The transformation from drawing to reality

Hello teachers,

For everyone who has worked on the Tierra del Ninos project, I wanted to send you a quick update and some pictures from Aima Molinari, who has formally transferred the leadership of the project to a teacher at the Manco Inca school. Aima is now dedicating her volunteer time to a new daycare center in Ollantaytambo, which World Leadership School is also now supporting. I’m excited by the fact that a local teacher has taken on Tierra del Ninos and that it will continue inside of Manco Inca.

The first few pictures are the current state of the Tierra del Nino project – the last few are of the new green areas at the school, which were also inspired by the Tierra del Nino.. Here’s what she says – see original Spanish version below.

THANK YOU for all your work on this project and good luck finishing the school year. I am also copying Joaquin and Aima on this email, if you want to communicate with them directly.

Ross

“Tierra del Ninos at the Manco Inca school is in good hands . . . and being led by the right people. During the recent vacations, I was able to send the most active and involved teacher from Manco Inca to the annual ANIA (Asociación para la niñez y su medio ambiente) training seminar in Ica. Peru (this is the same training that I went to and which inspired me). Of course, she returned very motivated and with all the material and with lots of eagerness to work with her class of 30 kids. She is also going to speak with the other teachers and try to involve the director. She is a teacher who has worked at Manco Inca for more than 15 years and has a lot of influence. This year, ANIA will probably do another training in Cusco and this teacher and I are meeting to review her work plan for the coming year. I am working to support her but in the future I want her to be the principal voice for this project. The kids miss me so I go every week to meet with them, for now. Sometimes I get frustrated when I think about the fact that the Tierra del Ninos is completely open to intruders, who occasionally damage a plant or steal something. Other times I worry that the complex has become dirty and has to be cleaned . . . but then I remember that every problem has a solution, that this teacher is really on board and eager to school and that the school – by its own initiative – has created three more green areas in the school. One teacher showed me, very proudly, how the school has even planted fruit trees. The kids from the Tierra del Ninos club want to meet always and carry in their hearts care, conscience and happiness.

Aima Molinari.

Tierra de Niños en la escuela Manco Inca está en buenas manos…y en las manos en las que debería estar. En estas vacaciones pude hacer el esfuerzo de enviar a la profesora más activa y participativa al curso de capacitación que Ania brinda cada año en Ica (al curso que yo fui). Por supuesto ella regresó muy motivada y con todo el material y las ganas de trabajar con su clase de 30 niños. Además piensa hablar con otros profesores e involucrar un poco más al director. Es una profesora que trabaja ahí hace 15 años y es muy influyente. Este año es probable que se dicte otro curso de capacitación por primera vez en Cusco. Estamos reuniéndonos para ver su plan de trabajo. Yo me dedico a asistirla por ahora pero quiero que más adelante se sienta la promotora principal de la escuela. Las niñas me extrañan así que voy una vez por semana a reunirme con ellas, por ahora. A veces me desmoralizo pensando que falta seguridad en la Tini, o otra vez, dañaron una planta, o se robaron algo, o está sucia y hay que limpiarla…pero luego recuerdo que todo tiene solución, que la profesora está realmente convencida y tiene ganas de trabajar voluntariamente, que la escuela, por iniciativa propia ha creado 3 áreas verdes más en toda la escuela, que otro profesor me ha enseñado orgulloso como ha plantado frutales con sus alumnos y que los niños que han formado el grupo de Tierra de Niños siguen queriendo que nos reunamos siempre y que sobretodo llevan en su corazón cariño , conciencia y alegría.
Aima Molinari

Ross Wehner, Executive Director, World Leadership School
2135 Gilpin Street
Denver, CO 80205

o: 303-679-3412, f: 303-945-2229, toll-free: 1-888-831-8109, http://www.worldleadershipschool.com/

wow!!! International Collaborations and Manco Inca made this possible

Climate change curriculum

“In 2009, Will Steger Foundation created a new curriculum for high school students that focuses on global climate solutions, called Citizen Climate. This curriculum emphasizes civic engagement and helps teachers and students understand the critical and complex climate solutions being discussed on the national and international stage. It also allows students to formulate statements about what they would like to see happen in climate policy and how these policies and actions can be replicated in their states and local communities. These lesson plans build on the Will Steger Foundation’s original six lesson plans on the basics of global warming. The new lessons cover the carbon cycle, target levels for atmospheric levels of greenhouse gasses, cap and trade, carbon tax, new technologies, concerns of developed and developing countries, and how to formulate position statements.”



http://willstegerfoundation.org/index.php/programs/k-12-education-program/citizen-climate-curriculum

Next Steps: Sustainable Global Parnerships Proposal

June 19, 2009

Matt Pena
Dean of Students
Casady School

Dear Matt:

Great to speak with you and Kari on Friday and I’m very glad the trip was successful. You and your kids did a wonderful job and our instructors in Peru, and our staff in Denver, have really enjoyed working with Casady School.

