Global Engagement

Jan 24 2024

Oswaldo Guayasamin (1919-1999) is considered one of the most important visual artists of the 20th century, not only in Ecuador or Latin America, but in the world. His work is visually vibrant, emotionally compelling, and politically engaged. He depicted scenes...

Jan 24 2024

The first week of classes included lectures, museum visits, church tours, and silly games. On the weekend, students went out on adventures big and small with their host families.   On Saturday morning, some students didn’t go on family outings....

Jan 20 2024

Orientation for this year’s SST Ecuador group was packed full of activities, places to see and new people to meet. The first week of classes set us into a more quotidian rhythm of family life, academic activities, group discussions, and...

Jan 17 2024

Has it really only been one week since the SSTer’s arrived?  The first week of SST was brimming with new experiences: the first days of jet-lagged orientation, meeting host families, language class, bus trips, a lecture, new food…. Language class…

Jan 17 2024

          We could’t catch everyone, but we capture the pivotal moment of families picking up their “newest” members.

Jan 14 2024

Saturday was a full day of orientation.  We started the morning with a walk to UKDW, the university where our language classes will take place.  On the way we stopped at Ibu Ning and Ibu Martha’s home so students meet...

Jan 14 2024

Good morning (or whenever you are reading this)! After a few delays, interrupted sleep, and moments of uncertainty, the SST Spring 2024 group started orientation with a burst of energy, enthusiasm … and some silliness!     As the students...

Jan 12 2024

And they’re here! As the Indonesia 2024 SST leaders, my partner Ben & I have been in Indonesia for the past month, meeting with host families, language teachers, lecturers, and other partners.  We have enjoyed settling into our house in...

Jan 11 2024

Good morning! (or whenever you are reading this) After a few delays and moments of incertitude, the SST Spring 2024 group has started orientation! As the students were leaving home, Ecuador’s people suffer moments of tension, sadness,  and fear. News...

Aug 02 2023

Summer 2023 Ecuador students returned to the capital city of Quito this past weekend from their six-week service placements in smaller cities and towns across five Ecuadorian provinces.  Their final weekend retreat was held at a beautiful rural location in...

Jul 31 2023

Craig Elias reflects on several of the service projects, or “community-engaged learning” activities, that our indigenous hosts invited us to participate in during the final weeks of our Navajo Hopi Study Service Term (SST): Today we talked as a group...

Jul 31 2023

Jonathan Orjala shares about the early morning hike that came at the end of a five-day “camp meeting” at our host church on the Navajo Nation: The Sunday we left Black Mountain Mennonite Church, about ten of us woke up...

Jul 29 2023

Alex Koscher shares his thoughts about the hospitality our group has received during our time in the Navajo Nation, contrasting it to what he encountered while stopping for lunch on the way to Grand Canyon National Park: Hospitality has often...

Jul 28 2023

Estefania Soto shares what she learned about the land from our Navajo teachers, beginning with the creation myth and applying this to an experience that connected her to this place: During my time with the Navajo I’ve listened, learned, and...

Jul 28 2023

Lukas Bontrager-Waite shares his insights after a challenging experience in the Chuska Mountains: There is a question that has especially been on my mind since this SST began: “what are we bound by?” Generally, my answer has always been the...

Jul 25 2023

For Fourth of July the group headed out from Diné College and drove about an hour to the capital of the Navajo Nation, Window Rock.  Our plan was to attend the Navajo Nation celebration, seeing traditional dancing, shopping at different...

Jul 24 2023

Areli Guzman shares her thoughts on Navajo clans and her family’s heritage: Yá’ át’ ééh  (Hello) Shi éi Areli yinishyé  (I am called Areli) Ákót’ éego Naakai dine’ é asdzáán nishłí  (In this way, I am a Mexican woman) Here...

Jul 22 2023

My service has challenged me in a wide variety of ways. I have struggled to develop a routine and find my role within my service organization. Whenever I would take the initiative and ask what our purpose here was, our...

Jul 22 2023

Teresa Ross Richer reflects on a key concept in Navajo culture: Balance:  a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions. In my culture, we do not seem to take to heart the concept of balance...

Jul 22 2023

Virginia Jimenez shares her reflections on an inspiring presentation by a photography student at Diné College: At Diné College we met various Navajo people who shared their culture with us — one of them was a photography student, Candace Harrison,...

Jul 21 2023

At this stage of the service portion of SST, a distinct highlight for me has been continuing to experience the abundance of natural beauty that Ecuador has to offer. In the study portion of SST, we were able to experience...

Jul 20 2023

As is often the case on SST, I found myself one afternoon on a bus with essentially no knowledge of where I was going. My mom quickly explained that we were headed to a funeral, and I became concerned. “Did...

Jul 19 2023

One of the first things you learn when you come to Ecuador is their love of choclo, which is essentially their variety of sweet corn. On one of our trips to different parts of Ecuador, we even drove past a...

Jul 18 2023

“What Does Peace Look Like?” Emma Gingerich One Friday afternoon, Zoughbi, the director of the Wi’am Conflict Transformation Center, invited our group to a dialogue with Palestinian “young people.” We had the privilege of sitting in small groups with these...