Alternative Breaks Current Trips
Spend your break on a social justice,
student-run travel learning experience.
Summer Trip Application Deadline is February 13, 2009. 12:00 PM in the Community Service Center (MGC 273)
To download Summer Trip Participant Application
click here.
Funding opportunities:
1. To download Alternative Break Travel Grant click here: Travel Grant due with application.
2. The Annette Langdon Scholar Activist (ALSA) Award provides financial assistance to deserving undergraduate students who are working to improve the lives of people in under-resource communities. The fund will award $1,000 to a student each year.
3. Individual and group fundraising is done for each trip.
Summer Alternative Break Trips 2009
1. Environmental Justice and the Role of Development
within Indigenous Communities
Location: Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,
SD
Dates of Trip: May 17 - 29, 2009
Student Trip Leaders: Katie Mayer (km6834a@american.edu)
and Katelyn Birs (KateBirs@gmail.com)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: TBD
Estimated Cost: $1,600-$1,800
Cost includes: airfare, transportation, meals, and all activities.
Pine Ridge Welcome Packet (download)
At the size of Connecticut, with an average per-capita income of $2,600 per
year and an 85-95% unemployment rate, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, if
it were a country would be the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, second only
to Haiti. However, the Lakota people and their struggles, along with their
history and rich culture have been largely marginalized and ignored by both
society and the US Government. This trip will immerse participants into the
Lakota community where they will be directly exposed to a wide range of environmental
justice issues including land rights, land sovereignty, food security, current
sustainable alternative energy movements and its implications for the future
of the Lakota people. Additionally, through our work with both Native and
non-Native grassroots organizations we will explore the larger role of development
within indigenous communities. The trip will address the complexity of issues
facing development organizations such as; what is "development,"
who should be doing the "developing," and who gets to decide what
this "development," should look like, how it should function, and
what should be on its agenda?
Specific activities include: volunteer work with Native and Non-native
grassroots organizations, both on the Reservation and in Rapid City, dedicated
to poverty eradication, education, youth empowerment and health development,
working with those who have been actively involved in the wind and other alternative
energy movements, meetings with various Lakota community leaders and tribal
council members as well as US Government BIA officials, discussions with local
business entrepreneurs, visits to historically and culturally important sites,
hiking through the Badlands, and a variety of cultural immersion activities
with the Lakota people.
2. Assessing Dalits’ Rights, Educational and
Gender Stratification
Location: Nepal
Dates of Trip: June 15 to June 30, 2009
Student Trip Leaders: DB Bishwakarma (db7920a@american.edu)
and Precious Frazier (pf9816a@american.edu)
Faculty Advisor: TBD
Estimated cost: $3000
Cost includes: airfare, transportation, meals, and all activities.
Welcome Packet Nepal (download)
Dalits, (also known as “untouchables”) face severe sociopolitical inequalities and caste-based discrimination throughout Asia. This trip will study Dalit rights and the implications on education and gender stratification in Nepalese society and politics.
The overall objective of this trip is to provide firsthand experience for
students at a grassroots level of program planning and policy analysis activities.
Students will meet with communities and representatives from local and national
Dalit organizations, human rights institutions, government agencies, political
parties and international development agencies. Similarly, students will observe
and learn about Dalit empowerment activities run by the Dalit NGO Federation
of Nepal (www.dnfnepal.org). Additionally, students will be involved in volunteer
service working to establish a ‘Bhima Library and Community Center’.
It is our hope that the trip will provide an opportunity for students to engage
directly to manage, organize, and participate in the forthcoming Global Conference
on Dalits and Politics: Breaking the Silence for Equality and Freedom which
is scheduled in 2010 organized by the International
Commission for Dalit Rights (ICDR).
Nepal is in the processes of democratic transformation and formulating a new
constitution. This trip will also provide advocacy support and solidarity
for the Dalit Rights Movement of Nepal to ensure their proportionate representation
in decision making and execution processes through inclusive framework in
the new constitution.
