On the occasion of my (Kate’s) birthday, I received this lovely message from a volunteer who worked in the Swaziland project in 2007 ! “Hi Kate ! You won’t remember me (I do!) – but I remember your energy and commitment – and therefore the unforgettable experience of volunteering in Swaziland….. Just to say – I will always remember (if nothing else) how you took me on, and gave me the opportunity of a fabulous lifetime experience. Recently I have…
We love hearing from local partners about our volunteers and their work … below are some recent updates from Treak in Cambodia and Hazyview in South Africa. First of all, here’s a brief synopsis of the varied skills and experience they brought to their projects and placements: Chris, Paul & Lynne worked in Treak and Katherine in Hazyview. Chris has worked for years in engineering and other practical projects, in the UK and overseas, as well as having coaching &…
It’s the end of the school year in southern Africa. At the Emmanuel Advice Care Centre in Port Elizabeth and at the Neighbourhood Care Points in Swaziland many children are finishing their time at pre-school and are excitedly looking forward to starting school in January. One of the high points of their last few weeks at pre-school has been their graduation ceremony. We have just heard from our partners in Swaziland that 113 children have graduated and will be entering…
When any new volunteer placement is accepted and agreed, we send previous volunteers’ reports and encourage our new volunteers to get in touch with those who have been to the same project before. This is a vital in enabling continuity of project support and placement roles – and also avoids volunteers “re-inventing the wheel”. Individual placement roles differ according to volunteers’ individual skills and experience – whether in education, training, practical skills, social care, nutrition, health care, social work –…
This article is written jointly by Dianne Ashman, voluntary programme advisor for people and places and Sarah Corley, director of volunteer and student travel at AOA. AOA is people and places’ local partner in Swaziland. This is the story of six Neighbourhood Care Points (NCPs) in the Ezulwini Valley in Swaziland. NCPs were first started by UNICEF to provide support and care for children whose families were struggling with poverty and the effects of the HIV/AIDs epidemic. Their over-riding aim…
this from Dianne, just back from working with the NCPs in Swaziland: I would like to introduce you to three teachers from the Neighbourhood Care Points we support in Swaziland, working hard to give pre-school children the knowledge and skills they need to give them a good start at school. These teachers receive a small allowance but not a full salary – they work more or less as volunteers because they genuinely care about the children in their care.
The following extracts are from volunteer Kathy’s report following her 2 month placement at Gede House – a school for children with special needs. My son, Joe, and I decided to volunteer for different projects in Kenya this year and we were lucky enough to come across People and Places through our search for potential placements. Joe worked at Sita Community Snake Farm on a conservation placement and I volunteered at Gede Special School. The whole process and experience was…
TO CAMPAIGN OR NOT TO CAMPAIGN – WHY I HAVE DECIDED TO GET INVOLVED by volunteer programme advisor Dianne Ashman As you will know, there are two connecting strands to the work people and places does. We send volunteers on placements where their skills and experience have been carefully matched to local needs, and we campaign for responsible practice in volunteer tourism – and both these categories have been reflected in awards people and places have won, for Best Volunteer…
This is such wonderful news from our partners in Swaziland – big congratulations to all concerned A Neighbourhood Care Point (NCP) is a community-based, non-formal, day care centre offering care and support for vulnerable children of pre-primary age in a safe, protective environment under the care of volunteer caregivers. Using funds raised by volunteer project donations, along with the support of Swaziland Charitable Trust (SCT) and Cooper Dean Fund, our local partners at All Out Africa were able to work with the…
Kate Stefanko interviewed by BBC1’s “Fake Britain” – about 35 minutes into the programme The programme was first aired in May 2014 and repeated again this morning … sadly, so much of the content is still relevant … and not only in Cambodia. The cruel scams of ‘orphanage volunteering’ are exposed – cruel to children & scamming naive & well-meaning volunteers ! at people and places we support organisations and projects which focus on keeping children in families check out childsafe and…