Study Abroad

Mar 20 2020

They have boarded the plane and left Tanzania.  Praise be to God!

Mar 19 2020

What is “Service”.  The concept of service in a North American context generally revolves around productivity.  In our lead-up to service with the current Ecuador SST group, we spoke at length about what service is and is not in a...

Mar 17 2020

As many of you have heard, we will be leaving Tanzania early because of the increasing restrictions on international travel due to COVID-19.  This is so hard, since our students are really feeling a sense of purpose and belonging in...

Mar 16 2020

Today is Emma’s birthday!  YAY!!!  On Saturday, we had the students, who are living close enough to Musoma,  join Emma for some birthday cake and celebration.   The cake was passion fruit-flavored (Oh My Yum!!!). 

Mar 01 2020

Just as this tour began, it ends with a full day of sunny waves, soft sand, good food and—wait for it—overnight travel. For many of us, this morning was bittersweet as we said goodbye to our wonderful host families before...

Mar 01 2020

Sorry this post took a little longer than I expected.  We had an interesting week dealing with electricity to our house.  But, we are back!! Also, sorry this is a LONG post with LOTS of photos and a few videos. ...

Feb 27 2020

Day 6 in Puerto Rico started bright and early! We met at 6:45 a.m. and headed to Summit Hills Mennonite Academy (Academia Menonita). It was a beautiful morning filled with sunshine. Academia Menonita is where Lisa Rosada Rivera went to...

Feb 26 2020

We began our Wednesday at the beautiful Robinson school where we sang for middle and high school students. Their shiny gymnasium held especially good acoustics, resonating our voices as well as the reactions of those in the audience. As mentioned...

Feb 26 2020

Tuesday was yet another busy day filled with music, new experiences and fun. In the morning, we woke up to the pitter-patter of rain in San Juan. Our host families graciously drove us through the rain and the heavy traffic...

Feb 25 2020

If you’ve been checking the Ecuador blog for updates over the past two weeks you’ve been met with silence…. at least internet blog silence.   The final two weeks of the study portion of Spring 2020 SST have been a blur...

Feb 25 2020

Today, we started our day earlier than other days. With a sprinkling sky yet very pleasant weather, we loaded our bus for an hour and 40 minutes drive towards Aibonito, a mountin city in the mountain range of Cayey. Dali...

Feb 25 2020

Side note first:  the Serengeti pictures are coming; likely later today or tomorrow.  It takes a long time to download and process pictures for the blog, especially when you have a photographer that cannot stop herself at one photo per...

Feb 23 2020

¡Hola de Puerto Rico! Our day started at 8:00 this morning, where we arrived back at La Cumbre after a full night’s sleep and delicious breakfasts at our host families’ houses. Once we arrived at the church, we warmed up...

Feb 23 2020

Oh, how excited we are to see the sun! For many of us, our day began early Friday morning, before our classes began. Friday morning, we performed for the Board of Directors, and received a blessing before sending us on...

Feb 16 2020

Last evening the students and hosts families all came together at the YMCA for a meal and time for appreciation.  We are so thankful for all of our wonderful host families who truly welcomed our students as one of their...

Feb 15 2020

Every Wednesday, for the past 5 weeks, instead of an afternoon field trip or lecture, the students make their way to Nyumbani Goshen, or the Goshen home (aka. the Schramms’ apartment). The students were divided into 5 different groups.  Each...

Feb 11 2020

The 2020 Goshen College tour features the Voices of the Earth Choir traveling to Puerto Rico Feb. 22 – March 1.

Feb 08 2020

This past Friday we made a trip to Nyantira Mennonite School to take a tour, learn about what they are doing there, and to learn about their affiliation with Compassion International (for information about what Compassion International is doing in...

Feb 06 2020

As the beat of the SST drum marches on, students shifted from a focus on Ecuador’s biodiversity to Ecuador’s ethnic diversity.  Depending how you subdivide it, Ecuador has 14 distinct languages and more than 30 unique people groups and subgroups. ...

Feb 05 2020

  This is Tolly.  She is a lawyer-turned-chef that owns the catering business.  She is fun-loving, sweet, patient, and always has a smile on her face.  She seems to love teaching and exudes endless joy.  She has her own YouTube Channel...

Feb 02 2020

Hello friends, families, strangers who are interested in what we’re doing.  We have had another adventurous week in Dar es Salaam.  This city is so full of interesting experiences, people, sights, sounds, etc. On Monday the students attended a lecture...

Jan 30 2020

Week three of Spring 2020 Ecuador SST thrust students into the biodiversity that is Ecuador and all the complexity that comes with it.  One of the neat elements of SST is there is so much learning that takes place outside...

Jan 26 2020

Forgive the multitude of photos in this post, but we saw so much this past weekend.  We visited a town called Bagamoyo (originally Buagamoyo, which means “lay down your heart”).  For the history of Bagamoyo, click here. While in Bagamoyo,...

Jan 21 2020

The theme of week two of SST has been ascending and descending….  After a lecture on the history of the Catholic church in Ecuador, students visited some of the historic churches in the Centro Historico of Quito.  At the national...