Outreach Spotlight:
Global Nomads Group
Global Nomads Group
Global Nomads Group (GNG) fosters dialogue and understanding among the world’s youth. Since its founding in 1998, GNG has conducted virtual exchange programs in 60 countries on all seven continents. By providing opportunities to interact and engage with different perspectives, GNG’s programs help youth break down stereotypes, address community challenges, develop 21st century skills, and explore what it means to be a global citizen.
Since 2015, PhotoWings has partnered with GNG to integrate photography, photo-sharing, and visual storytelling into its flagship program, Campfire. Across history and cultures, campfires have brought together people of diverse backgrounds to share warmth and shelter, conversation and storytelling. GNG is taking this campfire concept digital, giving youth a virtual space to exchange their experiences, bypassing the imagined or physical borders that prevent them from meeting in person. Campfire partners middle- and high school-age youth in the United States and the Middle East-North Africa region in virtual exchange through online dialogue and a collaborative curriculum.
Resources:
Student to World: Art in Action 2019-2020 Educator Guide
Student to World: Pandemic 2020 Educator Guide
Collaborating Classrooms 2019-2020 Educator Guide
Student to World: Global Hunger 2019-2020 Educator Guide
Student to World: Ocean Health 2019-2020 Educator Guide
“I learned how they see us. [The program] changed their perspectives about us and our perspectives about them. I learned communication, research skills, the ability to express myself and look at things more deeply.”
– Campfire Student in Jordan
“Campfire gave my students a chance to use their photography skills to document their experience in the program, and to send some of those pictures to their international partners. They also recorded videos for their partners that allow would them to have a clearer picture of Morocco and Moroccans. In brief, the Campfire program is a tool that bridges the gap between different cultures and people.”
— Laila Elbaghazaoui, Educator at Charif El Idrissi High School in Morocco
“The thing I most enjoy about implementing Campfire with high school students is the opportunity for them to see something beyond the world where they live. Our population doesn’t have that much diversity and I really like for kids to recognize that kids all over the world are different but also very much like them. I really like when kids recognize those similarities and differences in a way that’s new and different.”
— Latishia Sparks, Programs and Partnerships at Kentucky Educational Development Corporation, United States
“Photography is one of the favorite parts [of Campfire] for my students. I still remember the day a student came to me and said, 'Yesterday, I...saw a picture of my partner’s neighbor in the U.S.' He said that he felt he was there, even though he might not have a chance to go there in the future. Photography makes the world a smaller and closer place for everyone. Photography can break down misconceptions and stereotypes about each place in the world.”
— Halima Konniba, Educator at Sidi Ahmed Bennacer High School in Morocco