3. Empowerment and the Legacy of Apartheid
Location: South Africa
Trip Dates: May 18-June 8, 2009
Trip Leaders: Dana Fleitman and Ravenna Motil-McGuire (southafrica.altbreak09@gmail.com)
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Bette Dickerson (bdicker@american.edu)
Estimated Cost: $2,800-$3,100
Cost includes: airfare, transportation, meals, and all activities.
Welcome Packet South Africa (download)
South Africa’s unique history provides an interesting counterpart to that of our own nation, and a great comparison for studies of democracy, empowerment, and development within the U.S. and the world. This trip will consider the extent to which social groups have been able to empower themselves within the new democracy, fourteen years after the formal end of Apartheid, and what initiatives--community-based, business, and political--have been most effective.
Many of the historically disenfranchised groups parallel those in contemporary United States: populations of color, women, youth, HIV positive individuals, LGBTQ, refugees/immigrants, and domestic workers. We will also meet with scholars to discuss white and Afrikaner identity post Apartheid.
Specific activities on our trip will take us to urban, rural, and township
communities in Johannesburg, Soweto, Cape Town, Khayelitsha, and Zululand.
The journey will provide us the opportunity to speak with businesspeople,
community leaders, politicians, and scholars. For our volunteer service component
students will partner with community organizations for two weeks where they
can work alongside the individuals who are changing their own communities.
Our service sites include Grandmothers
Against Poverty and AIDS, SADSAWU
(the domestic worker’s union), Education
Without Borders (supporting the Fezeka Secondary School), and Simelela
(a public health clinic with a focus on gender-based violence).
4. Grassroots Peace Activism in Israeli and Palestinian
Societies
Location: Israel and the West Bank
Dates of Trip: May 10-24, 2009
Student Trip Leaders: Lauren Barr (lauren.barr@american.edu)
and Ryan DuBois (ryan.dubois@american.edu)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Shoshanna Sumka (sumka@american.edu)
Approximate Cost: $2800-3000
Cost includes: airfare, lodging, food, transportation, guides, and all
activities.
Welcome Packet Israel/West Bank (download)
This AU Alternative Break trip to Israel and the West Bank will focus primarily
on grassroots peace activism and its impact on civil society. We plan to examine
the causes and characteristics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the failures
of top-down attempts at negotiation, and the role of the ever-growing grassroots
peace movement within that context. In order to obtain a well-rounded perspective,
we will meet with various actors on both sides of the Green Line, including
but not limited to: human rights groups, government officials, religious organizations,
youth and volunteer organizations, peace and coexistence advocates, and many
others. To further connect with people, we plan to have homestays with both
Israeli and Palestinian families, have meetings with university students,
and join in service activities with youth.
Approximately half our time will be spent in Israel with Jerusalem
Peacemakers: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Nazareth – and the other half
we will travel and stay in the Palestinian cities of Bethlehem, Hebron, and
Ramallah in the West Bank, while partnering with the organization Holy
Land Trust.
Spring Trips 2009 (Full)
Socio-Economic/Racial
Injustice and Government Relations: New Orleans
Dates of Trip: March 7- 14, 2009
Student Trip Leaders: Steven Spires (steve.spires@american.edu)
and Katy Fleury(katyfleury@gmail.com
)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: TBD
Approximate Cost: $795
Cost includes: airfare, lodging, food, transportation,
guides, and all activities. Download
New Orleans Welcome Packet for Participants.
This trip will focus on socioeconomic disparities and racial injustice in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Specifically, we will examine the role these issues are playing in the long-term rebuilding of New Orleans. We will be meeting with local community leaders, government officials, representatives from non-profits, and others to gain a variety of perspectives on the future of the city, a future that is very much in doubt, especially for New Orleans most disadvantaged populations. We will also be helping to rebuild homes for low-income families because without a place to live it will be impossible for the citizens of New Orleans most affected by the storm to control the destiny of their own city.
