Ellen Limback
Ellen Limback volunteered at a school in the Sacred Valley of Peru. She spent four weeks volunteering and living with a host family through the organization Projects Abroad. Her main role was assisting a public school English teacher in the Chinchero school district with lesson planning and teaching. Ellen had the opportunity to help over 350 secondary students in the school with learning and speaking the English language. After three weeks of volunteering, she was able to lead a workshop for the other teaching volunteers in her town on some ways that volunteers can make a difference in their schools based on the problems she observed in her teaching. In addition to teaching, Ellen immersed herself into the Peruvian culture by participating in the cultural events that took place in her school and town. These included dancing in a traditional Quechua dance with the other teachers at her school, displaying the students’ English projects for presentation day, participating in the Father’s Day celebration, and being a part of the Señor de Torrechayoc Fiesta in the town where she lived. Most of her evenings were spent lesson planning and discussing cultural differences and traditions with her host family. In particular, they discussed the educational system in Peru and the difficulties that students and teachers face. On the weekends, Ellen took advantage of her free time by traveling around the Sacred Valley to various Inca ruins and Museums, and learning about the history and culture of the valley. One of the highlights of her trip was her visit to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu.
CEE Title: Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Hidden World of Human Trafficking
The CEE that Ellen and the Waynesburg University cohort of 2014 planned was entitled "Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Hidden World of Human Trafficking". The event was a three part interactive exhibit to bring awareness to human trafficking and to provide resources for people to get involved. To walk through the whole exhibit at his/her own pace, it took attendees approximately 20-45 minutes. The fist part of the event was an introduction to human trafficking where the attendees received a bio of someone to follow in the next part of the exhibit and were able to read short stories of the victims in the form of a "twitter wall". Next, the attendees walked through the second room of the exhibit which consisted of an informational, interactive display of information and items. Here, those who attended were able to follow their personal bio that they received and to see what happened to their person. While following the bio, attendees were able to read about general human trafficking facts and learn more about the types of human trafficking. In that room there was also a computer quiz to take to find out how many slaves work for you based on the products and services that you use, as well as two short videos you could choose to watch about human trafficking. The last part of the exhibit was in the third room which contained an organizational fair. About six organizations sent representatives to come offer more information and resources for that part of the event. After the event, there was a concert performed by P.W. Gopal, a musician and activist against human trafficking. Gopal was also part of the international fair during the exhibit event.