Claire has success with her fundraising

Claire is off to Kenya shortly. She is going to do some teaching and orphanage work in Nakuru. Claire has worked very hard at her fund raising and writes:
Hi David,
I just thought i would send you a little email to keep you updated on my fundraising. Yesterday morning i held a coffee morning at my church with a raffle and cake sale and raised over £500!!

So thankyou very much for the promotional material you sent me a few weeks ago.

Hope all is well, see you on the 26th/27th!

Many Thanks, Claire Stevens

Well done Claire.

If you are after some help and advice about fund raising then do let me know. Drop me a line to david@changingworlds.co.uk and I will reply with lots of useful ideas.

Jay is horrified he misses a White Christmas - from Argentina he reports

Jay presently in Argentina says he is disappointed to miss out on a white Christmas. He writes:
Hi David & Shirley
Everthings going well, can´t believe its nearly been 3 months! For however much I miss home, I don´t want to come back!!!!

Currently in Buenos Aires, and then going to head to Salta in the north east, then Chile in the early new year for the visa.

Looking forward to meeting all the others when they come out soom.

There is one thing which has annoyed me, the one year I´m away for Xmas, it snows!!! Typical!!!

Heres wishing for another white xmas next year then! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you both,
Jay
Enjoy the sunshine!

Christmas wishes from India

We received a charming postcard from Prema Vasam, one of our orphanages in Chennai, India.

We want to thank Selvyan and his staff for all their hard work and support. We hope the children enjoy a wonderful Christmas with our volunteers.

I hear through the grapevine there is a nativity play in the offing!

Merry Christmas everyone.

David and Shirleyxx

Abby's Christmas plans in Kenya

This is what Abby is doing for Christmas - certainly different!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TOOOO!!!!

thanks so much for everything, got so much to do before i leave.

Will just let you know what we have been up to, we did a huge street feed for 100 boys 2 days ago, we are taking cookies and presents to all the orphanages we know, we redecorated an orphanage a few weeks ago and we babys at 4 orphans for the night from a lady named sherry who has her own orphanage/rescue home, we plan on taking food to the mums and children on ward 6 on christmas eve too!

xxxxxxxxxx

Carry on the good work Abby and have a wonderful Xmas!

News update - read the Changing Worlds November newsletter

Here's a link to our latest e-newsletter that I hope you enjoy reading.

http://www.changingworlds.co.uk/Home.aspx?vurl=%2f%2fRoot%2fContent%2fNewsletterNovember2009

If you feel you would like to contribute to our blog or our newsletter then do drop me a line to david@changingworlds.co.uk

Merry Christmas

David

Changing Worlds announces our Xmas photo competition

To learn more about our new photo competition please hit this link:
http://www.changingworlds.co.uk/Home.aspx?vurl=%2f%2fRoot%2fContent%2fCompetitions%2fHoldingpage

Good luck with the competition!

Changing Worlds wishes you a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2010.

Alice provides insight in to her journalism placement to India

Alice went to India with Changing Worlds last year.

She completed a three month placement with us on a journalsim placement to Chennai.

She writes:
'Here is my small advice for anyone planning on the journalism placement...I hope its helpful in anyway!

the Expresso section of the New Indian Express is small, friendly and very approachable. They´ll give you a chance to try subbing some articles and of course to write your own and take photographs. There is a weekly meeting on Tuesdays when it is best to have a few ideas for stories up your sleeve as it is very much a case of you get what you give - no story ideas means you won´t be writing any stories! They will of course occasionally send you on assignments but you have to bug the other reporters to give you assignments as occasionally, given the busy nature of a newspaper, they do tend to forget about the interns! The bottom line is it is up to you how much you do but it´s a great oppurtunity to really get to know Chennai and learn about living and working in a big city as more or less you are totally responsible for yourself.

they are very happy for you to take time off from the newspaper to travel if you haven´t much oppurtunity afterwards. Frustratingly your days off given are Thursday and Saturday which sometimes puts paid to taking a weekend off although they are very relaxed about time off. I managed 2 separate weeks away (one to Kerala and one to Gokarna - both highly recommended!) and a couple of long weekends which were brilliant - save the hill stations for when it gets hotter as they are a great place to cool off away from the Chennai heat! (I would definitely recommend using the trains to get around not buses. and to book trains go and book them direct at Central station in the foreign tourist booth - all you need is your passprt and they make it very easy!)

Back in Chennai, you will most likely be living in the Thirumangalam/Anna Nagar/Mogappair areas. Everything seems a bit of a shock when you arrive but I got really fond of my neighbourhood. Living as a paying guest is great because it makes you feel very independent and also sharing with Indians - there is no better way to understand a country better. Not easy start with of course coming from a totally and utterly different culture but if you keep yourself open it´s very easy to slip into a routine. you get used to using the buses (D70 was the bus that took us to work in the mornings) and share autos and I walked a lot because it was the best way to get your bearings. Nungambakkam (bus M147C goes there from Ambattur Estate Road) is one of the nicest areas if you want somewhere to meet friends at a cafe and a good place to meet other expats. Egmore is also nice and has a great material market on Cotton Street which is just beyond the government museum. Food is good and cheap everywhere (eat where Indians go - it´ll always be best and ask for recommendations!) and making friends with other reporters at the newspaper is great - we got invited to peoples houses for ´proper´homecooked indian food - best way to eat!

Whatever happens it is an experience never to be forgotten and because it really is what you make it even if your not having a great day you just have to think í´m in india´and open your eyes to whats around you. Enjoy!

I hope that´s Ok, if there´s anything else you want me to add in let me know! Of course - I forgot about the cricket. it must be a welcome distraction! I can´t imagine how hot it must be. I´m currently in the highlands in Bolivia where temparatures can reach below freezing at night!

Have you heard from any of the other interns. I hope they´re all doing ok (I hear from Jess and Poppy now and again and it sounds like they are having a great time!). I hope you and Grace are well,
all the best,
Alice'

Alice worked as a trainee journalist at the New Indian Express in Chennai. As you can read this provided her with an excellent insight in to how a real newspaper works.

The New Indian Express is an English language newspaper produced six days a week (excludes Sunday). Most of the volunteers start work in the features section of the magazine before going on to more regular slots in the newspaper itself.

James provides an insight in to life and work in Ghana

James has just returned from his teaching placement in Kumasi, Ghana. He writes:
'It was a long journey and heading out on my own was one of the scariest things I had done so far in my life. However arriving in Accra International Airport and meeting my contact, Francis, at arrivals went smoothly and before long I was on my way to my family house. The journey was not as relaxing as I had hoped as the road was not surfaced and we had a sermon that lasted several hours. However it did start to gear me up for what was to come, and I got my first real shock when I saw a man on the the side of the road with no clothes and just standing against a wall crying. We drove straight past on the bus and I thought to myself that people must see this all the time and that is why they do not appear to care.

That perhaps gives a bad view of what the people of Ghana were like, yes they were tough and they had to be to survive but on the other hand I have never been exposed to such a close and intense community spirit. The people really do look out for each other and you see it everyday when someone will give a hand to a complete stranger, not because the person has asked for it but because the they have noticed that they need help. This is not something that happens much in our society and though it was strange at first I quickly adapted and it was not long before I was helping push carts and even cars along the street when they got stuck or helping ladies carry water and baskets around the city.

My host family was lovely and I instantly felt like part of the family, I got on very well with their daughter who did most of the house work as in Ghana the younger you are the more you seem to have to do. Once I started school and the orphanage I just got immersed in it all. It was a long day starting at 6am to get to school on time and then finishing at 6pm when all the kids at the orphanage had been fed and were starting to get sleepy.

School was great, the teachers treated me well and I really got into my lessons making sure math’s was fun and teaching the kids music before school so they could sing new songs in assembly. We even went on a few school trips to play football and to a dance contest. The orphanage was hard, I was working with kids ranging from new born babies to 6 year olds. A lot of them were disabled in some way and everyone’s needs were different. Keeping everybody happy all the time was a full time job and I have utmost respect for the sisters and ladies who worked there every day.

