I spent the last three days working with the team here in Zambia responsible for the poultry farm. Spark made the initial financial investment back in 2011 and the Hope Ventures poultry farm was born. Even though I’ve visited the farm every six months since...
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When I arrived at Hope Community School mid-afternoon for the second day of computer training with Teacher Lewis and Teacher Angela, I found the students just leaving their classrooms and heading out to the big open yard in front of the school to participate in...
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Driving around Ndola today, the radio kept playing the same ad, one for ZamTel (a cell phone service provider around here). I wasn’t so captivated by their offer of discounted talk-time (cell phone minutes for the phones here), but the catch phrase they closed each...
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This is the spot. With a handful of travelers boarding planes this week, we're poised to launch yet another transformative Partnership Trip adventure in Zambia. And, we'll be chronicling all the fun right here, on the Spark blog.Rich and I both landed in Zambia today....
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Sunday, January 12th, 2014 7:00pm-ish León, Nicaragua Sitting in a corner Italian restaurant, one of the few places open in León on a Sunday night, a number of thoughts pop up as I observe the people around me. To my direct right is what looks like a married...
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We couldn't be more excited to share with you that Spark Ventures is partnering with Groupon to offer our 2014 Partnership Trips to Zambia. If you missed it, we partnered with Groupon in 2012 and it was a roaring success - our trips sold out...
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We often get questions about our Partnership Trips; how do these unique volunteer travel experiences fit into our broader approach to international development? At the launch of our first Groupon partnership in 2012, our team put together these thoughts on how volunteer travel fits into...
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So, this wasn’t the blog I was planning to write. I intended to focus on the fantastic group of travelers with us from Florida, Boston, Los Angeles, Kansas and Chicago…to tell you how they are doing a great job with educational activities, games and crafts...
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The first day of our October Partnership Trip to Nicaragua was packed full of fun.Check out a few of the photos below. A get-to-know you game with our new friends.Scott and Jennifer giggling as they draw their favorite things.Completed projects - we have some great artists...
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Yesterday I spent the afternoon discussing the merits of an excel spreadsheet developed by the CDC to assist school nurses in the US to track the obesity rates of their students. But, given that I am in Nicaragua, where our partner organization, Las Tías, Serves...
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