Most of the posts are by  Sallie Grayson–  co founder and  programme director at people and places

Sallie‘s volunteer experience includes work in The Gambia, coincidentally at the same time as Harold (co founder) was working there on national tourism guidelines. Their fortunate meeting and subsequent discussions led them to pursue a better way to serve local communities and volunteers.

Sallie ran a niche marketing company for 20 years, and has served as a non-executive director and consultant in industries as varied as retail, finance, health and tourism. She has a proven record in direct marketing and business development. She has worked with communities in Africa to improve their economic welfare.

Sallie’s own experiences as a volunteer, as well as the shared experiences of other volunteers and the communities in which they worked, left her frustrated and cynical about the volunteer industry, but also inspired by the potential benefits for volunteers and local communities … and determined to do something!

Sallie is programme director. Her role includes working on an ongoing basis with local people to build meaningful volunteer programmes. Sallie is also responsible for the marketing of people and places and laiason with TravelPledge. Her least favourite part of the job is doing the accounts!

contact sallie at sallie@travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk

Kate Stefanko posts from time to time

Kate has over 25 years’ experience in the travel industry, including the development of cultural immersion tours for specialist UK travel companies. Kate has always placed particular emphasis on matching travellers’ cultural experience to the need for rewarding and empowering experiences for their hosts.

Kate holds a firm belief in the inherent ability of individual people to achieve great things through working together. She is repeatedly humbled and inspired by what individual volunteers achieve, and gains great rewards through past, present and future volunteers sharing their experiences and knowledge.

Kate is placement director, matching the skills and abilities of volunteers to project needs. Her least favourite part of the job is the technical challenge of updating the website!

Contact Kate at kate@travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk

And finally Nigel Pegler will post stories he has received from volunteers  from time to time –

Nigel is  editor of our newsletter.

Before Nigel took on this particular volunteer role, he travelled with people and places as a volunteer in rural South Africa, where his practical skills were fundamental in setting up a bicycle project. Nigel has volunteered in The Gambia – again putting his practical skills to use in working with local people, and will be volunteering in Peru this year.

Nigel readily admits that his overseas volunteer experiences have changed his life.

When he first volunteered in South Africa, Nigel was caretaker of a high school and is now site manager of both the high school and primary school. In his spare time, he gives talks and presentations about his volunteer experiences.
To say that he achieved employment promotion and greater self confidence solely through volunteering may be an exaggeration … but it certainly helped!

As well as working on the newsletter, Nigel provides practical help and technical support for all our volunteer meetings and ‘road shows’ – and is planning to volunteer overseas again as soon as he can.

Contact Nigel at newsletter@travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk