We are blessed to work with some amazing women – role models and leaders – in Morocco, South Africa ,Cambodia and The Gambia. International Women’s Day was last week – but we don’t apologise for being late! – because every day is women’s day here at people and places In this post we have chosen to focus on a programme we work with in The Gambia – but wherever you choose to volunteer with us – be assured the projects…
From the beginning of the pandemic – we, at people and places, made the difficult decision that we would not ask our volunteers and friends for donations. We made this decision because we are aware funds are tight for nearly everyone – our concentration is on how to share our skills remotely BUT We are hearing from many volunteers that they want to help financially, the projects they care about. So we have decided that we will promote individual volunteer…
We are so pleased to announce that we are working closely with Transworld – a division of Penguin Random House – what a perfect match – literacy is a priority in just about every programme we work with and now we are working with the best! This programme has been created in memory of Sophie Christopher…. Sophie’s passions reflected her belief in the power of literacy and literature to change lives. Good luck Zara with your work with our partners…
Our partners in Swaziland, All Out Africa, are working hard to distribute food and soap in the poorest communities where they work ….whilst the rains are normally welcome they are a challenge now! This just in…… ‘Despite terrible road conditions after recents storms, we made our delivery target to 24 families today that are run by either elderly grandparents or children as young as 14 years old. Their homes are run down and lacking basic needs, built in out of…
Treak Community Centre has been closed since 6th March. Here is the most recent update from the Treak team. Headteacher Dara has set up a Messenger group for the staff. They have been meeting regularly online and he and the staff have been busy updating children’s records, producing learning materials, researching websites and other suggestions provided by volunteers and supporters for online learning materials, tackling various outstanding administrative jobs, and planning how we can run the school once we are…
Education For All’s current focus is to support the girls in their villages – their house-mothers remain in touch with them and the Moroccan government. Our programme and placement coordinator, Dianne, is working with EfA to identify ways that she and other volunteers can support the house mothers and girls with remote learning – especially English.
by ‘Luci’ Gardner-O’Brien -people and places’ Young Professional Advisor 1. Be interested I was ten years old when I read Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman – a dystopian love story which turns racial dynamics upside down. Whilst reading the first chapter, I realised that the main character was a dark skinned girl. I remember going red in the face, I had pictured her white like me – this is the first time I was aware of my white privilege….
Nobody doubts the good intention of the donors, travellers, and volunteers who give time or money to orphanages. It is natural and right to care about poor and vulnerable children, wherever they are in the world. But is this support part of the problem rather the solution? We have been advising volunteers about the risks and dangers of volunteering in orphanages for some years now. We are so pleased to see the recent initiative from The Foreign and Commonwealth Office…
Very few girls from the rural communities of the High Atlas Mountains get the opportunity of continuing their education beyond primary school. Secondary schools, mostly several kilometres away in larger towns, are not accessible to them because: Their parents can’t afford to pay for lodgings or transport near secondary schools Their parents don’t have the confidence in existing facilities to entrust their daughters to be away from home. One of the programmes we work with is Education for All in…
We want to start this post by saying very clearly that we know that some of you support orphanages – and we are not, for a moment, suggesting that you should immediately stop supporting those orphanages. We want to encourage people to look at alternatives and encourage the organisations they support to seek alternatives.We want to encourage people who are thinking about supporting an orphanage for the first time to consider the alternatives – we want to warn people that…