This Ain't No Charity Work, This is Community.

Good evening beautiful blog followers...or perhaps just to myself if no one is following...lol


Wanted to say a few words about cultural exchange work.  Some folks have asked if we are doing missionary work.  There are three words that answer that question.

No No No.

Our group of 9 does include religious people, spiritual people and perhaps some neither (haven't asked everyone about this to be honest).  But we are not a religious group and we have no spiritual message to deliver to the Philippines as a group.  What brought us together is our desire to travel, learn and make connections outside of the United States.  We know that we will be asking groups to give us knowledge, time and energy and we will in turn give what we can: YTP t-shirts and water bottles,  school supplies and money and if asked, we will talk about our work in the U.S.

Because travel is intimidating, expensive and requires a lot of logistics, most foster youth never get out of the U.S.

Our group makes travel more possible for foster youth.  It is the first international trip for many of our young adult travelers.

And while we do want to feast our eyes on beautiful sights (beaches, mountains, architecture), we mostly want to meet with people who are doing work in their communities under circumstances similar and different from our own.

We want to know how they do it, why they do it, how they collaborate, fund, ignite and continue the work they do to make communities better in the Philippines.

We want to meet feminists, youth organizers, community based folks, laborers, radicals, government workers, everyone.

We are going to expand our world view.  We will look at the body postures people hold, the tones in which they speak, the texture of their skin, the strength of their analysis.  We are going to listen and learn.  We are hoping to build community around the world.  That is not charity work, that is social change.