First of all – THANK YOU everyone for your good wishes while I’ve been away for a while … Next – I may have been away from ‘people and places’ desk, but I’m still keeping my finger on the pulse. Frequent calls with Sallie and Dianne … and … a lovely get-together in the summer with our wonderful local partners from The Gambia, Lisong and Adama … as well as their daughter Mariama and grandchildren. Adama and Lisong were visiting…
Our Young Professional adviser Luci Gardiner O’Brien has certainly been thrown in at the deep end – she is representing people and places on a panel discussing child protection issues at WTM London in November – Luci will be talking about something close to our heart – how volunteer travellers can work for children – working with projects that seek to keep children in families not in orphanages – for an example of our work take a look here
By Luci Gardner O’Brien Campaigning for responsible volunteering has, and always will be, a big part of people and places. We are committed to the implementation of responsible volunteering, be it through our own placements, or by simply getting the information out there! This is the main reason behind the launch of our Instagram page. Through our page we want to share, and create, an active discussion about HOW to volunteer responsibly. Lots of organisations have been campaigning, us included,…
The Kugler family have been supporting The Education Support Programme at AV Bukani for over 10 years – here are some extracts from their blog about their latest trip this year “One of the major factors impacting this year is an improvement in electronic communication. All the teachers and the community leaders communicate through WhatsApp and email on their phones. In past years, email was spotty and the basic phones were hard to use and limited to local calls; communication…
A short story of a moment in time, where Linky Nkuna used her finger to do maths in the sand, under a tree, and is now a part of digital learning revolution where the same finger is used to control an ipad, where maths is just one of the many educational programs she has access to. Learn more about our partners Good Works Foundation and how you can help this pioneering programme in South Africa here
We want to give a warm welcome to Luci Gardner O’Brien who has joined the people and places team. She brings passion and integrity – and, just as importantly, youth! to the team. Luci is working on our campaign to help volunteers find responsible and ethical volunteering opportunities – and not just with us. Her aim is to guide young people wisely in their search for volunteer placements. Luci graduated in 2016 from The University of Nantes gaining a degree…
Our latest campaign is designed to help people volunteer responsibly. Follow our instagram page to learn more
I have just spent 3 wonderful weeks in The Gambia. Where to start – the progress by all three of the programmes we work with warmed my heart…and I must admit February in The Gambia warmed my body! We work with three programmes in The Gambia –
people and places was founded to make volunteering a better experience for volunteers and the communities they work with – we decided the best way to campaign for better was through example. We believe in the power of well matched and well prepared volunteers – we believe the overwhelming majority of people want to do good….but we also see the damage being done in communities where poorly thought out, managed and monitored programmes are being run. We believe volunteers and the communities…
This was first published way back when – sadly – it still holds true! Here at people and places we are constantly struggling to get enough volunteers for our programmes – there are other sending organisations that manage to attract thousands of volunteers every year – we don’t and I now know we have got so much wrong – so here’s my proposal – I’m sending it off to our advisory board tonight: 1. We’re going to start talking about our projects – after all, how…