There is so much information in the air. Coming at this from a fresh perspective, words cannot explain the amount of knowledge that I am receiving right now. Earlier this afternoon, we had the opportunity to…
This poem was shared with us today during our session with the authors and editors of Generation NGO. I wanted to share it with our followers. Please enjoy. The Development Set by Ross Coggins Excuse me,…
Today is my birthday and I’m spending it with my family. My home is thousands of miles away, so are my parents and my brother. Yet, I feel I’m celebrating my birthday in the right place…
This year’s annual conference is off to a running start as the 14 youth ambassadors just completed their first course of two at the Art of Living Foundation’s North American Ashram. Today the team begins the…
A Recrear Youth Ambassador @ the Art Of Living center: 2nd day of silence, 4th day Yoga & Meditation; (August 4, 2011) No energy left! STARVING! Need rest! Missing the city lights and the Moroccan food,…
Kevin, Kirsten and I have been catapulted from a wonderful two weeks in the Dominican Republic to Canada, where we are giving 100% at Recrear Magnify. We still have few blog entries in the pipeline- but…
Day one of Recrear Magnify has come and gone but as we settle in for a week at the North American Ashram, our staff has taken an immediate connection to one another in a magnetic way. This year,…
It is 4.34 am and we are still up working but super excited to meet the RecrearMagnify group and get started! While we become a team with the Art of Living, make sure to keep up…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_5YA2RddE0?hl=en&fs=1&w=425&h=349] While in Santiago, we stayed with a host family of our close friend, Eric. Eric is a Dominican, studying Music Therapy in New Orleans at Loyola University with his colleague Alex Legges. These guys were doing such…
My reflections of the day are all dedicated to my ‘colleagues’. If you know Kirsten, Kevin and I, you know that we are all VERY different. Together, we are a tragicomic and soap-opera-worth trio. Spending every…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA1xpPCw-y8&w=560&h=349] 4) There Is More Than the Obvious Way to Communicate How do you communicate when . . living in a Spanish – Creole – French speaking environment. Even just speaking “Spanish” means something…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2ie_8kFxFQ?hl=en&fs=1&w=425&h=349] 3) Get Silly While working to inspire a community to make a lasting change for themselves, when the community has never thought critically about the possibility to start a movement from within; it…
Our time in Esperanza has come to an end. As we get into our last week in the Dominican Republic, I feel that Kirsten, Kevin and I have a bunch of epiphanies about what the ‘whys’…
Since our time here, we have spoken much of what is in an ‘idea’ and by extension a ‘project’. The misconception is that projects are resource exhaustive and grandiose. In truth they can be – but…
Only my second blog since being in Esperanza – I think that is testament to the lack of time we have had to really reflect on our experience here with the projects. Otherwise, trust me; you…
[slideshow] Our time in the smaller city of Esperanza was great, and the group of young men from both the city and the batay were a wonderful group to work with. Enjoy this short slideshow of…
My feeling so far is that the theme of this project in the Dominican so far has been `back to basics`. In every sense that is. For Development this means scrapping your models and turning a…
[slideshow] Above you will find a slide show of some of my favorites while the staff enjoyed our arrival in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. For the complete collection, please visit our full gallery on Flickr. -Kevin…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkBGpQHoYrw?hl=en&fs=1&w=425&h=349]
The Recrear team has safely landed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic as of yesterday and while we enjoyed our day of travel through the country to Santiago, the continued work for the NOLA chapter alongside the preparation for…
Recrear New Orleans: some reflections Almost one year after Recrear.beta I feel confident to say that despite all the threats and weaknesses that have become obvious during our first year in business, our strengths and opportunities…
In just two weeks, our small group of Recrear coordinators has accomplished so much. The desire of the Recrear founders to achieve more and more is contagious. Despite the truth that New Orleans mellows out considerably…
…that our first fundraiser which happened on July 5th/Kevin’s 25th b-day bash was a success. $910 raised for our cause ($911 to be exact because I found a dollar on the ground which was unaccounted for).…
So everyone….. We keep on moving onward and upward from here. It has been a packed last week and a half but we have come together and accomplished so much. On the 6th, the group brainstormed…
RECREAR The IDEA BOX Recrear is an international organization mandated to support youth-inspired community development projects internationally. The IDEA BOX is a game organized by the New Orleans chapter of Recrear: Submit your ideas on developing…
This year for my birthday I did more than I have ever done. It was quite a feat for me to organize all of my networks and “IOU’s” to culminate in a one day celebration of…
Many flipcharts later, we concluded our first week of work together in New Orleans with some interesting points in hand (celebrate!). We brainstormed our goals and strategies for Recrear New Orleans – the next steps will…