Welcome back to Apopa! It’s our second day in El Salvador working in the youth innovation labs, and today, we’re all about keeping cool. A key component of our work is to be human-centered. Making that principle a reality means talking to people to understand how they express their own needs and desires. With this in mind, we decided to sit down and talk with youth and the Sisters in Apopa to see what ideas they already had for making their space amazing. Part of building a human-centered space is making sure to design for comfort! Many people in the Apopa community were concerned about the heat of the room. The youth lab is on the second floor of their community center where it’s often hot and humid. “It’s going to get even hotter when there are computers and groups of people using the space,” one community member shared. We decided to get a few fans for the space. The first fan is mounted on the wall to help air circulation, and the other is a floor fan that can be … [Read more...] about Cool, Calm, Collected
Changemakers365
Brighter Futures
Hello, hello from El Salvador! Our team will be here for the next few weeks working with youth, Catholic Sisters, and several community centers to make our youth innovation labs a reality. As a part of the Color Movement, the labs exist to be spaces for creativity and innovation, where youth can come not only to explore and discover, but also to simply be. These are safe places in neighborhoods struggling with gang violence. They’re versatile spots, too, with a little something for everyone. Our team, the communities, and the Human Centered Design team at LERO studio have been working on building these spaces for weeks now, and we wanted to come in and help them with some of the final touches to get these spaces ready for use. We kicked things off in a community called Apopa! First, we started by installing some lights. Even though there were plenty of light sockets in the lab, there were only a few that worked. They were even relying on a partially broken light that … [Read more...] about Brighter Futures
Art Explosion
There are few things that spark joy like color! And even if you’re not an artist, a bit of art making can unleash creativity in calming, therapeutic ways. So, for our final joy-sparking Saturdays in Action activity, we colored the world by gathering art supplies for sanctuary spaces. These supplies will add extra, joy and creativity to places where people gather to find a sense of peace. All over the world, we work in places where people seek sanctuary and safety. These are the places we’ve been talking about for the last few days—place like a women’s center in South Sudan, a LGBTIQ+ safe space in Kenya, or shelters on the US-Mexico border. As we build and support these places, we’re looking for ways to intentionally create space for expressing creativity! We know that art making is also a form of mediation, so we’re making sure they have the tools they need. Friends in Minnesota brought in art supply donations by the bucketload—markers, crayons, colored pencils, coloring … [Read more...] about Art Explosion
Self-Care, Anywhere
A little care package can go a long way. So, as a part of our joy-sparking Saturday in Action, we decided to create joy kits that can be used for a bit of much-needed self-care. We decided to create these little kits for our friends in Kenya, a group of LGBTIQ+ refugees. This is a twice marginalized group, living under the pressure of uncertainty and constant movement for safety. When you’re always moving around, it can be hard to find a moment to breathe. We wanted to send them something that might help create a little oasis, one they could bring with them wherever they go. Our friends in Minneapolis were up to the task! They pulled together notes of encouragement, relaxation oils, stress balls, art supplies, and other goodies to create a sense of calm. Inside each kit are the tools they’ll need to create a little bit of comfort, no matter where they are. Though these are just little things, we hope they'll go a long way in making days brighter. If you’d like to … [Read more...] about Self-Care, Anywhere
Messages in a Bottle
Sometimes joy can come as a mini message of affirmation. In South Sudan, we’re working to build women’s centers for women to build community, learn new skills, and find respite. As sanctuary spaces, we wanted to make sure they were joyful, too. These spaces seemed like the perfect places to leave nice notes of encouragement. Communicating and support in these kinds of spaces are so important. The connections that women make with one another in these safe spaces can be life changing—just ask Grace, our Protection lead in Ulang, South Sudan. Though most of us can’t travel to support these connections and communities in South Sudan, we can certainly support from afar. So, during Grace’s visit to Minneapolis, she convened a group of volunteers to write special messages of hope, solidarity, and belief for the women she works with in the center. She shared with us that just knowing someone cares, that someone is thinking of you or creating space for you, makes all the difference. … [Read more...] about Messages in a Bottle
Budding Joy
