I am very excited about this course, as I have had an interest in international aid for as long as I can remember. I have done a couple of trips that have given me a little experience in this area. When I was in high school, I went with group of teens to Costa Rica to help out at a women's shelter for a couple of weeks. Most of the women were there because they had been exploited or in abusive relationships. As a result they had a child or were pregnant when they arrived. They aim to offer support to these young mothers, and educate them so that they can back out into the community feeling independent and able to provide for themselves and their children.
I also had the opportunity to travel to Papua, Indonesia in 2007 with my family to visit some friends we have who have been working there for the last 20 years. Right now their primary focus has been on AIDS prevention in Papua, but they are also involved in a lot of other area of development (eg. Relief work following the tsunami that hit Sumatra). I think that this trip especially peaked my interest in international work, and what I could do.
Once this course is done, I hope to have gained a better perspective what International Community Development entails, the areas I could get involved in, and where to start.
Here are some links I found that I think give some good insight and information on International Community Development. If you have time, check them out!
