The Discover True Friendship Service Tour is a service learning program that brings high school and college students from the United States to a developing country to work on a service project, learn about issues related to developing countries, and experience the culture and customs of another country. These students work side-by-side with volunteers from the local community on a project that directly and concretely impacts the children of the area.
As they invest themselves physically in the community they are serving, participants of the Service Tour also learn about the country they are in, the challenges it is facing and solutions to those problems. They meet leaders in the fields of education, health care and economic development and learn about their work. Through all of this, they are also building relationships with people from their host country – relationships that transcend boundaries of nationality, race, religion and culture. They are left with an experience that transforms the way that they perceive the world and their place in it, and often inspires them to pursue paths of social justice and development.
In 2006, the Service Tour went to Zambia with a group of young men and women from the US. There, they built an addition to a primary school that served an impoverished community. Staffed by volunteer teachers, the school was in dire need of improved facilities to allow it to serve the local children meals that they were not getting at home. The participants worked with local builders to construct a building that would meet their needs for seven days under the intense Zambian sun. They left behind a school that was more ably equipped to serve the needs of their students.
In 2007, the Service Tour went to Bangladesh, again building a school building to expand the capacity of a local primary school. This time, participants from Nepal, Japan and our host nation joined the Americans on the project, adding a dimension of diversity to the group. Working with a team of local volunteers, the participants not only increased the size of the school by 50%, but also dug and installed a water pump to bring fresh water to the school, and built a brick path connecting the school to the main road.
In 2008, IRFF ran two separate Service Tours. The first was in Peru, where participants built a multi-purpose community center and redeveloped a playground in the community of San Juan Del Alto. This multi-purpose building is now being used as a health clinic and community center for the neighborhood, allowing much-needed services to reach the village. It is also available for cultural activities and community gatherings, as well as educational programs such as microfinance training.
The second Service Tour of 2008 took place once again in the Mackenzie community of Ndola, Zambia, where participants began construction on a classroom for the fifth grade at the Mackenzie Community School. This classroom will allow the school to provide a free education to their students through the 5th grade, where previously, most of their students had dropped out of school after 4th grade because they could not afford the school fees of public schools.
In 2009, the Discover True Friendship Service Tour will travel to the community of Rasoun Village in Jordan. There, we will partner with the Jordan River Community Empowerment Program to renovate two primary schools – one boys’ school and one girls’ school. The local schools are old and in need of some substantial refurbishing. Service Tour participants will work side by side with local villagers to redevelop the schools as well as improve the surrounding playground and gardens, which are used by the community.
As always, the Service Tour program will also include opportunities for participants to meet with local and international organizations that are working to improve the quality of life in Jordan. They will learn about the challenges faced by the nation’s people and efforts that have been effective in combating these challenges. Participants will also have the opportunity to visit some of the many historical sights in and around Amman, including the ancient and spectacular Nabataean city of Petra.
Discover True Friendship Service Tour 2008: Africa Edition
July 22 - Aug 7, Ndola, Zambia
15 participants from the US and Switzerland joined IRFF’s 2008 Discover True Friendship Service Tour in Zambia. The tour was launched on the 22nd of July, 2008 with the welcoming of the young volunteers at the Ndola International Airport by IRFF Zambia staff and the songs and smiles of a children’s choir team, the Mackenzie Little Angels. At the evening welcome ceremony, the Mackenzie compound chairman, school volunteer teachers, and Bishop Mibenge - who is chairman of IRFF Ndola - offered their deep gratitude for the project.
The Mackenzie Community School, established by IRFF, has been providing the opportunity of a free education to about 250 1st - 4th grade students from the community. The Supporting Success Scholarship Fund has also been providing the top students who finish the 4th grade at the school with the opportunity to continue their education at a government school. IRFF’s microfinance program has also been successful at providing economic opportunities to needy mothers in the community since 2003. These projects have strengthened the community and given people hope. Therefore, IRFF regards Ndola as a model area of our holistic approach towards promoting sustainable development.
Discover True Friendship Service Tour 2008: South America Edition
July 5-20, San Juan del Alto, Peru
“Peru has not only changed me as a person, but it will change the rest of the decisions I make in my lifetime…This experience has made me aware…that I need to dedicate my life to others.”(Ali Brundrett)
“Continuing to find ways to empower, serve and befriend others is vital for my own growth.”
