One important aspect of our Partnership Trips is to provide opportunities for trip participants and the local staff to interact in meaningful ways. Last night the entire staff of Las Tias (about 12 administrators, teachers and social workers) joined the six of us from Spark...
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Las Tías leadershipArriving in Managua last week, Nicaragua greets you with a massive wave of heat and a medley of distinct smells and sounds. The capital is a combination of endless strings of honking cars, vendors selling everything from plastic toys to flags to fruit...
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8:30am; 95 degrees. I step outside the local supermarket, my eyes squinting in the bright sunlight, trying to hunt down a taxi. Though the interviews I was to start conducting in half hour were only six or seven blocks away, normally a 15 minute walk,...
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I'm in the younger kids' house, just having seen Sandra. The Director of the young children's project and one of the three executive members of the organization, the first time I met her I sensed a distance from her and what I perceived to be...
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Our Director of Partnerships, Lucy, is heading to León, Nicaragua to visit our new partner organization, Las Tías!We introduced Las Tías to the Spark community at our Fall Event in November. Need a refresher? Las Tías was started by 8 women merchants to serve vulnerable...
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The February Groupon trip is over, but I can’t resist sharing at least one more highlight…Our youngest traveler on this trip was 13. As a seventh grader among adults ranging from mid 20s to mid 50s, Sydney impressed our travelers...
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Our February Groupon trip ended in a whirlwind of activity, with packed days and little time to document all the many exciting things that happened. By today, all our travelers have left Zambia for their next adventures… whether that involved...
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One year ago this month, we at Spark Ventures began discussions with Groupon about a unique partnership that would introduce an international volunteer trip as a Groupon Getaway offering. Patty Huber Morrissey, the leader of Groupon Grassroots, and Spark’s Board...
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Head Teacher Ngoma shows new textbooks to the children at Hope SchoolToday I was thinking about where I would be without the teachers in my life.There was Mrs. Williams, who welcomed me into her 3rd grade class when, mid-school year, I moved from California to Illinois....
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I am in Zambia for the first time, and though I knew it would be an amazing experience, I was unprepared for just how incredible my time here would be. I knew I would fall in love with the kids...
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1 – Innovative and powerful grassroots Zambian organization that our travelers will get to know during the coming week3 – Excited Spark staff members ready to share the impact of our work (two are along for the whole ride, and...
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There’s no disguising it. Traveling from Chicago to Zambia is not a short journey!But the long journey made the arrival even sweeter. I stepped off the plane into the open arms of Zambian hospitality – unbelievably excited about the start...
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Poultry Farm - Lusaka It’s hard for me to imagine that in just two days I will have been here in Zambia for a month, with just one more week to go. Though I spent a week in Ndola and had...
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Over the past several days, our team of 18 Grouponers have really settled in, playing with the children, participating in the student reading program, touring the village, and spending time with the staff and teachers from Hope Village. There have...
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Scott Barbeau and SweetnessOur travelers arrived at Hope Ministries for their first full day on the very same day the bi-annual health clinic for the children began. Our travelers spent the morning meeting the staff and the children and being introduced to the work Hope...
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Within the next couple of days, members of the Spark staff will be traveling to Zambia and will be joined by 18 Spark friends from around the country to visit our partner organization, Hope Ministries. Preparations for this journey began many months ago and the...
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This is the beginning of a beautiful relationship…. Part IHow 18 travelers, 3 guides, 25 local leaders and 350 children with hope created a life-long bondWe have just wrapped up an exceptional 5-day stay in Ndola, Zambia with our first group of those traveling with...
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Clairelise Rodriguez traveled to Zambia on the Spark Ventures July Partnership TripMuli shani? Bwino!If you’re planning a trip to Zambia—or even just considering one—write this down.Muli shani, meaning how are you?, is the greeting of choice for Bemba-speaking Zambians and bwino!, meaning good!, is the...
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My wife, her sister, and I were fortunate enough to come to Zambia a few days before the rest of the group because my wife made some friends here in Ndola on her first trip 5 years ago, who we were able to stay with....
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