It really was an amazing all round experience and I loved every minute of it. I am not ashamed to say there was a tear in my eye as I left. I will definitely be back to visit all the friends I made as soon as I can find the time. Its a cliché to say the words “life changing experience” but its true in every way and I think the thing I learnt most about in my whole trip was me.

James has been an excellent ambassador for Changing Worlds in Ghana and we cannot thank him enough for all his efforts and enthusiasm.

If you would like to contact James then do drop him a line to:
waldomagician@hotmail.co.uk

Do have a look at the Changing Worlds Facebook account where James has kindly sent us his version of the 'Banana Dance'! - makes for great viewing!

David reports in from South Africa

I have enjoyed a fantastic week in South Africa.

Harry, Siliziwe, Leslie and I have travelled over 3 500 kilometres in six days. Our journey started in Cape Town and took us first to Gaasbaii where we experienced swimming with the Great White sharks.

This new placement is a marvellous opportunity to join research scientists and find out about these wonderful creatures. The habits of the sharks are changing and we know very little about them - you can complete a one to three month placement joining the team of dedicated specialists to help understand their migration and eating habits.

From Gaasbaai we headed off to Umtata in Eastern Province where we visited schools and an orphanage for special needs children. Every one was very keen to take on volunteers in the future. Opportunities include the formal teaching of English but also the chances to coach sports, drama, music and dance.

The local children come from poorer parts of the town.

Whilst in Umtata we went to the home of Nelson Mandela and found out much more about this wonderful man.

From Umtata we headed north to Lydenburg where we saw yet more schools in this mining town. A very different type of South Africa from the true African town of Umtata. Lydenburg seemed to be caught in a time lag - racial segregation is still obvious in the town. Nevertheless fantastic opportunities for volunteers to help in English, IT and sports.

More details to follow.

Jill continues her journey through North Island, New Zealand

Jill continues her fact finding trip in New Zealand. She continues:
Avondale Stud in Masterton is one of the venues that I particularly wanted to visit becuase it is such an unusual placement. It is set in beautiful surroundings owned and operated by Catriona and Sam who were most welcoming. I had the opportunity to learn much of what happens between October and January and what the Changing World's delegates do. It is demanding and tiring, but rewarding, work.

Hayley, Emily and Marise have been working primarily with young stock which has presented them with a steep learning curve. However, the rewards have included observing a foaling and caring for an injured foal.

I also visited Lakeview School and met with the Principal, Ed Hodgkinson. Ed told me about the school's unique position because of its population and said how much the school had benefitted and enjoyed having Changing Worlds volunteers work with their students.

It was also delightful to meet Anne and Andrew, the Changing Worlds' representatives in Masterton and I was pleased to be able to pass on the girls' thanks to them for such a thorough orientation on their arrival in Masterton.

Will be in touch, Regards, Jill x

More to follow.

Jill is on the Changing Worlds trail in New Zealand

We have sent Jill Baughen to New Zealand and Australia this year as part of the Changing Worlds team.

This is the first time Jill has been to this part of the World.

Whilst doing some work for Changing Worlds Jill, and her husband Jeff, are clearly enjoying their four week trip. This is the first of their despatches:
Our first observation has to be that NZ is a long way away; the second is it's worth it! Our first stop was Auckland, where NZ's America's Cup success is clearly in evidence as is all things sailing. It is a lively, modern city with a steady, enjoyable pace.

We moved on up to Paihia on the first C part of the trip where we met the CW representatives, Roger and Carol. We chatted about the NZ side of the CW operation and some wider issues, including beef farming and NZ politics. It was a pleasure to meet Roger and Carol, having heard so much about them.

Next part of the process was meeting up with Lyndsey, who is working at the horse trekking placement, together with Claire, the owner. Claire was most welcoming and her explanationof the nZ Quality Mark Award, which the trekking centre has been awarded, was really useful and very relevant to the CW operation.

The really fun part was going out riding with Lyndsey; I don't know who ached the most by the end of the 2 hours - me because I haven't ridden in a long time or Lyndsey who had taken a fall the day before. Lyndsey is thoroughly enjoying her placement - she is staying in accommodation in a beautiful location very close to where the horses are kept and riding every day.

She has also had 2 parachute jumps since being in Paihia. Lyndsey loves flying (and obviously the thrills of parachute jumping too!)

Paihia is a delightful place but since moving on, we have seen more stunning scenery visiting Tauranga, Rotorua and Lake Taupo. I am now in the library in Masterton and will be visiting Marise, Emily and Hayley at the stud this afternoon.

More to follow probably from the next library on our route!'

More to follow.

Sammie and Lizzie send feeback from India

Sammie and Lizzie went out to Southern India in September 2009. They are keen to let their peers know what life and work is like at their orphanage. They write:
'We have almost reached the 2 month mark now in India, and the time has gone so fast.
We have experienced several celebrations, including birthdays and Diwali (the Indian equivalent of Christmas), and have done some sightseeing around and outside the city we live; Chennai.
Since the moment we touched down at the airport in Chennai on Wednesday 16th September, we knew that this was it; there was no going back now! On first impressions as we got off the plane, we both thought ‘get us home’. The first thing that hit us was the heat, the smell, the people, and the airport was just chaotic even at 5am. We really were not mentally prepared for the reality that we were facing right then at that moment in time. We thought the place is so dirty, and we witnessed a huge amount of poverty, where people just sleep on the side of the road. It honestly was a massive culture shock, but it was obviously something we had to get used to very quickly. We were so scared and it felt like it was just the two of us against the whole of India. After getting through customs (which was very stressful as we did not know our address and had many forms to fill in) we then had to endure the most terrifying taxi ride of our lives; we thought we were going to die! The traffic is a nightmare, and there are literally no road rules what so ever; find a space, fill it! At around 5.30am we finally arrived at the YWCA guesthouse, which we stayed for two nights before transferring to the orphanage (Prema Vasam) on Friday 18th September. Those first two days seemed like the longest days ever, and it was the waiting around that really made us think about home and how much we just wanted our families as there was nothing else to do or think about. The only thing we just wanted to do was to get to Prema Vasam and begin our placement. From the moment we arrived here at the orphanage, life in India changed for the better and from then on we absolutely loved it. Everyday brings new experiences for us, and there is so much to be doing, whether that is entertaining the children, helping out in physio, or doing domestic things, for example; washing our clothes, changing the children or just sleeping during free time.
Now we have got into the swing of things, our daily routine is as follows; 8.30am feed the 'special' children, then change them, and carry them down to the basement where they have physio from Monday- Friday and every other Saturday. We then have free time until 12.30 at 12.30 we go down to the basement to feed the special children their lunch, they have to be hand fed, with our right hands ( very difficult to get used to at first as we are both left handed, and don’t eat with our fingers at home, let alone a whole different hand!) after feeding, we have free time again till 3.30 when we have to carry them back up to their rooms, and maybe change them if they need it; mostly the carers do things like that. we have free time again until 8pm when it is feeding time, so again the same as before, feed, change, entertain etc and dinner for the staff is at 9pm.
We very quickly settled into life and a daily routine here at the orphanage, however it did take a good month to get to know our bearings of the city, by which we had to start with traveling by buses and auto rickshaws. These were whole new experiences within themselves for us as we had never traveled ‘Indian style’ before. The buses are sometimes so packed that people are literally hanging on to the window bars; something which we have not yet done, and do not wish to do. Due to the mass of poverty here, when we go out for day trips using auto rickshaws, the drivers try to rip us off because as we are ‘white’. They associate us with money, and therefore class us as ‘rich’; which we are not, so we have learnt to haggle the price to that of an average Indian. We have tried telling them that we are not tourists; we live here in Chennai as volunteers so have no money. It sometimes works, but the majority of the time, it doesn’t!
We have recently celebrated Diwali, so all of the children here received new outfits, and a few small gifts from visitors who donated them. The celebration lasted for 3 days, with specially donated meals, and hundreds of fireworks. It was a big privilege to experience this main event with the children and staff as this is the only time of the year that the children receive new dresses and gifts except for on their birthdays. The fireworks were definitely something we both will never forget as they make our fireworks back home look ridiculous. There is no health and safety, they allow the children to play near them, and set them off. The fire-crackers were the worst; they were so loud, and extremely dangerous, as they were flying off in all directions. At the time we were certainly petrified and were probably more worried about getting burnt than actually enjoying them. But looking back now, they were fine, apart from the noise and give you a great adrenaline rush! We also wore our sari’s on the Saturday to take the children to the temple just 30mins down the road in an auto-bus. At first it was exciting to wear them, however the novelty soon wore off as it was the hottest day ever and we were literally sweating inside them, it was very unpleasant. They are very difficult to walk in, let alone climb the temple stairs! We couldn’t wait to get out of them; now they are only worn on very special occasions.
We also get the chance to do a bit of traveling during our placement as the orphanage is very flexible with time off. They even encourage us to take a break from the kids once in a while, whether that is just a day trip, a weekend or a few weeks away.
If we want to go out during the day, or have to meet our representative in Chennai central, we usually travel by bus which takes just over an hour. We often go to a massive shopping mall called Spencer Plaza which has everything you need, but is quite expensive; only the ‘rich’ shop there. Here we buy our supplies, withdraw money; go for pampering sessions at the salon, eat lunch, and just have a good day out!
On the other hand, our first experience traveling outside of Chennai was to a French city called Pondicherry three hours away from home. It is definitely a contrast to Chennai; cleaner, more built up and very touristy. It was like visiting a mini French town. There were lots of things to do, places to eat, and we went on a half-day tour round the area. It was a good place to visit and start our travels.
Prema Vasam not only has the orphanage were we are currently staying; it has a ‘boys home’ just over one hour away. This was basically set up for the boys here because when they turn 13, they have to move there as this is mainly an all girls orphanage. The older college girls live here and Selvyn (the founder) does not want the boys and girls ‘mixing’ as they are brought up as siblings. We get several opportunities to visit the boys home if we wish to. It is a lot of fun, and they love it when volunteers from the main orphanage go to see them. They also come here about three or four times a month and have volleyball tournaments with the girls, as well as special occasions such as Diwali.
Overall, we have had an amazing two months here, although it did take time to get used to everything. We still have a lot to learn and are taking each new day ‘as it comes’. Every experience is different, and we look forward to what the next four months has install for us. We are extremely thankful that we got sent to such an amazing place as this. In our opinions, we obviously got the best pick out of the orphanages we could have been sent, and we hope that the next set of students to be sent out are equally as fortunate as us.'
They are stying in India for six months - and despite the initial shock of India they are relishing their remaining time in this part of the World.

