Students to spend winter break volunteering in Brazil and India
Twenty-one undergraduates are heading to Brazil and India over winter break to put into action the University’s motto, Pro Humanitate.
Ten students are going to Santarem, Brazil, with the nonprofit group Amizade to help build a community center for children. During the two-week trip, the students will also visit the rain forest, take a trip down the Amazon River, and explore many different towns.
Eleven students are headed to Calcutta, India, to volunteer with the City of Joy program. They will change beds, bathe patients, clean wards, and feed and comfort the sick in homes for children and the destitute run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
Each trip will be lead by a student leader who has participated in that particular service trip before, and each group will be accompanied by a staff adviser. Both groups will leave on Dec. 27 and return Jan. 12.
“People I’ve spoken with who have traveled to Calcutta tell me that no matter how mentally prepared we think we are, it will be very different than we imagine,” says Karen Anderson, a nurse manager in the Student Health Service who will be accompanying the students to Calcutta. “The group is very excited about being chosen for this experience, and we’ll be looking forward to sharing our stories when we return.”
Wake Forest students have participated in annual service trips over winter break since 1994, when Jessica Davey (’95) went to Calcutta to volunteer with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. Since then, students have volunteered in Honduras, Mexico, Costa Rico, South Africa and Vietnam, and in Mississippi and Tennessee.
Related Links
- Amizade: Santarem, Brazil
- City of Joy: Calcutta, India
- Volunteer Service Corps
- Undergraduate admissions
Volunteers
Amizade
- Student leader: Richard Mayer, Berwyn, PA
- Staff adviser: Jessica Czarnowski, study-abroad adviser
- Joe Abernethy, Ridgewood, NJ
- Jessie Ammons, Wake Forest, NC
- Eason Armstrong, Four Oaks, NC
- Holly Austin, Maiden, NC
- Cat Booher, Greensboro, NC
- Imory Jefferson, Jamestown, NC
- Roman Nelson, Kernersville, NC
- Claire Thibeau, Bethesda, MD
- Elizabeth Willis, South Easton, MA
City of Joy
- Student leader: Jordan Brewster, Brookside, NJ
- Staff adviser: Karen Anderson, nurse manager, Student Health Service
- Alex Aceituno, Wilkesboro, NC
- Tyler Ashley, Niskayuna, NY
- Leah Beachley, Hagerstown, MD
- Matt Blei, Littleton, CO
- Christine Castelin, Gig Harbor, WA
- Pri Desai, Saint Petersburg, FL
- Stephanie Edwards, Houston, TX
- Nilam Patel, Roanoke, VA
- A.J. Warr, Puyallup, WA
- Rebecca Whaples, Winston-Salem, NC
Categories: Experiential Learning, Pro Humanitate, University Announcements
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