Zambia 2024

In July, two groups of volunteers traveled to Zambia to serve marginalized communities in and around Lusaka. Sixty percent of the population lives in poverty, with limited access to quality education, employment opportunities, and high rates of child marriage contributing to the cycle of poverty. The high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country results in a median age of 16.8 years. The volunteers partnered with Mothers Without Borders, an organization that provides quality education, food support for children, and assistance to women entrepreneurs.

During their time in Zambia, the volunteers served the most vulnerable in the greater Lusaka area by providing meals, installing playground equipment, purchasing handmade items, playing with children, and sharing their love. The spirit of Ubuntu was evident in every interaction.

Navajo Nations 2022

In late August eight expeditioners, braved the intense heat of Arizona to build two of four hoop houses donated to the Navajo Nations. These hoop houses will provide fresh produce to families and communities where there aren’t grocery stores near by to have access to nutritious food. Families do not have the funds to pay for the gas required to drive the hour or hour and half to the grocery store and they don’t have electricity to be able to store food in a refrigerator. Having the ability to grow fresh produce allows them to not only improve their diets and gain better health but can become an economic resource to sell the surplus.

Expeditioners cleared the soil in the hoop house of rocks, weeds and leveled the ground. Footings were poured, metal struts were installed, walls were built and fabric was stretched across the structure. Raised beds were built and filled with soil, to provide each hoop house with the proper start to grow food. During the week of service, and cultural exchanges the bonds of friendship and trust was formed and hearts were opened as they began to build understanding and respect for one another.

Expeditioners

Ecuador 2020

To start this expedition, volunteers first learned about the Cambodian growing cycle, with hot and wet weather most of the year, followed by an extremely dry season. Plants such as cauliflower, green onion, and bok choy were chosen for their versatility, nutrition, and inclusion in a variety of different meals within local Cambodian culture. After understanding the need for gardens, the volunteers then helped dig and plant several gardens for locals.

The main purpose was to make clean drinking water available to the local residents, people who live under the constant risk of water-borne illnesses. And while volunteers weren’t digging the wells themselves, the work they did was in support of the effort. (Well construction is reserved for the locals; the Foundation pays their salaries for installing the wells so that they will know how to maintain them for the long term.)

Most of the Advancing Life volunteers arrived with infant-care supplies to donate, and they assembled kits for a local medical clinic located in a remote village, where 80 babies are born on average each month. The mothers who can’t afford to deliver there—the $15 medical bill is too high for most—are in dire need of supplies for their babies. The kits provided cloth diapers, receiving blankets, hats, and more for the newest little ones.

Volunteers also visited a medical clinic, where they met patients who had become ill from drinking contaminated water. On one particular morning, the first group of expeditioners happened upon a unique opportunity to serve. They were able to help a family move (not just their belongings, but their actual house)! The family had gone from a studio-sized apartment made of tin sheets and lumber to a newly built two-story, cement home.

Ecuador 2018

On the second year of expeditions to Ecuador, the trip included 46 participants and 40 hours of construction time, all of which were dedicated to one dream-fueling project. The participants ranged in age from 14 to 67 and had countless opportunities to interact with those living in the region, 44 percent of which depend solely on agriculture.

The expedition team’s main tasks supported construction of the workshop, which would be used to teach auto-mechanical skills. The team spent four to five hours a day constructing brick walls, digging drainage trenches, pouring sidewalks, and completing the perimeter fence. Other tasks included preparing roof panels, moving boulders to make way for trenches, and pushing bricks up steep hills. This year’s expedition brought the project to 20 percent completion.

The people of the Intag region were also present and actively helping with the construction. Everyone, from high school students to mothers with babies on their backs, came out to do their part. Their participation in the construction proved vital as it helped the community build a bond with the school and realize that the Inta-Kara Advancing Life Center will be for everyone seeking education, not just those considered privileged.

Ecuador 2016

During the first expedition, the team was able to build four water cisterns, 12 outdoor stoves, and eight chicken coops, while offering English classes for 40 single mothers. ASEA Founder Tyler Norton was in attendance on that trip and shared a personal message of inspiration with the people of the community.

Since that time, 120 families and more than 770 people have directly benefited from donations and services provided through the ASEA® Advancing Life® Foundation. The main road into the community—a dirt path five years ago—is now paved with concrete. The tin roofs of the community buildings have been upgraded to concrete. Diets lacking vegetables and protein now include eggs, nopal cactus, garden vegetables, chicken, and lamb.

In the English classes that ASEA taught on their original expedition, 12 of the 40 original students have since finished high school, six have gone onto university studies, and two have been working at businesses in the city.

One of the women from this community went to Peru in December of 2021 for the women’s empowerment conference sponsored by CHOICE Humanitarian. She was one of the speakers and shared how she developed her community and lifted them out of extreme poverty. Because she has seen the effects on her village, she is now an example for other women and empowers them to change their lives.

In addition, two neighboring communities, San Antonio and La Salamanca, have seen the village’s changes and committed to doing the same thing. Now, those two communities are following along the same path as La Rincon. The Foundation’s presence and dedication to this village has a rippling effect in the region where they visited.