As discussed, a major focus of World Leadership School this coming year will be to help eight of our U.S. school partners make the transition from service learning trips to what we are calling Global Partnerships. This is the next stage in our strategy to help schools develop truly innovative global education programs.

On our service learning trips, students and faculty engage with a global issue, develop leadership awareness, and build important relationships in an overseas community. A Global Partnership continues the momentum of a trip and extends it into a year-round distance learning exchange between classrooms in different parts of the world.

Each Global Partnership will include regular interactions between two classrooms, one in the U.S. and the other in the overseas community; a sustained study of a global issue; and ongoing service projects, both abroad and perhaps in the U.S. as well. Ideas of leadership will be integrated, where appropriate.

These partnerships are designed to support and mesh with existing curriculum at each school. Our hope is that these partnerships will allow teachers to do a better job teaching Spanish, biology, environmental sciences, human geography, world history and other subjects.

We have had some early success with Global Partnerships at World Leadership School. This year, students from St. John’s Episcopal, a K-8 school in Olney, Md., are studying environmental sciences through a sustained dialogue on climate change with students in Belize.

After months of class-to-class contact, and student-led fundraising, a group of 14 students and three faculty from St. John’s arrived in Belize earlier this month. They brought five laptops and $2,000 in donations to set up a computer lab in Belize’s La Democracia elementary school. This lab will be used in the future to share information via class-to-class video conferencing, wikis, blogs, slideshows linked to voice threads, and other technologies. Here is their ongoing blog: http://belizeus.pbwiki.com/

These global partnerships create a lot of positive change for our school partners in lesser-developed countries. They are also an extremely cost-effective way for U.S. schools to:
· Fulfill school mission by offering life-changing global education programs;
· Blend global issues, service learning and leadership into the school curriculum;
· Have a huge and positive impact on school partners in lesser-developed nations;
· Offer a real-world context for applying Web 2.0 technologies;
· Stand out in a rapidly changing global education market.

We know these types of global partnerships are hard for schools to launch without initial support and help. Building and sustaining an overseas relationship takes a lot of time and energy, and the responsibility usually falls upon teachers who are already overscheduled with competing priorities. Even in the best cases, these relationships can fizzle out for no apparent reason. In addition, figuring out which technology to use and how to fit the interactions into pre-established curriculum presents further challenges. Yet there’s no question that these class-to-class global partnerships, as challenging as they initially are, will be a key component of global education in the future.

For these reasons, World Leadership School is launching a Global Partnerships program. We will work with no more than eight schools during the 2009 - 2010 school year.

Requirements. To participate in the program, we require that schools:
· Have a demonstrated commitment to integrate global issues, service learning and leadership into their school culture and curriculum;
· Have a World Leadership School trip scheduled for the upcoming summer or spring;
· Assign 2 faculty members who are committed, and have the time, to work with us on developing a global partnership in their classroom. Their work responsibilities to World Leadership School should be written into their contract and they should be willing to travel with students in the spring or summer. We cannot succeed without committed faculty.

Goals. The program goals are two-fold:
· Two Global Partnerships. We will work closely with two faculty members from your school to design curriculum, manage the technology and facilitate the relationships involved in the launching of two new global partnerships at your school. At least one of these global partnerships will be with a World Leadership School site overseas; the other we can help your faculty build from scratch, or we can connect with a school at another World Leadership School location.
· Faculty Training. Apart from the two faculty we work with, we want to help your entire faculty and administration understand how to build and maintain overseas distance learning relationships; implement a new array of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom; and integrate global issues, service, and leadership into the classroom. The hope is that other faculty will see the success of Global Partnerships at your school and, armed with knowledge and a few basic tools, be inspired to explore their own in-class service programs or overseas partnerships.

Services Provided. We will begin by visiting your school to conduct a Faculty Training Seminar, to be designed in accordance with your school’s needs. During this half- or full-day seminar, we will
· Present the research and new trends behind global education partnerships;
· Highlight the most successful global education projects in the United States, emphasizing what works and why;
· Showcase new video conference tools and other Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, wikis, widgets, Nings, Google Earth, TeacherTube, etc.;
· Find curricular tie-ins and explore ways to weave global issues, service and overseas partnerships into the existing curriculum;
· Facilitate hands-on activities and brainstorm possible projects for each participant, including an action plan for future work;
· Present the World Leadership School approach to teaching leadership, including curriculum guides;
· Brainstorm how to communicate your partnership’s success to parents and the larger community;

Throughout the school year, we will work closely with the faculty team assigned to launch the two Global Partnerships. The first meeting will be in-person and subsequent meetings will be via video conference. These meetings will address the following areas:
· Needs assessment;
· Strategic planning;
· Curricular design;
· Implementation and design of select Web 2.0 tools;
· Scheduling and coordination;
· Troubleshooting, such as the development of new overseas relationships or partnerships if necessary;
· Gathering student feedback and results;

We will provide on-site coordination and classroom facilitation for global partnerships offered in World Leadership School sites in Costa Rica, Belize, Peru, Guadeloupe and Kenya.

