About GATE
Global Awareness for Travelers
GATE
a Center for Global Awareness Program
The Center for Global Awareness, an educational nonprofit organization, offers three programs: Global Awareness for Educators, globally-focused books and educational resources for educators and students grade 9-university; GATHER, Global Awareness Through Engaged Reflection, a study and conversation program for self-organizing groups of lifelong learners; and its latest program GATE, Global Awareness for Travelers, an educational travel program providing ways in which travelers can study and practice global awareness.
Hama Water Wheel, Syria, photo Denise Ames
Global Awareness for Travelers (GATE) …
is a non-profit, educational travel program created by world historian, veteran educator, and world traveler Dr. Denise R. Ames. The mission of GATE is to offer ways to enhance global awareness—understanding our place in the world and our relationships with others—for engaged and culturally-curious travelers who are seeking deep, reflective, and purpose-oriented travel experiences.
Arabian Horses, riders in traditional dress, Qatar, photo Denise Ames
The importance of enhancing global awareness for travelers…
Our species is at a critical juncture in our long human history. Although many of us have a comfortable standard of living and can afford travel, we may feel unprepared to venture forth or reluctant to partake in what is often considered a self-indulgent activity.
Dr. Ames, however, makes the case that learning about the world and our place in it is a vital endeavor for people living in open, democratic countries. Travel in thoughtful and inquisitive ways adds to our knowledge and understanding about the world and contributes to making informed decisions about critical matters. After our travels, it is crucial to share our newfound wisdom and experiences with others.
In response to the need for purposeful travel, Dr. Ames has created GATE to offer ways to enhance our global awareness, which can help us make sense of these tumultuous and challenging times.
Confucian ceremony in South Korea, photo Denise Ames
Practicing Global Awareness
Ways of understanding global awareness are arranged into eight paths—an outward and inward focus, each contain four paths.
Outward Paths
1.
Holistic World History:
Learning from the Past
The past has much to reveal to us. This holistic, “big picture,” approach to history organizes human development into five waves—Communal, Agricultural, Urban, Modern, and Global.
2.
Five Worldviews:
Different Ways We See the World
Will we ever get along? Issues seen through the lens of five worldviews—indigenous, traditional, progressive, globalized, and transformative—help us understand ourselves and others.
3.
Cross-Cultural Awareness:
Learning About and From Others
Are we all weird? We explore cultural differences and human commonalities using a cross-cultural organizer and other approaches.
4.
Global Issues:
A Primer for Travelers
Travelers may encounter or want to know more about five significant global issues: environment, global economy, political structures, social issues, and belief systems.
Great Wall of China, photo Denise Ames
Inward Paths
5.
Time Honored Insights:
Integrating Wisdom of the Ages
Like the ancient philosophers of the past, integrating time-honored insights—understanding, balancing, connecting, opening up, and laughing—into our travels unlocks wisdom.
6.
Well-Being:
Travel as a Journey of Discovery
Well-being is a good or satisfactory condition. Travel can heighten our awareness about our own life and our contributions to the wider world.
7.
Travel as a Mythic Journey:
Embarking Upon a Personal Quest
A mythic journey is a personal quest to deepen insights about our inward life and our greater purpose in the outer world.
8.
Lessons from Travel:
Applications for Our Daily Life
The lessons of travel may be simple or multi-faceted. Travel has the capacity to teach us many lessons if we open to its magic.
Klaipedia, Lithuania, photo Denise Ames
Gyeongbuck Palace, Seoul, South Korea, photo Denise Ames
Is Globally Aware Travel for You?
If you are a lifelong learner who is eager to see the world with new eyes, hear fresh perspectives, think about new ideas, seek out authentic experiences, and try to better understand your place and purpose in the world, then the global awareness approach to travel is for you.
“Your journey lies before you and will be what you make it.”
— Denise R. Ames