With participants representing thirteen schools in seven states, George School’s Global Service Program launched its first trip to Ecuador and third trips to China and Cuba. Intended to train future service-project leaders from secondary schools and enhance the scope and quality of international service trips for secondary school students, the Global Service Program enrolled eleven teachers, one administrator, and thirty students this year, including six George School students. Participants departed for the three countries on June 22 and 23 and returned on July 10 and 13.

The Ecuador and China trips expanded the Global Service Program’s projects beyond disaster relief efforts. “In the past two years we have focused mainly on rebuilding efforts after natural disasters—the 2008 earthquake in Chengdu, China, and recent hurricanes that have damaged Cuba,” explained Pauline McKean, global service program director. This year, the Ecuador service project addressed environmental and community sustainability, while the project in China contributed to community development. “Doing this kind of service adds a new and important dimension to the Global Service Program,” said Pauline.

During the newly created Ecuador trip, Global Service Program participants learned about and worked with indigenous Kichwa members of the Kallari Association, a self-governed coalition of Amazon artists and organic cocoa producers. Kallari has created sustainable income programs so the Kichwa people can fulfill their basic family needs without logging their rainforests or selling their land. Service included working with the Kichwa in the harvesting and processing of cacao, helping host families with day to day village activities such as gathering and preparing food, and assisting with the making of handcrafts.

Ecuador participants spent some nights in eco-lodges, but also had the opportunity to live with local Kichwa families in their homes. They had many opportunities to learn about the Kichwa people and their goals and challenges in the face of modernization and globalization, as well as to participate in intercultural exchanges and activities.

In China, participants worked with ethnic Miao communities on agricultural projects and helped repair an elementary school and community center in the village of Jichang.

In Cuba, service included participating in children’s programs organized by a Quaker church in Holguin, and painting, renovating, and repairing the church and its facilities, which were damaged in a 2008 hurricane.

Three days of training workshops at George School preceded the trips. More information is available on the trip blogs from China, Cuba, and Ecuador.