement and build water systems that will help provide clean, accessible water to the community members, and we will also hold workshops to teach the community how to administer, operate, and maintain these water systems. Through these projects, we hope to reduce water-related issues and illnesses and empower the community so they can lead healthier and more productive lives. This is a great opportunity for anybody interested in sustainable development or doing good work in a new, exciting environment!

Navajo Nation Outreach

Destination: Window Rock, AZ

Trip Organizer: Amanda Washington ’14 ([email protected])

  • The Navajo Nation Outreach Spring break is a fantastic opportunity for students to work with kids while experiencing life in a different area. Participants will travel to Window Rock, AZ – a town in the heart of Navajo Nation, a Navajo Reservation – and work with grades K-12 within the Window Rock Unified School District. Students will lead workshops and serve as teachers aids in the schools. After school students will work in the Window Rock Community Center, helping with maintenance projects at the site and leading activities for the youth there. While in Window Rock there will also be numerous opportunities for Williams Students to learn more about the Navajo culture.

New York Family Residence Restoration

Destination: New York, NY

Trip Organizer: Tendai Chisowa ’16 ([email protected])

  • Spend one week in NYC helping to transform the living environments of New York’s neediest. We will be painting rooms, working with children, and assisting in various tasks at a Brooklyn family homeless shelter. Residents at the shelter have no choice but to live in conditions that include lead paint, drafty windows, and more. This trip is sure to be a learning experience filled with great times and hard work!

ServeUP

Destination: New Orleans, LA

Trip Organizer: Caleb Miaw ’11 ([email protected])

  • “Someday I’d like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it.”

“Well, why don’t you?”

“Because I’m afraid He’d ask me the same question.”

Come to New Orleans and see the challenges that continue to face the city nearly a decade after Hurricane Katrina! We’ll work together, eat together (yum!), and talk about the reality around us in New Orleans. So what are YOU doing for Spring Break?