global-neighborhood-project

Morocco: Culture and Landscape

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 22:04:21 GMT

Photos of Morocco highlighting landscapes, culture, architecture, and everyday scenes across this North African country.

Exploring Morocco Through Photos

Latvia: Culture and Landscape

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 05:35:04 GMT

Photos of Latvia highlighting landscapes, culture, architecture, and everyday scenes across this Baltic country.

Exploring Latvia Through Photos

In 1941, the Nazis shut people in the Great Choral Synagogue and burned it to the ground. The site was bulldozed over. In the late Soviet era, the site was resurrected and turned into a Holocaust monument.

The National Opera. In Latvia, the government funds many of the arts. The state opera puts on some four productions each season, comprising 70 to 100 performances. By contrast, the San Diego Opera produces three operas each season, with a total of nine performances.

These apartment buildings are everywhere in Latvia. This one is out in the country, and would have housed members of the local farming collective. It would have represented a big step up in the standard of living for the farmers.

Inside the National Opera. In Latvia, the government funds many of the arts. The state opera puts on some four productions each season, comprising 70 to 100 performances. By contrast, the San Diego Opera produces three operas each season, with a total of nine performances.

Skyline over the Daugava River.

Every five years, the Latvians celebrate a national song and dance festival. It features two main highlights: a massed choir which and a giant dance performance involving over 18,000 dancers.

The House of the Blackheads was built in 1334 as a warehouse. In the 15th Century, it became the home of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads, a guild of German merchants and shipowners. Much of the facade dates in design from the early 17th Century, and can be traced to the Dutch. The building was destroyed in World War II, and razed by the Soviets in 1948. It was reconstructed in the 1990s, and for awhile housed the Latvian presidential offices.

In the Riga Holocaust monument, a list of passengers from the area loaded onto trains destined for the death camps. Before the war, Riga had approximately 43,000 Jews. Afterwards, only a few hundred.

Soviet monument to the Great War against Germany. The flowers are laid by ethnic Russians on the anniversary of Germany's defeat. The monument has since been toppled in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Latvian countryside.

Every five years, the Latvians celebrate a national song and dance festival. It features two main highlights: a massed choir which and a giant dance performance involving over 18,000 dancers.

Latvia Centennial Choir

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 05:00:33 GMT

Latvia’s 2018 Song and Dance Celebration featured a Mežaparks closing concert in Rīga with a 16,000-strong choir, held during Latvia’s centenary year.

Latvia’s Nationwide Song and Dance Celebration is a major cultural tradition, typically held every five years and bringing together choirs and dance groups from across the country.

In July 2018, the celebration aligned with Latvia’s centenary of statehood (1918–2018) and was widely framed as a centenary milestone event.

A centerpiece of the 2018 celebration was the closing concert at the Mežaparks Open-Air Stage in Rīga, where reporting described a 16,000-strong choir performing together on the grand stage.

After the formal program, the closing night traditionally continues with a large sing-along, extending the shared repertoire beyond the scheduled performance.

UNESCO recognizes the broader Baltic Song and Dance Celebration tradition (including Latvia) as intangible cultural heritage

The Coast News Article about GNP

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 06:34:54 GMT

Citizen diplomacy in action: bridging cultures one connection at a time

The Coast News recently published a feature on the Global Neighborhood Project (GNP), a nonprofit dedicated to building personal, cross-cultural relationships in places most tourists never see. The article follows Oceanside basketball coach and sociology professor Bruce Hoskins on his trip to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where he worked with local coaches and young players to develop their skills. His journey — coordinated by GNP board member Lee Wakefield — is just one example of GNP’s citizen diplomacy efforts, which also include cultural exchanges in Botswana, Latvia, Morocco, and beyond.

“We focus on countries that are off-the-beaten tourist path — places where people don’t go. We want to match communities and people around the world and use common interests to get to know one another.” — Lee Wakefield

“Cultures are different, but people are the same. We are all essentially the same.” — Bruce Hoskins

Read the full article at The Coast News → Nonprofit makes cultural connections with places tourists rarely visit

If you are interested in an interview or learning more about the Global Neighborhood Project, please use our contact form to reach us.

Coaching Girls High School Basketball in Mongolia

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 03:45:42 GMT

Update from Global Neighborhood Project’s Lee Wakefield

First and foremost, I want to thank the Global Neighborhood Project for inviting me to Mongolia to coach basketball to public high school players and teachers! I was incredibly blessed by the experience and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Mongolia is only the second country I have ever visited and I have learned that going to a country teaches you so much more about the history of a people than any book ever could. The Mongolian people are a strong, beautiful, friendly, and resilient people… and they love basketball!

