I returned to visit my counterparts at AFEDES in Santiago Sacatepequez Guatemala March 24, 2010. My counterpart and dear friend, Milvian Aspuac was married and had a baby since I returned to my site in 2008. This photo is of my son, Milvian, her...
I took this photo in the summer of 2009 in my yard with my host mother in a small village in Ukraine. Summertime brings so many fresh fruits and vegetables to the market and such beautiful weather after the long hard winter that it is hard to keep...
My host mom and I at my Swearing- In Ceremony, 10-31-2008. Since the day I arrived to St. Kitts Tracey has welcomed me into her family. About a week into my stay she was "mom" and I was "daughter."
Taken a few days before I was to finish training and swear-in as a volunteer in Morocco. My first host mother Malika was everything I needed her to be being so far from home. Here we are in the kitchen as we are cooking dinner and having girl talk...
This photo was taken in March of 2006 in Uzyn, Kievskaya Oblast, Ukraine, when I had been living with my host family for about a month. On the right is my host "mother" Maria, making sure I was properly dressed to go out into the cold to use the...
This photo was taken during my training in Trypillia, Ukraine on March 6, 2006. The little girl is my host sister, Liza, all bundled up for her morning walk to school. It was one of the first major snowfalls I experienced while in Ukraine.
Shortly after arriving to site and moving in with our host family, three generations of Ukrainians teach Lauren how to make varenyky, stuffed dumplings, which were then filled with sour cherries. A labor of love that is so worth the effort!
Host families; Host community friends; Celebrations
Like many Peace Corps Volunteers before and after me, Seyni was my Baba (father). Being posted in Dosso, Niger where Seyni was the Peace Corps Program Assistant, I became very close to him and his family. It was a rare day that I did not hear the...
This was taken after Church in the village of Hakupu one Sunday with my host family - Mother Tiva Toeono and twins Simoe and Anton. Ladies over 18 years old had to wear hats to Church and the women weaved incredibly beautiful hats they loved to...
A photo of me with a group of friends after everyone was dressing up for some photos before I went home for a vacation (I was sort of extended family) eating most of my meals and spending a lot of free time with this group and their husbands and...
Host families; Women in Development (WID)/ Gender and Development (GAD)
This photo was taken in beautiful Belize in spring 2011. My sister is the girl in the photo. She is a strong girl with strong opinions and in this photo she is stating a statement about her life.
After two years of service, Youth Development Volunteer Lauren Warchol knows to bring her own toilet paper to this bathroom in the government funded Social Services Center where she works in Ukraine. Not much more than a hole in the ground, but at...
Volunteer Aliyya Shelley teaching life skills in a rural community in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. In this class, she is teaching prevention to HIV.
Aicha Boulmahuahib was the midwife at the local hospital at Ouled Berhill, Taroudant, Morocco where I lived for 2 years. The day I met her, we automatically started developing health workshops for women in the community. Also, I assisted her on...
Wendy and I (Theresa) usually took the kids in our village - Avatele - each week during the Church service over to the Pastor's house to do some activities with them. Church was a very important part of village life and there were two services...