Blogger Debut: Shelsea

by Shelsea

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Shelsea Ochoa and for the past two years I have been traveling around the world, doing hundreds of hours of community service, staying with over 100 host families, and performing a show for tens of thousands of people. 

Today I am in Boulder, CO, to educate students and work with refugees, in a few months I will be in Mexico cleaning slums, teaching kids, and eating quesadillas for breakfast with my host family. Come fall, I will be in Manila, the Philippines, trying to order food from a cart in broken Tagalog. What I do is called Up With People.

Source

Up With People is a global education program that brings the world together through service and music. We take 100 international young people on a tour around the world, stay with host families, do community service, and perform a show that supports the service work we do. We also educate our participants on global citizenship, communication, and leadership. I am the Education Manager for Up With People.

As the world spins around me, a 24-year-old San Diego girl, I have gone through ups and downs, hopelessness and triumph, and as all of my security blankets fall away, I find myself at the core of who I really am. In a world of constant change, the only thing that is constant in my life has been me. And now, my dear friends and readers, it’s you, too.

Transporting the cast

More often than not, my life is not as glamorous as it seems. I spend a lot of time moving the cast of 100 people from one location to another (a group of 100 people can be slower than molasses), organizing who will go on what community service crew, in rehearsal for our show, and lots and lots of time on buses. Still, I appreciate the uniqueness of the Up With People experience, and I am learning so much every day. Through Notes from the Ombligo, I hope to keep the outside world up-to-date and to share tiny morsels of wisdom that I picked up on the road and under the lights.