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Author: Dianne Ashman

Visiting a possible new partner in Senegal

Visiting a possible new partner in Senegal

When Sallie and I were in the Gambia is January, we took the opportunity to go with Adama, our colleague and partner in The Gambia, into the neighbouring country of Senegal to explore the possibilities for us working there too.  The Gambia and Senegal have close ties in the field of responsible tourism and Adama had identified possible new partners and projects for us to look at. We travelled south from the Gambia into the beautiful region of Casamance in…

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Volunteer Helen helps launch important new initiative in Cambodia

Volunteer Helen helps launch important new initiative in Cambodia

Treak Creations is a social enterprise run by Salin, manager of Treak Community Centre (TCC), to support the work of the Centre and provide work for local women.  Salin is a skilled seamstress and runs a well equipped sewing centre at TCC, making a variety of items to sell to local people and tourists.  Recently they were able to acquire a site for a shop, located just 400 metres from Treak Community Centre, along the main road to Tonle Sap…

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Thank you, Zoe, for our wonderful new library!

Thank you, Zoe, for our wonderful new library!

Zoe has volunteered at Mary’s Little Lambs (MLL) in The Gambia twice before, in December 2023 and May 2024, with a focus on helping improve literacy.  Recognising that it would be so much easier to encourage a love of reading if the school had a proper library, she proposed going back for a third placement with the aim of establishing a library and teaching children and teachers how to use if effectively.  The first thing was to arrange talks with…

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Blast from the Past – International Volunteer Teachers Wanted – Open to All???

Blast from the Past – International Volunteer Teachers Wanted – Open to All???

This is an article I wrote for our blog and newsletter in 2019 but I believe it is just as relevant today. As an ex-teacher, I of course hope lots of people will volunteer to improve the educational opportunities for children around the world. However it is important that this is done responsibly and thoughtfully to make sure these volunteers don’t do more harm than good. The article was designed to give some guidelines – it was included in discussions…

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‘Morocco – the best of my volunteer placements!’

‘Morocco – the best of my volunteer placements!’

In October Penny set off on her third volunteer placement with people and places – this time to Morocco.  She was the first in-country volunteer they had been able to accept since the earthquake, and she arrived at the start of the school year, as the girls were settling into their new boarding house and enjoying returning to school in Asni.  These are some extracts from the reports Penny wrote at the end of her placement. ‘I have done 2…

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people and places volunteers in Cambodia

people and places volunteers in Cambodia

Cambodia is always a popular destination for our volunteers and our partners working at Treak Community Centre (TCC) are able to provide a welcoming and worthwhile volunteering experience for people with a wide range of skills. In the spring of 2024 we set up a group placement at TCC for 6 ladies from Kindness Adventures, an organisation from USA and Canada.  They wanted a placement to make use of their practical and artistic skills, and were also able to provide…

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Have you booked your slot for our online social on February 8th?

Have you booked your slot for our online social on February 8th?

Don’t miss out! Our socials are popular events and we’d love to see you there, whether you are a previous volunteer catching up with old friends, a new volunteer looking forward to their placement or just thinking about possibly volunteering in the future. Our online events mean that people can join from around the world – all our local partners will be there even though they are in different countries in very different time zones. Volunteers in the middle of…

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Return to Morocco – devastation and hope – can you help?

Return to Morocco – devastation and hope – can you help?

I am delighted to be writing this article while in Morocco – my first visit to see the people we work with from Education For All (EFA) since last September’s devastating earthquake.  It is wonderful to have the opportunity to catch up with our local partners, the house-mothers and girls in person rather than on the Zoom screen! There is still much evidence of the devastation caused by the earthquake in the town of Asni.  Many people are still living…

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Volunteer stories – just home and just setting off

Volunteer stories – just home and just setting off

As always, our volunteers have been working hard, sharing their many and varied skills and experiences with local people.  Here are a few examples: Diana loves reading with her grandchildren.  She has just completed an e-volunteer placement listening to children read and helping them with their vocabulary.  She says: ‘A highlight was when the students used more expression in their reading and stopped and paused at full stops.’ Zoe is a teacher.  She worked alongside a new untrained teacher to…

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Requests from our partners – can you help?

Requests from our partners – can you help?

We can place volunteers with a great variety of skills and experiences and we always look forward to finding out about new volunteers and creating a match with a local project which is beneficial to both volunteer and the local community.  At the moment, in particular, we would love to hear from potential volunteers who could: Link up online to listen to children read and to read with them – Diana’s placement described above was so successful that teachers and…

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