Inequality
and Injustice in K-12 Education. Washington, DC
Dates of Trip: March 8- 14, 2009
Student Trip Leaders: Chris Lewis (cl8843a@american.edu)
or Chris MacKenzie (csmacnz@comcast.net)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: TBD
Approximate Cost: $250-$300
Cost includes: lodging, food, transportation, guides, and all activities.
Download
DC Trip Welcome Packet for Participants.
Our trip will explore the inequalities in Washington, DC schools and examine
injustice in our nation's education system. We will:
~ Volunteer in a diverse group of public, private, and charter
schools in the District and surrounding area.
~Explore the effects of DC's experiment with charter schools.
~Hear from students, teachers, parents, and administrators
about their experience in DC schools.
~Discuss policy with nonprofit organizations dedicated to
improving access to a quality education.
~Meet with architects of education policy at the local and
national level.
El
Salvador: Democracy and Human Rights
Dates of Trip: March 10-17, 2009
Student Trip Leaders: Jose Henríquez (jose.henriquez@student.american.edu)
and Caitrin McKee (cm3754a@student.american.edu)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Joe Eldridge
Approximate Cost: $1800-$2000
Cost includes: airfare, lodging, food, transportation, guides, translators,
and all activities. Download
El Salvador Welcome Packet for Participants
View
El Salvador Slide Show
The Unites States and El Salvador, although different in many aspects, are
tied by many important links. This trip is a significant opportunity to discover
them. The small Central American country went through a bloody civil war from
1980 to 1992 (where the U.S. government was heavily implicated), and despite
the signing of the Peace Accords and some real improvements regarding human
development indicators and the rule of law, significant levels of violence
and human rights violations continue. The timing of the trip will present
a relevant opportunity to express solidarity to the people of El Salvador
as they work to build a strong democracy that respects human rights.
Participants will have an exciting and dynamic learning experience about democracy,
both domestic and international, through the participation in an accredited
electoral observation mission. And they will also have a first-hand learning
experience about human rights. During the trip, participants will meet with
a series of human rights activists, community and church leaders, as well
as with local development practitioners, and these encounters will introduce
the AU delegation to the understanding of the complexity of the problems in
El Salvador, and will also allow them to appreciate ongoing citizens' initiatives
that address issues like migration, poverty, youth and gender-related violence,
communities' rights, environmental legislation and post-conflict reconciliation.
The trip is going to be organized in partnership with The
SHARE Foundation, which has an extensive experience and commitment to
human rights and community development in El Salvador. (Optional SIS 386:
Global Topics in Social Justice. 1 cr.)
Pathways
Out of Poverty: Oaxaca, Mexico
Dates of Trip: March 7-15, 2009
Student Trip Leader: Martin do Nascimento (martin.do.nascimento@gmail.com)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Paul Winters
Approximate Cost: $1000-$1300
Cost includes: airfare, lodging, food, transportation, guides, translators,
and all activities.
The Mexico 2009 Alternative Spring Break entitled “Pathways out of
Poverty” will focus on the examination of the systemic causes of poverty
in Mexico and the analysis of three vital poverty alleviation mechanisms:
Microfinance, Immigration, and Conditional Cash Transfer Programs. In exploration
of these issues, participants will spend over a week in two of Mexico’s
most vibrant cities—Oaxaca and Mexico City—and will meet with
numerable stake-holders in Mexican society as well as professionals studying
and implementing ground-breaking initiatives. Students will engage with NGO’s,
government officials, and community leaders on the ground.
Limited SIS optional independent-study credit will be offered. (Optional SIS
386: Global Topics in Social Justice. 1 cr.)
Northern
Ireland: Religious Tolerance in Conflict
Dates of Trip: March 7-15, 2009
Student Trip Leaders: Liz O'Malley (elomalley@gmail.com)
and Tamara Coger (tc1306a@student.american.edu)
Approximate Cost: $2000- $2200
Cost includes: airfare, lodging, food, transportation, guides, and all
activities. Download
Northern Ireland Welcome Packet for Participants.
