The stars of Eikomena

I paid another quick visit to Moldova.

Projects Abroad sponsors an A Division football team there, called Eikomena. We have a UEFA coach, Victor Afansiev – known by his first name and patronymic “Victor Ivanovich”. He’s pretty good at cajoling, encouraging and developing our team and the results this season so far have been okay.

We will be putting in a link on the Moldovan pages of our website to the new team site in due course. In the meantime, volunteers or interested colleagues can train with Eikomena. They can really become part of a live working European football team. At the same time, there are plenty of opportunities for training kids because Victor Ivanovich is also deputy head of a children’s sports academy in Chisinau, Moldova’s capital.

You can follow our team and Moldova’s Divizia A on Soccerway here and you can wish our team good luck for their next two matches against Sheriff on 4th October and against Floreni on 20th October. Please feel free to email the five English-speaking members of the team:

Peter Radu wwwbelenikii@mail.ru
Vitaly Bulala vbulala@gmail.com
Dmitrii Plamadeala kaka55@bk.ru
Stas: stass_mun@yahoo.com
Viorel Catrinici viorel89@mail.ru

Chisinau is where the team and our office and Moldovan colleagues are all based. It’s pronounced “Kishy-Now” and it’s a nice city of about half a million people. I really like the centre, a leafy provincial capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and largely unspoiled. The Second World War – the Moldovans fought on both sides – passed it by although there was a huge battle on the Prut River a few miles west. Then Moldova joined the Soviet Union and they built a lot of tower blocks. But still, the Latin-Slav mix, the copious red wine (and the odd vodka) and the excellent local sausages all serve to soften the sharp edges. Chisinau can be quite relaxing.

Peter Slowe
1st October 2007

Karen Panum Thisted, our Programme Advisor in Denmark

By Karen Panum Thisted

Working as a Projects Abroad volunteer in 2005, first Mexico and then Peru for two months respectively, was a huge experience for me! I dare to day that anyone having volunteered abroad will agree with me that it is a unique experience to live and work in another culture. But not only was my experience with Projects Abroad amazing, it also encouraged me to expose this unique opportunity to other people. Thus, when I returned from my travels I was eager to pass Projects Abroad’s opportunities on to other people, young as well as old. I accidentally, but very fortunately, met the director of Projects Abroad, Peter Slowe, while volunteering in Mexico and I kept in touch with him. A few years later he contacted me and said that a new contact person for Denmark was needed. And here I am!

My first priority was translating the English web page into Danish, a process which began shortly after I started. It turned out to be more extensive that expected, a 120 hour long task – very interesting, but very tough and challenging as well! (You can see all of Karen’s hard work at www.projects-abroad.dk)

I also went to the United Kingdom to visit the Projects Abroad Headquarters and all our employees there. I met everyone at the office and I was introduced to our data system as well as many of our procedures.

Currently, my job consists of answering e-mails and calls from Danish prospects, updating the Danish web page and advertising campaigns – and generally staying updated of the changes in our organisation and projects.

I love working in an international environment and I like having the high degree of responsibility as I have for the Danish marketing. But most of all I love working for a concept that I believe in.
The best part is sending volunteers out in developing countries knowing that they will gain similar experiences as the ones I gained myself.

Faye leading a presentation

By Faye Stickings,

The past few months has seen the introduction of a new venture for the UK team of Projects Abroad – Projects Abroad Information Evenings.

Whilst the numbers at our Open Days across the country are always high, it seemed unfair that for a few, it meant travelling the width of the country to find out more. So, we have set out to bring these events closer to the public, by holding smaller regional events throughout the year. In the past few months we have held Information Evenings in Durham, Cardiff and Manchester. The events are much smaller than our usual Open Days; no classic Peter Slowe style speeches (or even a cup of coffee and a choccie biccie unfortunately), but they allow a more informal meet ‘n’ greet style session to take place. It gives our potential volunteers a chance to fire questions at our staff members on a one-to-one basis and meet some of our past volunteers.

Information Evenings will now be run throughout the year in the UK in the following cities – Durham, Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Bath, so for any of you looking to meet us, please keep checking here for a date near you.

By Emma McWhinney and Melody Remnant

Thailand is different to home in so many ways. Our time at Ban Klong Hang School has provided countless examples of ways in which the institution of school varies considerably from country to country.

Ban Klong Haeng school is located minutes from Ao Nang, the main tourist strip in the region. Despite the overwhelming presence of tourists in the area the students were fascinated by our presence at their school. The first few lessons were nothing more than photo opportunities for the students, intermingled with some basic getting to know you.

Teaching the older students (12-15 year olds) was most certainly a challenge. Whilst it is easy for us to see how beneficial it is to be multilingual, some of the students lacked motivation and were generally disengaged when it came to English (especially written English). However some of the most rewarding moments of our stay here so far have been associated with these same disengaged students. Seeing the transformation in both the behaviour and ability of countless individuals has truly made us feel like our effort and persistence has made a difference in their lives.

The teachers at Ban Klong Haeng were eager to find out about our lives at home and frequently offered us food and little treats. Our main teaching contact, Yu, spoke fantastic English and was always keen to ensure we felt welcome and comfortable. It’s fair to say that our presence brought much laughter to the staff room.

Despite the fact that our time at Ban Klong Haeng was short we feel that our assistance and the resources we brought with us were truly appreciated. Our creativity was constantly challenged as a result of the limited teaching materials. We therefore hope that future volunteers will strive to help the staff and students at Ban Klong Haeng in anyway possible.

You can learn more about Teaching in the beautiful country of Thailand here

Thai school children