Alumni Open Day volunteers, thank you for your help!

There was a real international flavour to our Open Day in Leeds at the weekend. It was great to have Saad from Morocco, Sajani from Nepal, Walter from Peru and Pabbu from India. Our UK staff always enjoy the trip north from Sussex after they have got over the usual hideous Friday night traffic on the M1. Last Friday was thankfully very quiet. It was also great to have the company of Sajani who educated me on the wide range of projects available before falling off to sleep either because of my boring conversation or hopefully because of jet lag.

Sajani, the Director of Nepal with Dr. Peter Slowe, Projects Abroad’s Director enjoying a tea.

All our staff and ex-volunteers were kept really busy through their sessions which hopefully gave a real insight into the country and what the projects are all about. You get all sorts of questions which potential volunteers as well as their parents in many cases are keen to know about.

It is amazing how volunteers come from far and wide. A mother and daughter flew over from Belfast to find out about the Human Rights Law placement in Ghana. Another girl travelled from Newport in South Wales and another family from East Anglia.

Saad, our Moroccan Country Director, showing some Moroccan pride!

It is great to be able to meet up with the ex-volunteers who have been away with us. Hannah Lane who is now studying at Sheffield is a real character who gave a great presentation on her time in Ghana. Hannah spoke to me before she went away to Ghana at a careers fair in Somerset and then we met up in Ghana so it is always good to catch up on what she is doing. Heather Buchanan was able to speak about her time in Sri Lanka and Ghana. The next Open Day we have is in London on 16th February. To sign up please click HERE.

-Ian Birbeck

Dakar Airport

After reading the T2Impact blog, I was tipped off that Foreign Policy magazine had recently released their list of worst airports in the world and being a frequent traveler I wanted to see if I had been to any.

Here is the full list:

Dakar, Senegal
Delhi - Indira Gandhi
Mineralnye Vody Airport, Russia
Baghdad International, Iraq
Paris - Charles de Gaulle

One airport I am very familiar with is Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport in Dakar, Senegal. I flew in there from Lisbon on my first trip with Projects Abroad and I revisited it when I headed to South Africa as planes make a refueling stop there from New York.

It is definitely nothing like the shining new airports and terminals that are going up around the world but I don’t know if I would call it one of the worst airports in the world. The amenities are lackluster and although Foreign Policy magazine incorrectly states that there are no seats, the ones that are available are metal and quite hard from first hand experience. But in general it is adequate.

In my opinion, the real thing that detracts from a passenger’s time at the Dakar airport is the fact that almost all flights originating from Europe and North America arrive and depart between 11 PM and 3 AM. Consequently all passengers are confused, groggy and slightly discombobulated.

Has anyone else been to the Dakar airport? What is your least favorite airport?

Sornavel, a member of our Travel Team, has just returned from representing Tamil Nadu at India’s National Tennikoit Championship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennikoit.

He finished second in the Men’s event and third in the Mixed Doubles event.

He is a superstar in the India office!

If you wish, you can pass your congratulations to him by sending an email to
travel@projects-abroad.org.

- Greg Thomson

Sornavel in action!

If you haven’t gotten addicted yet, you should head over to Free Rice right now. For each word you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. So far today I have been able to earn 150 grains of rice. It’s not a lot but hopefully some of you out there with better vocabularies can do even better!

You can try your hand here.

Open Day Introduction by Dr. Peter Slowe, Leeds 2005

A good way to find out about us is to come to one of our Open Days. On Saturday 24th November we have visitors from all around the world. Pabbu Rajendran is visiting from our India office, Saad Rbiai is visiting from Morocco and Sajani Amatya from our Nepal office. We also have lots of recently returned volunteers who are keen to share their experiences.

The afternoon starts at 2pm at the Hotel Met in Leeds city centre. The hotel is five minutes walk from the main central station. If you want to find out how to get there get in touch with Sue who can send you a map. Her email address is suerevill@projects-abroad.co.uk.

The afternoon starts with an address from our Director, Peter Slowe. This is followed up by a powerpoint from myself and a few tales from overseas. After a cup of tea you are able to split up and find out the ins and outs of what you can do overseas and what each country is like.

It should be a good afternoon. If you want to find out more please get in touch with Sue on 01903 708300 or apply on the website HERE.

If Leeds is a bit far for you have a look at the website for other events which might be taking place near you .

- Ian Birbeck

Journalism Discussion Group

By Natalie Bryson, Program Advisor

It’s been a busy month here in Guadalajara! October is the month of festivals (“Fiestas de Octubre”) and it seems that I wasn’t able to walk anywhere in the city without accidentally bumping into a street fair, parade or concert!

Early in the month as I was making my way towards downtown, my bus suddenly stopped far from my destination and made everyone dismount. I was completely baffled and as my Spanish is truly terrible, I was unable to understand the responses to my garbled inquiries of “¿Qué está pasando?” (What’s going on?) I was I walked further down the main avenue I noticed bleachers were set up and people were lining up along the road, which, to me, seemed promising of a parade. I waited for a while and all of a sudden was barraged by the blare of trumpets, the squeal of violins and the warble of wailing Mariachi bands. For a full three hours a parade of Mariachi bands streamed by, flanked by traditional Mexican dancers that twirled in their bright, full skirts.
What I later learned was that the parade was the kick off for the “Fiestas de Octubre,” and what would be a month full of me accidentally running into different cultural events.