Selvyn at Premavasam, an orphanage in India, signs in

Selvyn at Prema Vasam does his monthly report on the health and welfare of his special children...this is always an eye opener and keeps everything in some kind of perspective living and working here in the UK. Selvyn writes:

Dear David,

Lots of love and greetings from Prema Vasam!

In my previous mail I have written about our Diwali preparations to the extreme of expressing our anxiety to get new dresses for Diwali. Most of our children are Hindus hence we celebrate Diwali every year to make them happy and joyful.

This year on 17th of October we have celebrated Diwali, every year we buy new clothes for all our children and for our carers too. Some of our friends consider it as a duty to buy new clothes and fireworks for Diwali, this year also at the last moment we got new clothes for all our children we bought fireworks too. It is like a pleasant surprise indeed. Our boys from the boys home also came here to celebrate Diwali with us all, it was a great celebration indeed.

Our school going children got their quarterly marks. Our boys scored good marks than our girls. Three of our boys Prakash XI, Ramesh VIII and Pandian XII got first rank and two of our boys got second rank and Prasanth got third rank whereas none of our girls got first rank. These days our college going girls Anisha, Anitha, Benitta, Lakshmi, Kalaichelvi, Suganya and Radha are doing their semester examinations, it started on 30 of October would be over on 29th of November, please pray for them specially.

Our boys are very much interested in feeding the elders. The number of elders have been increasing so we have built an extension kitchen. On first of November being the birthday of our first child Indra we have started preparing the meals for the boys as well as for the elders on the week ends in the new kitchen. It is so convenient and very spacious too.

Thank God, we have one more new physiotherapist Mr.Sasikumar joined us on 4th of November onwards. He is so affectionate and has a special love for our special children. Now the number of therapists are seven but still all the special children will not get therapy everyday. Please pray for our special children so that we may afford to have more therapists for them.

With much love,
Selvyn.

Our best wishes go to Selvyn and his team at PV. At present we have three volunteers working with his team at the orphanage.

October 2009 Newsletter

Here is the latest from the news desk at Changing Worlds.

Click on: http://www.changingworlds.co.uk/Home.aspx?vurl=%2f%2fRoot%2fContent%2fNewsletterOctober2009

Matt reports back from Queenstown - 'I'm staying where I am thanks!'

I asked Matt if he wanted to move from Queenstown to the Bay of Islands. Matt is a keen diver and was always keen to take up his hobby interests in New Zealand. He went out in September and the original idea was to move him on to the Bay in January next year.

However Matt has different thoughts. He writes:
Hi david
all is well in queenstown, im currently enjoying my experience at skyline and wish to further it, i may be changing my job from waiting to bartending soon at skyline and would very much like to stay here, i gained many new friends and fitted in nicely.

i would like to decline the bay of isle job offer due to my experience down here thank you very much for looking into it for me i may yet decided to travel there but i dont want to change jobs.

thanks again matthew i hope the new people who are coming in 2010 enjoy new zealand as much as i am ive already done a bungy and some crazy stuff here luving it all

matt
Sounds like he is having fun - Matt is staying in Queenstown for six months. I suggested he does not miss out on the Bay when he finally hits the road later in 2010.

Jay in Argentina invites you to share in his blog

Jay went out to Mendoza in Argentina last month. He is suffering in the heat at the moment (poor thing!)...it certainly sounds like he is having a ball and making the most of his time...

Find out more at his blog: http://www.offexploring.com/jayharlow

Don't hesitate to contact Jay via his blog to find out more.

Congratulations to Azafady

Congratulations to Mark Jacob and the Azafady team on this news!

Dear Friend of Azafady,
We wanted to give you a short update on everything going on with Azafady this October. We have some exciting developments with Pictet & Cie, a leading private Swiss Bank, who have chosen to support Azafady as part of their commitment to the Pictet photography prize and global sustainability. The Prix Pictet is an annual search for photographs which communicate powerful messages of global environmental significance under the theme, this year, of 'Earth'. And, for 2009, Pictet & Cie will support Azafady's Voly Hazo project that aims to preserve the earth from degradation and the eventual desertification that is seen so widely in Madagascar, with a programme of tree planting and conservation of the natural forest.

Mark and his team

One of the short listed photographers for the Prix Pictet, Ed Kashi, has been commissioned to visit Madagascar with the Azafady team in order to produce a series of photographs that will highlight many of the issues that we are focusing on in this unique and endangered environment. Ed Kashi will visit Madagascar in January with an exhibition of his work following in the Spring. Please see the press release below for more information on the Prix Pictet.

This is really exciting news for everyone at Azafady, so we hope you will share in our excitement and keep in touch with everything going in Madagascar and with Azafady. We have recently launched a new blog at: www.azafady.us/blog and, if you are not already, please do become a facebook fan of Azafady at: www.facebook.com/AzafadyMadagascar - where there are lots of updates, pictures and news from our projects in Madagascar.

Finally, thank you all for your continued support of Azafady and our work in Madagascar.

