The visions blog
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VISIONS Custom Community Service Program Creates Sustainable Water System in Nicaragua
In February the youth organization of B'nai Jeshurun Synagogue in New York City took a week out of busy academic schedules to construct a long-anticipated water system in the northern Nicaragua community of Chaguite Grande. Before describing the community members’ and...
Student Reflections from Custom Program
The experience in Nicaragua was unforgettable. We played soccer with a Jinotegan team, went grocery shopping in a market, and enjoyed dinner with host families. For me, the best part was becoming close with Nicaraguans. From children like Reynaldo or Alec whom we...
Volunteering in VISIONS Vietnam
Hundreds of high school students volunteer every summer, and many go abroad to countries where the foreign language could be a barrier to more than passing connections with local people. For over 20 years our participants have been showing us that teenagers,...
In Rwanda a Piece of VISIONS Helps a School Feel Like Family
Monique Schmidt directed VISIONS service programs abroad in Guadeloupe and at home in Montana. A poet, teacher and published author (her memoir Last Moon Dancing is the story of her Peace Corps years in Africa), Monique moved to Rwanda last November tobe Program...
Avengers of the New World: The Haitian Revolution
A newsletter at this time seems irrelevant without acknowledging the horrific catastrophe in Haiti. The tremendous outpouring of aid and support to Haiti surely bolsters confidence in our world's future. Youth across the U.S. have been especially responsive by...
Reflections on VISIONS Vietnam 2009
Reflections on VISIONS Vietnam 2009 by Alex Ottenstein I sit down on Hue’s bed, a metal frame with a bamboo mat on top of it. Hue is eleven years old, with luminous eyes and long black hair that reaches her waist. She wants to teach me a board game. I know this will...