Fundraising is a crucial component of all Operation Groundswell programs and is just one way we support our amazing local partner NGOs and charities. Here is our report for 2012

1. Photo by: Sabrina Rubli

2. A Message from OGHQ
Many times we rush through our lives without pausing to consider what is going on in the world and the impact that
we can have with our thoughts, words, and actions. At Operation Groundswell, we make a conscious decision to do
just that. It’s not something that we do but rather, something that we are. We pride ourselves in being what we like to
call “backpacktivists” -- a special breed of travellers that traverse the world ethically and responsibly, consciously
aware of their social, economic, and environmental impact.
This summer, 173 remarkable individuals embraced this backpacktivist lifestyle and joined us on our adventures
around the globe. Our summer fundraising efforts this year have been like no other with a whopping 2500 donations
for a total of $189,409!
Thanks to your generous donations and support, our backpacktivists built the first factory made out of styrofoam
building blocks in Haiti, constructed sustainable drainage trenches for a village in Peru, shadowed Ghanaian
doctors, and volunteered with youth arts organizations in Cambodia. They watched the sunrise up top the Santa
Maria volcano, lived amongst the hill tribes of Northern Thailand, and trekked the frigid mountains of Ladakh.
We are humbled everyday by the generosity of our donors, the open-mindedness
and compassion of our participants, the multifaceted skills of our trip leaders, and
the tenacity of our local partners who work in some of the harshest conditions in
the world. We are all integral pieces of this giant puzzle.
With love and thanks,
Eyal, Jo, Taha, Kari, Ali, and Justine
OG Headquarters

3. Our Story

4. Operation Groundswell (OG) is a non-
profit organization that offers travel and
community service opportunities around
the world.
We aim to build a community of
backpacktivists that are socially,
environmentally, and politically aware of
their impact in the communities they travel
to and live in.
Founded in 2006 by hungry and curious
students, Operation Groundswell is an ethical
and affordable alternative to the many travel
volunteer for-profit businesses out there. When
we first started our travel volunteer adventures,
we were disappointed by the options available,
and so we set out to do it ourselves. We spent
months meeting and connecting with amazing
locals, finding incredible partner NGOs and
setting up an organization we are proud of. In
the process, we’ve made lifelong friends in
Sandema, Port-au-Prince, Phnom Penh,
Jerusalem and everywhere in between.

5. After 6 amazing years of adventure, learning, fun, and growth, we have
learned just how deep the impact our trips have on our participants and
the local communities we have formed partnerships with.
Our first generation of participants returned from their experience wishing they
had involved more people back home and had more resources to make a
greater impact in the communities they worked at. Since then, we decided to
make fundraising for local community projects an integral part of our
programming.

6. Fundraising Efforts

7. Fundraising is a crucial
component of all OG programs
and is just one way we support
our local partner NGOs and
charities.
We ask each of our participants
to fundraise $1000 giving them
the opportunity to share their
experience with friends and
family at home.
10%
5% Past participants continually tell
us that supporting local
In Country Projects
organizations is one of the most
Administration rewarding aspects of their OG
experience.
Carbon Offsetting
85%

8. In-Country Projects
85% of participants’ fundraising efforts go directly to support
projects of our local partner NGOs. From constructing the first
Ubuntu Blox styrofoam factory in Haiti to building houses in Cambodia,
our groups always leave a lasting impact. Employing a consensus-
based decision-making model, each group decides on which projects
to fund once in country, whether they be major group projects or
smaller personal projects. Funds that are not dispersed by the group
in-country will go towards the OG Project Fund, a communal pool that
all OG alumni can submit project proposals to after the summer.
Carbon Offsetting
There is no doubt that running trips around the world has an effect on
the environment. Round-trip flights and in-country transportation
undoubtedly leave a large carbon footprint. If our volunteers are going
to fly, we want to encourage environmental responsibility. For this
reason, we carbon offset all of our programs, contributing 10% of all
fundraising money to PlanetAir, a Canadian organization regarded
as one of the leaders in the industry by the Suzuki Foundation. All
of the projects we support are assessed against the Gold Standard’s
sustainable development criteria.
Administration
OG runs a lean non-for-profit. Only 5% goes towards the administration
of funds, assisting participant fundraising, staff salaries, and bank transfer
fees.