Best wishes,

Mark

Mark Jacobs
Managing Director

Azafady Studio 7 1a Beethoven Street London, W10 4LG Telephone +44 (0) 20 8960 6629 Fax +44 (0) 20 8962 0126 Email mark@azafady.org Internet www.madagascar.co.uk
Skype Azafadyoffice

Become a fan of Azafady on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AzafadyMadagascar

Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/azafady

Mark and his team are working really hard to improve the quality of life for the peoples of Madagascar. To find out more about their volunteering options do hit:
http://www.changingworlds.co.uk/default.aspx?qlink=MadagascarOverview

Emma reports from Kenya

Emma has just reported back from Nakuru in Kenya. She sounds like she is very busy. Emma and the others left the UK in mid September. Emma writes:
Hi David!
Just thought i would give you a quick email to let you know how things are going in Kenya!

Everything is going well, so far i have been working at the local hospital in Nakuru (PGH). So far we have visited the abandoned baby ward, pediatrics, maternity, new born baby ward, psychiatric and even theater! I feel it has given me a good insight into medical work and has helped me a lot with medical experiance when i train to be a nurse in 2010.

I have also been working at Workers primary school. I teach Standard 3 Zambia and they are all very nice! My class has 65 students in it and i was very scared when i first went in the classroom and saw loads of little faces looking at me but its going well. I have set up a penpal routine with my local school in England. My class have just sent their letters of so we should recieve letters back from England soon which is very exciting!

ALso since we have been here we have started to paint bedrooms in an orphanage. By ofchance we met a nun called Felistas who is running a childrens orphanage on the outskirts of Nakuru, she has just built and refurbished the orphanage but has run out of money to paint. So we decided to buy it for her and then go and paint it. So far we have completed one room and are yet to complete the other! Its a very bright yellow, the children loved it!

Also Helen, Abbie and myself met an American lady called Sherry. She married a Kenyan man and is know living in Nakuru and has been on and of for 16 years. At her home she has taken in eleven orphans, 6 babies aged from about 0-3 years and 5 teenage girls aged 10-15 one of which being HIV positive. I have been visiting the orphange about 2-3 times a week just giving her a hand and helping her out when she needs it! as you can imagine its quite a hand full to look after eleven children!

As for travelling we have also done quite alot since we have been here. We've visited the giraffe sancutary in Nairobi, elephant orphanage in Nairobi, Carnivore!, Lake Naivasha, Lake Nakuru, Climbed Menengai Crater (second biggest crater in the world!), been to the Maasai Mara!, Hells Gate, Thomson Falls, we visited Karanja's parents in Kinangob recently which was beautiful as its up in the mountains and we have evem been horse riding! But we have so much more to do. My favortie place to visit so far was most probably Thomson falls it was so beautiful! Me, Abbie and Helen are staying with Karanja, Mary and Vanessa! We love it!

Everybody here in Kenya is so lovely and I am having an Amazing time!

Thankyou so much for all your help in planning this for us!

Many thanks
Emma Price
I love the pen pal idea with her local school.

Adam wants to encourage you to come to Queenstown in New Zealand

Adam, who went out to Queenstown in New Zealand in September of this year writes to say he is having the time of his life. He writes:
Hello David Again!
Just another update for you!!Sorry its been a while but using the internet is the last thing i want to do here! haha!

I'm still loving it here, its such a cool place and i feel very at home! Living with Debbie is still going well too, it has its bad points sharing room ect but i expected this when i came so I'm not letting it get in my way of enjoying NZ!

Works going really well too! Its Work for Skyline Gondola which you know of course, in their Photographic Department, its a new department for skyline as they always contracted a company in to take the photos and sell them, before aug this year so its all very much still work in progress, but its interesting to be in a development of a new department!

Basicly my job role is Being a photographer, developer,sales person and customer service rep roled into on big job!We basic are the first person the customers meet as they board the gondola, we make a bit of chitchat anwser questions and then offer to take their photo, sounds easy but we have to do this before the gondola doors close ad whilst the gondola is still moving!

We rotate as well into developing photos then selling the photos as guest leave again!I really enjoy it as i love talking to people and you know i love the tourist industry so fits me perfect!!!

I do appricate the hard work changing worlds does and was sad to hear some of the other boys had reservastions! I'm still glad i came with changing worlds as it gave me the confidence i needed to come here!

Just obvously the job situation cocerned us all! But we are all sorted now and life goes on!I do have photos on my facebook profile if u can access it via the changing worlds group? The car is also still going great and a great way of saving money compared to busses!If anyoe looking at coming to NZ has any questions send them my way!

I'm happy to helpp too!Thanks david!
adam dobinson

Adam would be delighted to tell you more. Contact him via his e-mail at:
adam.dobinson@hotmail.co.uk. Do check out his Facebook entries too!

A big thanks to all those who completed the photo competition

Our first photo competition has been a big success.

We have been overwhelmed with the number of entries.

The winner of the competition is to be announced on Friday 23 October 2009. We will inform the winner via e-mail.

A very big thank you to all entries.

We will be creating a new competition in the not too distant future. Watch this space!

Helen reports back from Nakuru, Kenya on her medical placement

I asked Helen to send me a report of her medical placement in Nakuru in Central Kenya. She writes:

The Medical Placement

The medical placement out here in Kenya has been enjoyable whilst very educational and eye-opening!
Every day we go into the local public hospital and first go to ward six, which is for children aged less than two years old. Here we spend an hour or so washing, weighing, dressing and feeding the abandoned babies. The work we do here is so appreciated as the nurses on this ward are so busy that often the babies go 24hours without being changed or fed.

Unfortunately this work can be tough though as these abandoned babies are mostly neglected of their medical needs, and consequently we have already had two babies die in the last six weeks. However this has not been a deterrent for working in this ward- instead this has motivated us to get up early every morning just so we can care for them!
Then after ward six we have been rotating to different parts of the hospital. The first week we spent in the nursery where there are about 30 babies crammed into a tiny (and really hot) room. These babies all need to be washed, weighed and fed which can be very time-consuming! One of these babies is the son of a woman on the psychiatric ward so this placement also gave us the opportunity to visit there; an experience that is like nothing ever experienced before!

The second week we spent in the maternity watching live births! We then spent a week in theatre where we saw a range of operations such as a gall bladder removal, hip replacements, caesarian sections, bone reconstructions, appendix removals etc… The surgeons were all very accommodating and even let us assist with minor things such as cleaning the area to be operated on.
Other weeks we have spent in orthopaedics, paediatrics (for children over two years old) and the voluntary counseling centre for people with HIV and AIDS. For the remainder of our placement we will be continuing our rotations to other wards such as ICU, gynaecology, the laboratory, the pharmacy, female/male wards and so on…

The medical placement so far has been a truly pleasurable experience that has taught us all about a life in the caring profession. There has been a good mix of practical work and observation time, whilst still allowing us the option to do other placements such as teaching and orphanage work. I speak for the three of us here doing the medical placement when I say that it is a rewarding and challenging experience here in the hospital and definitely not one to be missed!!

By Helen Thomson
Changing Worlds September 2009-January 2010

Thanks Helen. I hope this will inspire more medics to jump on board!

Claire has success with her fundraising

Claire is off to Kenya in January 2010. She has been busy raising money for her trip.

Claire writes:
Hi David, I just thought i would send you a little email to keep you updated on my fundraising. Yesterday morning i held a coffee morning at my church with a raffle and cake sale and raised over £500!!

So thankyou very much for the promotional material you sent me a few weeks ago.

Hope all is well, see you on the 26th/27th!

Many Thanks,
Claire Stevens'
Well done Claire....fund raising in these difficult economic times is never easy so your news is very exciting. I know Claire worked hard to put together this event.

Changing Worlds is happy to help where we can. We have a fund raising pack that includes a letter template, background information and relevant websites that we know are successful. Do contact me at: david@changingworlds.co.uk for more details. Equally do contact Claire via clairestevens_577@hotmail.com for her thoughts.

Do be aware that Changing Worlds does offer bursaries to people who need financial assistance - we take each applicaion on its own merits so there is no harm in finding out more.

Do look at http://www.changingworlds.co.uk/default.aspx?qlink=bursaries

Adam reports back from New Zealand

Adam, who is in Queenstown in South Island reports back to say:

'Just Adam D, I gather you forgot to add me into the e-mail you sent the other lads? haha its ok, I had a read!

