Title:
VOA Learning English - Development Report: A Service
Group Built on 'Friendship'
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Technology Report.
See text below
Text:
This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
Amizade means friendship in Portuguese. It is also
the name of a service organization in the United
States that places volunteers in projects mostly in
developing countries. Amizade's executive director,
Eric Hartman, thought of the idea in Brazil in
nineteen ninety-four, which explains the Portuguese
name.
The Amizade Global Service-Learning and Volunteer
Programs placed three hundred volunteers in nine
countries last year. These American university
students and others worked in thirteen communities.
Amizade works with local groups and individuals on
service and learning projects. The local groups
define and direct the projects. The volunteers learn
about local culture and make friends as they work in
the community. Amizade charges college students as
much as ten thousand dollars for three months of
experience.
Volunteers generally provide labor and do things
like teach and assist at health centers. They can
also do research. College students can earn
work-study credits. Participants in programs have
included a twelve-year-old boy and a man in his
eighties.
There are programs in Ghana, Tanzania, Brazil,
Bolivia, Mexico and Jamaica. There are also programs
in Germany, Poland, Northern Ireland and the United
States. Recently, in Tanzania, thirteen Amizade
volunteers worked on systems to harvest rainwater
from the roofs of homes. They worked on the project
in the Karagwe area, in the northwestern part of the
country. Eric Hartman, the director, described the
water collection systems in Internet blog postings
from Tanzania in July. Rain falls on the metal roofs
and flows into aluminum gutters. These gutters carry
the water to a large collection tank on the side of
the home.
The rain harvesting systems mean that a family
member no longer has to walk long distances to get
water. So there is more time for farming or
schoolwork. The systems are especially useful for
people who are too sick to go a long way for water.
On the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica, Amizade
places volunteers with a local partner in the small
community of Petersfield. The volunteers live with
local families. They help children with schoolwork
and computer skills. They also visit the sick and
work on building, painting and other restoration
projects in the community.
And thats the VOA Special English Development
Report.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
