A good time was had by all at our recent volunteer social, held at Leicester University. New volunteers were able to chat to people who have volunteered in the past, hear about their experiences and learn about what it is really like to be a volunteer on one of the projects we support. People who had volunteered together years ago were able to have a good catch up chat, and people who had volunteered on the same project at different…
This article was written for the Leicester press just before our recent social at Leicester University. SHE’S KNOWN AS GRANDMA ALL ROUND THE WORLD Do you think volunteering in the developing world is something just for young people? If so, you should talk to Yvonne Coulson! Yvonne, who lives in Lutterworth, is 77 years old and has been volunteering since 2007. In that time she has completed ten volunteer placements, in six different countries – South Africa, Nepal, The Gambia,…
It’s hard to find a good speaker, or so I’m told by people faced with the task of booking different speakers for the social groups they belong to. Well we can help! A number of people who have volunteered on people and places projects, including myself, regularly give talks to different social groups such as the WI, church and U3A groups – I was once even invited as speaker (to talk about volunteering) to the local gardening club! This is…
My recent trip to South Africa culminated in two thoroughly enjoyable weeks spent in Port Elizabeth, working with Calabash, our wonderful local partners. As always, they could not have been more friendly and welcoming – I immediately felt part of the team and we had a really great time working together. Port Elizabeth is a fantastic place to volunteer – really worthwhile projects where you will spend your working day, a very supportive team to take an interest in what…
New projects in Cambodia are on our website. Take a look and see which project interests you in volunteering here. Siem Reap, with its close proximity to the World Heritage temples at Angkor Wat, is a popular destination for volunteers. The projects we currently support there are two community centres, both doing fantastic work at providing education, training and community support for some of the poorest villages around Siem Reap. They provide worthwhile and enjoyable placements for volunteers who have…
I am hoping some of you can help me. I have started going into schools to give talks to sixth form students about how to choose good volunteering projects for their gap year or student travels. There are many good and worthwhile projects to choose from (including those offered by people and places of course!) but there are also many pitfalls to avoid, and most students are unaware that volunteering opportunities that sound great may be very different in reality. …
I have recently returned from a really satisfying and encouraging trip to India. I went to visit the school where our volunteers work, Chitardai Upper Primary School, in Rajasthan. I have volunteered at Chitardai twice myself, in 2010 and 2011, working with the English teacher in his lessons and helping all the teachers to develop their school motto ‘Learn Through Play’ by showing them a number of techniques for active learning – I must confess it’s my favourite of the…
April 23rd 2016 . . . St George’s Day, Earth Day, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death . . . and, most importantly of course, the day we held our latest volunteer social! This time we met at volunteer Val’s home near Hemel Hempstead, the weather was kind to us, and we all enjoyed a lovely sociable afternoon catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. There was a good mix of previous volunteers who could tell us about…
If you have told us that you would like to be put in touch with other people and places volunteers who live not too far away from you, you should by now have received a contact list of email addresses for volunteers in your area. We have always encouraged a new volunteer on a particular project to make contact with others who have volunteered there before as a good way of getting to know about that project. However, meeting with other…