Rivers Of The World

Volunteer With Rivers Of The World

News/Updates:

Do you have an adventurous spirit and a desire to help grow God's kingdom around the world? If you do, then you could be perfect for traveling with a ROW team to help in one of our on going missions around the world! Here are some details about Going With ROW:

Length of trip: Most of our trips are 1 week, typically Saturday to Saturday. Trips to Congo, Kenya, and Vietnam are between 10-14 days, due to longer traveling times.

Costs: The cost of trips varies with location and what you will be doing, but will usually be around $2000. Congo and Kenya will be more. If you will be participating in construction projects, you will need to pay for the construction materials. You pay your own way (you'd be amazed at how many volunteers we could get if only we'd pay for it!!) – but are free to ask your church and/or your friends to help you. If you believe in your mission, you shouldn't be afraid to ask others to support that mission.

What is the most important thing for me to take on a trip? The most important things to take are attitude, patience, and attitude and patience!! Americans are often in a hurry and seldom watch their words. It is so easy to be critical and we need folks who are patient with others and keep a good attitude even when things are rough! My friend Chuck says, "You can complain all you want - just as long as you end the complaint with 'and that's just the way I like it!'" I love that! Patience and attitude - in other words - love!

Here are some specifics about our trips:

Belize:

Billy White Village

Billy White, Belize, is a village of 350 people. The primary school in the village does not receive assistance from the government and only had one Math and one English textbook to share among the school children, and several children had to share the same pencil as there was no money to buy more. The teachers travel 2 1/2 hours from Belize City on Monday morning and sleep on the floor of someone's house during the week before returning to Belize City on Friday. Through generous donations the school children have been supplied with textbooks, school supplies, sports equipment, and new shoes. The school has been painted and tile put on the concrete floors, a computer and new school desks were purchased, a multi-purpose concrete pad was constructed and a water collection tank installed.

The projects which still need to be accomplished are: an addition of a classroom to the school building ($15,000); construction of a teacher's residence compound (3 connected block houses 20'x20' for $7,000 each) on land which has already been purchased; pavilion roof over the multi-purpose concrete pad ($3500); satellite internet purchased and installed for the school children ($1,000 equipment/installation and then $60/month for service); picnic tables for the children to eat lunch on ($500).

Lodging is at Martha's Guesthouse, a hotel in the town of San Ignacio, about a ½ hour from Billy White.

Saturday to Saturday trip, $750/person plus airfare. This includes: side trips (Side trips would be one full day trip to Mayan Ruins and Swimming in the waterfalls, other short tips during the trip could be caving, Butterfly farm, etc.), food in Belize, Lodging, ground Transportation, picked up at airport and returned, construction materials, guide and drivers full time. Contact 3 for more information (3@row.org).

Crique Sarco

In the southern district of Belize, ROW has just completed a church in the small village of CRIQUE SARCO. Traveling to this remote village is an adventure alone, but the natural beauty of the village and the generous hospitality of the people make this mission all the more rewarding. Until recently, the village was accessible only by river. Now, however, there is a road – which is not passable in the rainy season. Now that the church is completed, we would love to have teams come down to do VBS and other activities with this church. There is also a great need for medical/dental teams. There are also smaller construction projects. The cost of a week-long trip to Crique Sarco is $650 plus airfare. Construction materials are also extra. Contact Nick Beazley (Nick@row.org) for details.

LEAP is another exciting opportunity that ROW is offering the youth of today to participate in so that they can become the leaders of tomorrow. Contact Drew McIlreavy (Drew@row.org) about spending a week this summer in Belize and learning what it takes to be a lead a group of people into this international environment.

Brasil:

Manaus: A week-long trip on the Amazon River to several different villages. The cost is $300 plus airfare and the cost of construction materials. Your home for the week will be a boat which is a medical/dental clinic by day, and food and lodging by night. The way in which ROW serves is different for every village, and there is room for everyone.

Projects include construction – latrines, churches, and more – and lots of VBS. There is also a great need for medical and dental professionals.

Fly into Manaus, and you will be met at the airport and taken to the boat, and will head up the Amazon. There will also be time to discover the beautiful city of Manaus, and shop in the open marketplace. You will need a visa to get into Brasil. Contact 3 for information (3@row.org).

Fortaleza: ROW is committed to its work along the northeastern coast in the city of Fortaleza, where volunteers work in soup kitchens, help with construction of a school, and provide leadership training to the people that live in one of the poorest regions of Brazil. Contact Penny for information (Penny@row.org).

Click here to learn more about our 2007 Trip to Fortaleza!

Honduras:

Fly to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Upon arrival and successful clearance from customs, the group will procure rental vehicles and supplementary provisions before embarking on the 2 hour trip southwest to Siquatepeque which will be near the site for the clinic. You will stay at the hotel Honduyate Marina and dine at local delicatessens.

On Sunday, you will travel by van to the site to prepare for work for the coming week—possibility of traveling on to an ancient Mayan ruin site, Copan, and experiencing some of the local culture. (Other opportunities include: Cave Tubing, Waterfall's, Cave Exploration, Museum Visiting, etc.)

Construction involves a Medical Clinic project near the village of Taulabe, in central Honduras. The clinic will concentrate on furnishing healthcare to infants and OB GYN. At present, infant mortality is very high with diseases that are easily treated with adequate care. The clinic is currently under construction, with the slab poured, and some columns up. We won't know exact work until later, as there are still teams working now, and it will depend on what they are able to complete.

Tualabe is a small town located on the Pan Am Highway. The region is dominated by mountains, lush with pineapple, coffee, sugar cane, maize, lemons. A veritable paradise with the exception of extreme poverty and very limited medical care. The villages in the mountains are very remote and the "roads" to them are very difficult to traverse. Because of the remoteness, the people do not come down the mountains, until their illness gets severe. The only existing clinic in the area is a small three room building in Tualabe proper. The physician is Floripe Gonzales who is well respected and a talented and caring women. Her husband, Israel, is a local minister, who administers to those in the mountains. He will be our guide while there. Israel is well known in the area and a "genuine man" and pleasure to be with.

You will be involved in construction, as well as VBS in area villages, and will have ample opportunity to take school and other supplies to these area villages.

Additionally, there is a great need for houses to be built. The new Pam American Highway has been built recently, leaving families needing new homes. A home can be built in a week for $4000.

The cost for a trip to this beautiful part of Honduras is $680 plus airfare, plus additional cost for construction materials. Contact Drew for information (Drew@row.org).

Kenya:

Cost is $3200 total approximately, including airfare. ROW partners with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa in Nakuru, and projects include work at the Community Resource Center and the Arap Moi Orphanage. These wonderful people need help with: basic computer training, training on tailoring and dressmaking, training of pre-school teachers, working with HIV/AIDS orphans, construction and expansion of the Community Resource Center Classrooms, clinic medical assistance, and Vacation Bible School. Construction work involves building a new orphanage to replace the current one; the new orphanage will house 400 children. Contact RowKenya@row.org for more information.

Congo:

Cost is $4-5000, and is only for the very experienced. Travel on the Sankuru River, sleep on a sand bar, visit remote villages and provide medical care, VBS, etc. Trips are in June. Contact Ben for more information (Ben@row.org).

Vietnam:

In Vietnam, ROW has completed the first Presbyterian church in Vietnam. We also have built a home for the blind and distributed Bibles to leprosy patients. Contact Tri for more information about trips to this amazing country. (Tri@row.org).

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