Our goal is to have success with every global partnership we start for schools this coming school year, but this may not be achievable. Some partnerships will fail for reasons beyond our control, including lack of commitment from overseas schools in countries where World Leadership School does not operate. In this case, we will do everything we can to re-design the partnership to make it successful.

Communicating the success of these programs is critical. Once the program is underway, we are glad to work with your development or communication office to help explain these partnerships, and why they are important, to your larger school community.

We will also provide feedback directly to school leadership on the progress made in establishing the global partnerships and what adjustments need to be made to ensure success.

Cost. The total cost to participate in the Global Partnerships program for the 2009-2010 school year is $6,250. Half of the fee, or $3,125, is payable on September 1, and the remainder is due January 1. This price is all-inclusive. World Leadership School will not bill any additional expenses for travel, accommodations, meals, communication, etc. Each school is responsible for providing basic computer equipment (laptop with web cam, microphone, and projector/Smartboard) in the assigned “global partnership” classrooms.

Staff. This effort will be headed by Alecia Berman-Dry, upcoming Global Partnerships Director for World Leadership School. As Technology Coordinator for St. John’s Episcopal, Alecia continues to develop what is to date World Leadership School’s most successful and sophisticated global partnership. This new position, which she starts July 2009, will allow Alecia to use her experience and knowledge to help other schools roll out similar programs. For more information on Alecia, see below.

I will also devote much of my time this coming year to working with Alecia and our partner schools on this new and exciting program.

Regards,


Ross Wehner
Executive Director
World Leadership School

Alecia Berman-Dry, Global Partnerships Director, is an experienced speaker and workshop leader who has worked in environments as varied as Washington, D.C. law offices, church basements and college classrooms. Along the way, she has helped school administrators, teachers, and parents make informed decisions about internet safety, social networking, website development, the use of computer programming to teach math, Web 2.0 tools and global education. Her summer teacher training sessions, "World Village Training," are her favorite hands-on workshops to present. Alecia is passionate about helping teachers establish and maintain their own meaningful classroom partnerships both nationally and internationally.

She currently teaches technology at St. John's Episcopal School, a K-8 Independent School just outside of Washington, D.C. Previously Alecia served as St. John’s Technology Coordinator for 8 years. She is a Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar, as well as the 2006 Best White Paper award winner at MICCA, Maryland’s annual conference for educational technology. Alecia also served as the Technology Chair of the AIMS (Association of Independent Maryland Schools) Academic Advisory Committee for two years.

Alecia received an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Loyola College in Maryland in 2009. Her field of research focused on social networking communities, such as Facebook and Club Penguin, and how these communities affect identity development in adolescents. You can read her blog, entitled Ed Tech Axis, at www.ed-tech-axis.blogspot.com

Ollantaytambo Tini 2009 Project

Several Casady students spent the first days of their summer vacation in Peru--not on a sightseeing venture but on a mission to help World Leadership School and the children of Ollantaytambo.

During their journey, the students moved a giant debris-choked hill of dirt and spread it around the new Children’s Land in Ollantaytambo, Peru. They also built a fence around the play area, painted the fence and put doors and windows in the thatched meeting hut built by the Shady Side students this spring.

"I really enjoyed getting to know some of you over the last few months and I want you to know that the students and Casady faculty who went on this trip did a really fabulous job," said Ross Wehner, executive director of the Denver-based World Leadership School.

The work is part of an ongoing project to convert a trash dump into a “Children’s Land.” This experiential learning area is part of an after-school program funded by World Leadership School that helps children in Ollantaytambo become stewards of their environment. Here’s the blog in Spanish from the Children’s Land: http://www.tiniollantaytambo.blogspot.com/ and Casady’s blog (in Spanish): http://casady-peru-09.blogspot.com/.

World Leadership School programs examine different global issues but all share the same three basic goals:

Learn to draw connections around global issues
Develop confidence to create positive change
Embark on a path of self awareness and leadership
For more information, visit its website at www.worldleadershipschool.com.

Meeting Cindy Beams

I took a few hours to work during my b-day trip to Boston. I felt guilty leaving my family, but the gift of meeting a person like Cindy Beams is not something one gets often.

On Friday, Cindy was kind and changed plans to meet at Harvard Square to a meeting at the Sheraton Hotel where I was staying. It was like we had known each other for ever. We had in commom a passion for Global Education service for our schools and Ollanta's Land of Children. After a short period in which we shared our personal histories and sharing a bit of how the programs got started, we had to cut the meeting short because Cindy had a meeting that day. Cindy gave the book, she had inspired the kids from Groton to write about their home stay and work in Ollanta. Seeing that book was rewarding and inspiring. I will consult with the teachers going this year, but a requirement for such a book to be produced a few weeks upon return from Ollanta should be somethig we need to consider, not only as a reflecting tool, but as a marketing tool for future trips.

