About LearnServe Paraguay (LSP)
Paraguay is a country of six million people and is the size of California, yet it is one of the poorest countries in Latin American. Hope for change is found in Paraguay's youth. LSP participants join young leaders in the capital city, Asuncion, and in the small rural town of Carapegua to learn first hand what sustainable change is like. Next summer, LearnServe Paraguay (LSP) '08 participants will experience:
- Meet a group of inspiring youth leaders in the barrio of Santa Ana in Asuncion
- Work on projects in Santa Ana related to health education and job skills training
- Learn how a needs assessment can quantify the true requirements of a community in need
- Live with families from our partner school, Colegio San Jose, in an upper-middle class section of Asuncion (students only)
- Meet and live with families in Carapegua, two hours south of Asuncion, learning about true Paraguayan life and culture (students and teachers)
- Work with computer education and training as part of the 250 computers that previous LearnServes sent to Paraguay
LSP '08 will give you an understanding of how lasting change comes to the neediest communities in Paraguay, and it will show you what you can do to make a difference in other peoples' lives. Read last summer's blog for the first-hand experiences of the LearnServe team. You will return with a new insight and direction and a plan to share and act on your experiences in your school or community.
Quotes:
I learned what I can do. I always talked about what I wanted to do, but I came to Paraguay and learned that I CAN get past being unmotivated and accomplish what I want to do.
— Maura, student at Sidwell Friends School
I was prepared for poverty but wasn't expecting that they would be just like us.
—Regina, teacher at Friendship Charter
Note: Spanish is required of all the participants (at least one year).
The leaders of LSP '08 are Margie Lope, MYP Coordinator in the Montgomery County Schools, and Jill Perry, CIE's program director and a former Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay.
Schools interested in participating in LSP should read the conditions for participation.
For more information or to get involved, contact learnserve@cie-wis.org.