9. Summer 2012 by the Numbers
173 participants
17 trips
8 regions in the world
$1094.83 CAD average fundraised by each participant
$189, 409 CAD total funds raised
$2040 CAD highest amount fundraised by a participant
2500 total donations
35 local partner NGOs and charities
53 ongoing projects throughout the summer
Total
Summer
Fundraising
14,000$
12,000$
10,000$
8,000$
6,000$
4,000$
TOTAL
EARLY
SUMMER
2,000$
PROGRAM
0$
TOTAL
LATE
SUMMER
PROGRAM

11. Field Notes
…words found on our blog from around the world…

12. Guatemala Fair Trade
Eduardo, somewhat of a rugged teddy bear figure, and Mercedes, a cowboy hat-wearing peanut and coffee
farming master, gave us the quintessential coffee rundown of our partner, As Green As It Gets (ASAIG). In
the most patient and knowledgeable manner, Eduardo and Mercedes took us through everything from coffee
types to harvest seasons to cultivating steps. By the time they finished their lesson, we could’ve farmed our
own cuerda of coffee, having all the necessary tools minus the raw experience.
This is OGG’s third year working with As Green As It Gets. One of the coolest parts of AGAIG is that they’re
always testing new techniques and seeking creative alternatives to do what they do best–help people help
themselves. Whether it’s testing new crops in the experimental field plot or marketing new talents like peanut
butter making, AGAIG never stops after one success. There’s always room to grow, potential for new
opportunity, and new markets to uncover. Aside from innovative projects, AGAIG also does an amazing job
working closely with its farmers and crafts men and women. The close relationship they maintain with the
actual people keeps the cooperative from feeling too much like an organization and instead more like a
friendship. It is their personalities that shine through the cooperative, making it what it truly is…

13. Southeast Asia Music and Culture
We struggled through the intensely emotional day at the Killing Fields and the infamous Security Prison 21 (S-21), now the
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Hundreds of Killing Fields can be found all over Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge period.
In an effort to bring Cambodia back to the Year Zero and return to an agricultural society free of inequality and western
values, the Khmer Rouge waged a genocide against its own people…
Over 16,000 people went through the S21 prison and only 7 survived. Famous for its brutal torture techniques, the Khmer
Rouge interrogated individuals they thought were out to thwart the revolution. Men, women and children passed through
this hell. Blood stains the floor. Barbed wire fences are on every level to make suicide an impossible escape. Photos of the
victims line the walls with looks of not fear or sadness, but either defiance or defeat. Tiny cramped cells with chains. Bullet
holes litter the walls. A heavy and negative aura surrounds the museum making it difficult to breathe.
The victims of the S21 prison were brought to Choeung Ek, the Killing Fields, for their final moments. The excavated pits
hold the memories of the 20,000 souls that lost their lives at this site. A pagoda stands in the middle of the site housing the
skulls of the lost. A tree is marked as the baby killing tree. The sound of young school children fills the air with an eerie
sound of the hope and future. Why didn’t we learn anything about this in school?
This is current history. These are fresh scars. Cambodia continues to overcome the odds and has not given up! Growing
from the ashes of this broken society are the youth of today. Empowering the next generation is the only way to guarantee
success tomorrow…

14. Peru Mind and Body
It’s a popular phrase here in South America: everything is possible, but nothing is
certain!
OG Peru Mind and Body lived this motto the past four weeks, soaking up as much of the
Peruvian culture (and Andean sunshine) as we could and spending the past two weeks
completing our major project in the small mountain village of Chahuay. After working
with the community day in and day out, we successfully refurbished and added on to a
children’s park, visited centers for young children and new mothers, and formed a bond
with a community that truly became a home.

15. West Africa Discovery and Development
Living in the community of Sandema was unforgettable. We had the luxury of not only exploring and
developing new potential projects and ideas, but also making friendships and memories that are etched into
our minds forever. Through the magical, and often hilarious moments, we also had our share of difficulties.
Initiatives like starting a recycling and sanitation awareness project and setting up a girls football tournament
take time, planning, and dedication. Visiting schools and waving at excited children is one thing, but sitting
down and really asking the right questions and understanding what students want and need is a complex
process.
Our group struggled early on in our stay to grapple with our prior expectations: what did we think we came to
do, and how can we turn a three week visit into something lasting, something beneficial, and something we
can be proud of? Sometimes that “something” is different from what we originally planned for. What we really
learned was that it’s not about what we want, but ultimately what they need, since these are their lives and
their homes. This is, after all, a discovery trip and this community is giving us more than enough to learn from.

