Description

Visions offers teenagers opportunities for ambitious service work and cross-cultural immersion in the United States and abroad. We work with and for intercultural communities that lack financial and other development resources. Through service, authentic experience, and active exploration, we encourage new perspectives and dynamic learning.

This Caribbean island offers service within the language immersion setting of a French speaking culture. Guadeloupe is a department of France with a diverse cultural history. French is the official language, spoken with a musical island lilt. Creole is a second mother tongue testifying to Guadeloupe's historical ties to Africa and other sources of immigration. The complex at times tragic history of the French West Indies has produced a people that today celebrate the diversity of their origins even as they struggle for a collective identity that they may call "Guadeloupean". This is apparent, for example, in the unique local cuisine that often combines French sauces, curry spices and fresh seafood. The faces of its people tell Guadeloupe's history. Since Columbus's landing in 1492 the island has seen English, Spanish, and French Colonial settlers from Europe as well as the importation of slaves from Africa and indentured servants from Asian India. Traditions imported from these continents have blended over the centuries. Today, the hallmarks of Carnival, the French celebration, are Indian madras costumes and African musical rhythms. As a department of France, Guadeloupe has not suffered the economic hardships of other independent Caribbean islands. Most Guadeloupeans perceive their continuing dependence upon metropolitan France as a two-edged sword, bringing relative economic stability at the price of independence and identity. In Guadeloupe you will be challenged to understand service as meeting both the material and social needs of a community. In the special context of language immersion, community service involves both giving and receiving as one builds meaningful relationships across cultures.

Highlights

We live on tranquil Terre de Bas, one of Iles Des Saintes, the tiny islands forming the southernmost Guadeloupean Archipelago. Our service on Terre de Bas varies from renovating public buildings devastated by recent earthquakes to paving walkways and landscaping in the cemetery to clearing trails with Service Technique and aiding with the construction of traditional medicinal gardens. We work with young children, and we apprentice with fishermen, sorbet vendors, and an artisan who weaves fishermen's salakus, wide round-brimmed hats unique to the Saintes. We will enjoy Beguine dancing, Zouk and Gwoka music and the persistent, irresistible drumming. With excursions to "mainland" Guadeloupe we will explore waterfalls, rain forests, and La Soufriere, an active volcano. We swim and snorkel, and scuba dive in one of Jaques Cousteau's favorite lagoons. Your French speaking skills will inevitably improve. Participants in Guadeloupe must have a minimum of two years of high school French or equivalent fluency in French.

Travel Types

• Volunteering
• Fishing
• Nature Tours

Qualifications

Two years high school French or equivalent

Type of Programs

• Adventure Travel
• Community Service / Volunteerism
• Cultural Exploration
• Language Immersion

Languages

• English
• French

Cost in US$:

5,450

Cost Includes:

• Excursions
• Food
• Housing
• Travel while in host country

Program Fees Include:

Everything except airfare to and from the program location and spending money (usually USD 50-60 per week).

Experience Required

yes

Two years of high school French or equivalent experience.

Volunteer Types

• Community Development
• Community Organizing

Age Range

14-18

This Program is open to

Worldwide Participants.

Typical Living Arrangements

• Group living

Participants Travel

in Groups

Typically Participants Work

in Groups of 24

Scholarships are Available

Application Process Involves

• Physical Exam/Health Records
• Written Application

Typically The Application Process Time is

1 week or less

Visions Service Adventures's Mission Statement

Through service work and dynamic experience, Visions offers new perspectives and deep learning while working for and with under-resourced communities. Through construction-based and other service and on-site living, Visions introduces teens to cultures very different from their own. Participants are challenged to grow thoughtfully and intentionally within a community of peers and adult leaders. The service work accomplished is a gift to local hosts who welcome Visions participants into their homes and lives. Visions assists organizations that serve under-resourced communities. We provide labor and raw materials for projects designated by communities. Depending on the duration and size of a program, Visions provides USD 3,000 to USD 7,000 for each location's projects, which we fund in full or by adding funds to local funding sources for projects.

Year Founded

1989