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

Thursday Jul 29, 2010

Ghana 2010

Hello! We're Katie, Marcey, Tom, Josh, Maisie, Ruth, Liz, Amy, Laura and Becca, and we make up the 'International Project' run by Exeter University's volunteering society, Community Action.

Community Action are a student-led volunteering society at the University of Exeter, offering students numerous volunteering opportunities in the local community. Last year the 'International Project' was born, bringing the success of Community Action's local projects to Ghana. Ten students travelled to Ho in Ghana's Volta region to work with the non-profit, grass-roots organisation Dave Squared Volunteering on a number of community projects and this year we're going back! Projects we will be working on in Ghana include: assisting in an orphanage, running a 'summer school' for children during their school holidays and coaching youth football.  

The entire team were selected by interview. Myself (Katie) and Marcey were appointed Project Leaders by the society and we then had to try our hand at interviewing! After a week of interviewing over 30 possible candidates we made our selection. It was incredibly difficult process and was always a worry for us that we would pick individuals who did not mix well - fortunately for us everyone has got along fantastically (thus far..!!).

The project is entirely fundraised for by the International Project team and since September we have done so extensively. We have thus far: mastered the art of speed-baking and all put on a few extra pounds hosting a number of bake sales, become packing pros through bag-packing sessions in local supermarkets, given a presentation about our project at a university-run 'Africa Nite', hosted two sponsored football tournaments, approached slightly-worse-for-wear-and-thus-very-generous student clubbers during night-club raiding and run our very own 'Take me Out' event – a one-off dating show for Exeter's students. We have also been fortunate enough to benefit from a number of donations from volunteers, enthusiastic lecturers and the Exeter University Alumni Foundation, of which we are extremely grateful. We also have a collection at London Victoria station coming up in the next week which will hopefully ensure we have met our target - we are yet to find out if we have done so, fingers crossed we will be able to update very soon with positive news!

Katie (Project Co-Leader)

Posted by Community Action International ( 3:41 PM )
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Saturday Jul 10, 2010

Sinethemba Special Needs Care Unit

"In a lot of African countries getting a child with a disability is considered to be a curse" *

 It is this cultural attitude, which makes development of special needs funding in Africa of such importance.

Along with economical and legislative restrictions traditional attitudes towards having a child with disabilities has meant a troubled past in the area.

Sinethemba Special Care Unit, is a school for special needs children up to the age of eighteen, I chose the placement because disability is something that I had never worked with and sometimes is too easy for people to ignore, this was highlighted to me when it was ranked least popular out of the 40 projects in South Africa offered by the company. It's unfair because the children I met whilst I was there are as equally deserving as any other child.

The project was run by a previous volunteer after seeing the need for progression of special needs funding and availability of resources in South Africa, the school is a credit to her, it receives a high level of interest from various companies and has a lot of funding as a result. Despite wanting to learn more about special needs during the project, I never got around to it, because I spent all my time running around after the most energetic children I have known. There were so many characters; Leo who would pull your hair, eat sand, and get away with anything because it was impossible to be mad at him, Inathi who we once found underneath his wheelchair, another boy had been pushing him around and it had toppled over, he was sat smiling, I couldn't believe he hadn't cried, he just found it funny. Sesethu, eight going on eighty, shouting at you in Koso, pointing her finger at you in frustration annoyed that you were stood smiling at her in amusement.

The hardest part about working at the school was the limited effect that I could have on the children's learning, when other volunteers from placements in mainstream school would come home and talk about how they had taught the children numbers and colours, I would be thankful if the children could remember and pronounce my name the next day.  It took me a while to be grateful for the little steps that the children took whilst I was there. My favorite moment was during my last week, when a young boy at the project said his name for the first time to me during a horse riding trip. It may seem like a small step but it was big for Bukho. It made me smile.

* Quoted from http://www.isec2000.org.uk/abstracts/papers_g/grol_1.htm

Posted by Natalie ( 6:31 PM )
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