16. India High Altitude
The group didn’t flinch when Rajul told us we could sleep at his brother’s restaurant. We were stranded in Manali for the night
after a long twenty-four hour jeep journey from Leh. It would be closing soon anyway and Rajul would clear away tables and
lay down a long foam mat on the floor, one storey above where we’re standing. We aren’t asked to pay but in backpacker
agreements that means we would buy beers then and breakfast in the morning before another long trip to Rishikesh. The
group didn’t ask questions.
We had slept in weird situations before on the trip (small vans with seats permanently reclined cramping knees behind; local
buses–periodically checking if that woman with the sweat dampened sari is puking out the door; jeeps lost in the high altitude
desert with only rocks, bush and rabbits; large tents covered in snow; homestays with beetles crawling around the floor, mud
dripping from the straw roof; and on the marble grounds of the Golden Temple) so by now there’s nothing that could surprise
us.
Backpacking is a full time job. There is no such thing as easy. This isn’t vacation. We earn the best moments–the bizarre, the
fun, the unpredictable–all of which are remembered best in the fixed routine of our normal lives. Or is this normal?
In discussions early on in the trip, I expressed that traveling with a backpack doesn’t make one a backpacker. A backpacker
absorbs every opportunity, taking all the good and the bad from the experience. A backpacker adapts to the country rather
than imposing their own life into it…

17. Haiti Engineering
Traveling and volunteering abroad always teaches us something about ourselves and the world…in terms of personal
growth, we learned to work harder, push ourselves farther away from our comfort zones, and to humanize the other. By
constructing the world’s first styrofoam building block factory, we are at the forefront of an open-source movement to
remove human-created waste from our rivers and oceans by turning that waste into reusable and sustainable,
earthquake- and hurricane -resistant construction materials. A small ripple of an act in the hope of creating a giant sea of
change.
Haiti is a country known for all the wrong reasons these days. Mainstream media focuses on the earthquake, the
challenges of reconstruction and the lack of progress. All true things. But what our team has learned is that Haiti’s story
is complex, not one that can be explained in a scrolling ticker on 24-hour news. So we came here to see for ourselves,
made some small progress but more importantly, some real connections with real people who are working to create
long-term change. In the process, we became better people and global citizens. There’s not much more we can ask for
in an OG trip.
So to everyone who followed along on our adventures, please don’t let Haiti be forgotten. Its tragic beauty should be a
lesson to us all. We know that our OG crew will never forget Haiti or the time we spent here…
‘Nou pap jamais blye ou’ – ‘We will never forget you’

18. West Africa Global Health
Our work and volunteer placements ranged from the surgical theater at the National Cardiothoracic Center in
Accra, Ghana to the makeshift football pitch at Horizon Children’s Centre (HCC) in the Upper East Region.
During the work day, the participants donned their white lab coats and shadowed doctors, nurses, and
surgeons in the Korie-Bu teaching hospital. There were opportunities to observe, interview, and learn from
professionals in several units of the large campus, including the Cardiothoracic Unit, the Obstetrics and
Gynaecology Department, the Plastics Unit, and several wards and surgical theaters. Several afternoons
were devoted to putting our observations into context by having presentations given from several national
health initiatives, including the National AIDS Control Programme and the National Tuberculosis Control
Board.
The entire trip seemed to come and go very quickly, especially as the group gave their final goodbyes outside
the taxi cabs on the way to the airport. It’s funny to think that in just this short time, new friendships were
made and many changes were made to peoples’ lives. Everyone had a great adventure that will last in their
memories for a very long time…

19. East Africa Discovery and Development
At Good Sheppard School in Kiritu, Kenya, there was no library. They had a few battered textbooks, and the
teachers would copy the text onto the blackboard and the students would write their homework into their
notebooks.
Last month, Operation Groundswell sponsored the purchase of over $2,000 worth of books. The teachers compiled
a list of the materials they needed, and we used our fundraising dollars to go to the publisher in Mbale and buy
them. We bought encyclopedias, and atlases, dictionaries, novels, textbooks, and more novels.
“Since the books were purchased, there have been great improvements with the students.” Said Eunice Ahuga, the
academic administrator of the school. “Before, children in class 1 would have trouble with numbers, and sounds
and letters. Now they have no problems, and even children in nursery are learning to read small words.”
The books were locked up in a newly built cupboard in the Director’s office. They are counted each week to ensure
that none have gone missing. When a teacher wants to use them, they sign them out, and then sign them back in
at the end of the day. They are not letting the children take the books home, though, for fear of them getting lost or
damaged. There aren’t enough books for each child to have its own, but it is a start. An incredible start.

20. On behalf of all of us at Operation Groundswell,
thank you for your generosity!