DEVELOPMENT REPORT - A Service Group Built on 'Friendship'
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DEVELOPMENT REPORT - A Service Group Built on 'Friendship'
Broadcast date: 7-27-2009 / Written by Jerilyn Watson
From http://www.unsv.com/voanews/specialenglish/
This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
Amizade means friendship in Portuguese. It is also the name of a
service organization in the United States that places volunteers in
projects mostly in developing countries. Amizade's executive director,
Eric Hartman, thought of the idea in Brazil in nineteen ninety-four,
which explains the Portuguese name.
The Amizade Global Service-Learning and Volunteer Programs placed
three hundred volunteers in nine countries last year. These American
university students and others worked in thirteen communities.
Amizade works with local groups and individuals on service and
learning projects. The local groups define and direct the projects. The
volunteers learn about local culture and make friends as they work in
the community.
Amizade charges college students as much as ten thousand dollars for three months of experience.
Volunteers generally provide labor and do things like teach and assist at health centers. They can
also do research. College students can earn work-study credits.
Participants in programs have included a twelve-year-old boy and a man in his eighties.
There are programs in Ghana, Tanzania, Brazil, Bolivia, Mexico and Jamaica. There are also programs
in Germany, Poland, Northern Ireland and the United States.
Recently, in Tanzania, thirteen Amizade volunteers worked on systems to harvest rainwater from the
roofs of homes. They worked on the project in the Karagwe area, in the northwestern part of the
country. Eric Hartman, the director, described the water collection systems in blog postings from
Tanzania earlier this month.
Rain falls on the metal roofs and flows into aluminum gutters. These gutters carry the water to a
large collection tank on the side of the home.
The rain harvesting systems mean that a family member no longer has to walk long distances to get
water. So there is more time for farming or schoolwork. The systems are especially useful for those
who are too sick to go a long way for water.
On the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica, Amizade places volunteers with a local partner in the
small community of Petersfield. The volunteers live with local families. They help children with
schoolwork and computer skills. They also visit the sick and work on building, painting and other
restoration projects in the community.
And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.
Amizade volunteers learn about
local culture and make friends as
they work in communities
throughout the world