Regardless of their individual skill level, each girl came with a heart to learn and grow as a player. I could see almost immediately that they had not developed their left hand, which is vital in basketball. So I spent almost the entire time doing drills that made them use their left hand. There was a point where I had them hold onto a water bottle with their right hand so that they would only use their left. Although they were uncomfortable, they worked hard and by the end of practice some of the players were already beginning to see positive results!

The high school teachers were an amazing group and were very open to learning the game of basketball from an American perspective. Although some of them played basketball at higher levels, they understood that there is a huge difference between playing and coaching. After seeing that both the boys and the girls did not use their left hands very well, I showed them how to use specific drills to develop skill sets that they wanted to emphasize. I could also see their passion for international 3 v 3 and spent time with them developing a coaching philosophy that would effectively compliment who Mongolians are as a people and what types of skill sets they would need to develop to capitalize on their passion for 3 v 3.

After my visit to Mongolia, I have found that cultures and customs are different from country to country, but people are the same. If we emphasize the negative things in life then all we will see is the negative. But if we emphasize the good, the passion, and the connection between all of us then we could truly become a Global Neighborhood!

Padres Gift Shared in Mongolia

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 10:00:59 GMT

U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia Richard Buangan recently received Padres mementos from Global Neighborhood Project (GNP) board member and retired Marine Corps officer Lee Wakefield. The exchange took place in Ulaanbaatar—one of several international cities connected with San Diego through GNP’s efforts.

Ambassador Buangan, a former San Diego resident and longtime Padres fan, shared a personal moment with Wakefield that underscored the human connections at the center of diplomacy. What may have seemed like a small gesture carried symbolic weight, reflecting GNP’s mission of building international understanding through shared experiences.

The meeting is one of many ways GNP continues to foster citizen-to-citizen relationships abroad—whether through cultural exchange, education, or collaborative service.

Ulaanbaatar Connection Grows Through Global Neighborhood Project

U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia Richard Buangan (left) with GNP National Coordinator Tuya Badarch and board member Lee Wakefield during a cultural exchange in Ulaanbaatar.

Photos courtesy of the U.S. Embassy | Mongolia

San Diego–Baku Youth Chess Tournament

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 06:58:20 GMT

Chess Connects Cultures: San Diego–Baku Youth Tournament Highlights

The Global Neighborhood Project (GNP) supports international goodwill through cultural activities like the San Diego–Baku Youth Chess Tournament , now in its seventh year. Sponsored by the Republic of Azerbaijan , the event brings young players in San Diego together for friendly competition and global connection through the game of chess.

This year’s tournament, held at the Coronado Public Library, welcomed students ages 8 to 18 for a day of exciting matches.

Highlights:

Lucas Ding , 14, of San Diego, was named tournament winner.

He received a certificate from Azerbaijan’s Consul General Vugar Israyil oghlu Gurbanov and a memento from Grandmaster Vasif Durarbayli , one of only 1,850 grandmasters worldwide.

Lucas closed the event with an exhibition match against GM Durarbayli.

The tournament is one part of GNP’s continuing collaboration with Azerbaijani partners. Plans are underway to grow the initiative with classroom connections, virtual events, and potential links between schools such as La Jolla High School and the Vugar Hashimov Chess Academy .

Through programs like this, GNP encourages student engagement, cultural awareness, and global perspective—one match at a time.

Global Neighborhood Project | A Journey in Citizen Diplomacy

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 10:00:59 GMT

Global Neighborhood Project

The Who and What

More than 15 years ago, teachers from Azerbaijan visited San Diego with U.S. State Department support, and one of them stayed in our neighborhood. We knew nothing about his country, but liked our visitor as a human being, a citizen diplomat, if you will.

When the group returned to Baku, we contacted the Azerbaijan Embassy in Washington and the Azerbaijan Consulate General in Los Angeles, and proposed the following: Give us a “neighborhood” anywhere in Azerbaijan, and we will work in a collaborative way on cultural and educational projects. Today, the Global Neighborhood Project (GNP) and our friends in Azerbaijan have collaborated on more than 50 projects, including the 7th Annual San Diego-Azerbaijan Youth Chess Tournament at the Coronado Library with a Grandmaster from Azerbaijan.

GNP then looked for other “neighborhoods” that are off the beaten path and today we have several global partnerships that focus primarily on photography/videography, storytelling/journalism/news deserts and chess, along with the arts and sports. In addition to Azerbaijan, we’re in Botswana, Latvia, Mongolia, Morocco, Romania, Uruguay and Uzbekistan with efforts underway in other countries across the globe.

GNP is a journey, not a destination. The three goals that we envisioned in 2007 were: 1. Connect with 10 countries in separate regions of the world that are off the beaten path; 2. Connect those 10 countries with each other, and finally 3. Connect with international organizations. All in the spirit of citizen diplomacy.

GNP also offers a wide variety of internship opportunities and provides mentoring for students, whatever their career path. Please join us on this journey.

Martin Kruming

Global Neighborhood Project