When I was growing up in the UK, there was only one certainty in my grumpy adolescent world: one day soon I would shed the shackles of my hometown and escape to university. In Europe, the US, and Australia university attendance is the rule rather than the exception, and an undergraduate degree is now the [...]
With 2012 under way, I hope you’re all excited about the opportunities that this year holds for us all and that you’re sticking to those New Year’s Resolutions. For those of you struggling to maintain the motivation just four days into January, I think a quick look at Lift n Glow’s efforts to help Roots [...]
“If music be the food of love, play on!” Shakespeare’s immortal words always bring to mind the way that music shapes our lives, reflects our emotions and connects people across the world. This New Year’s, I experienced an unexpected brush with Guatemalan culture in the form of music. The sounds of a Guatemalan marching band [...]
In November this year, the Maestros Cien Puntos Prize was awarded to ten Guatemalan teachers in recognition of their outstanding service to education in Guatemala in the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura. Previous winners attended the ceremony along with other education officials and sponsors of the scheme. The award assesses innovation in teaching and the [...]
Perhaps you’ve made a loan through Kiva.org, like last week’s guest blogger Clay Alexander. Maybe you heard something on TV about an organization like FINCA or the Grameen Bank, two of the pioneers of microfinance in the 20th century. Or perhaps the very concept of microfinance is a foreign one and you’re asking yourself what [...]
As I get older, it seems to become more and more difficult every year to hold onto the excitement and wonder that comes as with the Christmas season. Now that I’ve moved hundreds of miles away from home and gotten my own apartment, I’ve lost many of the Christmas traditions of my past. Although, I [...]
“Yes! Same same but different!” If you’ve ever spent time in South East Asia you’ll be familiar with this paradoxical phrase. Everything here is same same but different: the bus ticket that takes you to a destination 100kms away from the place you thought you were heading; the souvenir that’s totally different from the one [...]
This week I’ve been pondering over the ever-increasing impact of technology and how gadgets such as Kindles and iPhones are more commonly seen in the hands of commuters and suchlike, which led me to consider how easy it is to take advantage of our access to books. It saddens me to hear that public funding [...]
The first time I left my home country, I was 19 years old. For me, 19 years seemed an eternity to wait before finally experiencing the thrill of international travel. Ever since childhood, the idea of other countries, cultures, and languages completely fascinated me. I dreamt of the day when I would experience a foreign [...]
RWI would like to welcome guest blogger Clay Alexander, friend of Roots and Wings and long-time advocate of microcredit for development. Clay is a 24 year old engineer from New Orleans, and living proof that even without a wealth of spare time and resources, one person can still make a huge difference in the lives [...]
Roots and Wings International is excited to launch its newest program in Guatemala. The Credit with Wings Microlending Program offers Guatemalans in RWI communities the chance to receive a loan of up to $200, at a reasonable interest rate, to fund an income generating activity. The Credit with Wings program, in addition to RWI’s other [...]
I mentioned in my first ever post for RWI that I currently work in academic publishing for a well-known organisation which publishes world-famous dictionaries, journals, textbooks and a wide range of other publications. Whilst my role concentrates on courses for secondary education (ages 11-18), a large part of the company is dedicated to producing successful [...]
As many of our readers might know, the U.S. offices of Roots and Wings International run completely on volunteer power. Without an incredible staff of passionate, dedicated and hard-working volunteers, the programs that RWI supports in Guatemala would never happen. Jeanne Santos is one of those key volunteers who donates her time as the Partner [...]
The five of us piled into the tatty jeep with our drenched rucksacks piled on top of us and we sat soaked to the bone all the way to the hostel. We had turned up at one of the more common hostels in the area only to find out that they had overbooked, and after [...]
Today I’m thankful for… ~Family, in all its forms ~Phones and Internet that bring people together when life does not ~Human imagination and its ability to envision things beyond their current state ~Any dish with yucca and, more, the people who prepare it ~The expectation and ability to go to college ~Teachers ~Farmers ~Children’s books [...]
