THE ONE REVOLUTION PROGRAM

"Be the change" in 2010!

One Revolution is a group program of travel and service in Central America, Asia and Africa - the only program we know of that takes you to three continents in four months! One Revolution is the ideal gap year program because it gives you an overview of the whole planet by immersing you in life on three continents, and you can explore individually on each continent while you have the support of a group and great leaders. Add in a guided contemplative journey and optional college credit and you have an unparalleled start to a gap year, or a perfect break from an academic environment.

Each spring (Jan-May) and fall (late August - mid-Dec), a group of people ages 17 and older travel together around the world and do three periods of volunteer service: in Guatemala, India and Uganda. The program is bound together with three contemplative retreats that allow your inner growth to keep pace with your dramatic outer journey.

ONE REVOLUTION - The program at a glance:

One Revolution at a glance

The purpose of this journey is to:

Allow you to engage in the world in a way that is individual to you (you choose your three internships), but contained and supported by competent, caring leaders and a group of like-minded individuals.
Give you a chance to dive deeply into Latin America, Asia and Africa in a relatively short period of time – with the encouragement to engage deeply with the people and cultures you are immersed in.
Learn experientially within a context that allows you to reflect on and integrate these extremely diverse experiences into yourself. Each country and internship gives you the opportunity to experience yourself in very different ways – providing an invaluable mirror to you.

"When historians look back on our century, they may remember it most, not for space travel or the release of nuclear energy, but as a time when the peoples of the world first came to take one another seriously. The change that this new situation requires of us all - we who have been suddenly catapulted from town and country onto a world stage - is staggering. Twenty-five hundred years ago it took an exceptional man like Diogenes to exclaim, "I am not an Athenian or a Greek but a citizen of the world." Today we must all be struggling to make those words our own. We have come to the point in history when anyone who is only Japanese or American, only Oriental or Occidental, in only half human. The other half that beats with the pulse of all humanity has yet to be born. - Huston Smith

In terms of abundance and opportunity, Americans are among the most privileged people on the planet. If everyone on the planet were to have the standard of living of an average American, we would need SIX planets to support us! What is our responsibility to this level of privilege? Is it "responsible" not to think about this? One Revolution is a chance to learn how people live in other parts of the world – in regions that don’t enjoy our level of affluence and abundance. Through such “deep travel” we can begin to envision how we might respond to global problems, rather than being an unconscious contributor to them.

A quote from a Spring 2009 One Revolution participant:

"I want to say that this semester has been one of the most incredible times of my entire life. I have had absolutely wonderful volunteer experiences that I will never forget. I have learned so much about life, the world, and myself along this wonderful journey. All three countries have been spectacular and uniquely beautiful in their own ways. Working in the AIDS/TB hospital in Guatemala completely threw me into this experience full time. In my first week I was already interacting with patients who didn’t speak one word of English, administering medications, and giving injections. Here was also my first exposure to the huge amount of HIV/AIDS education still needed in the world. I met grown working men who had no idea what it meant to be HIV +. I watched one of our AIDS patients deteriorate into eventual death in a matter of hours. It was certainly tough working here, but it was also a huge opportunity for growth and exposure to new elements of life. From hearing life stories and struggles of these lower class fruit pickers and ranch hands to gain property and feed their families to teaching them how to play chess (in Spanish…haha) to just sitting with a lonely patient even when we couldn’t communicate; the whole experience was absolutely tremendous...

My India internship was a whole new adventure full of new challenges, realizations, and excitements. Working in the leper colony forever changed my views on the human body and human experience. Serving, working, talking, and interacting with these patients allowed me to experience THE most loving and kind people I have ever come in contact with. They are social outcasts even to this day, but the interactions I had with people at the colony was not that of those who were looked down on by the world; it was of truly alive, vibrant, beautiful people that are absolutely living their lives to the fullest in the truest form of that expression that I have ever encountered. I learned so much about how I want to live my life from their example.

While here in Uganda, I have embarked on yet another wonderful project that serves the outlying and isolated communities. We do HIV testing, counseling, education, and other public health outreach in both schools and in the community. I have been working on updating (pretty much redoing) their two websites, revamping the volunteer system, a mural project on their new school with the orphans that live here, and doing outreach on the islands and in village schools (before their school holiday began). It has been SO incredible to work here doing budgets and spreadsheets and brainstorming how to make this NGO self-sustainable. This is right up my alley because I love to organize, plan, and make things happen.

I am truly thankful and feel so blessed to have been a part of this journey. I cannot thank you enough for allowing me to be a part of this group!! My intention for this trip was to do service, and I ended up learning and experiencing lifetimes more than I ever thought possible. This trip has guided me towards a career path by revealing more about my passions and gifts. I am applying for graduate school fellowships currently and will apply to schools in the fall. My general area of interest is in Public Health with an emphasis in nutrition. I would like to work internationally for a while and eventually come back home to the US and work in high risk, low socioeconomic areas to help make small changes by teaching good health and nutrition.

I really believe that this program is a wonderful opportunity to serve in amazing projects across the world, and to explore the meaning of “service” with in ourselves and humankind. I also really loved the immediate cross-cultural comparison that was able to happen due to the set up and juxtaposition of the countries. It helped me to understand and see similarities between people across the globe, while also illuminating the distinctiveness or “unique medicine” (as one of our leaders says) that each country and people group brings to this earth."

The beginning, middle and end of the One Revolution journey incorporates contemplative retreats - two at the LEAPNOW campus north of San Francisco, and one in India. These give participants time to get oriented and learn vital skills (conscious communication, agreements, integrity & transitions), to breathe and realize how much has happened. The first retreat will help you prepare for the journey, and give the group some time to come together before traveling. The second retreat (in India) and the final retreat back in the U.S. give you time to harvest your learning, take time to digest your experiences, and connect your internship experiences to your specific life purpose.

One Revolution is open to people ages 17 and older. It can be used as the final semester of high school, a gap year program, a half year of college for who want to gain international volunteer experience to balance their academic education, or for those out of college who want to feel the wind in their hair. It’s for anyone who wants to know themselves and the world better, and who wants to have a positive impact on the world.
College credit is available at a low additional cost through Seattle Central Community College
One Revolution is designed to be an extended active meditation and inquiry into how you can “be the change that you wish to see in the world.” The variety of cultures and social structures in these three very diverse regions of the world will ask you to examine your your own life and cultural assumptions, and reflect consciously upon how you might like to live in the world.
Maximum group size is 12 students. They will travel with two experienced adult leaders who serve participants as a resource and a liaison into the various cultures and internship placements. Leaders will work with the group to maximize safety, learning and personal growth.

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