(Sonja Eberly)
“Seeing such immense poverty has really opened my eyes to the reality of life away from America… I feel changed from this project, and I like that change.” (Emily Reuter)
San Juan del Alto, Peru is a small, relatively young farming community of just over 3,000 residents, located in a remote part of the largely desert province of Arequipa. Its residents live simple lives, most without running water, sewage systems or electricity. Many struggle to feed their families while working land that belongs to others. In July of 2008, however, the simple community of San Juan was host to a remarkable event that brought young men and women from three continents together in a project to improve the village while learning about the challenges faced by its residents.
“Sweltering together, Building a better place together!”
2007 Discover True Friendship Service Tour: Asia Edition
July 10 – 25, Bangladesh
The humidity in the air was stifling, as the bricks were passed from hand to hand, down the line of volunteers to their destination – the brand new wall of the Jaigeer Peace Center, a multi-purpose building attached to the Jaigeer School in the Manikganj District of Bangladesh. The hands that the bricks passed through belonged to a startling array of people – American, Japanese, Nepalese and, of course, Bangladeshi. Some of the hands were tough and weathered from years of hard work. Some were gloved to protect hands unaccustomed to handling the coarse bricks. Others were the small hands of children. Sweat dripped from each of them, as Bangladesh’s summer weather lived up to its brutal reputation and tested the volunteers with its heat and humidity. But the hands did not falter, as they worked in unison to move a mountain of bricks and piece by piece, create a structure dedicated to peace and empowerment, where days before had been only an empty lot.
These hands belonged to the participants and volunteers of the 2007 Discover True Friendship Service Tour, held in the village of Jaigeer, located 30 km outside Bangladesh’s capital city of Dhaka. This year’s Service Tour brought participants from all over the United States together with volunteers from Bangladesh, Nepal and Japan in a service learning project that was centered on the Jaigeer School, which serves local students in grades one through five. The mission was to build an addition to the school, in order to allow the school to serve a greater number of students. The building would also, however, be used for adult education classes, business training for microfinance program participants, character education workshops, community meetings, and as a health care clinic. It would serve the community in a myriad of ways, and be a symbol of friendship and cooperation between the people of Jaigeer and their brothers and sisters from across the globe.
2006 Discover True Friends Tour: Africa Edition
“Amazing Journey and Discovery” July 24 – August 8, Ndola, Zambia
This past summer, I was fortunate enough to be able to lead a service project with the International Relief Friendship Foundation (IRFF) in the southern African country of Zambia. The project, titled the “Discover True Friends Tour”, took place in the Mackenzie Community of the city of Ndola. From July 24 to August 8, while most students were enjoying their freedom from school, my group of nine high school and college participants were giving selflessly of themselves in a multitude of ways as they embraced the people and the culture of Zambia.
From the beginning, our project had multiple purposes, but it quickly expanded even further as we spent time in Mackenzie. The first mission was to construct an extension to a school that IRFF had built in the Mackenzie community several years ago. This school is the only one in the community and does not charge its students tuition, unlike the public schools of Zambia. It is staffed by three teachers who volunteer their services to the community, receiving no salary. These dedicated teachers serve almost 350 students in grades 1 through 4, many of whom are orphans whose parents have died of AIDS (Zambia, a nation of just over 11 million people, has approximately 600,000 orphans whose parents have died of AIDS- a staggering
number).
Summer Volunteer Project for Friendship America
August 6 – 19, 2005 Leda Community, Paraguay
Twenty three teenaged participants traveled to Paraguay this past summer to participate in an annual volunteer project sponsored by the International Relief Friendship Foundation (IRFF) and the Leda Project in Paraguay.
During the two weeks there, the group traveled by bus from Asuncion city to a Mennonite community in Loma Plata, then by boat and charter plane to the Leda community developed and sustained by Unificationists under the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and from there, they traveled by boat to the Chamacoco community in Paraguay where the group spent four days living and learning patience, perseverance and strong will and determination from the Native South Americans living in this village.
This larger than usual group of volunteers were given a rare and valuable peek into the sustained development of the unexpectedly popular Mennonite community developed in Loma Plata. Mr. Ratslaff gave the group a great overview of the Mennonite history and illustrated the struggle and rewards of such a great feat. From Loma Plata the group traveled by boat, bus and charter plane to the Leda community where they spent a day soaking in the sun and the beauty of this four year old community before departing for the Chamacoco Village.
