学进去

You can make a difference to the life of others by signing up for a volunteer vacation.

“After 30 programs in Poland, I’ve received more than I’ve given. All benefit from this partnership — the future leaders of this great nation, and volunteers who fall in love with the beautiful people and culture.”

– Lori Wedeking, a volunteer in Poland

Volunteer Opportunities Portugal:

Teach natives conversational skills with varying English abilities in classrooms, offices, and community centers. Help choose assignments in public elementary and secondary schools, or with young adults in technical or trade schools.

Peru:

Volunteers with a medical background can choose to spend their time working at medical centers. Others can spend their time practicing conversational English with local students and teachers.

Tanzania:

Support a community quest for development through food and nutrition, health and education projects. Work in the greenhouse nurturing seedlings for seasonal plantings.

Nepal:

Teach conversational English and business management, help repair living and learning spaces, provide support and training for marginalized women, and nurture impoverished children.

Cuba:

Build bridges of friendship through conversational English classes. Work alongside local women sewing and knitting baby clothes, aprons, crafts, etc, which are sold to benefit the women’s cooperative interests.

Global Volunteers’ History

Established in 1984 by Bud Philbrook and Michele Gran, Global Volunteers is an international nonprofit organization assisting worldwide community development programs by mobilizing short-term volunteers on local work programs, as well as providing project funding and child sponsorships. Since 1984, Global Volunteers has helped partner communities deliver most of these services to local people worldwide, and been trusted by more than 34,000 volunteers. As Seija Webb, an eight-time global volunteer says, “Volunteering abroad holds magic on so many fronts. It’s the springboard for my global explorations. I can’t imagine one without the other anymore.”

Before the end of the year, employees at Ubiquitous Energy, a company in Redwood City, Calif, will gather in a window-lined conference room to stare toward the future. That’s because their new glass windows will offer more than an amazing view of the mountains and blue skies of the North California landscape. They will also function as solar panels (太阳能电池板), able to power the company’s lights, computers and air conditioners.

Several years in the making, Ubiquitous’ energy-producing glass is a great technological achievement whose power lies in the layers of organic polymers (聚合物) between sheets of glass. As light enters the window, the flow of electrons between the polymer layers creates an electric current, which is then collected by tiny wires in the glass.

“It’s sort of like a transparent (透明的) computer display run backwards,” says Veeral Hardev, director of business development at Ubiquitous Energy. “That is, instead of electricity being sent to different points in a display to light them up, light is producing electricity to be sent out of different points in the window.”

Right now the windows produce about a third as much electricity from a given amount of sunlight as the typical solar batteries used in roof panels (板), and these windows, about half as transparent as ordinary glass, don’t work as well as transparent ones. But those standards are already enough to make the windows a promising product, says Hardev, adding the company is likely to improve the transparency significantly. As for the lower output of electricity, he notes that windows can cover a much greater surface area than a roof, so numerous windows will produce a surprisingly larger amount of electricity than the production from a rooftop full of higher-efficiency solar panels. “You could do both.” says Hardev. “But you’ll get more from the windows. The biggest challenge, he adds, is to make the windows from less than two square feet currently to about 50 square feet.”

Just like everyone, I have experienced ups and downs in my life. I am an aerospace engineer from India, I was told by my relatives, close friends and others that it was hard for a non-IT student to pursue a master's degree in IT and graduate from a US university.

I had never taken courses related to computers or programming. I was never interested in being a programmer, but things changed. I became so fascinated with the convenience IT has brought to our life that I made up my mind in chasing a master's degree in IT.

At first, I came across too many difficulties and setbacks. Coming from a middle-class family, the huge cost per credit was a big issue. My English accent was terrible. Most importantly, the course seemed impossible at first. Although I felt so discouraged and frustrated, I never thought of giving up.

Then I decided to choose my university because it promised its students to help them learn practically. During my first month, it was difficult to understand the Americans' accent and finish my assignments. But I never gave in. I walked two miles to the university every day so that I could use my travel money to buy a meal. I started looking for jobs and I got an offer to work as a student assistant, which meant lifting benches and chairs every day.

I took all these challenges as my chances, and I believed that hard work was my strength. Right now I am graduating with a GPA of 3.96/4 and a job offer from a multinational company that has asked me to start right after graduation.

When you have a dream to realize, there is nothing that can stop you. All you need is the diligence and persistence. Hard work always pays off. Having a determined will is also necessary.