A new trip!

Nakuru, Kenya Volunteer Project

Tom Bode

thomasgbode@gmail.com

503-341-4507

Project Overview

I will travel to Nakuru, Kenya, through the Experiential Learning International organization where I will volunteer for eight months. I will leave in early October, and will spend until January working with a locally run microfinance organization. In January, the local school year will start and I will teach literacy and math to primary-age students at the Pistis Education Centre. The Pistis Centre is a locally run religious organization that provides housing and education to local children.  About half of the students at the school are orphans.

Project Objective

My objective is to volunteer for institutions in Kenya that are working to alleviate poverty. I will educate young Kenyans so that they are better able to escape poverty and improve their lives. I will also assist with the daily operations of the Pistis Centre, which functions as an orphanage for a large number of children. 

While the school is on break, I will work for a Kenyan microfinance organization, which facilitates economic development and self sufficiency in very poor areas of Nakuru. Microfinance organizations offer people without credit the capital necessary to start a business. This process of developing the economy has several advantages over large, top-down aid projects that do not develop economic institutions at a lower level.

Personal Motivation & Objective

I want to volunteer in Kenya because I will be directly helping impoverished people in a way that will reduce the cycle of poverty. I will be volunteering for programs that are proven to reduce poverty and increase quality of life. This project will also be a meaningful personal experience - I will make a large investment of my time and effort in other people who I will likely never see again, because I believe we all have some responsibility for the condition of other people. To help those significantly less fortunate than myself is to acknowledge this responsibility and act on it. This project will create memories that will remind me of that obligation for the rest of my life.

Personal Background

I was born and raised in Oregon. I was active in the Boy Scouts where I enjoyed exploring the outdoors and began to volunteer in community service projects. I was awarded Eagle Scout rank in 2004. I graduated in 2009 from the University of Oregon cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science. During that time I spent a term studying abroad in Singapore. I have volunteered with the SMART program, which places volunteer readers in elementary schools to work on literacy one-on-one with first, second, and third graders. I have held several jobs since graduation and am currently working for a startup vacation rental company company based in Portland. I intend to enroll in law school shortly after returning from Kenya.

Project Budget

This is an approximate budget of the cost for this eight month project:

Round trip airfare between Portland and Nairobi, Kenya	$1,500
Program cost (includes room & board)	$3,622
travel insurance	$650
international health insurance	included in my current coverage
daily living expense ($10/day)	$2,400
incidental costs (pre-departure expenses, unexpected in-country costs, etc)	$1,000
Total	$9,172

Request for Support

I am asking for your financial support for my project in Nakuru, Kenya. Your contribution will ensure that I am able to complete all eight months of this project and that I will have sufficient funds to do so in a safe way. Approximately 90% of the program fee goes to Kenya, where it helps support the institutions I will be working with and compensates my homestay family for providing my room and board. Your financial and moral support of my project means a lot to me, and I will acknowledge your support whenever I can.

Fees paid to the Experiential Learning International organization may be tax deductible as the organization is a registered 501(c)3.

Links

Experiential Learning International: www.eliabroad.org

Wall Street Journal article on microfinance in Kenya: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303644004577523460028810528.html

Eugene

Winter term is almost over - only one week of classes left. I've enjoyed experiencing Portland, Eugene, and the United States as a traveler returning home. I have a new appreciation of what we have here and what we don't have.

I've gotten myself involved this term with several groups on campus. I'm enjoying the UO Investment group more and plan to continue that through next year (including their trip to NY in the fall!), I'm working on a team running for student government this spring, and I'm the new president of the Honors College Student Association. This term I'm creating the prospectus for the economics thesis that I will write next term.


Because I have loads of work to do for the end of the term, I've played around with the resources offered UO students and made website for myself. Check it out: uoregon.edu/~tbode

Even though I added a second major, Political Science, on my return to the University, I will still be graduating 15 months from now in June 2009. I hope to have the time, money, and traveling partners to take another international trip - destination: South America.

Home

The trip home was long and tiring. Nothing more needs to be said.