Everything is going well over here,i feel right at home and Debbie is AMAZING, shes like a second mother to me, and i've enjoyedstaying with her family, herself and Joe and Mike!

I was a bit suprised about the job situation, i knew nothing was confirmed bu didnt expect it to take as long as it did!Debbie has been working her socks of though, she deserves alot of credit for what she does over here!!!!

I've manged to buy a decent car..all four wheels inclueded, so much cheaper to get around, and to work too!

Skyline is amazing and glad i got the job there! I'm working with a few other gap year people, so its nice to socialisewith them! it feels like a real team!

I am think of extending my ticket and staying for the year, its such a kool place i dont want to miss anything, and of course joe is here for the year so i wont be alone!

many thanks

adam'

Cannot wait to see a photo of the car!

David's monthly newsletter update

Do have a read of my monthly newsletter...to bring you up to speed on what's going on at Changing Worlds.

The link to my latest newsletter is found at:
http://www.changingworlds.co.uk/Home.aspx?vurl=%2f%2fRoot%2fContent%2fNewsletterSeptember2009

I hope you enjoy it!

David

Jack in China asks for more volunteer help

Jack Lui, the Changing Worlds representative in China, writes in an e-mail:

Dear David,
How are you? Hoping all is well with you.

Seasonal greetings to you for a wonderful Chinese mid-autumn (Moon) festival!

Wish you could send a few more volunteer teachers for the spring semester of 2010.

Tell your students and volunteers that Yantai is the most desirable place for human settlement and living in China due to its nice weather condition, abundant food and fruits resources, rich cultural and relics as well as the mostly friendly people and their hospitality.

Regards.
Jack Liu

China is a fascinating country - quite like no other. If you feel you would like to make a genuine difference then do let us know. You do need to be willing to learn some Chinese Mandarin.

Do contact me at david@changingworlds.co.uk if you feel you would like to help.

Amy says thanks.

Amy Gallagher recently returned back from Kenya with this lovely message of thanks:
Hi David, How are you and how are the new Kenya crew doing? Not long till they go now :) I just wanted to thank you, as never got round to it before and feel bad about that. I just wanted to thank you for the oppurtunity to go to Kenya. I have to honestly say it was the best experience of my life and will never forget it.

Karanja and Mary were both a big help always and were so nice it was like having another family (along with Mrs Maina too of course) :) If you ever need any help with anything, be it interviews or inductions, just let me know because i promise i'd not run out of things to say - in fact maybe's its not the best idea as i may bore them all to death :)

No but seriously, if there is anything i can do to help you, to pay back my thanks, please just let me know. I hope to go back, with many of the others, next year sometime in July just to visit and hopefully we'll raise some more money for both the orphanage and school, so promise that we will keep you updated.

Baraka was such an amazing placement and absolutly loved volunteers coming over. They took ellen leaving early in good peace and welcomed Ben with open arms on a thursday when he didnt have any lessons at his own school. The teachers were so friendly and i hope that, if there aren't volunteers going this time, that you will seriously consider them for next year because they really are a great school :)

I wish you all the best and as am hoping to take another gap year after uni (if money allows) :), then i will definetly go with your Gap company. Thank you so much again.Amy G xxx

Thank goes to Amy for all her hard work whilst in Kenya.

Launch of the 1st Changing Worlds Competition

Hello all,

We are delighted to announce the launch of the first ever Changing Worlds Photo of the Month Competition!

We have selected 4 photos that have been sent in by past volunteers that we are now asking the general public to vote on. The winning photo will become the face of Changing Worlds for November including Twitter, Facebook, our monthly newsletter and of course a profile of the winner on here.
Just by voting you will be entered into a free prize draw to win a travel guide of your choice. This could be for a trip you are planning or just to provide you with an insight into a country of interest. We don't go anywhere without one!
All you have to do is follow the following link to view the photos in full size and cast your vote.

http://bit.ly/oB3HV

Rebecca provides a wonderful insight to Kenya

Rebecca went to Kenya with Changing Worlds back in January 2009. She was out there for six months and clearly made a huge impact. rebecca and others worked in an orphanage in the Kenyan town of Nakuru.

Rebecca has set up a blog that just about says it all. Do please access it at:

http://www.nakuruchildren.webs.com/

Enjoy!

A big thanks to Rebecca for her amazing contribution!

Selwyn in India reports back

Selwyn at one of our orphanages in Chennai, India likes to keep me updated about the children in his care. There is always plenty to ponder in his diary. He writes:

Dear David Gill,

Lots of love and greetings from Prema Vasam!

Today we have appointed one more physiotherapist, Miss Mercy to give therapy for our special children. Since the number of special children are more, sometimes some of the special children do not get the professional touch of the therapist.

Though we say proudly that we wish to serve special children more affectionately than school going normal children but the number of school going children are more in Prema Vasam. Of course the school going children too deserve our love and concern. Hence we try our best to develop the talents that dormant in them. Having that in mind we try to teach Karate, classical dance called Bharathanatyam, playing drums and so on. Last week some of our children took part in a karate tournament, Vasanth got gold medal in his age group, Arun and Sathish got silver medal in their age group, Manikandan and Hemalatha got bronze medal in their age group.

These days our Soundarya is not keeping well, please remember her during the moments of grace.

Our school going children got their progress report for the first mid term test, some of them have scored good marks and the rest of them have to concentrate more on their studies. We are so happy that Punith got First Rank in the class. And our college going girls got their semester results too. Anisha and Suganya have passed in all the subjects, whereas the rest of them have failed in one or two subjects, it is so sad and disappointing. Of course it is so soothing that our college going girls are serving our special children and teaching our school going children, they contribute so much for the well being of our children.
Dr.Roshan and his colleagues from Meenakshi dental college have come forward to give dental care for our children, to begin with every Thursday they take some of our children to their hospital for the dental care.

With much love,
Selvyn.

We hope that Soundarya makes a quick and full recovery.

Celebrating National Teachers Day in China

Jack Lui, our Changing Worlds representative in Yantai, writes:
Dear Volunteer Teachers,

On the great occasion of Chinese Teacher’s Day on September 10, we would like to extend a warm and sincere festival greeting to all of you for A Happy Teachers’ Day of China.

This is a special meaningful day for us to send our utmost respect to all teachers who have been devoted their time and efforts for hard and ever-lasting cultivation of the younger generation to absorb knowledge and wisdom for a better world and the future.
This is a unique unforgettable time for us to commemorate all the contributions all teachers have made in the way of building up a society of justice, harmony and civilization.

Teachers are regarded as candles, which are burning themselves and illuminating others.

Thank you very much for your continued dedication and commitment for teaching and training assignments at our schools of various levels.
Jack Liu

Changing Worlds would like to send our best wishes for today.

Ben wanted to say thanks for his time in Kenya

Ben reported back on the Changing Worlds Facebook group to say:

'Just wanted to say a big thankyou to you for everything you have done. I have had the best 6 months of my life in Kenya and will treasure all the memories forever. And im going back in the summer for a month, which im already looking forward to. I had the best time ever So thankyou for everything.'

We hope Ben returns to Kenya soon...

Selwyn in India reports back

Selwyn at PremaVasam, one of our orphanages in Southern India brings us up to speed with life in his orphanage. He writes:
Dear David,

Lots of love and greetings from Prema Vasam!

These days our school going children have done their first mid term test, hopefully they have done their best. It is so disturbing that this year we did not get a good teacher to teach and help them to do their home works at home, please we need your good wishes and prayers for the same.

One of our children Soni who is doing B.Sc. Nursing is doing her second year annual examinations. She spends a good time in looking after the sick children and our special children too. But she does not spend more time in studying her lessons. We are trying our best to motivate her to concentrate towards her studies.

Our Boys home, boys are living in our new building. It looks like a palace for them, after a year of struggle in a small congested place, now they are comfortable and happy.

One of our dreams is to start a school for the normal children. Of course it is not that easy but as an initiative act this year we have started the kinder garden at Prema Vasam itself. It is so nice to see them with uniforms happily going to our kinder garden school. Miss Sumathy and Miss Pramila are doing their best for them.

