Digital Stories from the workshop: now live on Bridges website

The stories created by youth in Cusco and Bridges mentors are now live on the Bridges website at our Gallery and Schools pages - enjoy! -Bridges Staff

johan anthony quispe cardenas

esta experiencia es muy buena, no se como logre entrar en este proyecto pero me siento muy contento de estar en el, se que cuando esto acabe tendre que seguir con mi vida pero recordare toda mi vida este proyecto y los momentos divertidos que pase con ellos
gracias por dejarme ser parte de este proyecto que estoy seguro que vera mucha gente
JOHAN♣♠♦♠

Crunch Day in Pukllasunchis

It´s Thursday which means that all of the work we have done this week story writing, taking pictures, gathering sound and selecting the right images must come together to make our final digital story. Students and Bridges Mentors are working together and the atmosphere reflects the close relationships that we have built over the last week. The students are anxious to see the final product and so are the mentors.
My personal experience here has been extraordinary. I have enjoyed getting to know the school and more importantly, the students and teachers of Pukllasunchis School. There is a genuine warmth at this school and the commitment to educate a diverse student body and in so many different ways: socially, culturally, academically, is exciting to see.
The city of Cusco is built vertically and we spend much of our time on the streets walking up stairs, dodging the tiny taxi´s that must navigate the narrow streets. Much of the activity on the streets is commercial, with shops and street vendors selling their handicrafts. The people are very hospitable and the food is delicious, especially the soups.
I was very excited about the Bridges program and the philosophy that brings different types of people together with a common purpose, storytelling. It has been a powerful tool to get to know the students at Pukllasunchis school.

mi comentario acerca del proyecto

Bueno, es una experiencia muy chévere, de tenerlos a los de Bridges en Perú . Estoy aprendiendo muchas cosas que ahora no las puedo explicar porque es mucho pero es gratificante para mi haberles conocido a todos aunque fue tan corto el tiempo en que estuvimos juntos en Perú el cual pasó muy rápido. Espero que volvamos a hacer estos proyectos pronto lo cual me gustaron un montón. Vamos a extrañarles a todos mucho. Espero que vuelvan pronto a Perú y volverlos a ver a todos
otra vez.... los quiero mucho su amiga la loca, jajaja Nathaly Rebeca C.. P..

Nuestra Primera Excursión

Buenos Días. Greetings from beautiful Cusco. My name is Ryker Labbee, another of the volunteers helping with the summer workshop in Peru. Our project is now well underway, and I thought I'd have one of our students, Darwin, share a few thoughts about our first outing, a photo shoot at the Incan ruins of Sacsaywaman.

MI OPINIÓN:

Sacsaywaman es lindo, les gustó a los viajeros y se quedaron impresionados. Me enseñaron mucho sobre la fotografía y yo les enseñé un poco de historia. En los rodaderos todos nos divertimos y en el tunel ("chincana") también. Los viajeros son muy buenos, nos enseñan mucho. El clima que tuvimos ese día fue ¡¡¡estupendo!!!

DARWIN

·····

Darwin tells us that Sacsaywaman is beautiful, and it certainly is. He learned much about photography and taught us (the volunteers/travelers) a bit about the history of the site. There are amazing slides and a tunnel beneath the ruins that provided much fun for students and volunteers alike. He closes by complimenting the travelers and noting the wonderful weather we enjoyed Saturday afternoon. We'll be posting more on our Sacsaywaman outing and general project status shortly. Given Darwin's thoughts, it looks like we're off to a decent start!

Bienvenidos! (Tania Westby, Bridges Instructor)

Hola a todos! I am so excited for all of you to arrive. Cusco is so beautiful! Jennifer and I have been meeting with staff and teachers from Pukllasunchis, preparing for el taller con ustedes y los ninos (the workshop with the kids and all of you). It is going to be a fun, intense, wonderful week! For those of you that don´t speak much spanish, don´t worry, as there are plenty who do. Yo tambien estoy apprendiendo! Entiendo mucho, pero hablo solo un poquito.

We hope this blog will serve as a great way to share your experiences here in Peru with family and friends back home- it is linked from the Bridges website under workshops ->blogs: http://www.bridgesweb.org/workshops/workshops_blogs.html

Hasta pronto,
Tania

Eliza Barkan

Hi,



I am looking forward to meeting everyone on this trip. I am a sophmore at Garfield High School.




See all you guys in Cusco.

Susan Barkan

Greetings!

I'm looking forward to our upcoming adventures and meeting you all as well as our Peruvian counterparts. I've never been to Peru or South America but have spent time in Central America (Nicaragua and Guatemala). I know a little bit of Spanish, mostly what I've picked up during those visits. I will be coming on this trip with my daughter, Eliza, and her friend Hannah, both of whom are 15. I won't speak for them and besides, they are much more familiar and comfortable with online communication, etc. Now that they are done with school maybe they will have a little time to post as well or at least help me find a picture to upload.....


See you soon!


Susan

Greetings from Greg Tuke, Executive Directory, Bridges

Dear fellow Travelers!