View Northern Ireland Slide Show
For several decades, peace and social equality were elusive for the people of Northern Ireland. Centuries of retaliated violence between Britain and Ireland resulted in the Irish War for Independence in 1922, leaving the Irish Catholic citizens in the North under Protestant British rule. Ensuing violence between Catholic and Protestant citizens of Northern Ireland cost thousands of lives and destroyed many livelihoods. This dynamic resulted in a stalemate, which only began to ameliorate in the late 1990s. This trip will look into the forces behind not only the conflict, but also the ways in which differences have slowly been overcome and peace has been achieved in Northern Ireland.
This trip will offer students the chance to explore the root causes of the
Troubles in Northern Ireland, from religious differences to social and economic
inequities. On this trip, we will investigate the deep and rich history of
the region, while learning about tolerance, peace building, and fostering
collaboration in deeply divided communities. While in Belfast, students will
engage with several people and organizations who have been integral to creating
peace, such as a member of the British House of Lords, the Northern Ireland
Human Rights Commission, the Good Relations Council of Belfast City, the Irish
Anglican Diocese, the Belfast Police and other local and international organizations
working for peace in Northern Ireland. (Optional SIS 386: Global Topics in
Social Justice. 1 cr.)
Winter Trips (Full)
AU ALTERNATIVE BREAKS COMMEMORATE THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIGNING
OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (December 10, 1948)
Zambia:
HIV/AIDS Communication and Health Care as a Human Right
Dates of Trip: December 26, 2008 – January
11, 2009
Student Trip Leader: Rae Borsetti (r.rae.borsetti@gmail.com)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Christine Nichols
Approximate Cost: $2500-$3000
Cost includes: airfare, lodging, food, transportation, guides, translators,
and all activities.
View
slide show
Like many nations in Africa, Zambia has been devastated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Not only has the national life expectancy fallen to less than 40 years, but
countless other aspects of life in the country have suffered as a result.
These include labor shortages and resulting famine, countless orphans and
widows left unprovided for, and an economy and health infrastructure that
have few chances of developing under the current conditions. However, the
spread of HIV/AIDS can be slowed significantly through creative health communication,
grassroots initiatives, and community empowerment.
On our trip we will learn from and volunteer our time with organizations started and run by Zambians that address the multi-faceted issues created by the disease. We will also meet with international organizations, such as UNAIDS, and stake-holders ranging from students to community leaders. Together, we will explore the relationship between the pandemic and social forces such as poverty, sexism, and the legacy of colonialism, and discuss health care as a basic human right. The group will stay at a guest house in Lusaka as well as spend two days in a homestay in a rural village.
Thai-Burma
Border: The Burmese Democracy & Human Rights Movement
Dates of Trip: December 26, 2008 – January 9, 2009
Student Trip Leaders: Katie Suplick (ksuplick@yahoo.com)
and Vivian Lee (cityslick430@gmail.com)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Christine Gettings
Approximate Cost: $2000
Cost includes: airfare, lodging, food, transportation, guides, translators,
and all activities.
The Southeast Asian nation of Burma has been engulfed in the violent throes
of a military junta-style government since 1962, resulting in deplorable living
conditions, forced recruitment of the most child soldiers in the world and
skyrocketing corruption. The student demonstrations in 1988 highlighted Burma’s
plight in the world conscience and established Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as one
of the most revered pursuers of human rights and social justice in the world.
However, Burma’s military junta has managed to illegally remain in power
since then, stifling both the monk protests of the Saffron Revolution in 2007
and failing to adequately handle the Cyclone Nargis tragedy in May 2008.
Accordingly, this trip focuses on Burma’s recent history and the ramifications
of the Democracy Movement. We will meet with a variety of social justice groups
in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Mae Sot, Thailand (it is not advisable to travel
within Burma itself), who deal with issues ranging from Burmese refugees in
Thailand to political prisoners still within Burma to environmental issues
that affect Burmese civilians. Thailand is the most convenient place for Burmese
refugees to seek safe haven, therefore making it the best place to explore
all of the different angles of this movement. AU has a strong history working
with and assisting the Burmese Democracy Movement, making this trip the best
way to continue that tradition of social action.