During these days we have celebrated some of our children, Soni, Uma, Soundarya, Hemavathy birthdays. And our therapists, one of our occupational therapist Mr.Pradeep and one of our physiotherapists Miss Aishwarya have celebrated their birthdays too.

With much love,
Selvyn.

Jemma can't wait to return to Ghana!

Jemma returns from Kumasi in Ghana. She writes:
'Hi David,
I've got settled in from being away from Ghana now and would just like to say that I had a really amazing time. The whole thing was a great experience and I've got some links with my teachers in Ghana now and hope to go back there one day.

Francis is really great and often helped me out when ever he could I really think he's a rare find.I would recommend the trip to anybody, I think I've matured as a person made new friends and managed to loose a stone so result all round.

Thanks for a really really great time!

Jemma Collins

If you would like to contact Jemma and find out more then do contact her via her e-mail to: jemmarules8@hotmail.com

Changing Worlds would like to thank jemma for all her hard work whilst overseas.

David

Nick returns from Kenya and says thanks

Hi David, Firstly i just want to apologise for never replying to this email below.

I never actually saw it and only just found it when i was searching for your email address. But ye sure anything i say in emails you can use for your blog or anyother things as i really want to help karanja get more volontears as i know he really enjoys having us out there. Now im finally at home it has finally sunk in that i have left and may not see some of the friends or kids that i met again although i do plan to return next year.

It really was the best six months of my life and i have no regrets about any of it. You meet some amazing friends, the kids provide you with such entertainment and karanja and his extended family really are some of the nicest people i have ever met. I think it is fair to say that i got to know karanja, mary and john better then many of the other volontears and i can say that putting the kids aside they are the people i miss the most. The numerous nights out i had beating karanja and john at pool really were some of most fun and relaxing ways to spend the evenings and i can never remember a bad night with them. They are all now good friends and i really cant wait to see them again.

As for the placements, although i have to be honest at times they can make you sad or challenge you, especially when a child tells you about a problem or something similar, they really are all amazing. Naka primary and pistis academy the two places i worked at have provided me with some of the best moments of my life and saving goodbye to them was one of the worst. The kids are all so nice and in a selfish way when you do something nice to does make you feel very happy inside to see their happiness. The other people that made my time such an amazing expierence were my host family. Nancy and her children were alll so welcoming and i find i have made really good friends there (especially with Eustace, the son, and Nywera, the daughter). They all went out of the way to make us feel welcome and happy and i know its often said but very quickly it felt like another home. I really felt very lucky to expeirence an african family and i will definetely keep in touch with them as they are an amazing family.

Finally i just want to thank you. Without the support and planning of all of the staff in the Uk none of this could have been possible. Maybe my view is slightly biast because of karanja but i can honestly say i dont think there would be a better gap year company then changing worlds. I am trully thankfull for all you guys did making this possible and there is anything i can do in the future(talks or whatever) please let me know as i would be more than happy to help. Please also pass on my thanks to Shirley and everyone else involved.

Thanks again Nick

Download our New brochure

We have recently designed and printed a new brochure that includes all of our latest placements with fully up to date information.
If you are considering taking a gap year or career break then download this for free by clicking the button below. Alternatively go to our homepage and complete an enquiry form to request a printed copy.

If you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to get in touch by emailing ask@changingworlds.co.uk.

Mandy and Ian Whitehead send their thanks

Ian and Mandy Whitehead wrote to us earlier this week to say:
'Thank you very much for making Jessica's gap year so successful. Your name is just right. You got the balance between 'giving young people both roots and wings'just right.

We always felt you cared for her yet wanted her to step outside the world hse had known previously.

You also struck a balance between the needs of the young person and the needs of those they were helping. There was also a balance between having fun, learning and working.

Jess learned Spanish and about working with children and adults yet enjoyed a good social life both with the locals and other volunteers.

Thanks again for sending back our daughter with all the good characteristics she had before yet added to.
Mandy and Ian'

Thanks too to Jess for being such a wonderful volunteer for us in Honduras.

I have, of course, passed the thanks on to Kenny Mackay (the Changing Worlds representative) and his family in San Pedro Sula.

David

Selvyn at Premavasam, an orphanage in India, signs in

Selvyn the director at Premavasam orphanage in Southern India has been in touch to say:

'Dear David,

Lots of love and greetings from Prema Vasam!

I have been thinking to E-mail you for a long time, somehow could not make it. I am so happy to inform you that our first child Indra has got her fourth semester university results, we are very proud of her, she has scored 80% marks. This is the final year, she need to concentrate more on her studies. Of course in the evenings she helps the poor children from our village. During the summer holidays she has updated our website www.premavasam.com a big thanks go to her .

During this month some of our children Vijay, Rajalakshmi, Jancy and Vidhya have celebrated their birthdays, as usual a new dress has been given as a birthday gift and the birthday cake too.

Pavithra and Angel

In this month two special children Pavithra who is lying and Angel who is sitting next to her have joined our Prema Vasam family. Though our house is full with children, we could not say "no" to them.

During this week end we took some of our children to Besant nagar beach for an outing. Our children could not spend more time due to the unexpected showers of rain. Outings and picnics give so much joy and happiness to our children.

The construction work is going on very well. The final stage is going on, by this month we want to shift our boys to our own building as you are aware more than a year they have been living in the rented house with much struggle due to the congested place.

The whole world is affected due the recession, we are also affected financially so badly. Hence we need your wishes and prayers in order to cope up with the financial crisis.

I am sure you would agree with me that these children are looked after by the providence of God and with the support of kind hearted people like you.

With much love,
Selvyn.'

If you feel you would like to help - provide financial assitance or your time as a volunteer then do let me know.

James eats crickets in Thailand

James, recently in Northern Thailand, sent this report back to loved ones during his placement with us.

He writes:

So since my last message, we have been doing lots and lots of things. We went to the nightmarket where they close 2 streets and ate some food from the market stalls. Out here in Chiang Rai there are a lot of stalls that cook food, and you can pick up food whenever, about 30-50 baht (about a pound or less). We met up with the Changing World girl already out here (Fran who is 27) but doesn't look like it. There was also another girl called Jess out here, she came out last monday and is 18. Me and jess ate crickets from a stall, they were quite nice. Jamie wimped out. We had a look at different stalls - it so different to the UK, so relaxed and the food is very nice and fresh. Although at times quite spicy. Been eating rice and noodles, chicken and pork, sea food as well. Its very nice. We have been taken around Thailand by Paul, he showed us The Golden Triangle and the river where Thailand, Burma and Laos can be seen together. We have been travelling around in the back of the truck with Jess and Fran who wanted to see the sights and see differents schools. It was really good in the back, the wind in the face and just chatting to them. You can see the pictures on Claire's facebook now. We had drinks in the Elephant bar with Shirley and Fran that night after the market which was good. The people are friendly and you could watch the english premiership.

James and the crickets!

On sunday we arrived in Fang which is west of Chiang Rai close to the Burmese border and north of Chiang Mai (Google it if you want to). We are staying in a nice guest house behind a restaurant called the Ritzer. It was very nice have a hot shower (although it is luke warm), double beds, and a living area. We are staying in Fang until next monday when we actually moving into a village closer to the two schools we are staying in. We will have our own house, sqat toilet and cold shower. We wanted to get the Thai experience and will help clean up the house and paint it. Jilldou with her husband Ben (an australian) are helping us out and are organising everything with us. We are joking with them that they are our surrogate parents as they are giving us a 200 baht a day allowanace for food and water and drink. They are being helpful and we have mountain bikes to get round town from Paul. We will be staying in the village away from Fang for the next two months, so will be out of internet contact for a while. We will try and send emails from the school. We start teaching on thursday but are going out to the school tomorrow to help with their two day scout event.

Have to go now, as my hour is nearly up. I have uploaded pics on to facebok, so have a look.

Part of the Changing Worlds orientation

More to follow!

