Visions Service Adventures

Trinidad. Australia. Virgin Gorda. What do these destinations have in common? For Mindy
Podraza, these are a few of the exotic places she’s worked during her five summers as an employee of Visions Service Adventures.

So how did this Ralston Middle School teacher find such a unique way to spend her summers off? “I Googled cool summer jobs,” Podraza says with a laugh. That simple search led her to the adventure of a lifetime, where she ended up working in some of the most picturesque places on earth. Gotta love the internet.

Relationships Ripen in Thuy An

2010 is Wes Hedden’s third season in VISIONS Vietnam. He’s worked the life of the program so far, and this season will be the program director. We met Wes during one of our earliest planning trips to Vietnam. He was working then for a university and a rural development NGO. From Vietnam Wes moved to Burma in 2008 to teach history and coordinate service learning at a small school in Yangon. This year, while living in rural Cambodia, his work focused on disaster risk reduction. After VISIONS Vietnam ends this summer, Wes returns to Cambodia to a job focused on protecting the rights of ethnic minorities in the eastern part of the country. Simultaneously, and with assistance from Princeton-in-Asia, Wes also will create a volunteer exchange program between Cambodian and Vietnamese university students; a program, Wes tell us, that draws much of its inspiration from VISIONS.

All VISIONS leaders must write evaluations after their programs end, which are framed by a dozen or so questions we ask that typically require more than a cursory answer. Some leaders, though, take exceptional time and care with their evaluations, like Wes has done with his evaluations every season. Here is an excerpt from his 2009 program evaluation; he’s comparing the second season in Vietnam with our first in 2008.

“It was definitely rewarding to be at the Center a second year! Whereas the first year the Center was skeptical about what our high school students could actually accomplish and the kids’ commitment, this year the Center seemed trusting and confident in us. We were frequently reminded that we’re viewed differently from other groups and that we have

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 to be Program Director for the Akilah Institute for Women, the first vocational and leadership training institute for young women in Rwanda. Akilah provides quality education and vocational training to young women who are unable to attend university. The women spend a year getting grounded in English language, computer skills, and introductory hospitality classes. Then they and other young women from around Rwanda begin a two-year diploma program to learn vocational and technical skills for the hospitality and tourism industry.

“Mi Chacra” (My Land), the first feature-length documentary film by Jason Burlage, who staffed and then directed VISIONS Peru (2005 through 2007), was chosen to debut at the Denver Film Festival in November.  Jason spent a year filming in the Sacred Valley and another year-plus editing and completing his film.

2008 and 2009 VISIONS Peru participants will be interested to know that it was Neyda Barazosdo’s husband who accompanied Jason during most of the filming (Neyda is our cook in Peru).  “Mi Chacra” is fiscally sponsored by the non-profit organization Documentary Educational Resources (DER) and supported by private donations.