The second day, Cindy and I met for breakfast and we worked for a couple of hours sharing resources and stories. Three things I will follow-up:

1. Attempt to have a phone meeting with the teachers who went to Ollanta last year for Kari and Matt to have some background of how to handle the homestay from the experience the Groton group had last year.

2. Ask student to get the Spanish booklet provided by Cindy and teach that curriculum to the children in Ollanta. The kids from Groton will do the same.

3. Get Cindy to talk to the kids and parents going this year and answer questions at a meeting. Have her explain to the group the value of creating a bilingual picture book of their group adventure trying to preserve Andean culture through economic development through service tourism.

Children's Land Vision

 

Kennedy and Jason WLS facilitators

 

Ross sent message that the WLS facilitators for the 2009 trip this year will be Kennedy and Jason Hunter. Kennedy is a former Lakeside School graduate who has been coordinating the host family stay for US Schools in Ollantaytambo for at least two years. The 2008 group met Kennedy at the weaving site visit. She was an intern for the Catcco Museum. Kennedy returned to Ollantaytambo upon graduation from Georgetown University. She planned to stay 6 months. In 2009 she will have spent three summers in Ollantaytambo.

The 2008 team met Jason Hunter in Cuzco as he prepared to facilitate the stay of the Landon School in a small town, Chilka, between Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes.

Ollantaytambo Tini 2009 Project- Tini Amphitheater

Regarding the project, I had a nice talk with Aima today. We agreed that the
Casady kids would keep working on the Children's Park - what exactly they
will do is still to be decided, and we will not know for a few months most
likely. Remember it's all driven by kids and it's an involved process so I
hate to make any definite pronouncements now.

I think what seems most likely is that the kids will work on the
ampitheater, which is going to be used for musical and theatrical
performances. This is going to be built inside of an existing swimming pool,
which was built in the late 60s and then filled in with trash. We have
partially removed the dirt. The Casady students will build steps into the
ampitheater, a stage and some of the seating. Check out the attached vision,
recently done by our foreman, Graham.

Ross

Ollantaytambo TiNi 2009- Tickets purchased

WLS purchased airfare from OKC to Lima. As soon as I get applications in from
all of the students - Lima to Cusco flights will be purchased.

10 tickets: Kendall, Megan,Filip,Will,Matt,Kari,Craig,Louisa.Natasha,Deric

From: DELTA 5519 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (OKC) Departs: 12:32pm
To: ATLANTA, GA (ATL) Arrives: 3:34pm

From: DELTA 0235 ATLANTA, GA (ATL) Departs: 5:15pm
To: LIMA, PERU (LIM) Arrives: 10:50pm

From: DELTA 0236 LIMA, PERU (LIM) Departs: 12:20am
To: ATLANTA, GA (ATL) Arrives: 8:10am

From: Delta 5519 ATLANTA, GA (ATL) Departs: 10:50am
To: OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (OKC) Arrives: 12:02pm

Questions about travel arrangements: Erin Lasky, Programs Director, World Leadership School, 2135 Gilpin Street, Denver, CO 80205, o: 303-679-3412, f: 303-945-2229, call toll-free: 1-888-831-8109, www.worldleadershipschool.com

Children's Land Vision

From: Ross Wehner [mailto:ross@worldleadershipschool.com]
Sent: Wed 11/19/2008 9:36 AM
To: Clay, Carmen; 'Cindy Beams'; 'Fred Beams'
Cc: 'Aima Molinari'
Subject: Children's Land Vision


Carmen, Cindy and Fred

See note below from Aima and the revised vision of the Children's Land. I'll
be sending along a slideshow shortly that has photos of the children's land
that you can send to your Peru service learning students, both past and
present. You can see considerable progress is being made!

The rains have come so things are starting to turn green. Aima mentioned
some good and bad news -- workers took away the hill to make adobe bricks,
but left a lot of stones in its place. The good news though is the hill is
basically gone.

Fred and Cindy, I've translated Aima's text below.

Ross

VISION
Translation: This is the first draft, we still have to add a few things here
and there . . . but I would like you to send me any suggestion or question
you have. The little house in the middle is a store and an information
center, the house with the steps is an ampitheater, there is a house in the
tree (to the left). The little tables next to the wall are made of
eco-brickes and are for playing table games, talking, socializing, eating,
etc. On the side where the palm tree there are actually more trees, about
20. The half moon (not by the palm but on the left side) is the "corner of
peace" also made of ecobricks and beneath trees to have shade. The boxes
that can be seen on the right back side are part of the recycling center
that does not appear very clearly in this drawing, but basically it si where
we separate the trash and we store what can be re-used. In the corners there
are boxes for storage and also for composting. I think we need a bit more
greenery, although as we have spoken, it's probably that they give us a
rectangular piece of land that is near the entrance of the schools, so that
it be a children's garden and it would be divided into sections. We still
have to draw the "living fence" (editors note: this is a fence made of
living, normally prickly, plants). Another element that is not here, and
appears in some drawings, is the forms of the farms and little homes.

This drawing has come out of the drawings of the kids themselves and some
ideas taken from the school professors.

