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.

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Monday Mar 19, 2007

'One of us'

 

So, slightly more than a week has passed, again...

A lot has happened as always, but I've decided to pick out a not-too-happy story to relate, because it shows a lot about Namibian society today. At school I was partnering the kids up for PE, putting them boy-girl to make them less raucous, when one boy started kicking up a fuss. Putting on my stern teacher voice, I told him that he could either be her partner or stay inside.

Hurt, he looked up at me and explained, “No no, I want to do PE, I just don't like being partners with black people.”

I'm not one for hating things about yourself that you can't change. I'm the only white teacher in the school, which is perhaps why he looked at me with such conviction in his eyes that I would understand; I'm one of us, not one of them. It's strange that the words of an 8-year old boy could make me feel ashamed of my race, but it was the way he said it like he knew at least I, if no one else, would sympathise.

I gave him the worst telling-off but it seemed pointless. He cried but he wasn't sorry because he purely did not understand why I was angry.

I know this is a minor example of racism, but for something to be already so firmly embedded in the mind of a child emphasises how hard it is to change views of an entire nation. The laws of apartheid have been struck from the national constitution, but it takes a lot longer to remove them from people's minds.

For all I've said, things are immeasurably better than they once were, and are improving still. So it's not all bad.

Posted by Lucy Hayes ( 8:48 PM )
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Saturday Mar 17, 2007

still training

well, im still training! had a lovely week in Zanzibar of drinking and smoking! but back to reality and we met the tanzanian volunteers who all seem really nice, there are 15 of them, and now its been two weeks they are getting more confident and louder,  at the beggining I think they were a bit intimidated, us wazungu have know each other 2 months, and all become really close...we must be quite intimidating. So yeah we are currently learning about non formal education tequniques, which is actually really interesting, and a definate step up from the sex education we had which was so basic it was scarey, but they have promised some better sessions soon, because there are an awful lot of miss conceptions floating around which really need to be cleared up if we are expected to teach this to children. Many tanzanians believe that masturbating makes you impotent or if you are a woman stops you from wanting a man. Also that friction causes HIV to be transmitted....so you can see the problems we are having, but overall it is good. I feel completly at home here in Iringa, and I dont look forward to returning to england in september, would just like to fly my family out every few weeks to see them and I'd be happy to stay forever.
well, my time is up because as usual I have badly organised my timing and list of things to do on the net.

em

Posted by Emily ( 11:42 AM )
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Tuesday Mar 06, 2007

to quote Batman's sidekick, Robin...

'holy cannoli, Batman!'

 

I knew it had been a while since I've blogged, but I didn't realise it had been as long as it has.... apologies. Things have been very crazy since Christmas as my brother fell and broke both bones in his lower leg in two separate places (the math? That means 4 fractures.)  And, my mother fell back in January and we've only just found out yesterday that she broke a vertebrae in her back, so as you can imagine my time spent volunteering has been very very local (like within my own household)! That's where things stand just now.

But, I am onto a new lead for a fantastic project down in London that sounds fantabulous. Applications start within the next week or so with placement commencing in September so fingers and toes again crossed. We'll see!

In the meantime, I've got a book to recommend for those souls looking for inspiration (& maybe a bit of validation for thirty-somethings who sometimes think they're crazy for choosing to take a gap year). Apparently it's only just been published in the UK within the last few days. (I promise I don't work for the publisher!) It's called 'Eat, Pray, Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert and it's wonderful. After coming through a divorce, she decides to take a year traveling to Italy, India and Indonesia.

And, I promise, within the next few days I'll finish my countdown of great websites. I have saved my favs til last!

Posted by Dana ( 7:46 PM )
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