The MSU delegation with colleagues at Jos University.
I was pleased to be a part of the Michigan State University delegation to Nigeria. The second phase of the grant that MSU’s Center of Advanced Study of International Development (CASID) received provided resources for a delegation to visit the cities of Abuja and Jos to [...]
The journey to Abuja, Nigeria was a long one because as you can imagine there are no direct flights from San Jose, Costa Rica. I flew from San Jose to Miami (five hour layover) Miami to Frankfurt (three hour layover) and Frankfurt to Abuja. During my layover in Miami, I went to a restaurant to [...]
So after my Habitat For Humanity trip in Costa Rica, I did the natural next step for Singh Around the World– I hopped a plane and went to Abuja, Nigeria. Gentle readers- you are probably asking why Costa Rica to Nigeria? I assure you there is method to my madness.
In October of 2007, I [...]
It finally hit me today that I will be running a half marathon on Antarctica in 10 days! What am I thinking? Who is the idiot that convinced me this was a good idea?
The run is scheduled on March 5–the day after my birthday. Most people celebrate their birthday by going out to dinner. Maybe [...]
The Families
The families that lived in the Habitat houses were a great grounding force for me. My trip has the potential to see things at a very surface level. Tourism in general puts the focus on sites and we often miss the human element of the people who live, work and play in the communities we travel [...]
One of the cool things about international volunteer opportunities is that they often combine some level of sightseeing with the volunteer component. Of course, the volunteer pays for the extra curricular activities. On our trip we had three things planned for us by our team leader- a trip to Mt. Arenal/La Fortuna, a riverboat trip [...]
Amanda Sharai, our Habitat Team Leader, had chosen the team from a group of sixty applications. She interviewed via phone 35 people and narrowed it down to a group of fourteen including herself. The group was an interesting mix of people that came from different walks of life. The group ranged in age from [...]
WE STOP YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG FOR THIS IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!
Dear Gentle Readers:
I am back in the San Jose, Costa Rica airport. I am heading down to Santiago, Chile in about an hour and will spend 10 days in Chile before heading to Argentina. Do you have any friends or contacts that I should look up [...]
International volunteering is growing at a rapid pace. It is a wonderful way to see the world and to connect to people of different cultures. International volunteers from America can also play a role as an ambassador for our country and our people. It is a wonderful antidote to the pathetic foreign policy coming out [...]
Our build site was located in Santa Cruz, which is in the Guanacaste Province of northern Costa Rica. In many Habitat for Humanity builds, you work on a house along side a family. Our project was different. There was a small neighborhood of nine Habitat for Humanity houses that were recently completed and we were [...]