Guatemala:
Human Rights & Fair Trade
Dates of Trip: December 28, 2008- January 9, 2009
Student Trip Leaders: Remle Crowe (rc7792a@american.edu)
Alyssa Piccirilli (ap2966a@american.edu)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: TBD
Approximate Cost: $1600-1800
Cost includes: airfare, lodging, food, transportation, guides, translators,
and all activities.
The signing of the 1996 Peace Accords in Guatemala put an end to the bloody,
36-year civil war that left more than 200,000 people, mostly indigenous, either
dead or "disappeared". Twelve years later the inequality and discrimination
that fueled Latin America's longest and bloodiest civil war are far from history.
This Alternative Break trip will focus on the many human rights issues facing
Guatemala today including: indigenous rights, violence against women, clandestine
groups, gang violence, impunity in the Guatemalan legal system, and attacks
against human rights defenders. We will meet with representatives from several
local human rights organizations in Antigua and Guatemala City, including
one of Guatemala's most renowned human rights defenders, Ruth del Valle Cobar
from the National Movement for Human Rights. As a result of her activism,
Mrs. del Valle has received numerous threats and her office was ransacked
in February of this year.
Guatemala is one of the largest exporters of coffee in the world. Unfortunately
most of the farmers who produce this coffee are not receiving a sustainable
living for their work. Did you ever stop to think where that cup of coffee
comes from? This trip will also focus on Fair Trade, a movement that aims
to provide coffee farmers with a living wage and prevent exploitation. The
group will spend three nights at Santa Anita de la Union, a Fair Trade and
Organic certified coffee cooperative owned entirely by ex-guerilla combatants
and their families. We will hear other points of view from ANACAFE, the government
organization responsible for promoting Guatemalan coffee and a local coffee
shop owner who is firmly opposed to Fair Trade. Finally, we will experience
Guatemala's breathtaking natural beauty during a team building excursion on
the active volcano Pacaya.
Colombia:
Human Rights and Multinationals
Dates of Trip: January 1-11, 2009
Student Trip Leaders: Matt Pierson (mattpier@gmail.com)
Faculty Advisor: Joe Eldridge (eldridg@american.edu)
Approximate Cost: $2100
Cost includes: airfare, lodging, food, transportation, guides, translators,
and all activities.
View
slide show
Colombia has received much international exposure recently due to the release of various hostages by the rebel group FARC, the pending Free Trade Agreement between the US and Colombia, and the remarkable decrease in violence in the last decade. Sometimes lost in the headlines are the continued human-rights violations upon the population committed by members of the Colombian military and paramilitary groups, political elite, and large landowners. Multinational corporations are often cited as either great contributors to economic development and stability or exploiters of cheap labor and weak labor rights and protections. The purpose of the Alternative Break will be to give students a chance to experience the debate first hand through their own eyes, while enjoying the beautiful landscape and culture that is Colombia.
The trip will focus on the pervasive violations of human rights in the cities
and countryside and the presence of multinational corporations and their role
in Colombia's development. Themes that will be addressed include: the US-Colombia
Free Trade Agreement, labor rights, Afro-Colombian and indigenous people's
rights, land consolidation and displacement, and the effects of the internal
conflict on civil society. In the first portion of the trip, participants
will travel to the region of Valle de Cauca to meet with union leaders, Afro-Colombian
and indigenous communities and visit large bio-fuel operations. Later, the
group will travel to Bogota to visit camps of internally displaced persons
and meet with a variety of government, NGO, and civil society leaders fighting
for the rights of civilians. Upon return to Washington, the group will lobby
on the Hill and advocate for a more just and harmonious foreign policy and
raise awareness both on campus and in the community.
The trip will be facilitated by Witness for Peace, a grassroots organization
with the following mission: "to support peace, justice and sustainable
economies in the Americas by changing U.S. policies and corporate practices
which contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean."
For more information, visit www.witnessforpeace.org.