Este es el primer borrador, falta agregar unas cosillas aquí y allá...pero
me gustaría que envíen cualquier sugerencia o pregunta. La casita del medio
es tienda y centro de informacion, la casita con gradas es un anfiteatro,
la casita pegada a la pared es un lugar para hacer arte y manualidades, hay
una casita en el árbol, ( a la izquierda). Las mesitas pegadas a la pared
están hechas de ecoladrillos y son para juegos de mesa, conversar,
socializar, comer, etc. El lado donde está la palmera en realidad hay más
árboles, son como 20. La media luna (no la de la palmera, la del lado
izquierdo) es el rincon de la paz también hecho con ecoladrillos y debajo de
los árboles, para la sombra. Las cajas que se ven en el lado derecho
posterior es parte del centro de reciclaje que no aparece muy claro en el
dibujo, pero básicamente es donde se separa la basura, y se guarda lo que se
puede reutilizar. En las esquinas hay cajas para depósito y me parece
también que son composteras. A mi me parece que falta un poco más de area
verde, aunque como ya lo hemos hablado, es probable que nos den un terreno
rectangular mediano que hay a la entrada de la escuela, para que sea el
huerto de los niños y estaría dividido por secciones. Faltó dibujar el cerco
vivo. Otro elemento que no hay y que aparece en algunos dibujos es la forma
de las chacras o de las casitas.

Este dibujo ha salida principalmente del dibujo de los niños y algunas ideas
de los profesores de la escuela.

Ollantaytambo Children's Land Progress Report

As the Ollantaytambo 2009 prepares to return to Manco Inca School under the supervision of Spanish teacher, Kari Bornhoft and Dean of Students, Matt Pena,the news from Ollantaytambo are great regarding progress on their tierra de ninos. World Leadership School is maitaining contact and collecting funding for their needs as stated in the following e-mails.

From Ross: World Leadership School is using leftover donations from Groton to finance after-school activities, which is what she is talking about below.

From Aima: Me imagino que sabrás que tuvimos que viajar inesperadamente a Seattle a la ceremonia de la abuela de Joaquín. Recién me estoy poniendo al día, pero te mando fotos pronto. La visión se ha ido demorando porque sempre llegan nuevas ideas y cambios pero se está viendo bien y es la guía para el próximo año. Nuestras plantas están creciendo día a dia, con algunos bajones por ahí pero en general muy sanas. Ya hemos puesto los letreros y ahora cada niño va a poner su nombre. Hemos pintado los juegos de los niños y adornado con dibujos, hemos hecho los dos letreros principales de zona de plantas y zona de juegos, ambos en quechua, hemos contruido regaderas y este fin de semana hacemos pequeños cercos para la zona de plantas.

Estoy conversando con una amiga que es profesora y además sabe mucho de arte y fotografía para que trabajemos todo el año próximo juntas. Sería un gran plus al proyecto y creo que aportaría muchísimo. Pero para esto tengo que hacer números y asegurar su sueldo. Ya te estaré mandando más información acerca de esto.

From Ross: My parece muy bien – gracias por mandar informacion tan detallada. Me pudes hacer un presupuesto muy sencillo para pasarselo a Cindy? Ella estaba pensando un usar algunos fondos para terminar un libro sobre la experiencia – no se cuanto costara. Tengo $575 de donaciones en los EE.UU. (algunos cheques que fueron escritos a WLS por los estudiantes) y te voy a mandar los fondos por Joaquin y mandarselos a Cindy lo que ella quiere hacer.

Lo que nos ayudaria much es ver fotos de la TiNi actual y como se ha mantenio y avanzado, incluyendo todas las areas en que han trabajado los estudiantes.

From Aima: Cómo estás? Este es el plan de trabajo para las siguientes semanas. Algunas cosas se modificarán en el proceso pues siempre salen nuevas ideas, de los niños o profesores, pero es básicamente nuestra meta para el fin del año escolar.

Los niños que desean participar se han inscrito en uno o a veces dos de los cuatro equipos: "Plantitas felices", "Mi Tierra Limpia", "Organizados trabajamos mejor" y "Arte y Magia para mi Tini". Quizas Cindy le interese saber que Luis Fernando y Alex vienen a las reuniones de arte y también de plantas.

TiNi = Tierra de Niños

Aún no he sacado costos pero es el próximo paso. Si les parece bien se gastaría lo que dejó el colegio Groton en estas actividades. Más adelante les enviaría el reporte de cómo se gastó el dinero.

Chapel Speech: Nina, Mac, and Louisa

In mid September, Nina, Mac and Louisa refined and presented the PP the Ollantaytambo 2008 group made in Peru at the end of the trip. The goal was to inform about their summer experience and begin the recruitment of a new group which must be in place by the end of November.

The trip will be different in 2009 because we will not stay in hostals; we will live with host families. The host families have had experience with US teens in the past because they have hosted students from Lakeside Academyof Seattle or Groton of Boston.

Another difference is the language component and the required readings and graded assignments. This year students are getting service and summer school Spanish credit.

