Around Our Worlds in 14 Days

Elly W. Start Date: Jun 25, 2016 - End Date: Dec 21, 2016
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Professional Development
  • British Indian Ocean Territory
  • Ecuador
  • Mozambique
  • Colombia

My Travel Story

by: Elly W. Start Date: Jun 25, 2016 - End Date: Dec 21, 2016
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Professional Development
Life starts at thirty.

Isa and Elly met in Ecuador in 2008 under the most unlikely of circumstances; Isa had traveled there from her home in Pennsylvania to marry her college sweetheart, and Elly from Michigan to teach university.  They met at a language institute where they both gave classes, but weren't close as they led very different and separate lives. When Isa was hospitalized with a life-threatening blood clot in 2009, Elly visited her at the hospital to drop off some books and help her pass the time.  They found that they had a lot in common despite their differences, and that was the beginning of a true friendship.

Since that time, they have been through a lot together - figuritively if rarely literally, as when they moved back to the US in 2011, Isa ended up in Chicago, and Elly in Atlanta.  Despite the physical distance, their friendship has endured through abusive marriages and subsequent divorces, financial hardships, family drama, and complications from Isa's serious medical conditions. Elly graduated with her Masters Certificate in Translation in 2014, and Isa will begin her graduate studies in Public Health this fall.  

Their thirties have given Elly and Isa the chance to start over again in so many ways, and they intend to mark their new beginnings by traveling to Ecuador and Colombia again - for their own reasons this time.  From there, they'll head to Mozambique to visit Elly's neice in the Peace Corps to experience an entirely different world, and they'll finish their journey in India, where they'll visit friends they've made in the past few years.

They will write, and dance, and sing, and play. They will learn more about the cultures they visit, as each of their professional fields has an ever-changing global impact.  They will spend some real time together again, for the first time since they met 8 years ago.  They will have new experienes with old friends, and with new ones.  They will grow together, and separately.  They will find new perspective as they embark on the best years of their lives.  And they will share a video blog about it with all of their donors every step of the way! 

Please consider sharing whatever you can to help make this journey a reality for Isa and Elly. They'll be eternally grateful if you do - their lives are just beginning, and they can't wait to share it all with you.
  • British Indian Ocean Territory
  • Ecuador
  • Mozambique
  • Colombia