Swine Flu cuts short Sam's placement in Honduras

Hey David,
Just a quick message to let you know that myself and Hannah have decided to return to England earlier than planned. We are flying out of San Pedro Sula on monday morning and arriving back in England on Tuesday. Reasons being that the school is closed for at least two weeks which although may not sound long, is quite a long time when we have nothing to do. Swine flu has got to the school and so some of the children are ill so they have closed for a short time. We are also getting fed up of the heat as we have both been ill recently and that combined with the food is not making us feel any better and so we think that this is as good a time as any to return to England.

I would just like to say thank you for everything you have done, for getting me here safely and without hassle, finding us an amazing host, she really is lovely and has made my time here very enjoyable. I may even be returning in a couple years time to live with her for a year as part of my university degree, so thank you for giving me these opportunities. It has been great to be involved in helping people that actually need our support and seeing our hard work being successful. I have had so much fun working at the school with the children and also at the orphanages, its been a great experience and has confirmed my love for this type of work. Again thank you for all your support, we both really appreciate it.
Best wishes
Samantha

The Lake Victoria Sunset Birders need some help

A good friend and colleague at Lake Victoria Sunset Birders (LSVB) based in Kisumu in western Kenya has recently been in touch.
He writes:
Dear David,
Hope this finds you ok.
Has been long, thought you'll be in Kenya sometime early this year so you could pay us a visit in vain.
I have attached a few pictures to help you understand some of our new approaches to conservation in the lake victoria region so you could help.
EcoSanitation Concept
this is an approach we are ussing to prevent the alarming pollution levels in Dunga swamp through human waste and the croping up of more farmlands.
EcoSan toilets-as they are popularly called are toilet units which are constructed purposely in areas around Dunga where loose soil cannot allow for sinking of pit latrines thus causing major pollution problems in the wetland. the waste here is disinfected using ash and then used as manure on kitchen gardens (another new concept in the area).through these two ideas, we are managing to pull people out of creating large farms in the wetland at the same time curbing the pollution thus protecting the bird area.one family has completely stopped farming in the wetland through this project.
This is a project that was supported by Friends of Lake Victoria (OSIENALA), a local NGO which is an LVSB partner.

A Communication Media for Schools near Dunga swamp
we have also started an environmental magazine for 10 schools around Kisumu town through which we hope schools will start networking to advocate for environmental conservation in the town thus involving young people in the town in environmental conservation.
OUR REQUEST
we currently are in need of partnerships that can help sustain these programs.this could be not only in terms of finances but most importantly linkages that would provide avenues for knowledge and experience sharing.
If you have any knowledge of small groups in the UK or elsewhere that might have not necessarily similar projects but have related interests and any donor interested in supporting such programs would you link us up or sent us contacts so we see what we can do.
we also believe this new approach will inspire more young people to join LVSB initiatives thus promoting conservation in the region.we have seen what experience sharing through exchange programs can do to conservation through young people that is why we are trying to expand this so that those who come behind us experience what we did to bring LVSB to this level.Hope to hear from you.Thanks. more about LVSB on our website at http://www.lakevictoriasunsetbirders.org/.

As you can read LVSB are doing some very valuable and worhwile conservation work in this reion of Kenya. This is not the 'big game' conservation that demands most of the headlines here in the West but grass roots stuff.
If you feel you would like to contribute in any small way then do let me know. Drop me a line to david@changingworlds.co.uk. I am particularly interested in finding help for the schools project - this really would be a great volunteer experience for the right type of person.

Matt and Kelly buy mattresses for the children

Kelly and Matt, out in Nakuru in Kenya last year, discovered that the children in the orphanage slept three to a bed! They also discovered that the children slept on the wooden slats...they decided that something needed to be done... They contacted their local church group in their home town of Colchester, UK who kindly made a donation for mattresses. This is the story of what happened next!

Thanks to Matt, Kelly, Nyree and Becky for all their hard work.

The Headmaster at Baraka Primary school, Nakuru, Kenya says thanks.

On behalf of Baraka Primary School Kenya, I wish to thank you most sincerely for giving us two volunteers; Amy and Ellen to teach in my school; They are surely God sent and excellent teachers who love children. Hope to receive more volunteers from you.
Wish you well,
John K. Ngugi.

St Stephen's orphanage in Nakuru, Kenya sends thanks

James Mogondo, the director of one of our orphanages, in Nakuru in Central Kenya sends his thanks to Changing Worlds volunteers.

He writes:
'Hi David,

Hope you arrived well. The volunteers are doing well despite the long drought.

We welcome volunteers to the orphanage and regard their support to the less fortunate children. So far, it is a warm acceptance of their goodwill, for supporting the orphanage as individuals or as corporate groups. St. Stephen has various need s ranging from basics to medical care because we have children who are HIV +ve. The volunteers have bought mattresses, bicycles and other scholastic requirements that have afforded a smile to the faces of the little ones.

Following the recent post-election violence witnessed in 2007 the plight of orphans is on high rise and St. Stephen has been approached for the support of the children left vulnerable.

As a charitable institution we welcome all visitors with open mind and call for team work as we aspire to achieve the vision of reaching the unreachable and voicing the voiceless.

Thank you
James

St. Stephen'

Thanks goes to James for making our volunteers so welcome and more importantly, working so hard for the children.

James reports back from Ghana - it's not all fun...

Hey David
I have only got on to the internet today so do not worry as I wouldn't have noticed a late reply if you had not said anything!Its good to be feeling well again and with that has gone any of the homesickness I was feeling last week. This week has been a bit of a mix.

We decided to go to the lake in the end and I am very glad I could make it. The place was beautiful, surrounded by small hills the small circular lake is the crater of an asteroid that came crashing to earth long ago. The tro tro dropped us off a little away from the hostel we were planning to stay in and we had a pleasant walk though we were carrying a bag of water sachets that was about 15 litres of water and therefore was quite hard work. The lake when we got to it was a lot bigger than I thought, apparently it is 90 metres deep in the middle and gets steadily shallower towards the edge. The resort had its own private little stretch of beach which was lovely and peaceful and had a great view. The water was unbelievable! It was like walking into a bath, only on a huge scale, the water was so warm and smooth and it was a very clean bottom of soft sand so it was pleasant in all aspects. We sent the first day just lazing around by the lake which was a welcome break from lying about at home feeling ill. The food that night was awesome, I had prawn Masala and noodles. Quite expensive by Ghanaian standards but the whole trip worked out at about 20 pounds for everything over two days.

The following morning was Monday and luckily it is African Union day and my school was off so I was able to spend some more time at the lake. We started the day with a climb up a mountain but in the end we got a little lost in the forest and never reached the summit and had a bit of a struggle getting back to the path again. The rest of the day was spent at the lakeside until we packed up and headed home about 4pmish. Jus had an early night to prepare myself for school the following day.

Tuesday is my early start day with my first lesson at 8am but it went really well and though the subject was a bit boring the kids do seem to make an effort to understand it. After this I walked to Ashtown were the orphanage is and spent the rest of the morning with the kids there. I am trying to spend as much time with Seymour before he gets adopted and I really will miss him when he heads of to his new home! I spent the rest of the day at the orphanage and then headed home to bed.

Wednesday classes again went well and I managed to set my first homework though I wasn't sure if they quite understood what I wanted them too do and now that I have had a chance to mark it I have come to the conclusion they deffinitely didn't get it. Today my usual trek to the orphanage was interrupted today as a new volunteer has arrived in the country and is coming to share my room. I am therefore losing the pleasure of a room and ensuite to myself however it will be nice to have another boy around as the two who live down the road maybe gone by next week. We just spent the evening chatting and getting to know each other as we were going to have to live together for the next few months and it would be better if we got of to a good start which thankfully we have. His name is Robin and he seems very nice and he has settled in quite quickly to the way of life here which is so different from home.