The trip will be sponsored by Spanish teacher, Kari Bornhoft, our Dean of Students and Spanish Teacher, Matt Pena, and Spanish Teacher and Director of Service-Learning Carmen Clay. Mr. Pena and Ms. Bornholf will take care of students with previous Spanish experience and Mrs. Clay will be responsible for an introduction to Spanish for students who have not taken Spanish classes before.

Update of Ollantaytambo Children's work

Estas fotos son de Katia, una chica limeña que vino a enseñarnos un poco de como utilizar el papel y reciclarlo en el mes de Agosto. http://picasaweb.google.com/katia.nakamura/Ollantaytambo?authkey=dqxku8pvPQg
Aima

Juan Leguia's biography
Joaquín F. Leguía Orezzoli is the Executive Director and founder of the Association for Children and their Environment (Asociación para la Niñez y su Ambiente), a non-profit organization founded in Lima, Peru in 1995. The association's mission is to promote and to develop values and practices of social and environmental responsibility in children. Joaquín encourages stewardship of the land, through a program called Children’s Lands with the goal that 1% of Peru’s territory is sustainable managed with the involvement of children who represent 40% of the country’s population. By nurturing life and biodiversity in an area of one square meter or more, children are recognized for their contribution to the wellbeing of society. According to the extension and ecosystem where the children’s land is implemented it can become a “children’s forest”, “children’s lake”, “children’s mountain”, “children’s desert”, “children’s garden”, etc. The ultimate goal is that Children’s lands become an indicator of Sustainable Development. During the time he founded the association, he worked as a consultant, helping to secure the first Latin American Conservation Concession in the Amazon, with the aim of conserving the rainforest and benefiting the local population. He also is an Ashoka Fellow, an AVINA social leader, and a member of the World Youth Spiritual Council. Joaquín was named one of the top young leaders in Latin America by Business Week magazine. In 2007 was nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He earned his BA from Cornell University in Natural Sciences his MA in Environmental Management from Yale. He also studied Non-Profit Management in Washington, D.C.

News about the book:
Carmen,

Queria comunicarte que hace muy poco estuve reunida con 3 chicos, dos de Lima y uno de Colombia, todos muy conocedores en el tema de la fotografía, el arte y la narración literaria. Tienen muchas habilidades para el proyecto del libro así que he pensado que serían un perfecto equipo y que junto a mi podremos empezar a trabajar el proyecto del libro con los niños. Ellos proponen algo más que fotografía digital. Por ejemplo si un niño dibuja una escena del mercado cuando su mamá vende verduras, lo que vendría es guiarlo a que escribiera porqué dibujó esa escena y que narre un poco lo que sucedía en ese momento...finalmente tenemos la imagen digital de tal momento. Todo esto junto a dinámicas divertidas y mucho juego.

Ellos vienen este sábado a conocer la escuela, el pueblo y algunos de los niños. Esta propuesta se la voy a mandar a Cindy, una de las profesoras de Groton que estaba interesada en pagarle una profesora de inglés y arte a los niños con los que se quedó (se enamoró de ellos). Si le interesa el tema ella podría costearnos el trabajo y materiales de estos chicos. Empezaríamos con una vez por semana, los días sábados, como de 9am a 1pm.

Si te parece bien te envío también la propuesta y quizás si me falta dinero me puedes ayudar a ver a quién le interesa apoyarnos.

Permission to use Tierra de Ninos in the proposal presentation for Nashville
Carmen,

Ya hablé por teléfono con Joaquín esta mañana. Estuvimos casi una hora conversando sobre la conferencia y sobre su visita a Ollantaytambo. Ha dejado en mis manos todo su itinerario así que le voy a sacar el jugo a su visita e invitar a la mayor cantidad de personas claves para que escuchen su conferencia.

Entonces, lo que me dice es que lo que has escrito está super bien, que luz verde, que nos mandemos y solo que en la parte donde hablas de Ania, la niña, digas “ Ania is a character and hopefully soon to be made an animated movie...” Nos sugiere no mencionar el tema de disney ni decir que es algo confirmado aún.

Me ha dicho que aún no sabe si él podrá ir personalmente y que le parece bien que nosotros...tu sola, yo o juntas las dos presentemos. En caso yo pueda ir, el me ha dicho que me podría capacitar personalmente de tal forma que voy más preparada y con tu ayuda en la traducción podemos hacer un buen papel.

Me preguntó también la cantidad de asistentes a la conferencia central y si el taller que se haría es todo un día. Yo entiendo que nosotras estaríamos en lo del taller no? El quizás podría ir a la conferencia grande. Su única duda es saber si realmente es necesario que vaya, dice que se ha quemado varias veces en conferencias que se pintan como importantes pero al final la gente no es pilas o no se le da la debida importancia al tema central...Debido al poco tiempo que tiene realmente tienen que elegir bien en qué invertirlo. En todo caso, nos avisa eso por Diciembre.

