Mission

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Overview

The theme for Cousin Trips 2010 is: “Spirituality…What’s That?”

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 we could get more young people to understand and feel comfortable about how to practice spirituality in their everyday lives.

Young people who exemplify even a small amount of spiritual consciousness tend to make better life decisions and are better equipped to handle peer pressure.

To that end, we are offering three Cousin Trips this year which will introduce, define and help our young travelers understand how they can integrate spiritual principals into their daily lives.

Parents, our Cousin Coaches will help your son or daughter to learn the art of practicing spirituality in a fun and meaningful way. Each morning a Cousin Coach will start the day with meditation, exercise, and discussion. The objective is to identify what spirituality is and how it works in our lives.

Our young travelers will be involved in meal planning and preparation, establishing their daily routines, journal writing, and collectively selecting their evening activity.

Cousin Trips young travelers will emerge 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 they attempt to teach their child on a daily basis. We believe that children, at a certain age, "tune parents out" as we often (necessarily) repeat the same messages over and over again.

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.

Samimah gained her most valuable life experiences and social consciousness growing up in a household with a father who was very active and highly visible in the Black Liberation movement during the early 1960’s; observing her mother’s strengths and sacrifices; helping six younger sisters; often meeting national and international leaders; and living in Africa for many years of her young adult life.

Samimah has managed several businesses in her lifetime including overseeing the family owned book store and assisting in organizing a ten city tour for their annual Black Book Fair. She helped her father open an Information Center in Ghana, West Africa for the purpose of promoting African and African-American trade.

Samimah’s professional career came to a screeching halt as a result of a life threatening car accident that left her unable to walk for a period that seemed like forever. 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.

Samimah is back and once again demonstrating her creativity, her flair, and her ability.

Samimah has taken a special interest in young people and is concerned about the messages and images that consume their attention and influence their minds.

Samimah has launched the opening of her new company “Cousin Trips”. A unique program specially designed to provide young people between the ages 10-16 with a summer vacation and travel experience that embodies the energy, the spirit, and the quality of life that has made Samimah caring and determined.

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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 and read about our Cousin Coaches and email us at info@cousintrips.com any topics that you would like us to add to our list.

• Am I ready for College?
• Creative ideas for the Young Entrepreneur
• Current Issues
• Health and Beauty
• Etiquette at home and abroad
• Getting Organized
• How to Eat to Live
• Is my body Fit?
• Let’s dance
• Living on a budget
• Our History, Ourselves
• Preparing a meal without Cooking
• Safety
• Spirituality
• The Power of Being Present
• The things I should know how to do
• What to do in the Case of…?
• Writing, is it a hobby?

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Cousin Coaches

Please check back soon for updates!