When it comes to marking special occasions, nothing beats a beautiful bouquet of flowers. They’re bright, colorful, and full of joy—what could be better? For our last Saturdays in Action series, we focused on spreading and sparking joy, and flowers played a central role! We wish we could send a fresh bouquet to everyone we work with. After all, our global teams work so hard and certainly deserve celebration! But fresh flowers tend to be spendy, and they don’t last long. So, we had another idea for spreading joy in the world: paper flowers! Paper flowers are a great way to add lasting color, texture, and a bit of fun to any space. For this project, we focused on spreading joy at the U.S.-Mexico border. Over the past few months, we’ve been working at the border in sanctuary spaces with Catholic sisters. For many folks staying in these sanctuary spaces, the days can be drab and dragging. This is especially tough around the holiday season, which should be a time for celebration and … [Read more...] about Budding Joy
New Home, New Hope
No matter how much support you have, raising children takes an incredible amount of energy. For a single mother doing this all on her own, keeping it together day-by-day can be challenging. As anyone who works this hard knows, a helping hand never goes unappreciated. For one single mother in Uganda, Celestina, the challenges of daily life were getting to be too much to hold at once. Celestina is a single mother of six children bellow the age of 15 juggling all the details of raising a family. She works so hard, but with the prolonged rainy season, the family’s shelter has deteriorated quickly. Without the funds and time to fix it alone, she’s been unsure how to keep up. But the community leaders were looking out for Celestina, and they reached out for help in supporting the family. Together with the leaders, we were able to build a two-room house to keep the family safe and dry! Now, Celestina and her kids will be safe at night, and they’ll be sheltered from the cold. Plus, … [Read more...] about New Home, New Hope
Bright Classrooms, Brighter Futures
For the students at Rubondo Community Secondary School, there’s much studying to do! As more and more students enroll, the competition between students grows steadily. It’s a healthy competition—everyone is working hard to do well on upcoming exams—but for these students, the lessons are the least challenging thing! So, what’s harder than math, science, or reading? Doing studies without light! Because the school didn’t have electric lights, the students were limited to studying only during the daytime. But we had just the solution: a solar lighting system for the school! Now, no matter where a student lives, they can come and study with good light late into the evening. Plus, the lights help make things easier on the security guards, too. The guards will be able to more easily patrol at night, and the light will guide their way. With all that safety and convenience at the school, there’s no doubt that the number of students at school will keep on growing. As headteacher Mr. … [Read more...] about Bright Classrooms, Brighter Futures
Mobile Messages
From billboards off the highway to advertisements on the bus, we're bombarded with so much messaging every day. But what if these daily messages weren’t trying to sell us something? What if instead, they stood for something truly good, like peace and safety in our community? In Oruchinga Refugee settlement, the Kajaho boda boda drivers had just this idea. These motorcycle taxi (or boda) drivers play a big role in making daily commutes safe. They’re trained in safe driving practices, but they also receive training in in gender-based violence prevention and how to report instances of violence to authorities in the settlement. The boda boda cyclists wanted to take steps to be even safer on the roads while spreading the anti-violence messaging far and wide. So, they requested reflector jackets with educative messages printed on the back. We were able to get 27 bright new jackets, which will serve as uniforms for the boda boda group and moving peace billboards, too! As Mr. … [Read more...] about Mobile Messages
Light All Night
There is so much power in knowing there’s a safe place for you to land. In Juru, the protection house stands for this kind of safety, promising shelter, comfort, and peace of mind. But when a safe space is missing key safety features, all that solace vanishes. At Juru’s protection house, a lack of lighting is the biggest safety concern. When it gets dark, staying safe gets riskier, which is especially troubling when you consider how many people specifically use the protection houses at night. Khalid, an OPM worker in Juru told us, “The challenge of a lack of lights is simply a threat to security.” But though challenging, there’s certainly a solution to a lack of lights, and the community had just the fix: solar lights! We got to work installing a solar system to make sure everyone stays safe, no matter the hour. Already, people are enjoying the new system. “Before, because of the darkness, it was difficult to wake up in the night to breastfeed my baby. So this light will … [Read more...] about Light All Night