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.