Mac Serve Reading Week

Mexico

Revolution and Social Change

Participants will travel to Cuernavaca, Mexico where they will work and reside with our longstanding partner- the Cuernavaca Centre for Intercultural Dialogue on Development. Work projects vary, but often involve build/construction projects in local settlements. In addition to work projects, the week contains workshops and presentations from local leaders, artisans, activists and professors.
Cost: $1450
 Number of Participants: 15 including 1 Team Leader and 1 Assistant Team Leader
Community Partners: Activities at the Cuernavaca Centre for Intercultural Dialogue on Development. (CCIDD)
Accommodations: While at CCIDD, the students will be staying in rooms in their residential facilities. The rooms have beds, shared washrooms and commons spaces.
Meals: All meals will be provided by CCIDD.
Activities: Participants will have the opportunity to learn about the local community throughout the week during social events, workshops and trips to local community groups.
The Community: Mexico, the gateway of Central and South America, stands at the crossroads between the conflicting ideologies of the increasingly conservative North and the increasingly leftist South. Cuernavaca, originally kuánouáka meaning the place of long and thin trees, is approximately 40 miles south of Mexico City in the state of Morelos. Its climate has earned it the nickname of the City of Eternal Spring and for hundreds of years; it was a retreat for indigenous leaders and the conquistadors. Now with a burgeoning population of approximately 500,000 it too faces the complexity of a globalized world. It stands at a different crossroads, the one between the north and south of Mexico. CCIDD, with its location in Cuernavaca Mexico, is an ideal location to explore urban and rural realities of Mexico and to think critically regarding the current economic and political processes governing our world.

 

New Orleans

Politics of Disaster Relief

Participants will travel to New Orleans to explore the impact of Hurricane Katrina and more recently, the BP oil spill. Working with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, participants will explore how help is organized during disasters and the long-term social, economic and cultural repercussions of such events.
Cost: $615
 Number of Participants: 47 including 2 Team Leaders and 2-3 Assistant Team Leaders
Community Partners: Habitat for Humanity
Accommodations: Participants will be staying at City of Hope (affiliated with Camp Hope) throughout their trip.  Participants will have access to shared sleeping quarters (by gender), bathroom facilities and kitchen areas.
Meals: Meals will be prepared by the participants. The group will buy groceries for their breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
Activities: Participants will have the opportunity to explore the city through some day trips and social activities.  They will also explore a number of different community groups through presentations and workshops. 
The Community: New Orleans, Louisiana is a city of rich cultural history.  It is located in the Southern United States along the Mississippi River.  New Orleans is famous for its cuisine, music and festival scene – most notably as the home of Mardi Gras.  It has also become a topic of conversation over the past five years because of a variety of different disasters that have occurred there.  In 2005 Hurricane Katrina caused the city to flood and then in 2010 the BP oil spill demonstrated that manmade environmental disasters can have just as big an impact as natural ones.  The city has spent the past five years rebuilding, showing their resilience and the strength of their culture.

Hamilton

Youth Poverty

Participants will gain a new perspective on Hamilton as they explore it through the lens of youth poverty. Working with organizations such as the Living Rock and Good Shepherd, students will examine youth poverty from multiple perspectives such as poverty-reduction at governmental, community and individual levels. Students who participate in this experience do not look at Hamilton, or themselves, in the same way.
Cost: $200
 Number of Participants: 20-25 including 1-2 Team Leaders and 1 Assistant Team Leader
Community Partners: Living Rock, Good Shepherd, Eva Rothwell Centre
Accommodations: Students will sleep in the Ravine Room at Hedden Hall. Cots will be provided. Participants are required to stay in Hedden Hall for the first three nights.
Meals: Meals will be prepared by the participants. The group will buy groceries for their breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
Activities: Social events will be organized for students during the week to explore the city. This will be up to the group and could be shopping at the farmer’s market, bowling or other social activities.
The Community: Hamilton is located in the center of the Golden Horseshoe, approximately between Toronto and Buffalo. It makes use of land below and above the Niagara Escarpment. Founded by George Hamilton, a settler and local politician, Hamilton has become a densely populated and industrialized region. It has an atmosphere centred on arts, culture and a diverse economy. The opportunities for youth in Hamilton are endless. The vibrant local communities work to foster positive environments for young people in many different ways and are certainly worth exploring.

 

Vancouver

Food (in)Security

Participants will work with various organizations throughout Vancouver to explore food systems and why some people have no access to food while others waste so much. QUEST Outreach is a food re-distribution organization who believes 'we don't have a hunger problem, we have a food distribution problem.' Through work with Quest and other organizations, students will experience and explore ‘food security’ through urban communities, advocacy and sustainable development models.
Cost: $1300
 Number of Participants: 20 including 1 Team Leader and 1 Assistant Team Leader
Community Partners: Quest Outreach and City Farmer
Accommodations: Participants will be staying at the Cambie Hostel. Accommodation is hostel-style with shared rooms and shared washrooms.
Meals: Meals will be prepared by the participants. The group will buy groceries for their breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
Activities: Participants will have opportunities to explore the city. Past activities have included bike-riding in Stanley Park, Bus Tours and the Vancouver Aquarium.
The Community: The beautiful coastal city of Vancouver is located in the lower mainland of British Columbia. Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area in Western Canada and ranks third largest in the country. While forestry remains its largest industry, Vancouver is well known as an urban centre surrounded by nature, making tourism its second largest industry. Vancouver is a centre for arts, culture and a temperate climate not to mention its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. Vancouver grew from its oldest neighbourhood known as the Downtown Eastside. This area has an exciting history of community activism that will be explored throughout this trip.