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 southern Morocco, in my site, which is comfortably nestled into a river valley in the Sahara Desert. In April 2009, my mom came to visit me in Morocco. I treasure this picture, sitting in between my real mother (on the left)...
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!
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.
This is a photo of six members of the "Golden Fingers" association in Massa, Morocco, leaving to sell six plates of couscous. Couscous is a local delicacy in Morocco and traditionally eaten on Friday, their holy day. "Golden Fingers" uses the...
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...
Taken during in the first week of May 2011 during the beginning of my Peace Corps training. This picture was taken using a timer, from the rooftop of my host-family's home in Guatemala. I'm taking in my new surroundings, contemplating the...
This was taken in the May of 2010 in a Ukrainian village. This lake meant a lot to me. After the intense daily routine of PST, it was very relaxing to walk past this lake on the way back home everyday.