Mission

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Overview

The theme for Cousin Trips 2011 is: “Self Reliance and Choices”

Parents really wish that it was easier to get their children to follow good advice - but it isn't. Generally, young people make decisions without any real thought about the consequences.

This would not be the case if young people thought about the results of their choices. Imagine the world we would live in… if we all just made a conscious decision to do what is right!! Lofty idea huh? Life really is all about the choices we make. Giving young people this information early in life can be helpful as they learn to understand themselves and others.

To that end, we are offering three Cousin Trips this year which will introduce, define and help our young travelers to understand how to rely on themselves and the information they have in order to make good choices. On a Cousin Trip young people will be encouraged to use what they learned at home, in school, and in their religious community to challenge themselves to "do the right thing" in all situations.

Parents, our Cousin Coaches will start the day with meditation and exercise. He/she will facilitate discussions related to the theme and your child will be encouraged to participate.

Your child will be involved in meal preparation, establishing a daily routine, journal writing, and collectively selecting the evening activity.

Our young travelers will leave Cousin Trips with confidence and a stronger sense of self awareness which will better equip them as they navigate through their world.

One of the main goals of Cousin Trips is to support parents by reinforcing and restating some of the values and life lessons you attempt to teach your child daily.

On a Cousin Trip, your child will hear your message in a new way- from a new voice. It is our belief that the good, positive, and encouraging messages will stick and make a lasting impact!

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Our Director

Samimah Aziz is the oldest of nine siblings, a Howard University graduate, a mother of two, a businesswoman and a cousin to dozens.  She is currently a student at Grand Canyon University pursuing a Master's Degree in Professional Counseling.

Samimah has managed several businesses in her lifetime. Those include her family owned book store and managing a ten city tour for their annual Book Fair. She assisted her father in opening an Information Center in Ghana, West Africa and coordinated tourist and business group travel to Africa.

Samimah's life as she knew it came to a screeching halt as a result of a serious car accident that left her unable to walk independently for over a year.  After a series of surgical procedures and intense therapy, she struggled for months to regain her confidence, the use of her legs, and the desire to rebuild her life.

Parenting has been a life developing challenge for Samimah. As a result, she is very interested in young people and is concerned about some of the messages and images that consume and influence them.

Cousin Trips was created to provide unique opportunities for young people to learn about themselves and life lessons while having fun!
Cousin Trips is a program specially designed to provide young people between the ages 12-16 with a rich summer vacation, travel experience, and life lessons that they will always remember!

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Why a Cousin Coach?

Our Cousin Coaches are specially chosen for their knowledge, accomplishments and interest in helping young people to articulate, ponder and understand the importance of personal choice and purpose.

As parents, I know we can agree that heredity and environment help to shape the impressionable minds of our sons/daughters and having any meaningful conversation is almost impossible when the topics are: who am I, where am I going, and how will I get there. The task becomes even more agonizing getting them to depend on our experience or buy into our ideas. We are competing against TV, popular music, video games and negative peer pressure.

Many of our young people think the answer to success is more of everything, but we know that once they begin to experience life on its terms they will soon find out that the keys to success have nothing to do with more but everything to do with faith, love, consistency and self improvement.

Many times we use words  like; challenge, accountability, direction, inspiration, focus, sounding board, support and validation. We hope that these words will inspire our young people to wake up and smell the coffee  but how do we teach them the practical use and the proper meaning of these words?

That is the job of our Cousin Coaches; they help to teach our young travelers what makes the difference in their lives, the lives of those they love, and how to achieve the desired goal.

Our Cousin Coaches offer our young travelers excellent information about life topics that can move them from dull to energetic, from disorganized to organized, from being stuck and unsure to becoming un-trapped and confident, from frazzled to focused, from afraid to creative, from unappreciative to making the most of everything, from feeling disconnected to living with a purpose, from weak to strong.

Cousin Trips is a fun filled and exciting ‘Unique Summer Experience” where young travelers can learn as they earn the keys to life!

Please take a moment to look over the list of life topics we offer. If there is a subject you'd like to offer, please email us at info@cousintrips.com and we will consider your suggestion.

• Am I ready for college?
• Choices and consequences
• Creative ideas for the young entrepreneur
• Current issues in the news
• Culture and diversity
• Etiquette at home and abroad
• Getting organized
• How to eat to live
• Is my body fit? Living on a budget
• Preparing a meal without cooking
• Safety
• Spirituality
• The things I should know how to do
• What to do in the case of…?

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Cousin Coaches

Please check back soon for updates!