As a Municipal Development Volunteer, I worked with a group of youth originating from rural and urban parts of the municipality. In this photo, an unofficial counterpart and I were teaching them how to make wooden signs for businesses in their...
Children; Youth; Traditional dress; Dance; Celebrations
Niueans love their fiafias (parties, celebrations.) The kids from my village, Avatele, are dressed here for their dance performance for a village celebration. I think this particular one was celebrating the accomplishments of 2 Avatele villagers-...
This photo was taken during my trip to Crimea, Ukraine, to visit some local Volunteers. I don't remember the name of the boy, I guess he is eleven. He lives in Crimea, and enjoys his life playing football with his friends rather then wasting time...
This photo was taken in September 2010 during our celebration of induction into Peace Corps Zambia. I was trying to take photos of the dancers behind this boy, but the constant gazing of his eyes drew my lens to focus on him. My favorite part of...
This photo was taken in May 2008 at School #3662 in Isla Tobati, Paraguay. This is a traditional dance that the students were doing for a Mother's Day celebration. The photo shows a girl and boy in costume during the performance. They are both six...
This photo was taken on May 23, 2009 at a dance competition in Ecuador. Traditional Kichwa dances are performed at every public event in the Napo province and troupes are composed children of all ages. The dance steps describe traditional...
After the first year of service, I moved to a new apartment that had been occupied by a former Volunteer. She had left in one of the closets a few blankets. Another Volunteer in Arad and I decided to bring those blankets to a very poor family that...
In the Spring of 2011, two of my very best friends came from Kansas to visit me in my village in Moldova. Because I am a teacher, I brought them to my school for the day so they could get to know some of my students, and my students could meet some...
This photo was taken on June 2, 2010 is a picture of a green fence on Lenin Street in Comrat, the capital of the semi-autonomous Molvonan region of Gagauzia. The most ubiquitous image of Moldova is a green and white fence. Moldovan's take great...
Over the past year, I have been working with a youth club with the aim of lifeskills education and girls' empowerment. Part of our aim is empowerment through health and ownership of one's body. Every Wednesday after school, anywhere from 15-25...
I lived in an area that was the capital of the Yi nationality. Although many Yi women are seen wearing traditional dress, it is less common to see the men in traditional dress. That's part of why I was so impressed with this boy's clothing. He...
The picture was taken by my home village, Tougouri, Burkina Faso. In the picture are my best-friend's mother (therefore MY grandmother) and my friend's son. The little boy is the smiliest and giggliest little boy ever created and his grandmother...
Food and meals; Host community; Host community friends
This photo taken on August 27th, 2006 shows my wife and I engaged in the classic Paraguayan ritual with our favorite progressive farmer in our site in Paraguay. Sharing the indigenous green tea, yerba mate, with a communal cup is the universal way...
For the past 9 months, I have been working with a group of Grannys (in South Africa they are known as Gogos) to form a health education group. Often the ones left to cook, clean, and care for young babies while their own children go to cities to...
I took this photo in Naas, South Africa on March 23, 2011. The woman pictured is the grandmother or Gogo in siSwati of a client that I work with. Gogos have frequently become the primary care givers in a country where many children are orphaned as...
This was taken in 2011 (post-service) while visiting the Emberá community Ella Drua in Colón, Panama. Yaneth was weaving a traditional Emberá basket while her daughter, Vianca, and my son, Adrián, played on the floor.