News

Projects Abroad Care volunteers in Senegal have been doing a great job in one of the local Talibé Centers. Noticing that the children’s feet were bare and injured Naomi from the US, Christina from Norway and Coby from Germany resolved to club together and buy some shoes.

In January, Projects Abroad started a new project at a primary school in Steenberg, Cape Town. We revisited the school last week and interviewed some students. They had some interesting things to say about our volunteers!

Projects Abroad PRO volunteer, Dr Jennifer Caplin, has been working with us since November on an intensive eight month dentistry project in Shanghai. Having completed four years of university and a further four years of dental school, Dr Caplin told us of her need for a change before entering the workforce!

Projects Abroad’s volunteers in Fiji have made an exceptional effort with their Flood Relief Donation Campaign in aiding local Fijians who have been affected by the recent flooding. Volunteers had a brilliant idea of setting up a camp at Nadi International Airport where they had a very successful day collecting donations.

Lizzie Bendle volunteered on a Medicine project with Projects Abroad as a pre-university student in Togo and Ghana in 2001. After deferring her university entry for a year Lizzie decided to use her gap year to gain some worthwhile experience in her chosen field of study - medicine.

I had recently graduated when I saw a small advert in a magazine advertising “Teaching in Moldavia” in 1992. I was slightly intrigued. I didn’t know much about Moldavia but liked the idea of combining some travel and teaching overseas.

Projects Abroad volunteers in Tanzania have had a busy year! They are coming to the end of a building project in a school in Engikarat, near Kilimanjaro, and in the next month we hope to see its grand opening… Following on from this success we now have even more ambitious plans to build a primary school in the Maasai village of Meserani, south of Arusha.

Staff at our pioneering Conservation project in Cambodia are keen to have the help of more volunteers this April. We’ve had a record breaking start to 2012, with 40 volunteers joining the project between January and March; however, we need to keep the momentum and consistency going!

Following on from a 3 month placement in Ghana, Harriet Walker has been inspired to take on a new challenge, a round the world yacht race! Here she tells us more: ‘This time last year I had just arrived in Cape Coast, Ghana and given half the chance I would get on a flight back over there tomorrow! It was my three month trip of a lifetime that inspired me to take on my next big adventure – The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

Projects Abroad volunteer, Virginie Thouvenin, from France, has made an unusual and inventive donation to her care placement in Senegal. Noticing the need for a more organized way of storing the children’s books, she sought out a carpenter in order to install four bookshelves.

Conservation Manager, Richard Munday updates us on the exciting Scarlet Macaw project, which forms part of our Conservation Project in Costa Rica: 'As each month passes we are gradually increasing the rhythm of the Macaw project so that eventually, when we reach April/May we are there 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Our international, community-focused journalism project, Voices of the World is gaining momentum. We have now established Voices of the World clubs in India, Romania, South Africa and Senegal, thus giving the chance to local young people to attend free workshops on journalism and publish their articles in our online publication – www.voices-of-the-world.org.

Our first donations from the Bring-A-Book programme were presented to Apostolic Preparatory School in Ghana last month by volunteers, Hannah Pascoe-Smith, Harrison Swaine and Thomas Haynes. Bring-A-Book is a programme in which volunteers are asked to bring English children's books with them when they arrive in their destination countries.

Due to the success of our placements in Phnom Penh we have now expanded to Siem Reap. Siem Reap is a large town about 5 hours’ drive from Phnom Penh and is famous for being the closest town to the incredible temple complexes of Angkor Wat.

The Projects Abroad team in Kenya are thrilled to have welcomed their first volunteers onto our Care project - Takuya Yamanaka from Japan and Victoria Strømsodd from Norway! Our Kenya Country Director, Karanja BK, has expressed great excitement about the future of our projects in Nakuru.

Volunteers often return from their projects overseas inspired to do more. Many stay in touch with their placements and host families, some raise money to make donations of books or toys and some volunteers even start planning their return trip.

Projects Abroad is currently carrying out a survey in conjunction with Massey University in New Zealand in order to find out the motivations of our volunteers. Whether you are on a gap year, at university, on a career break, or even a retiree, we would like to know what made you decide to volunteer!

Projects Abroad volunteer, Lauren Brant, had a unique opportunity during her Music Project to make an appearance on one of Bolivia’s biggest television channels. Lauren volunteered with us last year and after 3 months of teaching music to blind children, both hers and the student’s hard work was recognised.

Projects Abroad’s Conservation team in Costa Rica has embarked on an exciting and essential mission to help save the Scarlet Macaws. These beautiful birds are at grave risk of extinction and our aim is to put an end to this devastation.

Alexandra Ichim, Projects Manager in Romania tells us about a recent charity show that the Projects Abroad Romania staff team and volunteers from a variety of projects, helped to arrange.

Projects Abroad are currently working on an ambitious building project in Tanzania, which will see the creation of a school for one of the Maasi communities. We began the project earlier this summer and we are pleased to say that the work is almost completed.

The Projects Abroad Peru Conservation Project; the Taricaya Research Center celebrated its 10th Anniversary this November. Conservation Director, Stuart Timson tell us more...

Projects Abroad volunteers in Ghana have helped to organize a health walk for the members of Osu Children’s Home in Accra. The walk was set up in order to raise awareness about the importance of exercising, with an aim to improve overall health and reduce hospital bills.

Our Thailand Conservation Director, Ingrid Sprake, met recently with the founders of the Association of the Protection of the Environment (APE) and finalized details of an exciting new partnership.

Earlier this month, on Wednesday 9th November, our Projects Abroad volunteers were visited by members of the British Royal Family, his Royal Highness Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla at Leganga Primary school. The surprise visit from the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall was certainly a memorable and rewarding moment for local children and teachers, as well as our volunteers.

Our Human Rights volunteers in Ghana have recently been involved with the moving case of Kweku Nartey. This case is the second major success that the Projects Abroad Human Rights office has witnessed.

Projects Abroad’s primate rehabilitation project, based in the province of Cordoba, is the only rescue center in Argentina solely committed to the rehabilitation of primates. Volunteers have a unique opportunity here to work in the only reserve in the world dedicated to Carayá monkeys.

Projects Abroad India has organized Diwali celebrations at the Vallalar Illam orphanage in Srivelliputtur. Diwali is the most important holiday for millions of Indians. The 5 day long festival is also known as the Festival of Lights.

Conservation Director, Ingrid Sprake, tells us about the new volunteer accommodation on the Conservation Project: ‘On 1st October we spent our first night at our new home, an eco-resort called The Dawn of Happiness situated on Ao Nammao beach about 5km East of Ao Nang and 15km South of Krabi Town.

The Peru Conservation project continues to go from strength to strength. Our animal rescue center, which forms a large part of the conservation work at the Taricaya Lodge, (our base in the Amazon jungle), has recently been recognized as the best and most effective animal rescue center in the country by the Peruvian government.