Faces of Michigan
Name: Amanda Kupstas
Year: Class of 2008
Major: Biochemistry
Home: Michigan
Amanda Kupstas provides Service Without Borders to build bridges (figuratively) and a school room (literally) in Managua, Nicaragua
A group of University of Michigan students have found that service has no borders. Members of the Pangea World Service Team (PWST) have begun work on the fifth international summer (2008) service project in developing countries. They have traveled around the globe to three continents, from Cambodia to Ghana to Peru and Nicaragua, all along raising money for both their travel but the service projects themselves. For PWST students, it's a chance to learn and understand a new culture and make a mark in the world. The number of participants varies each year, from 12 to 25 undergraduate and graduate students. PWST is under the Ginsberg Center's SERVE umbrella.
Amanda Kupstas, a senior biochemistry major, was a site leader when the team traveled to Peru in 2006, and was a member of the lead team that planned the 2007 trip to Managua, Nicaragua, where a dozen students worked with the community-based organization Atraves. Students helped construct a school addition, taught classes, and ran an after-school program called the Pangea Kids Club. "We dug a lot of holes, cut a lot of poles, and mixed a lot of concrete," said Andrea King, a U-M junior who went to Nicaragua. "But as much as we helped, I took away as much as I gave, if not more."
The summer before, when Kupstas participated in the program in Peru, U-M students worked with children who traveled with their parents to market. "While the parents worked in the market, the children needed a safe place. We worked with them on their homework, taught them English and played games during free time," she said. Her team also helped a group of at-risk boys start a business venture breeding and selling guinea pigs. "I heard the business is still going." They also offered financial support to build a classroom onto a building that was used as a school. Part of each PWST project includes raising money—usually around $6,000—to fund a project that will have a lasting effect after the students leave.
While Kupstas helped teach and guide young people in the Peruvian town, she said she was the one who benefited the most. The U-M students learn to fundraise, write grants, and plan before they go. Once students arrive at their site, they learn a new culture and stay with a host family."It expands your worldview. The disparity in the quality of life is really powerful. For me, it was a profound experience," Kupstas said.
PWST began in 2003 as a way to create international, socially conscious, service-based opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Students have worked at the Community Outreach Services-Immanuel Children's Village in Cambodia, where children up to 18 years of age receive basic education and learn a skill. They helped build a hostel for girls in Ghana, part of the Olof Palme Peace Foundation, which furnishes the girls with lodging while they learn a trade, such as dress making, to support themselves. And previous Pangea World Service Team students raised money to build a fourth-grade classroom at an existing school in Managua, Nicaragua, where they worked with young students, teaching general and special education along with health and nutrition classes.
Planning for the Summer 2008 is underway; Hungry, Nicaragua, and other counties are being considered as destinations.
Reprinted by permission from Ginsberg Center E-Newsletter (October 2007).