Global Education

Mar 13 2022

During weekly lectures with guest speakers, we learned a lot about how the Indonesian immigrant community supports each other. One of those ways is through food. Sharing meals brings people together and fosters a sense of culture through the traditional...

Mar 12 2022

One theme that I have been thinking about following our time in Philadelphia is unity and diversity. The Indonesian community in Philadelphia is incredibly diverse. It is composed of individuals from a broad range of locations and islands, which also…

Mar 12 2022

About halfway through our time in Philly, in the third week of February, Modero Dance Company began their weekly Balinese Dance classes open to the public. Sinta is the woman who teaches this and a variety of other dance classes...

Mar 12 2022

So…What have we been doing lately? Well – the blog has been quiet recently because we have been very very busy! We heard February 22nd that all of our visas had been approved to travel to Indonesia! This in itself...

Mar 04 2022

Friday March 4, 2022 I am writing from the Amani Gardens Inn in Nairobi. Today we made the trip from Mpala Research Centre to the big city to prepare for our flight home on Saturday. It was tough to say...

Mar 03 2022

Students left for their service placements on Saturday morning  all arriving by the evening and greeted by their new host families. 🙂 We mentioned previously that last Thursday afternoon we spent some concentrated time discussing/reflecting/anticipating the upcoming transition to service...

Mar 02 2022

Tuesday March 1, 2022  Today was our first day of collecting data for our individual research projects. Mira is working on bird responses to smoke with Alex while Willow, Amelia, Jesper, and I are working on counting ants as an...

Mar 01 2022

Monday Feb. 28, 2022 Today we had a much-needed day of rest after a week or so of intense work. While Ryan headed to Nanyuki for the day to get new tires on his Land Rover, the rest of us...

Feb 28 2022

Sunday Feb. 27, 2022 After an intense week of burning, the Goshen team was ready for a relaxing day of fun. Naturally, that meant we woke up bright and early at 6:30 to head to Ol Pejeta, a ranch that...

Feb 27 2022

During our last week of the “study” portion of the term, students traveled to several hours east of Quito to explore the upper Amazon basin. We combined several experiential learning activities – both cultural and environmental, based on the region’s...

Feb 27 2022

Saturday Feb. 26 Today we finished the last of the 36 small 30m X 30m burns in the KLEE plots! I am thankful to all the students, Mpala Research Centre staff, and research colleagues. Asanteni! Here is a video of...

Feb 26 2022

Friday Feb. 26 Today we got up early to burn and discovered that, as with most fieldwork, plans change. Our colleagues from Harvard were having trouble with some drone equipment they were using in the KLEE plots and we got...

Feb 24 2022

This blog reports on the 2022 research trip to Kenya where I am collaborating with colleagues from various universities (UC Davis, Karatina University, and Utah State University) to implement prescribed burns inside the Kenya Longterm Exclosure Experiment (KLEE).  With me...

Feb 20 2022

We had a full week of classes and wrapped up several large academic pieces to the term. Friday evening students hosted their families for a program and goodbye party.   Last night (Saturday) we arrived here to Hostal Pakay in...

Feb 13 2022

After a few days of class in Quito we took off for the north, arriving to the beautiful city of Otavalo in the province of Imbabura for several days.   Here is a short clip of some of the music...

Feb 11 2022

Hello again from Philadelphia! We continue to work and live amongst the gracious and lively Indonesian community here in Southern Philadelphia.

Feb 07 2022

We continue individually and as a group to process the tragedy of the landslides in Quito that occurred last week not far from some of our host families and in a neighborhood that we have, on a couple occasions, passed through...

Feb 05 2022

Jan 31 2022

Welcome to our Indonesia SST 2022 blog, we’re glad you’re here! One of the first questions you might have is – “Why do your photos look like they are NOT from Indonesia?”. This fearless group of Goshen College students is...

Jan 31 2022

After a couple of normal days of class, we made our way through the mountains to the northwest region of the Pichincha province where we explored the amazing cloud forest. We are bringing last weeks’ historical context with us as...

Jan 25 2022

Welcome to the Indonesia SST 2022 blog! Due to the complicated nature of travel during COVID-19, the spring 2022 Indonesia SST group is starting their semester in Philadelphia – at the Philadelphia Praise Center – to immerse themselves with the…

Jan 23 2022

Time is flying by and students are settling into a new rhythm here in Quito between classes and a new life with their host families. The omicron wave is beginning here in Ecuador and we’re continuing to make adjustments as...

Jan 17 2022

Welcome to Quito! We are so pleased and honored to welcome 15 new students to this beautiful country of Ecuador. And welcome to you, who may be following along and supporting our journey from afar. We had an absolutely fantastic...

Nov 29 2021