Browsed by
Category: Uncategorized

“Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are”

“Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are”

Everyone working with our partner organisation in South Africa speaks good English – but it’s certainly not their first language.  To an extent all our e-volunteer work helps local people with conversational English – and volunteers have found the best way to approach this is by picking a different topic for conversation each week – but for this project our partners wanted a real focus on improving language and literacy.  It also needed to be fun!  They came up with…

Read More Read More

Our next volunteer social -you won’t need to leave home!

Our next volunteer social -you won’t need to leave home!

We are planning our next volunteer social in the next few weeks – it will be virtual and you will be able to meet previous volunteers, co-volunteers, our local partners from around the world and, of course, the people and places team – what a great way to pass a few hours this “lockdown” winter. We need your help to decide when and how we should do it – We would be really grateful if you would take just a…

Read More Read More

When can we volunteer abroad again?

When can we volunteer abroad again?

A number of people have contacted us suggesting they would like to travel with us as soon as possible.  This is fantastic news, and we so want that too, BUT…current travel restrictions, (both for leaving the UK an other countries and entering the countries where our partner projects are located), make volunteering on site impractical at the present time. In addition, as our partner projects are in developing countries where health care facilities may not be the same as in…

Read More Read More

we’ve just won an award for our work during the pandemic!

we’ve just won an award for our work during the pandemic!

We, at people and places highly value recognition from such prestigious  awards as the WTM World Responsible Tourism Award. This year the judges decided to commend organisations and destinations which are taking responsibility and addressing the many challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are particularly proud to have won The Innovation Award because people and places was conceived to innovate for better practice in the volunteer travel.  We won the award for the work we are doing to develop support and encourage e-volunteering – a…

Read More Read More

Why we ask for DBS or police checks for e-volunteers

Why we ask for DBS or police checks for e-volunteers

Recently we were asked why we demand DBS /police checks and references for volunteers who are offering to work online with us – (not in situ) – for the organisations with which we work. Good question and here’s our reply Our first priority is the safety of the communities and volunteers we work with. We have a duty to do all we can to ensure that the children, young people and any at risk adults that we work with are…

Read More Read More

News from our local partners – supporting their communities during the pandemic

News from our local partners – supporting their communities during the pandemic

Article written by Dianne During the last few months we have been working closely with all our local partners as they have found ways to support their communities in these unprecedented times. Here is my update on the work they have been doing. The Gambia Our local partner in The Gambia, Adama Bah, has co-written an article to highlight the serious impact the coronavirus pandemic on tourism in Africa and what some countries are doing to combat it.  You can…

Read More Read More

COVID-19 animated video from South Africa

COVID-19 animated video from South Africa

Good Work Foundation has sent us videos they have produced to educate their local communities about how to stay safe from the virus.  They have asked us to share these videos with as many people as we can so that they can be used to inform and educate as many people as possible about the dangers of the virus and how to stay safe.  The following is a message from Kate, founder of Good Work Foundation:

Treak Cambodia -Our focus now is to provide some home learning for our students

Treak Cambodia -Our focus now is to provide some home learning for our students

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…

Read More Read More

EfA Morocco – supporting the girls in their villages

EfA Morocco – supporting the girls in their villages

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.

The “Education Oscars”

The “Education Oscars”

We work with the most inspiring partners who are real drivers for change – and we love it when their work is recognised. Our partners in South Africa, Good Work Foundation have been shortlisted for the “Education Oscars” Good Work Foundation focuses on digital learning opportunities for young adults and scholars living in rural communities. Learn more about the volunteer programme here