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Dateline: 5/1/2009

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASE
Dale Goodwin, Director
Peter Tormey, Associate Director

Students Prepare for 3rd Zambia Service Trip

GONZAGA-IN-ZAMBEZI BLOG

SPOKANE, Wash. – The third time is expected to be another charm for Gonzaga University students in the Comprehensive Leadership Program (CLP) who are preparing to depart May 12 for the program’s third annual intercultural servant leadership program in Zambia, Africa.

In the spirit of its mission to develop leaders for the common good, Gonzaga’s CLP sponsors this one-month cultural journey for 13 undergraduate students and two faculty members to live and work in the town of Zambezi (pop. 10,000) at the headwaters of the Zambezi River.

Click this image to visit the Gonzaga in Zambezi blog.
Students enrolled in this unique intercultural leadership program will have a new instructional opportunity designed to complement the classroom instruction, field experience and community/social justice outreach. In collaboration with the School of Professional Studies’ nursing program, a health education initiative will be offered by GU students to the Zambezi community. Under the leadership of nursing Assistant Professor Nancy Beckham, students will work with children in a clinic, provide health education at a local school, and perform home-based care through a Zambezi Mission program.

“We are excited and grateful to offer a health component to our community development work,” said CLP Director Josh Armstrong. “Now in our third year, we have the momentum to concentrate on enriching our instructional and relational partnerships with the wonderful people in this community.”

The trip will begin with an excursion to Victoria Falls in Livingstone, Zambia, followed by a two-day safari in nearby Botswana. Students and faculty will then proceed to the town of Zambezi where they will stay and serve for three weeks at the Catholic mission compound. Here, students will participate in educational, health and service-oriented activities including youth-outreach at the mission school and continued work with Zambian honey farmers to provide a sustainable market for fair trade organic honey.

This year’s Zambia trip is again honored to host three interns funded through a Murdock Charitable Trust grant for Vision & Call Social Entrepreneurship Internships. The three interns will continue the work of former CLP students who have established the not-for-profit Zambia Gold Honey project. The mission of this student-led project is to partner with local beekeepers in exploring ways to provide a sustainable market for fair-trade organic forest honey in the United States.

The honey project is one tangible example of how the Zambia experience has continued far beyond the students’ return to the United States.

“This program encourages our students to develop their capacity in serving as leaders and positive agents for global justice,” Armstrong said. 
Again, the group will post reflections on a Gonzaga-in-Zambezi blog. Please follow the journey and growth of these student leaders through Zambia through this exciting medium.
 
Established in 2002, the Comprehensive Leadership Program (CLP) at Gonzaga is a three-year program designed to offer students curricular and co-curricular learning opportunities to develop knowledge and skills for leadership. The Zambia Intercultural Perspective on Leadership Program is part of CLP. For more information about the CLP, please contact Josh Armstrong () or (509) 313-6493. For more information on the trip, please contact Katie Herzog, CLP coordinator, at (509) 313-3579 or via e-mail.

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