WEBVTT

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[Music]

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Q: Thanks for coming. Hi.

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So can we talk a little bit about the

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Alternative Spring Break group?

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A: Alternative spring break has been

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around at Ryerson since 2008.

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It's a completely student-run

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organization and we basically facilitate

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international volunteer trips abroad. So

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we've done, I believe this year we're

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running two trips, so it'll be our

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13th trip abroad by the end of this year.

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And we just have a huge focus on

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sustainable and ethical volunteering

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with grassroots organizations and,

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yeah that's really like the gist of it.

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Q: What do you mean

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grassroots organizations? A: So we try

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to avoid like

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big international volunteering groups

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like Me to Wo, like not that we have an

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issue with them, but just

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something smaller and more focused on

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community-based asset development

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is more,

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it's a more unique experience and it's a

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little bit more, they're able to cater it

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to what we

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are looking for as an organization and

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it's kind of a more personal and

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unique experience overall. Q: And how did

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you get involved?

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A: I actually just found out about it

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from a friend who had been doing

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alternative spring break before and I'd

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been posting about

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traveling on Facebook and he commented

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on my Facebook, and was like,

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hey you should check out ASB. Like you

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would probably like this, and I applied.

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As a team member

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in 2014, I went to Uganda and it was

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amazing and cheesy, and great and I got

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involved there and then

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all of the leadership team left and I

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applied to be coordinator and I got it

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and I'm still here.

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Q: And what's happening this year? A: So this

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year we're running two separate trips.

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One to India, and one to Laos which we're

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really excited about. So

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we went to India last year and it was a

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really successful trip, so we're

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returning with the same organization,

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Euro India.

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That's a group of 11 students are going

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to build latrines in a tribal community

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in India

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and the Laos group is doing more of a

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social project and will be volunteering

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with an organization that has

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a group, it's like a guest home

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rather.

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That is providing jobs and workshops for

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women who are displaced from

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abuse from their villages and they come

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there to learn skills and bring them

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back to their respective communities. So

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we'll be volunteering with them and kind

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of repairing some of the buildings on

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their site, but also helping them run

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workshops and things so

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that'll be really interesting. Q: And then

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where is Laos? A: Laos is

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just north of Thailand so we're like

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right on the border of Thailand.

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it kind of is like in between Thailand

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and Vietnam.

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It's like a hidden country. Q: And then that

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experience - you're just helping the women

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like build their lives back?

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A: Basically they're,

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they're what we would call, like a very

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grassroots organization. They,

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the women really like run it themselves

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so this woman from the netherlands

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started it.

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It's like a guest house, so like

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volunteers can come and stay and you can

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be as involved or as little involved in

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the day-to-day runnings of it as if

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as you want. But yeah it's like a

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women's empowerment

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place basically so we help them run

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their workshops and

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things like that. Q: And then I know the

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group is associated with Ryerson

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and how does the funding work for this?

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A: Yeah so

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we are a Ryerson student group so

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basically

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how it works is we all the students pay

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a fee

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and the fee is half the cost

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approximately of what it would be to go.

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And our reason being is international

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volunteer trips are super expensive and

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typically not really affordable for

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students so we cut the cost in half. So

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this year

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the team members, like team Laos is

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paying 1800 each, in

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India is 1900 that's the membership fee.

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So you pay that to us and then we

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fundraise the rest together. So we do

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fundraising. Fundraising initiatives like

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bar nights, like

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we have a silent auction coming up on

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March 23rd. That's like our big event

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and then myself and the leadership

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team works on like

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speaking to deans and applying for

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on-campus grants to get the rest of the

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money.

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Q: And then you said 11 students are going

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from Ryerson.

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Are they all from Ryerson? A: It's 20 in

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total. So it's 11 going to India and nine

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going to Laos.

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This year we're actually

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excited to be trying something a little

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bit new. We have two

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students - one from University of Waterloo

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and one from University of Toronto.

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One of them is going to India, and one of

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them is going to Laos and it's just

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a little way to move towards possibly

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establishing Alternative spring breaks

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at other schools. We do get complimented

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on the way that

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we run the organization. We're unique in

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that we don't bring

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faculty with us abroad even though we

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get asked to every year. Our faculty

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advisor is very adamant that it would be

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different without it, so we're trying to

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kind of

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give other students from other schools

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an opportunity to see how we run so they

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could go back and

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make one at their own school if they so

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pleased to do so. Q: And then what have you

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and any of the other students learned from

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your experiences with this trip?

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A: So much it has completely changed the

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trajectory of what I wanted to do

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as of saying before I'm in film

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studies but I'm now minoring in NGO

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administration and it's completely

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shifted the way I function basically.

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But I think in all it just those trips

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really just put things into perspective

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for you. You don't really look

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at your life back home the same

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afterward and you stop taking things for

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granted so much.

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Thank you so much for being here and

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taking some time to speak with us.