Dime, te ayuda que te envíe su hoja de vida en inglés?

Bueno Carmen, eso es todo por ahora. Dime si necesitas algo más.

Picassa Album of the project

View project pictures from start to finish at http://picasaweb.google.com/Cycloneservicelearners/TierraDeNinosProject. Now students will work on their follow-up project at Casady, Speak Week. They will finalize their chapel presentation, the goal of which is to share what they did. After that, students will work on their Speak Week project. The goal of the week is to promote service and fundraise for next year's trips needs ( help students and teachers go and for the needs of the project in Ollantaytambo). Finally, we are considering presenting at the NYLC conference in Nashville during spring break.

Words from World Leardeship School CEO

I wanted to say how impressed I am with what a group of seven Casady students, plus one (very) determined faculty person, were able to accomplish in Ollantaytambo. I think you all did a wonderful job of overcoming the inevitable hardships of living in rural Peru and persevering to meet your goals. Joaquin and Paull very much enjoyed working with you and felt like you all made tremendous strides in personal awareness and growth during the trip. In the process, you made a tremendous difference in the lives of Ollantaytambo’s children and kicked off what promises to be a very fruitful, long-term project for the community – the Tierra de Niños.

Besides saying thank you, I also wanted to send you an evaluation form for parents to fill out and either print and mail to WLS or email back --- if you want to save paper, just open the document and type in your answer, save the document with a new name (e.g. Parent Evaluation – Liedtke) and send back to me. Each student has also filled out an evaluation form, which Carmen is sending me in the mail. I am going through all the paperwork from the trip andw will hopefully speak with Carmen soon.. We use your thoughts and input in order to keep improving our programs.

A few notes for students:1. We have established a Flickr photo sharing site for Casady School. It is an open group and accessible at http://www.flickr.com/groups/773350@N24/ This is a great way for students to share photos amongst themselves and you can always opt to use some of these for the blog as well. Please upload the photos you want to share – it’s very easy.

2. We have also established a Facebook Groups page for World Leadership School alumni. You can access the page here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/773350@N24/ or search for “World Leadership School” within Facebook. Again it’s an open group so no invitation is required. Please feel free to join the group if you are interested in receiving updates about World Leadership School and want to stay in touch with other alums. Your comments are very much appreciated.

Follow-up from Aima, Tierra de Ninos Coordinator

Querida Carmen,

Perdóname por no contestar inmediatamente. Como imaginarás estamos super ocupados con el grupo de Lakeside, su proyecto en Tierra de NIños y la escuela es introducir el sistema de manejo y reciclaje de toda la basura de la escuela. Gran reto!

Hoy empezamos a difundir en todas las clases al ladrillo ecologico que nos ayudará a construir cercos, bancas, sillas y mesas dentro del terreno de los niños además de ayudar a la limpieza de toda la escuela y pueblo. Hemos organizado un concurso entre salones y todos los niños están entusiasmados por ganar. En fin, muchas cosas, pero todas positivas. Mañana sin falta te envío algunas fotos del playground que con tanto trabajo colocarons tus estudiantes y una foto de antes también para que se note el cambio y el trabajo.
Gracias nuevamente por tu interés en difundir la labor de Tierra de Niños a través de las conferencias o el contacto con otras organizaciones afines. Te pido un poco de paciencia pues necesito un tiempo para sentarme a revisarlo todo.

Un beso grande a todos! Aima

Student-Teacher blog

Please visit http://casady-school-peru08.blogspot.com/ to see student/teacher entries in the World Leadership School blog of this trip. The choice of pictures and final reflections in the WLS blog will be posted by student participants.

I look forward to our PERUREUNION!!!

Lima-OKC: Reflections on board of plane

After a difficult flight back to Lima because students were tired and one battled motion sickness, we arrived in Lima where we met our tour guide, Ivan and our bus driver Don Eduardo. Next year, I must remember to let students know that they need to wear motion sickness patches and have handy motion sickness medicine.

Ivan, our tour guide, was a freelance photographer by trade and kept the tour at very low key. We were thankful because we were exhausted.

I had a bad cold complicated with stomach virus which the paramedics at Mambo's restaurant told me would go away within 24 hours if I drank Gatorade and rested. Thank you to this beautiful restaurant for providing this service free of charge. I was not that bad, but it was nice to have that service as needed.

Ivan took care of the tour and the kids enjoyed mostly Larco Mar and Miraflores after a short trip to Barranco and the headquaters of the "Tierra de Ninos" where we received gifts and a CD to take home.

Now back at home, I realized how rewarding this trip has been.

Student responses to what they like the most were:
1. Bonding and playing games with my group and when the playground went up.



2. Getting to know the kids at the school and when our group got together at night and played games.



3. Seeing the children’s faces, when the playground was going up. I enjoyed the rafting and soccer.



4. The actual days dedicated to the project. I enjoyed the work as well as the company of the children who were helpful in fully immersing myself into the Peruvian culture.




