Je viens d’une réunion avec notre Directeur pour la France, Frank Seidel – il est d’origine Allemande mais il a habité Grenoble depuis 14 ans – lui et moi, nous avons décidé que notre organisation est trop Anglaise! Nous avons raison franchement. Chez Projects Abroad, nous avons l’habitude de parler au sujet des Livres et de dire que les volontaires reviendront chez-eux en Angleterre. Trop de notre litérature promotionnelle ou administrative n’est qu’en Anglais.

Donc – attend! Soie un peu patient là-bas à l’autre côté de la Manche! Regarde-nous pendant les prochaines douze mois. Nous deviendrons de plus en plus trilingue – Allemand, Français et Anglais. Apres tout ça, Japonais, Suédois et Russe!

Nous voulons souhaître une vrai bienvenue a nos amis Français – et aux amis Suisses et Belges (et Monagesques et de partout) francophones – und Deutschen u.s.w. (je ne connais ni assez Allemand pour écrire en Allemand ni Japonais (sauf faire un grand salut) ni Suédois ni Russe (da-niette-odine-dwa-tré et c’est tout) – désolé pour ça.

Au revoir & auf wiedersehen,

Peter Slowe

A translation after the jump for non-French speakers (like myself!)

“I have just come from a meeting with our Director for France, Frank Seidel (he’s originally German but has lived in Grenoble for fourteen years). He and I decided that our organisation was altogether too English! Frankly, we were right. At Projects Abroad, we have got into the habit of talking about British Pounds and of saying that volunteers are “going back home to England”. Too much of our promotional or administrative literature is only in English.

So, just wait! Be a little patient over there on the other side of the Channel! Watch us over the next twelve months. We will become more and more trilingual – German, French and English. And when that’s finished, we’ll take up Japanese, Swedish and Russian!

We really want to give a good welcome to our French friends and to our Swiss, Belgian (not to mention Monagesque and any other) Francophone friends – and to indeed our German friends (but I can’t do much about that now because I don’t have enough German to write in German) nor do I speak Japanese (except I know you have to make a bow) nor Swedish nor Russian (although I can say “yes” and “no” and count to three) – so sorry about that!”

Peter Slowe

Since we have a large number of medical volunteers going away with us this summer to placements all over the world, I asked Anna Koh who was a Medical volunteer that recently returned from Ghana to lend some advice to the new medical volunteers who are just departing. Take it away Anna!

By Anna Koh,

My medical experience in Ghana has been the most memorable. Before my departure, I had so many expectations- as well as unexpectations- from my placement in Cape Coast. Questions that ran through my mind were “Will I benefit from this?” “What will I learn just from observing and following the physicians around the hospital?” and even “Will I fit in??” After 2 weeks, the hospital was my second home; I felt comfortable enough to roam around the hospital and join any department I wished to see. Doctors, including nurses and administrative workers, were incredibly friendly and helpful. That was an unexpected considering the large number of patients each doctor must see in a day. My expectations were to form strong relationships with the doctors and to see as much as I could were met within the three months of work. I spent one to two weeks in each department-obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, radiology, orthopedics, and finally surgery.

In Ghana, it is tradition and respected to have large families and therefore majority of women have more than 5 children in their families. Family planning was one of the major issues in the department of OBGYN especially when a woman was at high risk of hemorrhaging and, as a result, death. Statistically, it has been known that infant and maternal mortality has been quite high in Ghana. For these complications between culture and medicine, there is a high demand for doctors in OBGYN. Everyday, there was just so much to see, in the wards and in the surgical theater, for it was such a large department. This is a one of the places I would encourage all volunteers to see in Ghana.

More photos and advice after the jump

At Pediatrics, I began to learn that children were more prone of being infected with Malaria, Gastroenteritis, and Typhoid because of their suppressed immune system and ongoing biological development. It was amazing to see these children with such high fevers so strong and happy.

Anna in Radiology

At the small department of Radiology, we had the luxury of an air-conditioned room but an old yet useful ultrasound machine that helped diagnose over 40 patients a day. We were dealing with a wide range of different cases from obstetric scan, for fetus age and condition, to abdominal scans, for gallbladder stones and jaundice, to pelvic scans, for fibroids in the uterus and prostate complications. There were endless complications that were to be seen in this department.

It was most difficult to join the surgical theater as the surgical team required strict sanitation practice to prevent transmission in and out of the theater. Not only was that a major issue, they were always lacking surgical wear! (I would highly recommend volunteers to bring their own scrubs). Luckily, I was still able to watch over 15 different surgical operations. In the end I learned that it was effort that got me to where I was (more than anything). From that, I was pleased to notice that doctors felt more encouraged to teach me and show me more. That was more than I expected. Also, when in doubt, always ask questions even if you think they are stupid ones…it’ll only show that you actually want to learn.

