Conclusion and Thank You's:

The Magnificent Seven did such a great job with their posts, that since the initial 'Hello' there was no need for me to blog much. 
They really said it all: whether it was about the social entrepreneurs who volunteered their time to come and talk to our group, or the memorable sites we visited in and around Budapest, or the cultural, culinary, and linguistic ventures they undertook in the past five weeks - you can find it all in the notes they've written, and beautiful pics they posted throughout the program. 


Reading these stories I hope that you agree we had a successful and fun summer. They took advantage of all the opportunities the program and this country provided. It might have been a bit overwhelming from time to time (which tram goes where at what time?), but that did not slow them down, and they embraced the best (meeting new people, working with talented leaders, trying local stuff: food, thermal baths, the nightlife), and did not complain about the challenges (the heat, the rain, the early mornings, the side effects of delicious, but heavy meals) - just like one would expect from a group of true Ramblin' Wrecks.


In the 7 weeks of the program we visited 12 social enterprises, heard from 19 social entrepreneurs , and together our students contributed more than 220 hours to their internships. They worked on projects and tasks that helped our partners (United Way Hungary, Courage Camps, CEEweb, Center for Independent Journalism, XKK Media, and HAND)  better serve their mission, and in the process they learned about the challenges and opportunities the social sector is facing, and the importance of sustainability, creativity, ethics, and leadership in delivering innovative solutions to the world's most pressing social issues.


So all that is left is to thank the wonderful people and organizations (mentioned throughout our blog pages) for being part of our journey - in Atlanta and in Hungary. My colleague, Bob Thomas and I are deeply grateful for their invaluable support and contributions to our students' understanding of the global challenges that require their leadership and for providing an inspiring example for them to follow.
We are looking forward to continuing the relationship and this journey next summer.


Viszontlátásra!

At the old Roma cave houses that were transformed into artists' workshop

High fiving Harley drivers near Lake Balaton

In front of the Royal Palace in Godollo

The Monastery of Tihany

Yours truly: Dori and Bob

Internship Report: United Way Hungary

Szia, this is Nicole!

Hi this is Kayla! Over the past few weeks we’ve been working together on developing a new website for UWH.

I came to work for UW this summer because I spent last summer working for them in Atlanta, I was interested to see how a different UW operated under the same mission statement in a different country.

I came to work with UW because of my interest in childrens development and my desire to better their outlook on the future.

Our assignment was to re-vamp the UWH website.

Thankfully they already had most things translated into English! So we started by making a new template.

We worked closely with Tamàs Füzesy and Adrienn Koscsò, they were very friendly and extremely open to our suggestions.

My favorite part was selecting the pictures to be displayed in the gallery. It was fascinating to see all the pictures of their previous events because it gave me a good understanding of the organization as a whole.

Working with UWH taught me a lot about the social sector…

I really got to see the challenges they face.

Yes, the culture here is very different from that in Atlanta. There isn’t the same culture of giving which makes it hard for them to fundraise. I think my biggest learnings have been cultural, society here is very different.

One unexpected thing I learned was that working with a partner actually makes learning about the public sector more interesting and made the time at my internship more fun.

Definitely, working with a partner is a totally different dynamic but we had a lot of fun!

Week 4: Halfway there

Hello!

LaCourtney's here! 

Well let me first say, This has been such an amazing journey and experience thus far. I'm so happy that we are able share these with you.


I'm a Senior studying Business Administration with an anticipated graduation date of May 2013. With that being said, time is winding down fast. Which brings me to one of the reasons of why I chose this program. There are so many amazing opportunities available to us, and I only had scratched the surface. The chances of me having an opportunity like this again are slim. So...Y.O.L.O! My main interest in this stemmed from social issues related to education, children's health, and lack of opportunities for mentally handicapped individuals. Wanting to start my own social enterprise one day, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity learn how these enterprises operate with an international perspective. 


This past Tuesday we got the opportunity to hear a lecture from Eva Kuti. If you want to know anything about Hungary's NGO sector, Eva is the person to talk to. Eva worked for the Central Statistical Office and the Economic Research Institute where her research focused on the non profit sector of Hungary. The knowledge she provided us with gave us a deeper understanding of what environment these organizations operate in. We are truly grateful to have received her views and insights. 

Lenin Statue

In the evening, we took a bus to an area right outside of Budapest. Here we visited Memento Park aka "Communist Land". After the fall of communism, all of the commie statues were removed and placed here. We had a fun time posing with and imitating them.

YMCA 

Roshni and I

Wednesday I spent my first day interning for Bator Tabor. Bator Tabor offers complex therapeutic recreation programs for children with cancer, diabetes, JRA or hemophilia and their families. I've enjoyed it so far. The people are so lively and you can see that they are passionate and love what they do. Near the end of the program, I will share more about my work and experience with them. For now check out their website here. 

On Thursday, Malcolm Hayday, the CEO of Charity Bank came to speak with us. Charity Bank, UK based, finances social enterprises, charities and community organizations. Charity Bank acts as any other bank except that their depositors and investors use their money to facilitate real social change. Charity Bank also tells you exactly what they do with your money. They give their savers the option to take trips to see projects that are using their money. This brings the savers together in the hope of sparking up new ideas to make social change in communities of their own. I just think this is an amazing concept! Charity Bank believes it can make the biggest impact by staying small.  I believe that statement raises an important point. You can make the greatest impact by focusing all of your energy into one community than allocating it out to ten. BUT...of course every organization's mission is different and decisions should be made accordingly. We were able to enjoy lunch with Malcolm afterwards. It was a pleasure to have him take the time out to speak and have lunch with us. 


Friday was Social Enterprise Day! 

