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Category: volunteer stories

Volunteering Across Generations

Volunteering Across Generations

Written by Musufing Ceesay At People and Places, we celebrate and highlight the experience and wisdom that all our volunteers bring to community partnerships around the world. The diversity of our volunteers and their openness to expand their skills to a responsible volunteering framework, is even more inspiring. This has undoubtedly had a positive and lasting influence on our partner projects. We ask for experience, knowledge and skills that match the needs of our partner projects, that doesn’t specify an…

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One resource, double the impact

One resource, double the impact

Back in 2021, at the height of the Covid pandemic, a great partnership developed between one of our volunteers, Joanne, and Lisong, principal of Mary’s Little Lambs nursery and lower basic school in The Gambia.  Joanne owned and ran a nursery school in the UK and was involved in training nursery-school teachers, and the original plan was for her to go to The Gambia and work with Lisong to run training sessions for nursery teachers there.  However the pandemic intervened…

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‘Both professionally fulfilling and personally enriching’ – Shiobhan’s volunteer story

‘Both professionally fulfilling and personally enriching’ – Shiobhan’s volunteer story

This report was written by volunteer Siobhan about her placement in The Gambia. The first question I am always asked is why?  I wanted to share my skills and experience in a school and country where that type of support was genuinely needed, somewhere I could help in a small but meaningful way. I spent a long time looking for the most appropriate placement, as many opportunities focused on teaching English or doing crafts. There was lots of correspondence before…

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‘It was awesome!’ – Volunteer Mateo reports on his volunteer experience in Cambodia

‘It was awesome!’ – Volunteer Mateo reports on his volunteer experience in Cambodia

Mateo is a young Romanian student, just finishing his first year at university in Italy.  He heard about the possibility of international volunteering from a fellow student and approached us about organising a placement during the summer vacation.  He is a keen and able sportsman, and told us that ‘engaging in a practical project, deepening my abilities and doing it at the benefit of a company with a focus on social issues is the dream for me.’  We matched Mateo…

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How one thing led to another – two volunteers’ varying experiences in Morocco

How one thing led to another – two volunteers’ varying experiences in Morocco

Trish’s volunteer story started with a group placement in January 2025 – she was part of the Kindness Adventures group who travelled to Morocco to volunteer with our partners at Education For All.  The group of 10 ladies from USA and Canada facilitated and participated in a variety of cultural activities with 30 girls from the Education for All boarding houses and two of their house-mothers. Together they did a guided tour of the medina in Marrakech, a cycling tour,…

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Group volunteering – a different way to volunteer – a story from Morocco

Group volunteering – a different way to volunteer – a story from Morocco

In January we organised a second group placement for Kindness Adventures, an American organisation looking for an opportunity to give back to local communities. Jax (founder of Kindness Adventures and an enthusiastic participant tells us: ‘We believe that travel can be a powerful tool for personal growth and transformation, and we strive to create meaningful and impactful experiences that allow our guests to connect with the world in a deeper way. We are committed to fostering a culture of kindness…

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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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‘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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