Swinford headed to Africa

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CHICAGO — Jillian Swinford, formerly of Princeton, will spend part of the summer in Moshi, Tanzania, volunteering her teaching expertise. Swinford, 26, decided to volunteer in Africa through a program called Cross-Cultural Solutions, an association affiliated with the United Nations.

The program sends people on short-term volunteer abroad experiences to impoverished nations. Volunteers divide their time between working on community projects alongside local people and learning more about the particular culture they are visiting.

Swinford has taught at the University of Chicago’s Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, a private residential treatment high school for students with emotional and behavioral disorders, for the past three years. She and former fellow teacher, Kerri Elliott, of Mundelein decided to look into taking a volunteer trip together.

“(Elliott) and I both led a community service group at the school, and we had talked about going on an international service trip together,” Swinford said. “I had an interest in going to Africa. We found this program online, and it seemed to be the most reputable.”

Swinford and Elliott will leave for Tanzania on June 26 and will return July 26. They will work in a school in Moshi as teaching assistants during the morning and early afternoon of each day. During the late afternoon, they will participate in lessons taught by local community members on Tanzanian and African culture, including Swahili language lessons, African dancing, food and history, and will participate in tours.

Swinford said Cross-Cultural Solutions provides all volunteers with apartment-style housing in a “home base” area, and also provides all meals. The program is open to anyone who has a desire to volunteer in another country and is able to raise the needed funds for flights and other travel expenses.

“We’ve been planning this trip for about a year now,” Swinford said. “Now that all of the business stuff is taken care of and the trip is getting closer, I’m getting more excited because it’s becoming more real.”

On their weekends off, the two teachers plan to take some scenic trips, including a safari on the Serengeti plain in Tanzania and to nearby Mount Kilimanjaro.

Swinford, who graduated from Princeton High School in 2000, received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from the University of Illinois — Cham-paign/Urbana in 2004. Beginning this fall, she will attend Chicago’s Art Institute to earn a master’s degree in art education.

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