Ethical Volunteering Overseas

An advertisement for financial assistance has appeared in the Society Guardian section of the The Guardian newspaper on Tuesday 03 February 2010.

The advert writes:
ETHICAL VOLUNTEERING OVERSEAS
£500 bursaries now available!
ICYE is an international volunteering charity organising placements across the World. Two £500 different bursaries are offered. One is towards the programme fee for a voluntary placement to Latin America and the other will go to a placement in Africa.
Placements must begin on or before 21 June 2010 and last for a minimum of eight weeks.
Application deadline: Monday 08 March 2010
Contact short-term@icye.org.uk or call 0207 681 0983

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

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

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

Sam is having fun in Honduras and is staying longer!

Sam is presently in San Pedro Sula in Honduras. She went out in early January 2009 and writes:
'Hola!
Buenas Dias! ¿como esta?
Just thought I would send you a message as I haven´t done so and really should have done sorry, have got carried away and have settled in so easily and quickly that i´ve forgotton i´m away from home and that there are people to contact back in good old England. First of all thank you so much for accepting my application to work with Changing Worlds, I am so pleased that i have been able to be apart of this organisation as i am loving my time here in Honduras. I have fitted so easily into the family, i really do feel like they are my family, i now have a new mum, two sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles and we talk alot, laugh alot and joke around alot. it feels like i have been here more than two months, its my new little life at the moment lol. My spanish is picking up really well, i speak only in Spanish to my family now. At first when i didnt know any they all tried to speak to us in English but as i´ve gradually picked up the spanish Arely speaks less and less English to us and now to me she speaks only in Spanish. I can order my own taxis now, and Arely even makes me answer the house phone too now where as before it would be a case of fetching it and running around the house until we could find someone to answer it for us. Hannahs Spanish is good but she is struggling more, luckily for me because i´m so social and a bit crazy i talk to lots of people which helps with practicising my spanish. Our cousin for example helps me alot by teaching me new words and phrases, i dont always speak grammatically correct but it´s near enough lol, they get the gist. The Fransisco Morazan school is great, the children are cheeky, funny and actually interested in learning English. When we walk into the lessons they cheer and clap and enjoy our sessions. There are the odd few children who dont enjoy English but we´re slowly but surely winning them over and even they are starting to actually look forward to us interrupting their other lessons hehe. Hannah and I teach together which is really good, we work really well together. We teach by ourselves also which is good because we get to do things our own ways but together we are much more successful as it flows because as one is teaching the other can write up the next task etc. We´re really enjoying it which for me is surprising because i didnt initially sign up to teach and was really nervous about doing it but now am really pleased i am. I have also been asked to teach at another school, where my aunt works. She saw me teaching one day and asked if i´d help her out too so i do that on monday mondays instead of Morazan which is a nice change. The children are different, they know less english but are willing to learn. they are alot calmer than the Morazan children which is a nice change from time to time.

Hannah and I are leaving for Roatan on wednesday with our two sisters and their friends for Semana Santa, luckily for us it is a paid trip, we only have to contribute to travelling there and a few drinks. They wanted us to come and so even though it is an expensive island have decided they are paying for our accommodation and food which is amazing of them, we´re so excited.

We have already been to Utila in our second week of being in Honduras and are planning to go again for a week at the end of April or beginning of May because Hannah wants to learn to dive (sadly i cant afford it lol but i´m sure i´ll find something to do - louging on the beach sounds quite nice) and to fend for ourselves. Hopefully we can continue speaking spanish while we are there and practice with people that aren´t necessarily going to speak slower or know our level of spanish.

The first three weeks of June we are planning to live in Copan to visit the ruins and Kenny said he can set us up in another school to teach and an orphanage to work at. Currently we are not visiting the orphanage in san pedro sula because it is too expensive to travel there and back via taxi. We did it for about a month but then we only have limited allowances for each week and with having to pay for taxis after spanish lessons we´re short on money. Hopefully we can restart once our spanish lessons have run out.

I´ve been in touch with the next prospective volunteer, suzy ? She seems very keen and is already asking lots of questions and preparing herself. We have sent her a long email of everything she needs to know that we have learnt from our experience and hopefully that will help her. Are there no more volunteers coming to swap with us when we leave? Or when we leave is it not until suzy arrives in january that they will have volunteers working here?

Anyway, I cant think of what else to tell you. Our "mum" is currently ill, I dont know if you know. She had to go into hospital as she somewhat collapsed and has been diagnosed to have Vertigo. She was practically bedstricken but is now alot better, she is walking around and although gets dizzy very easily and needs help back into bed she is on the mend. Its been nice though because the family is constantly in and out of the house visiting and socialising. Definatly helping our spanish improve.

Thanks again for allowing me to have this experience, i am definatly staying for the extended trip of six months. I dont think three months would have been enough, it already feels like i have so little time left here lol.

Best wishes to you and your family.

Take care and hope to keep in touch with future updates.

Samantha

If you would like to contact us about Honduras then do hit the link above.