We cannot deny that 2020 has been a challenging year for our volunteer programme – we have not been able to send volunteers to the programmes we work with for 9 months – and even an optimist cannot see us being able to do so until spring 2021 at best – a year after our last volunteers returned home after their placements. A year where all of the programmes we work with are struggling to survive – some doing better…
“Covid-19 did not remove the need for volunteer support, it stopped delivery.”……………… Harold Goodwin Professor Emeritus …………….Well we are very proud to announce – it may have slowed us down a little but it hasn’t stopped us! We have been working away for months with our partners and we can now announce the launch of a new site. www.e-volunteer.co.uk e-volunteering is a way for you to volunteer from home – it will suit volunteers who want to use their skills…
Volunteer Zara has a placement planned – she is going to go to Treak Community Centre in Cambodia ̶̶ she works in the publishing industry and she is going to use her skills to help develop a literacy strategy at the school at Treak. Her plans were to travel this year, but of course the pandemic has intervened. So Zara is using her skills on an e-volunteer project until she is able to travel. As part of her work in…
Here is another example of the story videos volunteers have been recording (click on the title to view an example) to send to the education programmes supported by people and places. Local teachers are sharing stories volunteers have read and then discussing them with the children – great for literacy and English! If you could spare an hour to do this (even less if you already know how to make a video!) please contact dianne@travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk
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…
We have been very busy here at people and places developing ways we can continue to support the projects we work with and more importantly – how we help our volunteers contribute during the pandemic. Our work is about putting the right people in the right places to support the programmes we work with – we match volunteers with skills and experience to previously agreed need. This is normally achieved by sending volunteers to work with the projects we work…
We are delighted to report that we have a volunteer currently on placement at Hazyview in South Africa. Having feared that we would be unable to place anyone at all during the pandemic and with no idea when long-haul international travel will start up again, we were delighted when Richard approached us to say that he was actually in South Africa and could we create a placement for him. As the Digital Learning Centres run by our partners Good Work…
Want to say hello the project you worked with or hope to work with someday soon? They would love to hear from you and give you their news Take a look here – many of our volunteers have already sent messages to the people they worked with or hope to work with
As the coronavirus pandemic took hold everything changed – all around the world businesses, schools and individuals turned to online communication. Could we do the same for international volunteering? As international travel ground to a halt and all the projects we support around the world were forced to close their doors, we began to think long and hard about whether and how we could continue to offer support to our local partners during the pandemic. people and places volunteer support…
Caro and Sue were volunteering at Treak Community Centre as the coronavirus pandemic started to develop. School closures meant their placements were cut a little short, but this did not impact on their enjoyment of their time in Cambodia or the value of the work they did there.