I slept 16 hours straight my first night home - I was very tired. The second night, however, I went to sleep at 11pm and woke up at 2am, wide awake. I eventually gave up and read a book, cleaned my desk, unpacked, and now I'm interneting and it's 6am. I'm tired now, so I guess the plan worked.

My final trip to Borneo was amazing. I climbed the mountain, did the wildlife adventure camp - observed two wild orangutans and a 15 foot python - and went scuba diving at Sipadan Island, the #4 scuba dive spot in the world. Do the Google search. I saw 3 sharks, lots on really big sea turtles, and thousands of really colorful little and big fish.

I'm not going to say any more about Borneo. For one, I want to go to bed, and two, I'm home now, come talk to me. I have lots to say.



That's the end of this blog, thanks for reading.

Kinabalu

Kinabalu National Park, 2:18pm, 7-12-07

The rain begins just as I put on my shoes to leave for a guided walk of the botanical gardens. Unfortunate. However, the room that Matt and I are saying in ("Hill Lodge #4") is nice and quite big. There is a writing desk, a couch, and lots of floor space. Its design is kind of like an uberdelux yurt. It's raining much harder now and it's cold too. Frankly, I'm not looking forward to walking through this tomorrow (or the next day, or the next...). But as my dad said it's raining at home too, so while my location is changeable the weather is not.

Perhaps I spoke too soon. After making tea, the rain has stopped - for the moment at least. I will prepare my clothes and go to the gardens. I suppose I'd better familiarize myself with cold rain once again.


Two days later
After two days on Kinabalu, I can hardly walk up the stairs to my room. The trail is 6 km the first day, then 2 more to the top and back to the bottom on the second. Most of the way is steps. And the reward was abstract at best. We got to the summit at 5:30am this morning. There was a heavy fog, a strong wind, and a cold rain. Conspicuously lacking was any sort of view.

The hike down was nice though, as it cleared up some and the barren granite landscape was cetainly unusual and grand. I took pictures, but I have no way to get them to onto the computer that I'm using at the hostel.

Tomorrow we take a 6 hour bus to the east coast of Borneo to the city of Sandakan. From there, we will spend several days in the jungle around the Kinagatangan river. It's like a jugle wildlife safari, I hope.

I can put up pictures when I'm waiting around in airports on my way home.

I just finished my last final!  It's amazing how finishing finals always feels so good.  I'm now waiting to get a foot massage. Life is good.

Almost done

Today is Sunday.  I have a final paper due tomorrow, an exam on Tuesday.  Wednesday, I pack.  Thursday the 6th, I leave for a ten day adventure in Borneo.  I return to Singapore on December 16, when I will occupy my last day with another concert, a trip to the Singapore night safari, and maybe a movie.  I spend whatever's left of that night at the airport, and board my flight home at 7:20 am.  I have a two hour layover in Tokyo, Japan, then fly at 5:20 pm to San Fransisco, arriving at 9:20 am of the same day, eight hours before I left for S.F.  I wait six hours, then board a flight to Portland, where I arrive at 6:03pm on United Flight 0554.  Hopefully someone will be there to pick me up (hint).

The most interesting part of all of that will undoubtedly be my trip to Borneo.  I'm paying an absurd amount of money to be escorted to the top of Mt. Kinabalu, the tallest mountain in SE Asia - it's taller than Mt. Hood.  After that, I take a bus east to the city of Sandakan, which serves as home base for an exploration of the Kinabatangan river.  The goal: see a lot of monkeys.  (There are also pygmy elephants!)

I'll publish pictures of that fun event after it's happened.  Then, my trip and this record will be over.  On balance, I'm glad I'm going home.

(now to go write that essay...)

SSO

I haven't been up to much exciting recently. Finals week is bearing down and I'm frantically throwing assignments at it hoping it will pass painlessly.

Last night I went to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. I've never been to "the Symphony" before, but I liked it. Tickets are only $12 for the cheap seats. It turns out a lot of people like that price, because the second balcony where all the cheap seats are was sold out and the good seats on the floor were empty.

pictures from Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Singapore