There's no denying it, these bloggers are bound to make you jealous. Whether it's their guts, their energy or their tan you admire, overseas volunteers have got plenty to share with you about their remarkable work in fascinating countries. Read on to find out what you could be missing.

All | Ashley | Natalie | David | Sheila | Jonathan | James | Abi | Fiona | Community_Action_International | Project Mongolia | Sarah | Emily | Dana | Selina | Lucy | Hannah | Sally | Lucille | Martyn

Wednesday Aug 31, 2011

Travelling - close enough for comfort!

The journey to and from France was integral, not just because, otherwise, we would have never arrived or made it back, but because a group of fifteen of us were put into vans and a ferry for about 12 hours of travelling time. When you're stuck with people for that long, you do bond!

We were lucky enough to have a few meet ups before this trip so we weren't strangers but we were by no means best friends. Suddenly I had found myself stuck in the YMCA's Motivate Van at four in the morning with a group of people I didn't really know!

People's spirits aren't normally that high at 4am but there was an empathetic feeling between us of I'm tired, you're tired, let's get this show on the road so we can all get some ruddy sleep, yes?

So the group split, we all found our seats and prepared for sitting in the same position for several hours. The first thing I seemed to bond with people about was travel sickness. Three of us in the van had taken tablets with us and rather than settle your stomach, they just seemed to knock you out for several hours so you're oblivious to travelling at all. I have to admit I probably missed out on a lot of bonding opportunities while in the van due to feeling I had just taken Ketamine.

It took four hours to get to the ferry, and when you're stuck like sardines for several hours conversation does start to flow, even if it is forced at first. After everyone had had some sleep, the humour started to flow, instead of individuals on their iPods we were all listening to the radio and singing along or quoting Family Guy jokes. This may all seem rather dull in comparison to the fact we were going to France for the week but in some ways it was the best part. It was the part where we had started to get to know each other and started discovering the dynamics of the group. We were all getting a rough idea of how this group of people were going to fit together in France.

After four hours to get to the Ferry we could all finally stretch our legs and both groups could get together. This was now the second hurdle of bonding. Two groups had travelled in separate vehicles so now was the chance for everyone in the group to connect.

Once again more sleeping was done but the main subject of discussion between us all was our agreement that the food and drink was overpriced and tasted less than pleasant. There is nothing like a good old rant to get everyone to unite. People had started to get their cameras out now, we felt close enough to take pictures with each other and actually tag the other person when it was inevitably uploaded to Facebook.

One such example:

Amy Cooper and I sitting on the Ferry.

I think I was coming round from the effects of the horse tranquiliser travel sickness tablets.

So after a relatively calm journey across the sea we all piled back into the cars ready for the Sat Navs to direct us to Agon-Coutainville. This is a minuscule town in Normandy, a place so tiny that every other French person I've asked has not even heard of it.

Our driver Ron stayed the perkiest out of us all and despite driving on the other side of the road and missing turnings we all finally made it and were on the road to start our Case for Reconciliation.

We all felt much more comfortable together. We had made it and it was the start of a truly exciting week. However, before we knew it, more vans had arrived. They contained a group of French young people and one German girl. We had almost forgotten that the Case for Reconciliation was not just about us...

 

 

Posted by Sheila ( 1:47 PM )
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Thursday Aug 25, 2011

From boredom to enlightenment

Hello my name is Sheila and I'm 20 years old. To be brutally honest, I started volunteering out of boredom. I wish I had a more momentous moment or some sort of epiphany that led me to volunteering but alas, I did start because I felt I had nothing else to do. (I know that's not particularly inspiring yet but bear with me.)

I had just finished my second year of university and going from such a hectic schedule to suddenly three months of nothing was quite daunting. I did consider a part time job but wanted to spend my summer doing something I would enjoy with people I love. One of my friends works at my local YMCA and during one of my "I have no idea what to do this holiday" rants, he suggested I join some projects they were doing.

There were many different aspects to the YMCA projects I was involved in. One feature was the talks we were given. Each week a speaker came in from a charity or organisation and we learnt about what they do and how we could help. We received talks from a representative of a local women's refuge, the housing department of the local council, the citizens advice bureau and a spokesperson of the charity 'Save The Children' to name just a few.

One task that we undertook from these discussions was to write a booklet about leaving home for the first time. Many young people had said that although they wanted to leave home they had no idea where to start. It felt brilliant to be part of something that was genuinely helping young people.

As I do creative writing at university I thought it would be helpful to get some real experience at copy editing. So as well as being inspired I was also getting experience to put on my CV. The booklet was published and distributed to local charities and organisations and it is very valuable to my CV that I have been credited as a copy-editor on a published piece of work.

I was completely inspired by these talks and felt enlightened after each one. The world isn't considered that friendly a place most of the time, but being spoken to by these inspirational people reminded me how much good there is in the world. Volunteering has reminded me how incredibly lucky I am and definitely made me a happier person!

My favourite project that I took part in was a cultural exchange to France which was a Youth In Action project. A group of young people from the YMCA took part in A Case for Reconciliation – a project which aimed to unite different cultures and discuss common issues that we felt young people had. We spent a week in the small town of Agon-Countainville in Normandy and I never would have thought that in just a week I would have learnt so much and made real friends for life! It was a life changing trip.

 

Posted by Sheila ( 12:18 PM )
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