By Scott McQuarrie, Director - Projects Abroad Pro

Projects Abroad are happy to announce the launch of a new initiative called Projects Abroad Pro. Projects Abroad Pro is the skilled and qualified arm of Projects Abroad. It has been created to encourage graduates, professionals on a career break and retired seniors to undertake voluntary work.

Seventeen years after we founded Projects Abroad, we have started Projects Abroad Pro. We are bringing all our experience and expertise, and all our contacts and influence, to ensure that volunteers with recognised skills and qualifications can contribute meaningfully in a wide variety of placements all over the developing world. We realise, as do our partners in the developing world, that many professionals don’t want to turn their life upside down and volunteer for years, so we will welcome you even if you can only join one of our programmes for 2 weeks or a month.

There is a great need for nurses, teachers, lawyers, doctors, social workers, journalists, physiotherapists, and people with many other qualifications and skills in the countries where we work.

Please take a look at our new website and pass it on to anyone you think may be interested – www.projects-abroad-pro.org.

Medical volunteers going for 10 weeks or more between January 1 and June 30 2010 will want to apply for the Glimpse/HTH Worldwide Health Correspondent position

Verge Magazine is holding a travel photography contest in several categories with a couple different prizes for the winners. Just be sure to submit your entry by July 1, 2009- 6pm EST. The one caveat is that the contest is only open to Canadian nationals and international subscribers.

More information about the categories, submission and rules of the contest can be found here: http://www.vergemagazine.ca/photocontest/

Good luck!

Photo courtesy of the BBC

By Will Harper,

It seemed that all of Projects Abroad, as was the rest of the world, was captivated by President Barack Obama’s Inauguration yesterday. As someone who has been in the volunteering field for a while now, the themes of responsibility and service in President Obama’s speech really rung true for me. This was one of my favorite quotes:

“And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”
Barack Obama

I hope that people in the developed world head this call to service and continue to volunteer overseas.

What was your favorite part of the speech?

By Allison Kean, Program Advisor - Canada

I’m not going to lie, I’ve got a soft spot for trashy reality television.

Some days, theres nothing that I love more than to turn on the TV, and watch Tyra spaz out at her top models, or watch LC and the rest of the Hills crew cry about the current drama in their oh so difficult lives.

One of my new favourite gems of reality TV is Exiled on MTV. It is possibly the best thing that has ever happened to Thursday evenings. The show is a spin off from the ever so popular My Super Sweet 16. (If you’re not familiar with My Super Sweet 16, it’s basically a show that profiles spoiled and pampered teens who convince their parents to throw extremely extravagant birthday parties).

Now its two years later, and the sweet sixteeners are 18, and their parents have decided that their spoiled teens need to grow up, get out of their bubble and experience real life. The parents will ambush their children intervention style, and give them a plane ticket to a remote destination. This is my favourite part of the show, because they find out where they’re going. I sit and watch jealously, as they stare at their parents in disbelief when they find out they’re going to live with a Maasai tribe in Kenya, or herd reindeer in Norway.

Bjorn working/complaining on an Exiled episode in Morocco

Then comes the packing, usually everyone packs absolutely ridiculous things, like their 4inch designer heels, and leopard print bikinis (which are obvious fashion choices for living with a nomadic family in Mongolia?) The freakouts when they first arrive are always amazing. Everything sets them off: bugs, walking long distances, lack of running water, their basic sleeping arrangements, and food.

Somewhere near the end of the show, there is always a turning point. The Exiled brat will realize that they have a pretty cushy life at home, and that most people in the world have to work hard. There are usually some tears, some bonding and cultural sharing followed by some sad goodbyes.

One of our extremely hard working Teaching volunteers on a placement in Morocco

So not only is Exiled incredibly entertaining, I also like that MTV is sharing this sort of international volunteering theme with its viewers. It sort of brings and underlying theme of cross cultural sharing and understanding into the living rooms of people who might not have ever thought about the world outside of their “bubbles”.

As many of our volunteers have to often fly half way across the globe for their projects I thought you folks would be interested in this amazing video. One thing I think this video does well is visually translates why flying to Africa is so expensive! You will notice a dearth of flights within and to the continent. Pretty interesting stuff, hope you enjoy!

Projects Abroad is a proud member of the Building Bridges Coalition, a consortium of leading international volunteer organizations, colleges, corporations and government agencies. The Coalition passed along these helpful hints on how to celebrate International Volunteer Day this upcoming December 5th. How are you planning to celebrate?

Impact on Frontier Countries
“The capitalization of the banks in these (developing) countries depends on the capitalization of the banks in the developed world,” Dr. Peter Slowe, former chairman of Labour Finance and Industry said on Tuesday.

LINK TO VIDEO CLIP

Matt Damon in Rabat, Morocco (Courtesy of Conde Nast Traveler)

“I think many of our problems as a country would be solved if people had thick passports. There’s just no substitute for actually going and seeing things.”

Actor Matt Damon responding to the fact that only 21% of Americans have passports in a recent Conde Nast Traveler profile of him.

Your thoughts?

Prince Harry in Lesotho (Courtesy AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

I saw this quick news article while I was reading the newspaper over breakfast. Prince Harry who is in Lesotho at the moment with army colleagues from the Household Calvary had his mobile stolen while on a night out. You can read more about the story here. The irony of the situation was that after the Lesotho Defense Force found the culprit and recovered the phone they had a tough time explaining to him that he had just robbed Prince Harry since “to him Prince Harry was just one of those white guys”. If you replace “white guys” with “westerners”, that is probably how many pickpockets in our destination countries as there are inevitably some feel towards our volunteers and other travelers, and highlights how important it is to be aware of your surroundings and follow basic safety procedures in any new place, especially one where you stick out. Consequently, if it can happen to Prince Harry it can happen to anybody!

Do any travelers and volunteers have any safety advice they would like to pass on?