Anna with the Surgical team of Dr. Chernev, Dr. Thomas and Dr. Toboh

Aside from my medical experience, my host family was so lovely. I will always feel nostalgic for food-spring rolls, fanice (frozen vanilla yogurt), and homemade fried yam balls- Ghanian music, tros-tros, and the feeling of a celebrity. I hope, one day, I may come back with a medical degree to contribute even more.

Jessye recently came into the office talking about a movie she had seen that was set in Mongolia. So I am having her start a new segment where on the blog were staff members review films from countries where we have projects. Watch out Ebert and Roper and take it away Jessye!

By Jessye Crowe-Rothstein

I dread going to the video store because every time I do I end up standing there blankly staring at the hundreds of titles I’ve never heard of, and lacking any faith that I will make a good decision on what to rent. Last week when I found myself at Blockbuster in this exact situation, I chose a foreign film called Mongolian Ping Pong. I figured a movie with a little kid and a rainbow on the cover would probably suit me better than most of the action and terror new releases, so I gave it a try.

Mongolian Ping Pong is a beautiful film which features absolutely stunning landscape, and watching it gave me a much better sense of what it must be like for our Nomad volunteers to live with a family out on the steppe. The story revolves around a young boy (whose name I won’t even try to remember or spell) who finds a ping pong floating in the river near his family’s ger. Not familiar with the game of ping pong and having never seen a ball before, he and his friends and family go through numerous hilarious theories of what the ball could be, and what use it provides.

The film touches on the Nomad lifestyle as well as the influence of modernity on these dwindling tribes, as the ping pong ball, a television, a motorcycle and many other modern commodities find their way to their front yard. The story itself is a bit slow but very sweet, and I couldn’t stop exclaiming throughout the film how beautiful the scenery was. It was also neat to hear a bit of Mongolian – a very unique language.

These are also themes and issues volunteers will come across and live with on our Nomad Project in Mongolia.

Has anyone else seen it?

Luis with our Bolivia Team

By Luis Arguedas, Costa Rica Country Director

Bolivia is a very nice country. It has huge mountains, some of the tallest in the world. It also has part of the Amazon and 37 different aboriginal cultures with their own language and ways of life. Right away, you can imagine the diversity and also the amount of effort the country has to do to integrate its people and manage social problems. After the “sorocho” (altitude sickness because of lack of oxygen) the second impression on the country is its poverty. I am not saying this because I am a pessimist; I say it because right out from the airport zone in La Paz, we encounter the city of “El Alto” where poverty and lack of all urban planning is really apparent.

When I arrived to Cochabamba, where the office of Projects Abroad is in Bolivia, I felt better. It is only at 2600m. (by the way, El Alto is at only 4100m). The people at the office there are just great. I was really well treated and every staff member is just full of kindness.

The next day and for the whole week, I visited their projects and had the opportunity to talk with Daniela (Bolivia s country director) about ideas and ways of managing the program. It was really helpful and enriching since as a Country Director, sometimes it is not easy to compare projects and share experiences at a distance. This trip really helped me to see more what we have been doing well in Costa Rica and what we have to improve and, thanks to Daniela, I have very good tools to improve some aspects of the program right away.

Something else that really impressed me is the type of projects in Bolivia. Being one of the poorest countries in Latin America, there is a huge need for help in the areas in which Projects Abroad is involved (by the way, they are doing a terrific job) and the volunteers get involved 110% in their projects. I visited a medical placement where a volunteer helped vaccinating 50,000 people in its first week against Yellow Fever. I could go on for pages and pages, but Matthew would not like me much if I take up the whole space in this newsletter!

I want to thank Projects Abroad for this experience and the kind people of Bolivia, not just the staff, but everyone who I encounter. They are really welcoming and genuine people.

For anyone who wants to go to Bolivia, I recommend it sincerely, and maybe, in the near future I will be returning for some holidays there because I really want to have time to visit this wonderful country.

By Faye Stickings, Programme Advisor

Considering Bolivia borders Argentina to the north, it surprisingly still took the best part of a days flying to get to my next destination after Cochabamba, the province of Cordoba in Argentina.

I must admit to being incredibly surprised to begin with as to how European and modern Cordoba was. Its grid system of roads had a very distinct New York feel to it and coupled with the yellow taxis on every corner, I had to check I had reached the correct destination! I only had four days in Argentina to assist our staff team in their quest to secure a new office and view our medical programmes. Our teaching and care projects are based in and around Ville Allende, a small town (and now where we have a brand new spanking office!) about a 40min bus ride from Cordoba. For volunteers taking part in a medical programme, you will be based in Cordoba city where we work with a number of private clinics, as well as various departments in central hospitals.

