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It’s a hard life being programme advisor for people and places – I’m just back from beautiful Saint Lucia!

It’s a hard life being programme advisor for people and places – I’m just back from beautiful Saint Lucia!

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Saint Lucia – what a stunning place to volunteer!  And there are several rewarding projects we support there, requiring a range of different skills, which enables us us to match volunteers to projects where they are really needed. I was last in Saint Lucia in 2013, right at the start of our volunteer programme there, so a return visit was long overdue.  I was delighted to go back and spend time with our local partner, Nova.  Together we visited all…

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This has been one of the most productive visits we’ve had

This has been one of the most productive visits we’ve had

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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…

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ready for school – local volunteers and our volunteers make a difference

ready for school – local volunteers and our volunteers make a difference

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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…

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Gede Special School, Kenya – such a lovely place to volunteer!

Gede Special School, Kenya – such a lovely place to volunteer!

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Yvonne has recently returned from her second volunteering placement at Gede.  Here are some of the things she told us. On my first morning Ken (our local partner) took me to the school to meet the head and look around the new buildings – the school has expanded a lot since I was last there in 2014.  Most of the staff were still there from my previous visit – it was lovely to see them again and they seemed pleased…

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seventeen girls in Morocco – first in their families to go to university

seventeen girls in Morocco – first in their families to go to university

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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…

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back to Port Elizabeth as a volunteer – not as p+p’s programme advisor!

back to Port Elizabeth as a volunteer – not as p+p’s programme advisor!

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Emmanuel Advice Care Centre in one of the Port Elizabeth townships is a project people and places volunteers have been supporting for many years now.  I (Dianne) was last there in October 2017 in my role as programme advisor, but that did not give me enough time to do any meaningful volunteering work myself, so I returned this spring for four weeks as a volunteer.  Here is my report. Placement outline This placement was slightly different to a normal volunteer…

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Dianne’s travels in southern Africa continued . . . on to Port Elizabeth

Dianne’s travels in southern Africa continued . . . on to Port Elizabeth

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My recent trip to South Africa culminated in two thoroughly enjoyable weeks spent in Port Elizabeth, working with Calabash, our wonderful local partners.  As always, they could not have been more friendly and welcoming – I immediately felt part of the team and we had a really great time working together.  Port Elizabeth is a fantastic place to volunteer – really worthwhile projects where you will spend your working day, a very supportive team to take an interest in what…

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“passing the baton” – volunteers and projects working together

“passing the baton” – volunteers and projects working together

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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 –…

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we need your teaching skills – and not only in schools

we need your teaching skills – and not only in schools

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Definition of teach: “cause (someone) to learn or understand something by example or experience.” Definition of skill: “The ability to do something well; expertise.” That’s what we are all about in all our volunteer projects {As an aside we are proud that our programme is a skills-share programme. However, we need to use the term “volunteer” because in this Google search age the vast majority of people use the word “volunteer” when they do their searches – not “skills-share”.} Many…

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caring for vulnerable children – Dianne & local partner Sarah share inspiring developments

caring for vulnerable children – Dianne & local partner Sarah share inspiring developments

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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…

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