Blog Entries

Volunteer Spotlight

tbrozyna

A Special Thank You to Our Summer Office Interns
Alex Foreman, a sophomore at the University of Virginia, who focusedon PR and MarketingKate Hails, from Hamilton College, who worked on AssessmentErica Breitbarth, from Wheaton College, who developed the new BuildaBridge Classroom modelAly Honsa, a Bryn Mawr senior who focused on Resource Development.
All four of them did spectacular work, and we wish them a productive new school year!

Special Events

tbrozyna

BuildaBridge's Signature Event this winter will be IDignity. This exhibition seeks to portray impoverished and marginalized populations with dignity and respect. The exhibit will go up at the beginning of December with a reception during the first week of the month. More information will be available soon.

Exchanging Ideas and Sharing a Vision

tbrozyna

By Zhou Bo, Amity Foundation

I am Zhou Bo from Amity Foundation, Nanjing, China. I have been working on the social welfare project for six years; I am in charge of coordinating the orphanage project. And I am also the Assistant Director of the Social Welfare Project, helping in the management of other projects such as deaf education, prevention of blindness, programs for leprosy victims, and also m [...]

Volunteer Days

tbrozyna

By Sarah Heady

BuildaBridge has always depended on the kindness of others, and recently we hosted two fantastic volunteerworkdays! In late August, a group of thirty-six Arcadia University freshmen took a day out of their orientation week to pool their elbow grease.BuildaBridge was also privileged to have been select [...]

Artist on Call: Diaspora of Hope

tbrozyna

By Kyle Evans

BuildaBridge is coordinating a Diaspora of Hope Artist on Call program this Thanksgiving in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Portau Prince, Haiti and Nairobi, Kenya. November 22-30, 3-5 teams, including 10 artists each, will partner with mirror teams in every point of destination to bring wholeness and transformation to 50- [...]

Back to School Night

tbrozyna

By Anna Murphey

The church lobby buzzed with excitement as students, parents, and younger siblingsmingled with BuildaBridge staff and volunteers on a recent rainy fall evening at Second Baptist Church of Germantown. In between introductions to new classmates and teachers, students joked, made colorful nametags, and helped themselves to hot chocol [...]

Artology: Bridging Science & Art

tbrozyna

It takes not one bus, but two! During his summer break, Deion, a 13 year old student, took two buses in order to arrive in West Philadelphia at 8:00am for our Artology van pick up. He could have slept in, played video games, hung out with friends, but instead he chose to come to Artology, a dynamic hands-on day [...]

Countdown: Create! Discovery 2008-2009

amurphey

As summer winds to a close, the BuildaBridge office is buzzing as our staff prepare to kick off our 2008-2009 Create! Discovery program. Now in its fourth year, Create! Discovery partners with community agencies in Philadelphia to bring arts-integrated education to low-income children and youth, many of whom are coping with homelessness.

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The mission of Create! Discovery is: “To promote a sense of purpose a [...]

Rehearsal and Celebration, Part Two

aforeman

Just before the afternoon session began, it started to rain—really, really hard. It was raining sideways, and, because the school is at the base of a valley, all of the water flows downhill towards it. While it normally trickled down the steep bank towards the sewage creek, the water shot o [...]

Rehearsal and Celebration, Part One

aforeman

The afternoon storm had threatened houses and created swirling rapids in the sewage creek. The following day, as the children arrived for their final presentation, “mineros,” miners, took advantage of the lowered water level to search for recyclables to sell. The color and enthu [...]

La Limonada-The Other Side, Part Two

aforeman

On the balcony earlier, Evertsz said that some time ago God had come to her in a dream, instructing her to visit the gang member with whom we had spoken outside of the school. While she was afraid, she went anyway. Later on, he was shot. This was one of the first times he had [...]

La Limonada-The Other Side, Part One

aforeman

“See all the shotgun blasts? That’s why people don’t like to
have windows.” While the rest of the group continued their teaching, I ventured
“al otro lado,” to the other side. There is no fence separating the two sides;
the gan [...]

The First Day in the Slum

aforeman

A four year old child responding to an inquiry about how to solve problems or conflicts made a comment about bringing a machete. This begs the question, what has he seen? La Limonada is one of the most dangerous and poverty-stricken areas of Guatemala City, and seventy pe [...]

The Weekend

aforeman

The days were devoid of the rain that came daily at the beginning of our trip, and they lacked the intensity of prison visits, overnight stays with Mayan families and trash dump observations. Wrapping up our first week in Guatemala, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were certainly l [...]

The Trash Dump

aforeman

Think of a postcard of a beautiful blue lake surrounded by volcanoes. Now, think of dirt hills covered in trash. From afar, the hills look covered in a light coat of snow, sprinkled with touches of color here and there. Now, add hundreds of people picking through the trash to make thei [...]

Days Two and Three, Part Two

aforeman

David Melby-Gibbons, an Eastern Graduate student,
played guitar while we sang several songs, among them: Amazing
Grace—first in English, then Spanish.We concluded the bonfire by
roasting some “angelitos,” marshmallows, which we enjoyed with the
children.

It was n [...]

Days Two and Three, Part One

aforeman

It’s hard to pick the high point of our second full day in Guatemala. It could be the three hour ride from Guatemala City to the Lake and surrounding Mayan villages—the farms, the colorful towns, mudslides and mountain vistas. Perhaps it was the choppy ride across Lake Atitlan during an afternoon downpour. Or maybe it was the nighttime ride hanging off the back of a pickup truck with about 20 other passengers, followed by a wonderful dinner and bonfire sing-a-l [...]

Day One: Gangland

aforeman

Approaching the prison, small markets and payphones lined the streets. A line was forming outside of the gates so guards could inspect visitors prior to entering the facility. Dogs and cats roamed the streets; mountains were visible in the distance. And there were soldiers walking aro [...]

Mona Taavao- By Anna Murphey

aforeman

Mona Tavaao is used to the loud, incessant chatter of kids. As a School District of Philadelphia Bus driver and this summer as a driver for Artology, it comes with the job.

This year at Artology, BuildaBridge is thrilled to welcome back a very
special family. Mona and her two sons, Mat (age 1 [...]

Artology Archeology Dig

aforeman

Circled around a hole with shovels in hand, the kids dug up skeletons and spears as part of their lesson on indigenous people—sort of.

After arriving at the BuildaBridge house, the Artology participants
worked with teaching artist Pedro Os [...]