5. Playing with the kids and climbing Wayna Picchu.




6. When I was teaching and when we finished the play ground.







7. Getting to experience a foreign third world country. All too often we choose to travel to the “best” places in the world, and we forgo the invaluable experience of getting to know people and places in a country as awesome as Peru.







What they liked the least:
1. Three students stated: Museum tours.
2. Meetings and conversations that were forced upon us. Not only did I feel uncomfortable, I felt they were not benefitial to the group at all.
3. The museums and the afthermath of Wayna Picchu.
4. I got sick in Macchu Picchu.
5. I did not enjoy not having any friends or other people my age on the trip.

Their impressions of the community
1. The community was very close and affectionate. It seem to be a care free life style and kindness was in abundance.
2. I loved the community of Ollantaytambo! Not so much Cusco though. Our accomodations worked. El Albergue was fantastic, but I would not recommend Las Orquideas.
3. Ollantaytambo was a beautiful town. The scenary was beautiful and the community was friendly. However, I did not stay with a host family.
4. The simplest way to describe the community of Ollantaytambo is to simply call it amazing. I absolutely felt in love with the people and the richnest of their culture. I want to go back as many times as possible because I absolutlely loved it.
5. I loved Ollantaytambo. It is one of my favorite towns. The children were amazing! The community touched my heart and someday I want to teach English here.
6. The community of Ollantaytambo was great. The kids were really enthusiastic about helping us. The town really feels like home now.
7. The community of Ollantaytambo was great. It was quaint, small, and comfortable. I really felt like I got to know some different members of the community, both kids and adults.

Their impressions of the country instructors and faculty leaders:
1. Our instructor Paul was very nice,and very knowledgable. He was very funny, and kind to everyone and still made sure our best interests were at heart.
2. Our instructor Paul was the best. He really became close with our whole group and seem to really care about us. His knowledge about Peru was also very impressive, and he is a great dancer!! Mrs. Clay was the best faculty leader I could ever wished for.
3. Joaquin Randall was a fun instructor. He took us to good restaurants and helped motivate us on the playground. Paul was also an awsome leader. He took us to explore the town, played games with us, and kept us interested.
4. Joaquin, Paul, and Mrs. Clay were all excellent leaders and instructors. They were all very responsible and helpful the whole time and each added their own individual spark of fun spradically. Mrs. Clay was basically our mom and Joaquin and Paul were very extremely knowledgeable about everything and very humorous at the same time.
5. Joaquin was a little scary at first, but after a few days, he became really great and understanding. He was very responsible. Paul was really fun. He loves his culture. Mrs. Clay was great as well.
6. Mrs. Clay was really great at getting us all pumped up and excited for the work. She also told great stories from her childhood in Peru.
7. Joaquin and Paul were amazing. They were knowledable and fun, as well as entertaining and personable.Mrs. Clay was a great asset to the trip; she made me feel extremely comfortable knowing I had a friend/translator/mom the whole time.

Was the trip changing or inspiriring to them?
1. The trip did not drastically change you. It made me realize how lucky I am and helped me appreciate it. It inspired me to help my community.
2. This trip really humbled me. I think I will return home much more greatful for everything I have including my friends and family. It inspire me to want to help more underpriviledge children.
3. This trip definetly changed me. I figured out that when I get older, I want to with children. Seeing how happy they were to learn English, made me feel wanted.
4. Yes, I think this trip has changed and inspired me in more than one way. I feel as if I have matured in my behavior and this trip really tested my maturity level. I feel like I am also more aware of Peruvian culture and that is the base of what inspired me. They people there that have so little always seem to be so happy and that helps me realize that I should be thankful for every single thing I have.
5. Of course it change me! It made me realize how much I want to help these kids and give them the love they deserve. The kids helped me stay positive, especially when I found out about a death of a dear friend.
6. The trip showed me just how much other kids love learning and how much they desire to learn. That has led me to be more hungry to help them.
7. I would not say it changed or inspired me as much as it did inform me. It is obvious there are problems in our world, and the best thing the trip did for me was remind me that outside of my sheltered existence in the USA, there are actual problems affecting real people.

Adios Cusco- Hello Lima

Friday: Every one was tired, but in good health. We had a tour of the cathedral and the Inka Museum. After lunch the kids rested while Joaquin and I took care of travel confirmations. Our plane from Cusco to Lima was changed to an earlier flight. There was a problem with the date of the flight and changing it took a long time. Thank you to Joaquin and his contacts for making the change possible. We left Cusco at 7:45 Lan Peru flight 24 instead of at noon. Our plane tickets in Delta were confirmed without difficulty.

The earlier flight from Cuzco allowed us a few more hours in Lima. Aima had contacted the headquarters of our project´s foundation, La Tierra de Ninos and we hoped to meet its founder, but it did not happen.


Joaquin provided a beautiful closing exercise at the end of the day. It was heartbreaking to see how much the group has grown together and how much they enjoyed the service project, the highlight of their stay. I am thankful to Mac for not giving up on the trip when people did not easily sign-up. We had a transforming 15 days.