Greetings, Hola!

I am really looking forward to seeing all of you soon, in the mountains of Cusco Peru! While I have traveled fairly extensively in Central America, this will be my first time to South America, and I am excited to be doing it with all of you! The last two years I have been part of the Bridges India workshops. I find these trips to be quite powerful, providing a doorway into a culture and the lives of young people in a way that is rare in international travel of this length of time. I think we will all leave with rich memories and experiences that will change in some way how we look at ourselves and the world in the years ahead.

I think you will also be surprised at the diverse talents people come with. I play the banjo, and always take my backpack banjo on such trips because I find sharing music to be a great common ground and touchstone. Now some of you may challenge the notion that a banjo player can produce music (!) you may just want to stay open to its possibility, no matter how remote....! :)

I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Greg

Hola Compañeros!

Hi Everyone!
I am so looking forward to the trip to Peru! I have spoken with Raul Chiappe, the Director of the Pukllasunchis School, several times this week, and they are also very enthusiastic about our arrival and the workshop process. They are new partners for us, as you may know, and while Bridges has worked in Peru for many years, Cusco will be new for us as well.
Last September, my husband Tony and I went on a reconnaissance trip to Peru to see how and where Bridges could grow. We were looking for a school environment that had similar ideals, and valued cross cultural learning. We also looked for infrastructure that Bridges could plug into and strengthen with our mission and resources. Pukllasunchis fills all of these hopes and more. I hope you will check out their website before we leave (www.pukllasunchis.org), and learn about all of the work that this amazing NGO is doing to support and preserve original Andean cultures as well as help the youth of this country fulfill their potentials and their dreams. I can honestly say that meeting these dedicated staff members and watching this school operate helped me see a future full of hope and fairness for our world. We will do our best to get close to that vision while we are there.
I will be working closely with our Crooked Trails staff member, Emily Affolter, in Cusco, as well as the administration of the school to be sure that the logistics as planned will actually be implemented. I speak Spanish quite well, although not perfectly. I will rely on each of you to let me know if you have communication needs that I am not responding to, ok? This is really important to me. And one more thing, I suppose it is advice: even if you don't speak Spanish there are lots of ways to communicate and the first weekend of the workshop will be an opportunity to let go of inhibitions and play whatever charades are necessary to make friends with the students and teachers of Pukllasunchis. They all speak some English, so between all of us, we can break down language barriers at the beginning of the trip if we try. From our experience in Guatemala, this is one way to maximize the rewards of this project. For those of you who do speak Spanish, we will be doing some optional sessions for learning Spanish and it would be great to have you attend as well, sharing tips for remembering phrases, those funny associations and experiences always help the process along.
Everyone reports that Cusco is colder than usual this year, so bring snuggly clothes for night time, and layers for the days. Dress can be pretty casual at the school and around town in Cusco. We will go to a weaving village on the fist Sunday of the trip, and that could be a great place to buy a warm sweater or shawl directly from an artisan.

Countdown! See you in Cusco!
Un saludo, Jennifer Geist

Hello from Karen Doolittle

Hello All,

I just wanted to say an informal hello and can't wait to meet everyone in couple weeks. I am on the east coast side of things (from upstate New York) so unfortunately I will not be able to attend next week's gathering. I am looking forward to meeting others who share common interests...volunteering, traveling, exploring new cultures, and love for Peru and photography. And for the photographers in the group, I cannot wait to learn more about photography from you and I am sure I will learn a thing or two from the students. As for now, I am a high school teacher impatiently waiting for the school year to end so I can begin the trip. This will not be my first time to Peru, and I am sure those of us who have been to Peru before can confirm, the country and culture is filled with many hidden blessings.
Happy packing and don't forget the warm clothes...it gets cold!

Kind Regards,

Karen

Welcome from the Bridges team

Top Center - Bridges Peru teacher Jeanne bonds with workshop participants (Jace, left and Susan, right) at the September Seattle workshop in 2007. Jennifer geist, bottom center, will be helping lead the workshop this June/July in Cusco.

Hello all,

We hope you have read through your pre-departure materials and are starting to get excited for the Bridges to Understanding Workshop in Cusco, Peru, which will start in just over 2 weeks. We have started this blog in order for participants to introduce themselves and share their expectations/excitement/hopes and dreams before the trip. Then, once we're on the ground, we will assign a "blogger" role to a participant who will be responsible for keeping your friends, family, and anyone else interested in these workshops up to speed on what's going on! After the workshop, we hope it will help sustain the community we will build over the workshop and serve as a way to keep everyone connected to each other and Bridges' work. We encourage you to check out the blog from 2007's Guatemala trip to get an idea of how informative and important the blog can be.

We're looking forward to our adventure! To get to know your Bridges instructors Tania Westby, Greg Tuke and Jennifer Geist, please check out Bridges' About Us page. To learn more about Crooked Trails, who is helping facilitate the trip, please see their website here.

-The Bridges team
(www.bridgesweb.org)