Thursday is my day of mixed classes were my two classes shuffle around and it is a bit chaotic as I try to work out who has been taught what. We started number lines today and I went round the class and gave the kids a number each from -20 to +20 and then took them out to the playground and got them all to line up in order. As easy as this might seem to you and me the idea of negative numbers has not quite settled in them yet and I ended up with 0 to 20 being right but the next number after 0 going down was -20 then -19 all the way to -1. This was very amusing and in both lessons today the same thing happened. The kids think just because the number is big it must be a large number instead of being a large negative number. On this logic -20 is bigger than -10. Anyway after a lot of laughing and sorting out with managed to get the idea and got lined up properly and wasted an entire period in the process. After this I headed to stadium with Edward and Robin to play hockey and we ended up playing 5 vs 6. The three of us and two ghanians against a team of local kids and one of their dads. We ended up losing 3-1 and not surprisingly as me and Robin are not hockey players and the kids are exceptionally good for their size. All the same it was great fun and we deffinitely had our work cut out running around in the heat of a full size hockey pitch without a fullsize team to use it.

Friday was again school and orphanage and similar to the other days, however Sat was a bit of an experience. Robin and myself headed to a wedding with Francis to see what a wedding ceremony is like here. Well I can definitely say its not a dull affair. There is a huge amount of singing and dancing and clapping and celebrating and it was all quite exciting. We even got fed at the reception though out of takeaway cartoons and plastic bottles instead of our usual hotel style meals at home. It was good fun and next weekend we are going to a different sort of wedding. This one was a church one but next week is a Ghanaian style one using the traditional ways. I am quite excited to see it and I am sure it will be very different again from the one we have been to.Today I headed to the orphanage in the morning and the kids were all outside so we played a lot outside and I had to do a lot of lifting and swinging of the kids. They had rice balls and soup for lunch and it was sooo messy. Most of the kids were covered in it by the end and one kid especially called Ben had managed to rub it all over himself. On his head in his ears on his legs up his arms over his neck. He had to be thoroughly washed afterwards which just made it even funnier. I was left to do all the changing and washing of the kids myself today. When you have 10 excited toddlers this is no easy feat and it took almost an hour to get them through the potty into fresh clothes and all into bed before I could head off. I spent the rest of the day in a local hotel by the pool which was really nice and relaxing.

The days have certainly got a good routine about them now which is quite good and means I'm not stressing over what I am supposed to be doing next all the time. I am grateful to be feeling better again and this week has been an improvement on the last.

Anyway maykwaba (I am going) I hope your all well
James

Volunteers returning after their successful time away

It's been a busy week with numerous volunteers coming back to the UK after their Changing Worlds placements. The feedback is most encouraging. These are just a few reports we gained this week:

From Alice who has just got back from Ghana writes:
'Hi David, Just a quick email to say thankyou so much for the opportunity you gave me to go too Ghana. I had a amazing time and its something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. The school was fantastic, the kids were incredible and Francis (although he takes ghana maybe time to a whole new level!) was brilliant when ever you needed him he was there. (eventually! ) I defintely want to go travelling again and no doubt you will be hearing from me hopefuly this time next year once I have some money again! Many Thanks once again. Alice'

From Jess who has just returned from India. Jess writes:
'Hi,Just wanted to let you know I have arrived home safe and sound and to say a big thank you for everything, especially with organising my flight back etc. I also wanted to find out when the next India volunteers prep w/e was and to see if I could come along to help as someone with 'experience' because talking about India for two days solid would be a dream come true and I found talking to Sophie so useful before we went so wanted to repay the favour. Many thanks, speak soon,Jess

..and Amy from Kenya writes:
'Dear David and Shirley, I returned from Kenya about a week and half ago - I am sorry I have not got in touch with you sooner, there seems to be a lot to organise when you arrive back after 4 months! Anyway I wanted to write and thank you so much for the best 4 months of my life in Kenya. I have sent off my questionarre recently which i hope will help in your inquiries and also convey this sentiment as well. Everything about my time in Kenya was amazing - from working with the children, to everyday life in Nakuru and the varied and incredible travelling we did. About 8 of us travelled around a lot of the country such as Nanyuki, Naivasha (Hell's Gate National Park), Mombasa and Lamu, Lakes Baringo and Bogoria, Kisumu by Lake Victoria and Ambroseli national Park by Mount Kilamanjaro.

Everywhere we went we had an amazing time and the whole country is so beautiful there was always another sight to take our breath away! I am sending some pictures of the kids at Kiamaina and at Pistis and one of us by Lake Baringo. If you would like me to send any more then I would be happy to - also if you need anyone to come in and talk to new volunteers about to go out I would love to tell them what an amazing time they are about to have! So thank you again and hope to talk soon, Amy'

and Rebecca's mum Jane reinforces the point:
'Dear David,
Thank you so much for enabling Rebecca to have such a wonderful experience in Kenya. As you know she arrived back in England early Monday morning full of all sorts of exciting tales and 10,000 photos!!!!
It was extremely reassuring to know that she had your backing and Karanja in Nakuru if she needed anything at all, nothing was too much trouble. In fact I think Rebecca has become firm friends with Karanja and his lovely family. Her own host family were more than accommodating and it showed that you really have done the ground work so that the volunteers could make the most of their stay in Kenya. We as parents were able to relax knowing there was help just around the corner if necessary.
All the advise and meetings you gave before departure helped tremendously too, I would thoroughly recommend Changing Worlds for a brilliant gap year experience.
Rebecca can't wait to return and I'm sure she would be happy to support you in any way she can.
Thank you so much from two very happy parents.
Kind Regards,
Jane Siddall'

More updates to follow...

Holly and Ciorstan dress it up in China

Ciorstan and Holly, presently on their teaching placement to Nanshun in China, thought they would get fully immersed in to the local culture over the weekend and this was the result.

Holly writes:
'Hello,
No, oddly enough It was just a normal saturday! but theres lots of shops which will do photoshoots of you traditional chinese costume for very little - I think 20 photos in an album plus the hair and costume and everything was about 20pounds. I would reccomend anyone to do it - They do mens army robes with the swords and everything.
Even without the dressing up its a fascinating day to just to see old traditional costume and to understand what the poor chinese women had to go through every day in ancient times just to get dressed. I had 4 blocks of wood on my head and about half a box of christmas tree decorations to create that hair! Weirdly enough, it was the less elaborate of my three hairstyles!
Keep in Touch,
Holly

Wow...what an amazing experience!

Phil Holden - Dad to Becky says 'Thanks'

Phil Holden writes:

To all at 'Changing world's'.

We have recently returned from a 2 week holiday to Kenya to meet our daughter, Rebecca. She is half way through a 6 month placement in Nakuru.
Whilst wholly in favour of the concept of a gap year, we were obviously concerned that our daughter should go with a reputable company with support in Kenya , should the need arise.
Having spoken to our daughter regularly since she arrive in Kenya , and now having met her again, and with the local people, we have been very pleased with the preparation before the placement, and with the help and support given to the students to help them settle into a completely new way of life. We have been particluarly pleased with the host, Karanja Kibunja, and his family and friends, who have gone out of their way to help and provide for the volunteers. We have noticed many changes in our daughter, such as increased confidence and self esteem, and have been delighted with the comments we received from the people that Rebecca lives or works with. This has clearly been a very good placement for her and the other volunteers that we spoke to.
Please pass on our thanks to the team, especially Karanja and his family.
PS. Someone have a word with Karanja about his taste in footbal!!!
Best wishes
Phil Holden

Maree says thanks to Changing Worlds

Maree is one of the Human Resource managers at a leading hotel in Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand. We have just sent her our first Australian participant called Ali. Ali went to work in Food and Beverage in the hotel. Maree writes:
'Yes we are very sad to hear that Ali is heading back home. She has been a delight to have at the Heritage and has been a great asset to the housekeeping team. Ali has an excellent work ethic, an exhuberant personality and the abilty to energise all those around her. She worked well with a very diverse, multicultural team and her positivity and enthusiasm will be missed.
We would certainly love to welcome more students from Changing Worlds.'
Ali has set the standard for others to follow...up for the challenge? Do hit the link above to find out more...