The surgeons and doctors are incredibly keen for more volunteers, although a slight word of warning, make sure your Spanish is up to scratch first! Teaching & Projects Abroad also welcomes a new member of staff to our Argentinean team, Ines Marianni, who will be our Assistant Country Manager. I did feel for Ines, it was only her first week of work and she was thrown in at the deep end having to work with me for the week!! After four very hectic, busy days I was extremely pleased on the last night to finally get my chops around a real Argentine steak – bliss!!

Yum!

I went on to Cape Town and met up with Dana Myers, who’s due to take over as Director for South Africa when he’s released by the American International School on 15 June.

Dana has a complex family history. He’s in his late twenties and has an interesting history, including working as a schoolteacher on the edge of a volcano in Hawaii – apparently, you had to be careful when you breathed in case you swallowed a bit of floating lava – amazing! Then he did his Masters at a university in Montana and joined one of our programmes. He’s ideal for the Cape Town job because he loves the city and also knows all about the background and expectations of Western volunteers (particularly, I suppose, if they happen to come from the edge of a volcano in Hawaii or from Montana).

Dana says that Cape Town is the most complete city he’s ever known (although, when you think that his experiences may be limited to Honolulu and Montana, this may not be saying much). But I can see what he means. Cape Town is a big cultural centre and is visually amazing with Table Mountain behind and a general feeling that the city is built on a series of narrow strips between a wild mountain range and the South Atlantic. For years and years, I was an anti-apartheid campaigner so it was great to see a complete racial mix in all the hotels, shopping malls, restaurants and so on – but depressing to see the dreary monoculture of the townships thirteen years after apartheid had been swept away. I am inclined to think that the Mbeki government has probably got the balance of positive discrimination about right, but it must be very tough for those who expected more and who are still living in poverty.

I did the usual placement tour and there are some really good ones. The Salesian School takes in street-children and is totally brilliant – “Salesian” as in monks from France and not “Silesian” as in coalmines in Poland. The print-journalism placement is at Cape Town’s own Big Issue – the editor is very energetic and he’s keen to have volunteers to do real broad-ranging and tough journalism in a new-look fast-expanding magazine.

The original inhabitants of Cape Town were bushmen. They’ve been battered over the centuries by the Portuguese, the Zulus, the Boers, and the British and they’ve retreated to the Kalahari. If you climb Table Mountain or go to the Cape of Good Hope, just look around and imagine what it would have been like if they had just been left alone…

Dr. Peter Slowe

Faye and child in Cochabamba, Bolivia

By Faye Stickings, Programme Advisor and intrepid South American traveler

I have just returned from a trip to Bolivia and Argentina to meet our staff, view our projects and work on a new job role that is under development.

After three flights via Brazil and Paraguay, 16hrs in the air and numerous cups of coffee later I finally made my way out of Cochabamba airport (with my bag intact!) to meet our Director Dani. Cochabamba, where our office is based is renowned for it’s year round warm climate and I was not disappointed. The city has a very Spanish colonial feel to it, with large central squares that are perfect for sitting with an espresso and reading Los Tiempos (one of the national papers where Projects Abroad places out journalism volunteers) in your downtime. Our new office is right in the heart of Cochabamba and always full of volunteers taking a free Spanish lesson or catching up with our crazy staff team (I do believe on a few occasions I witnessed Carmen and Alejandra singing along in Spanish to Jon Bon Jovi…..that puts a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘whistle while you work!!’)

Central Square in Cochabamba

he majority of our projects are in and around the city. Along with Eric, our Medical Supervisor, I spent some time with the doctors and volunteers at The Burns Unit, which cares for severely injured children. Volunteers are assisting in surgeries, helping with the dressings as well as doing a great deal of one-to-one physiotherapy. I also managed to visit volunteers working in the Centro de Salud hospitals, orphanages (I managed to resist pulling the adoption papers out – just!!) and day-care centres in the province of Cochabamba. Maria Christina is an orphanage for mentally challenged children, which Projects Abroad took adopted from the government in 2005 to re-develop. The work our volunteers have done and continue to do is astonishing, and we have recently built a new block specifically for physio and intensive therapy.

Read more about our new community development program after the jump

Volunteer lodge in Puerto Villarroel

Our new community development project is based in a small pueblo on the banks of the river Ichilo in Puerto Villarroel. Dani and I took the 5hr bus drive over the mountains to stay in the village and see how the developments are coming along at our Yacami Farm Project and in our volunteer lodge. Bolivian’s (and especially long distance bus drivers) tend to chew on the Coca leaves when crossing the mountains as they are known for curing altitude sickness. I don’t think I can find the words to describe the taste, but they sure did work (apparently they make a good tea as well, but I didn’t run the risk of smuggling a few leaves back….I didn’t want to end up in the Heathrow ‘something to declare’ section!!). My time in Bolivia was extremely constructive and it was good to see so many of our volunteers making such a difference (and learning Spanish and Quechua incredibly quickly).

More to come about Argentina!