By Kim Baker, Program Associate in Nicaragua
We’ve all heard the phrase, “BFF,” or Best Friends Forever. You probably still have a friendship bracelet in your dresser drawer, or tucked into a 3rd grade diary. We’ve all heard of BFF, but BBF? Best Brigade Friend.
Best Brigade Friend is a bond that is forms when you spend numerous days on brigade digging trenches, mixing concrete, taking vitals, sharing meals, or sitting through long rides in the rural countryside with another brigader, GB staff, or community member.
This month we celebrate International Friendship Day. Many countries have celebrated their own days of friendship on different days for the past 100 years, however, in 2011 when the United Nations named July 30th the International Day of Friendship. The UN was motivated to to officiate this day due to the “many challenges, crises and forces of division” our world faces. The UN believes that “to confront those crises and challenges, their root causes must be addressed by promoting and defending a shared spirit of human solidarity that takes many forms — the simplest of which is friendship.”
In honor of this special day, Global Brigades is highlighting the beautiful and rich relationships formed among all involved who work toward GB’s mission of holistic and sustainable development.
Another one of Global Brigades’ core values is collaboration. We bring together volunteers from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom to partner together, as well as with rural communities in Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Ghana. This global collaboration opens the door for friendships to be formed among volunteers, community members, and GB staff, regardless of borders. While sustainable development is the ultimate goal for all involved, friendships and strong partner relationships facilitates and maintains that development.
With this blog post, we have a call to action for YOU! With two weeks to go before International Friendship Day, we encourage you to reach out to your BBF– whether it’s sharing a post tagging a friend you met on brigade, or writing to a community member of your favorite GB staff member. Additionally, if you haven’t already, follow us on Facebook and Instagram for daily to weekly posts so that you don’t have to wait until your next brigade to catch up with your BBFs.
Happy International Friendship Day!
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