Us with Fruit of Care

NESsT hosted a Social Enterprise Day in Budapest on Friday. NeSsT is an organization geared to solving critical social problems in emerging market countries by supporting social enterprises.  Social Enterprise Day brings together leaders from social enterprise, government, philanthropy, business and the nonprofit sectors to celebrate social enterprise and to create an enabling environment that fosters social enterprise.


Leaders of social enterprises were able to come together to discuss their views and insights on being successful, social impact, and challenges faced within their organizations. 2011 was a difficult year for social enterprises in Hungary. It was interesting to hear about the issues  they experienced and the steps they have taken to remediate them. During the break, some of the social enterprises had booths set up with their products for sell to support their social cause.

I got these awesome earrings

Here are a few of the social enterprises that were there. You can buy their products online!

fruitofcare.hu

There is so much more to come! Thanks for all of the support, and please continue to follow us in this journey. Also, feel free to comment and ask questions.

Where does the Budapest 2012 Study Abroad group go next? IDK! You have to keep reading our blog to see ;-). 

United Way Hungary

Hello, Nicole again! Today the group visited United Way Hungary where I am doing my internship. We heard about UWH from Tamas Füzesy the current CEO about their mission, goals, programs, and fundraising.

The mission of UWH is specific to one area of the United Way Worldwide causes of income, homelessness, education, and health. In Hungary they are focused on providing education to children, teachers, and parents to prevent injuries in children ages 5-12. The video below tells more about this mission.



In the coming years UWH hopes to expand their program in order to reach more students and achieve a measurable community impact. Their goals include:

• Expanding the Safety School program countrywide
• Making the program a part of the national curriculum
• Building and operating a volunteer teacher network 
• Strengthening and coordinating the cooperation with organizations working in the child injury prevention field
• Developing reliable injury statistics and measurement procedures with partner organizations

Unlike the traditional United Way model, UWH does not rely on payroll giving or workplace campaigns for fundraising. They are in the process of building trust within the community so that people feel comfortable giving to them. 

In the next few weeks I will post more about United Way Hungary as Kayla and I get deeper into our internship work. 

Szeged Weekend Trip

Szia! My name is Nicole Reardon, I am a Management student graduating in December (AH!) and this is my first trip to Eastern Europe. I took Social Entrepreneurship with Dori and Servant Leadership with Bob last semester and they inspired me to come on the Budapest study abroad program.

This weekend we made the two hour drive to Szeged where we stayed in a hotel overnight and explored the town during the day. We had many Hungarian traditional foods, saw the city sites, visited the paprika and salami museum, and went to a ethnographic museum where we saw the Hungarian cyclorama painting.

The Restaurant

Gypsy Musician

Hungarian Goulash

Turos Csusza

This is a very classic Hungarian dish, pasta with farmers cheese (basically a dry cottage cheese) and bacon. You can see the recipe here.

Szeged Tour

Szeged Tour

Szeged Tour

Szeged Tour

Szeged Tour

Szeged Tour

Szeged Tour

Szeged Tour

Szeged Tour

Salami Museum

Hannah and Me

Sunday some of the group woke up and went to the spa for massages, then we went to the ethnographic museum and cyclorama display. There was a horse show and two members of our group were chosen to participate!

Reenacted Hungarian History

Reenacted Hungarian History

Me Playing With the Horses

Reenacted Hungarian History

LaCourtney

Group Picture

Tanay

Tanay

Me

The Group minus one

Fruit Soup

 Tomorrow is Monday, we are visiting United Way Hungary in the morning then we have the afternoon free. UW is where I am doing my summer internship work, will post about that later!

Week 1 site visits

(The chief blogger is a little behind, and she apologizes for serving you week-old information. All this will change once the students arrive to Budapest, get settled, and get to blogging)

During the first week of the 2012 program we visited two small, but very efficient and high-impact organizations: The Burundi Women's Farm in Avondale, part of the Global Growers Network (GGN), and Recycletronics, a Tommy Nobis Center project.

At the Umurima Wa Burundi Robin, project manager for GGN, gave us a tour of the neatly kept garden, where plants are rotated often under the expert leadership of the refugee women who work here. The manage the farm on their own. They work here to be more independent - as they come from a male dominated culture, where traditionally the husband are sole income generators. The garden also gives them the much needed feeling of  familiarity with a pastoral setting that all of them belonged to before having to flee their homes, and then arrive to a foreign country that while it gave them all the wonderful opportunities to start over and be safe, it did not look and feel like anything they were used to back home. The fact that these women brought seeds of their staple plants with them all the way from Burundi, when they were allowed to grab only so few things at the time of immigration, goes to show the importance of being connected to the earth, to farming, as the only lifestyle they knew.

The GGN site gives back that connection to nature that these women lost with so many other things when they became refugees, and by doing so it restores their dignity, supports their quest for independence, and helps them transition to a culture very different from theirs.


Next we visited the organization that was named after Atlanta Falcons All Pro Linebacker and long time humanitarian, Tommy Nobis, who is still very involved with the board and participates in all the family activities of the Center that he gave his name to 35 years ago.
Recycletronics is the flagship employment creation program at Tommy Nobis Works, and it operates as a for profit entity that uses it's profits to support the work  and programs of the foundations. Their mission is to provide jobs to the most disadvantaged groups, those with disabilities, those with criminal records and other similar groups.

The plant in itself is fascinating - seeing a TV, or an industrial sized printer, being taken into pieces and then shredded into small bits is a treat even for the less technologically inclined (yours truly). We learned some very interesting facts about the shortcomings of product design, from Joe Burum, our very cool guide at Recycletronics, and found out that keeping impact measurement simple is the preferred alternative to more sophisticated metrics that would be costly to develop and to implement.

Retired electronics before the monster shredder: