Where there be Dragons - Nepal itinerary

Our students Kilani and Samantha are traveling with Where There Be Dragons to Nepal and depart this Friday, February 10th. Here’s what is in store for them:

After landing, the group will stay in the shadow of the great Boudhanath Stupa, one of the world’s largest Buddhist monuments and the anchor of Kathmandu’s largest Buddhist community, and spend our first several days settling into Nepal, getting to know each other, and starting to explore. With morning walks to the Stupa, lots of tea breaks (!), there is plenty of time to orient, relax and overcome jet-lag.

From Boudha, the group will hike for several days into the Himalayan foothills, with lots of big ups and down across the gorgeous hills. Hiking through villages, fields, and forests will give a glimpse of the character of life in rural Nepal.

The group arrives at the ancient city of Patan in the center of the Kathmandu Valley, with breathtakingly intricate heritage and history that has thrived over many centuries. Here the group will live with families indigenous to Patan - a city of artisans, devotees, and an ancient spirit in the modern world. They will begin to learn Nepali and learn things wood carving and metalwork, yoga, traditional music, and dance.

East of Dhukillel, the group will spend hours each day engaging with another set of families – from harvesting crops to feeding cattle to carrying firewood, sipping tea on the porch, playing with village children, and more. They will also discuss issues of service, development, rural identity, and spirituality.

Next will be Namo Buddha, an important Tibetan Buddhist monastery perched atop a hill east of the Kathmandu Valley, where we will participate in a meditation retreat for one week.

After they bid goodbye to Namo Buddha, the group will embark on a two week long trek in the majestic Nepali Himalaya. The trek will take us to the heart of the mountains, the north central range of the Himalaya in Nepal soaring higher than 26000ft.

After the conclusion of our trek, the group will begin the Expedition Phase which are days left intentionally unplanned so that the group can find the best place to go based on their interests and thoughts.

Lastly, they finish up their time with rest, relaxation, and celebration in the hills of Pharping before returning back home!

Evaluation Updates

As we evaluate another program year, our findings remain consistent. Students continue to see how even their small actions make a difference. Many continue to clarify their goals through this program and feel reconnected to their goals.

One new finding this year is in large a result of the pandemic. Many students struggled with isolation during the pandemic. However, it is in community and socializing that confidence is often built up. Thanks to participating in a facilitated space that is intended to foster learning and positive connection, many students combatted their social anxiety.

“Before, I had really bad anxiety talking or interacting with anyone in my community. Couldn’t even ride the max or bus in case I had to talk to the driver. That was pretty much no interaction. 

[On the program] I had to interact with a lot of new people and live with strangers that were not people that I would have interacted with normally…I don’t know how to explain it. It felt like I was doing something more.

[Now] I feel like I can help out a little bit more than I thought. Before, if someone asks for help, I’d be like nope sorry. But now trying to help them a little bit is better than nothing. If everyone made some difference, then eventually those small differences would become something bigger.”

For many students returning home also poses its own challenges, namely the awareness that you cannot expect others to change along with you. However, many of them are continuing to seek ways to stay in the community, maintain their growth, and stay committed to their personal and professional goals even if the way forward is only a little more clear than before.

Saying Farewell to Founder, Hansell Bourdon Woods

This summer Carpe Mundi bid farewell to Hansell Woods after a 10 year tenure at Carpe Mundi. Hansell came to Portland in 2012 to transform Carpe Mundi from a scholarship organization to a holistic mentorship program that included a cohort learning experience. Hansell was the Executive Director for 6 years, and then transitioned to what she loved the most, supporting a cohort of students for the remainder of her time at Carpe Mundi. She was the primary mentor for 9 different cohorts, started Carpe Mundi's second program PDXchange, and was the foundation for building out our mentorship curriculum.

Simply put, Carpe Mundi wouldn't exist without Hansell. Her leadership, vision, and passionate advocacy of Carpe Mundi students will be deeply missed, but also are a part of Carpe Mundi's DNA.

In as early as October 2013, Portland’s larger community started to take notice of the effort to see the world as a classroom. Lisa K. Anderson wrote an article, ‘Making the world a classroom’, for Pamphlin’s Media Group. In the article, Hansell states, “You can only do as big as you dream,” Bourdon said. “If you’re not aware of it, you can’t dream of it. Through those opportunities, students realize, ‘Oh! I can do this. I can leave and do something totally different.’ ”

Hansell is a dreamer and a doer. She and her family have moved to Colorado to be closer to family. We can't wait to see what amazing initiatives she dreams up and cultivates for her new community.


why your help matters more than ever

Carpe Mundi is committed to making transformational study abroad opportunities available to students that might not otherwise have access to these experiences, including low-income students that are eligible for the Federal Pell Grant. For the past nine years, we’ve strategically leveraged various resources to make our programming as affordable as possible for our students. Those resources have included generous donations from you and our community of supporters, in-kind scholarship donations from Carpe Diem Education, and using students’ Federal and State Financial Aid through Portland State University. All of these resources are crucial for making this opportunity feasible for our students. 

Unfortunately, Carpe Mundi received news earlier this summer that Federal and State Financial Aid will be temporarily unavailable to our students for the foreseeable future. Portland State University’s Financial Aid Office is being audited by the Department of Education, and until this audit is finished, PSU is unable to issue financial aid to our students. Fortunately, our students are still able to earn two terms worth of PSU credit for their study abroad experience, they just won’t be eligible for financial aid for those credits. We learned this news after recruiting two cohorts of students who are eager to travel during the 2021-22 school year, nearly half of whom have waited over a year due to Covid postponing our 2020-21 programming. 

Our number one priority is ensuring that this decision impacts our current students as little as possible. They have worked hard to access this opportunity, and we are committed to making this experience a reality for them. While financial aid varies from student to student, a student would typically average around $6000 in Federal and State Financial aid to be applied to their study abroad costs. Our students simply cannot afford to bear that cost. Fortunately, Carpe Mundi has developed partnerships to allay a significant amount of that cost burden. However, Carpe Mundi still needs to raise an additional $15,000 above and beyond our annual fundraising initiatives to cover the loss in financial aid. Our 10th Annual Gala and Auction on November 11th will have our largest fundraising goal to date - $50,000 - in order to continue to make our programming accessible to our students. 

With your support, Carpe Mundi students and our community have persisted through a challenging past year and a half. We are more committed than ever to ensuring students will travel, safely and affordably, in February, 2022. We are consistently reminded of our students’ learnings while overseas: the importance of flexibility, seeing situations through new perspectives, and understanding that persevering through challenging situations makes you stronger and more confident in the future. We know we will overcome this new challenge, and will be stronger for it in the long run. Thank you for being on this journey with us. 

If you have any questions about how this change in financing will impact programming, please reach out to Rachel Anderholder - rachel@carpemundi.org. 

To learn more about our fundraising efforts this Fall, click the link below.

Upcoming Events: Storytelling and Auction

Storytelling Event is now a Podcast - Wednesdays in August

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This year, in lieu of our Carpe Mundi’s annual Storytelling Night, Carpe Mundi students and staff are producing a podcast called, “Routes of Passage: Short Stories from Studying Abroad” to showcase the lessons learned and adventures had by the 2020 Carpe Mundi students. We are excited to share stories of determination and grit, interviews with students and staff, and personal statements of growth from our students after they traveled to Guatemala, Thailand, and India. 

Keep an eye on your inbox as we’ll be sharing a new episode with you every Wednesday during the month of August. 

The 2020 Auction is Going Virtual!  - November 20th, 2020

Save the date and get your living room ready - Carpe Mundi’s 9th annual auction and gala is going virtual! Join us for our dedicated broadcast, filled with unique entertainment, student participation and stories, and a joyous celebration of our mission. Stay tuned for more updates as they develop over the next few months. 

This event provides a majority of Carpe Mundi’s annual operating revenue. Join us in making transformational experiences possible for our students. There’s a world of opportunity out there - help them seize it. 

Interested in sponsoring the auction? We rely on business sponsorship to both support the event and to raise funds in support of Carpe Mundi’s incredible students. By sponsoring Carpe Mundi’s 2020 Gala, you can support future Carpe Mundi students, and have your business advertised to our networks. To learn more about sponsorship, visit our event page, https://www.carpemundi.org/upcoming-events/2020gala or reach out to Rachel at rachel@carpemundi.org. 

The Big Picture: Black Lives Matter with Kenya Hall

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As Carpe Mundi staff and board continue to reflect on the Black Lives Matter Movement and deepen our commitment to being an anti-racist organization, we want to take this opportunity to amplify the voice and perspective of one of our alumna, Kenya Hall. Our alumni are community leaders that are moving equity work forward in their circles of influence. We all have much we can learn from them, and we are grateful to Kenya for sharing her words:  

On June 2nd I was able to hear black voices talk about how they had to "blend" in with their non-black community in order to exist, how they couldn't identify with their blackness because it was not and still is not accepted and how they denied themselves of their culture because it was a survival tactic. 

So often I feel like even talking about the life experiences that I have had as a black woman to other non-black people is creating discomfort for those people. I've silenced myself for so long to keep the peace, to spare the feelings of others who can offend and sleep peacefully as if nothing wrong was said, while I stare restlessly at the ceiling thinking about all of the things that I should have said and then waking up the next day pretending that it didn't bother me. 

I am tired of not being able to be upset without being seen as the "mad black woman" why can't I just be mad? I am mad because for so long I felt that my voice didn't matter. 

Mad because I felt the need to silence myself. 

Mad because I've spent way too long worrying about everyone else when I should have been speaking out for myself and those who needed their voices to be heard.

I am thankful to know that so many people see the importance of this protest because without solidarity, fighting this battle alone is impossible. #BLM

*Also, stop telling black people that they sound white.  What do you expect, a "thank you"? My voice does not take away from my blackness just because I don't fit into your stereotype”

Kenya participated in Carpe Mundi during the 2016-2017 school year, traveling to India. She has since graduated from Portland State University with a degree in Psychology. Currently, she is working in Human Resources for the Portland Spirit, while also doing some acting and modeling on the side, and pursuing going back to school for nursing.

Kenya in India.

Kenya in India.