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      • India – Kashmir 2018
        • About Kashmir
    • Africa
      • Uganda – November 2020
        • About Uganda
      • Liberia 2011
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        • Liberia Peacebuilder Community Summit on 4th of July
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        • “Pray the Devil Back to Hell”
      • Ghana 2006
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        • A Perspective on Ghana
        • Ghana Together Blog
        • Ghana Journey Report
        • Beyond Axim: follow up projects in Ghana
      • Nigeria 2005
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      • Ghana Blog, Page 2
      • Ghana Blog, Page 3
      • Ghana Blog, Page 4
      • Ghana Blog, Page 5
      • Beyond Axim: follow up projects in Ghana
      • Ghana Blog
    • Burundi
    • Personal Journey – India
      • India Blog 1: First days in India: Arriving in Bangalore
      • India Blog 2: Tirunvannamalai
      • India Blog 3: Auroville
      • India Blog 4: Days of rest and reflection up in the hill town of Kodaicanal
      • India Blog 5: From charming Fort Cochin into the paradise of the backwaters of Kerala
      • India Blog 6: Ashram of Amma, a living saint… to Trivindrum
      • India Blog 7: Schools & Women’s empowerment centers with heart and soul
      • India Blog 8: Uttrakhand – foothills of the Himalayas
      • India Blog 9: Holy Cities on the Ganges: Hardiwar & Rishikesh
      • India Blog 10: The Pink City of Jaipur and Ranthambhore National Park
      • India Blog 11: The Planet’s Favorite World Heritage Site – Taj Mahal and other Agra sites
      • India Blog 12: Holiest of Holies – Varanesi
    • Personal Journey-Guatemala
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Journeys

Journeys: The Heart of GCJ

 

bustogether

Each GCJ journey is a multilayered experience in cross-cultural communication, leadership development and community service. Participants discover new ways of thinking and living and learn to see the uniqueness of their own cultural gifts through the eyes of others.

Our destinations are on the road less taken. Part of our mission is to shed light on areas and issues that are not well understood in the U.S., enabling voices largely unknown outside their borders to be heard.

How Does a GCJ Journey Work?

GCJ Journeys are designed to form lasting bonds between delegates and the host country. Each phase of the experience is equally important, from planning for the journey to the spin-off projects that stem from individual delegates’ passion.

Before the Journey

Roughly 15 U.S. delegates are chosen to travel, live and work for 2.5 to three weeks with the same number of local and regional delegates. Participants represent a diverse mix of religions, ethnicity, gender, ages, socio-economic levels, lifestyles and professions. The planning and leadership roles are shared between the host country organizing the group and the U.S. organizing group, the result is that when the time comes to step onto the plane, delegates are excited to meet their new friends with whom they’ve already developed a rapport.

The Journey

Participants are housed in the host village, sharing meals and getting to know the local families, working daily on a community service project which is identified and organized by the host community. The project might be planting trees, wetland restoration, building homes or a community building, such as the library built in Nigeria in 2005.

townhall

Delegates also participate in daily workshops and dialogues to promote cross-cultural communication, conflict resolution and compassionate listening skills, leadership development and environmental awareness. (Read an overview of GCJ circles and workshops).

Additional activities to enhance learning and understanding include music, crafts and art, recreation, visits with local dignitaries, side trips to cultural sites, and the sharing of participants’ native music, holidays and favorite foods. We work with the local community to host a Town Hall meeting using World Cafe and Open Space processes, inviting 50 to 150 local residents to join in dialogue about their issues and ways to create a vision for their desired future.

After the Journey

Upon their return, many of our delegates stay in contact with the friends they’ve made and keep working on the issues they care about. Check out the Ghana and Nigeria pages for an idea of some of the spin-off projects that have resulted from those journeys.

It is vital for delegates to extend the journey into our home communities by sharing their experiences and learning before, during and after the journey. Many delegates are sponsored by a group or organization. Participants without organizational sponsors develop individual plans to share their stories in other ways, ensuring that their experiences also reach a wider network.

 

Have an idea for a Journey?

Find out what it takes to be a Project Director or an International Host.

Past Journeys:

Niger Delta
Ghana

GCJ Partners:

Nigeria

Burundi

Ghana

Liberia

  • 2017 Delegation to Maher in Maharashtra, India
  • GCJ Kashmir, India 2018
  • GCJ Uganda – 2020
  • Liberia 2011
    • Liberia Blog
    • Liberia Peacebuilder Initiative
    • Project and Host
      • Details of LPI Summit Activities
      • GCJ’s Initial Trip to Liberia
      • Why launch the Liberia Peacebuilder Initiative?
    • Special program on Liberia Peacebuilder Initiative
    • About Liberia
    • “Pray the Devil Back to Hell”
  • Personal Journeys
  • Burundi Partners
    • Burundi 2008
    • Burundi Blog
  • Nigeria 2005
    • Project and Host
    • Nigeria Trip Report
    • About Nigeria
    • Follow-up Projects
    • Nigeria Donors
  • Ghana 2006
    • Beyond Axim: follow up projects in Ghana
    • Ghana Together Blog
    • Project and Host
    • Ghana Journey Report
      • A Perspective on Ghana
    • About Ghana
    • Follow-up Projects
      • Western Heritage Home/GCJ Ghana Alum Wishlist
    • Ghana Donors
  • Future Journeys

RSS Delegate Dennis Gaither’s GCJ Kashmir 2018 Updates!

  • An Afternoon with Action India September 29, 2018
    Dear Friends, It has been an interesting and fruitful time here in Delhi.  And we are eagerly anticipating our travel soon to Kashmir, where we will be meeting the 13 Kashmiri delegates with whom we will be living and working.  That really is the heart of this project. While in Delhi we have been meeting […]
    Dennis Gaither
  • Arriving in Delhi September 26, 2018
    Dear Friends, At last we have arrived in Delhi!  Our delegate group from the US is forming, with two more coming tonight and another coming on Monday.  And we are anxious to meet with our Kasmiri delegates with whom we will be living and working when we travel to Srinagar next Monday. This Monday morning […]
    Dennis Gaither
  • Reflections on a Slave Fort – A Healing Across Time September 6, 2018
    Dear Friends, As our departure time approaches and we will soon be meeting our friends in Kashmir as part of the Global Citizen Journey Kashmir project, I am reflecting on past travels and the powerful experiences they evoked.  One of those would have to be a visit to a 17th – 18th century slave fort […]
    Dennis Gaither
  • Global Citizen Journey Kashmir Project August 23, 2018
    I am feeling both thrilled and challenged to be travelling to Kashmir, India this October as a delegate with the Global Citizen Journey Kashmir 2018 project. This will be my third such project, the first two being a library building project in the remote Niger Delta of Nigeria and a year later an orphanage project […]
    admin

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