Pathfinders Project
The Parable of the Mustard Seed Means Something to Me
In 2018, Rogers Muwanguzi co-founded Eagle’s View Primary School in Kayiira, Uganda to address the high rates of teen pregnancy, child labor, and school dropouts caused in large part by the absence of any sufficiently nearby school. I only know this because Rogers Muwanguzi was a student at Mustard Seed Secondary School in Busota, Uganda…
Read MoreWater Ecuador gives update post earthquake
On Saturday, April 16th, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit about 17 miles (27km) from Muisne, Ecuador. At least 673 people were killed and 27,732 people injured. The quake was Ecuador's largest since 1979 and was six times more powerful than the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Japan. More than 130 aftershocks followed. The cities of Manta,…
Read MorePathfinder Ben Blanchard to speak at Skepticon
Our very own Pathfinder Ben Blanchard will be speaking at Skepticon 7 this weekend! His talk, “I got malaria, and so can you! Your primer on international secular service," will cover his international work with the Pathfinders Project, which took him from Cambodia to Guatemala. Closer to home, Ben has has also worked with the…
Read MoreThe application period for Humanist Action: Ghana is now open
Foundation Beyond Belief’s Humanist Action: Ghana is accepting applications now through December 15. In 2013, Foundation Beyond Belief sponsored Pathfinders Project, a yearlong international service trip in search of the best location to launch the Humanist Action: Ghana. The Pathfinders spent a month in each of 10 project locations, contributing no less than 6,000 hours of…
Read MoreReimagining volunteer service: Lessons learned from Pathfinders Project
After talking about it for almost the entire trip, the Pathfinders finally watched The Princess Bride together in Guatemala. And now that I am tasked with writing a wrap-up piece for this incredible, indescribable first-of-its-kind year of international service, I cannot help but think of Inigo Montoya’s famous line as he prepares to describe the…
Read More“More to be done by human hands”—Alix Jules
Alix Jules co-chairs the Dallas–Fort Worth Coalition of Reason’s Diversity Council and is a founding member and presiding Historian for the Fellowship of Freethought. He will speak about how diversity changes the work of the freethought movement at the Humanism at Work conference July 18-20. Diversity isn’t an abstraction to Alix Jules. He was raised…
Read MorePathfinders Diary: Getting Out of the Dumps–Ana’s Story
Ana moved to Guatemala City from a rural village when she was twelve-years-old. Ana came alone and did not speak Spanish. She could not read the language she did speak, the Mayan K’iche’. At markets she was often cheated of the correct change because she did not understand the numbers on the bills. Traveling across…
Read More“The ultimate expression of humanism”: Ben Blanchard, Pathfinders Project
Ben Blanchard took some time out of his work with impoverished families in Guatemala City to reflect on his year of humanist service currently underway with Pathfinders Project. No one who knows Ben Blanchard would be surprised to find him working among disenfranchised families in Guatemala. Service and activism have featured prominently in Ben’s life…
Read MoreCompassionate Humanism Wholly Demonstrated in Week of Action
Beyond Belief Network recently organized a Week of Action as an opportunity to do good deeds in the week before National Day of Reason (and National Day of Prayer). Many Beyond Belief Network teams held events and encouraged hundreds of humanists across the country to #choosetoACT. These are summaries of a few of the events.…
Read MoreConor Robinson discusses humanist service, building bridges, and why atheists should care about their image
Conor Robinson is the director of Pathfinders Project, the yearlong global humanist service trip. A Teach for America alumnus, Conor graduated from Yale University in 2010, where he founded the Yale Humanist Society. Conor and the rest of the Pathfinders are currently working in Guatemala with Safe Passage/Camino Seguro, an organization whose mission is to…
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