Throughout the month I managed to visit six streets fairs, witness three parades and watch at least a dozen concerts and cultural films. One of my favorite street fairs was the “Dia de los Muertos” (day of the dead) market in Parque Morelos. The market only runs for one month a year in preparation for the traditional ceremony of Dia de los Muertos that takes place on November 1st and 2nd in cemeteries across Mexico. Day of the Dead celebrates and honors the lives of the deceased by holding all night vigils to celebrate the continuation of life into the afterlife; deceased infants and children are traditionally celebrated on November 1st, and adults on the 2nd. In general, the belief is not that death is the end, but rather the beginning of a new stage in life, and this belief can be traced back the ancient civilizations of the Aztecs and Mayans.

Sugar Skulls in Guadalajara before Dia del Los Muertos

This weekend I am going to Pátzcuaro and Morelia, two cities that are famous for their celebrations for Dia del Los Muertos, and I’m extremely excited to see the traditional altars, ceremonies and songs that accompany the vigils.

In other news, I had a chance to visit two of our incredible projects that run in Mexico; the Arts and Crafts placement in Tlaquepaque, on the outskirts of Guadalajara, and the the Turtle Conservation Camp , which is located in the beach outside of Tecoman, three hours from Guadalajara.

Read more about the Arts and Crafts program and the Turtle Camp with LOTS of photos after the jump

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Molding

The Arts and Crafts program is really great for anyone interested in the traditional crafts of Mexico. Volunteers are taken step-by-step through the process of ceramic making, from preparing molds and casting them, to learning the meaning of traditional designs and colors which decorate the pottery, to finally evenly coating the pottery in a thick spray glaze which turns clear while baking in the kiln. The area itself is a nice escape from the bustling city and honking cars and creates a peaceful artists sanctuary.

Painting

A rocking mug with a luchador, Nachoooooooooooooooooo

The Turtle Camp was by far my favorite though. Seeing thousands of baby turtles released into the ocean and knowing that we had helped them to get there was really incredible. The whole weekend I was there we learned about the process of the turtle camp. Every night workers and volunteers go out on patrol on an ATV to sweep the beach for turtle nests. When one is found, it is dug up, placed into a bag and loaded onto the vehicle. The night that I went out, we found ten nests, which I learned is a small night! (Keep in mind that each nest has about 80-100 ping-pong sized turtle eggs!) The eggs are then brought back to the camp, and in the morning are reburied in new nests inside a protected corral near where the volunteers sleep. As dozens nests are collected every night during high season (June-December), that means that every day there are thousands of hatchlings to release (the incubation period for a nest is about 45-60 days), which makes for some very busy volunteers this time of year!

Cute baby turtle!

Baby turtles ready for the open ocean

As you can see, I’m loving my time in Mexico and I can’t believe that I’m already halfway through!

By Elisa Glangeaud

I am 38 years old and a mother of two children who are 2 and 5 years old. I am also from Grenoble in the French Alps. Since I was a child, I have always had a passion for the discovery of other cultures.
I have been studying foreign languages and international relations. During my studies, I took a “gap year” in South America. After that, I worked for a company that organized cultural travels but I was also a European Exchange student in Denmark.

I still love traveling and meeting people!!!

After my Master’s degree, I started working in Colombia on the evaluation of development projects for a French NGO and then I worked some months at The Center for Human Rights at the United Nations in Geneva. For six years, I was traveling between South America and France for development projects, mostly in indigenous communities in the Andes. I worked for two years for a Peruvian NGO in Cuzco, land of the former Incas, which was one of the best experiences of my life!

Before joining the Projects Abroad team, I worked for eight years in a press relations agency in Grenoble. I was in charge of different budgets but I was looking for a more useful mission in my work. I needed a wider opening on the world with true human values. That’s how I found Projects Abroad and I sincerely hope that I will be very useful to fulfill its mission. I have been working for only one week at Projects Abroad but I feel I am at the right place and I am already enjoying it a lot!!!

Lee, all the way to the left, enjoying a game of putt putt golf in Mexico

When I first started working for Projects Abroad in 2005, my second week was spent at our Headquarters in the UK learning the ropes. I learned a lot (as well as listened to a lot of Keane!) with Lee Bronze who was a Programme Advisor at that time. He showed me how to give presentations and regaled me with stories from his time in Mexico. Let’s hear what he is up to!

By Lee Bronze

It’s now almost 8 years since I was teaching in China with Projects Abroad. I am now a practising Employment lawyer as such I am still using the skills I learnt from that experience today such as speaking in public, thinking of my feet and dealing with all sorts of people and problems (the two though are of course are often interlinked with my clients!).

I perhaps realise that I am now getting old as I think to myself ‘where does all the time go?’. Since that time I have travelled to 3 other Projects Abroad destinations; I soaked up some summer time sun in Senegal, embraced in full the cult of Dracula in Transylvania, Romania and went to Mexico for 5 months. I stayed for a year mind you but that just shows how great an experience I had.

I have now landed back to Earth with a bump perhaps it hits home hardest when I am stranded waiting for a judgment to be delivered, I long for just half a chance to be enjoying foreign climbs. I am so glad I went off but how long until I can do it again???? It seems that there is only one cure for those itchy feet…

Street Graffiti in Cochabamaba. Here an artist has rendered Cochabamba state within a map of Bolivia.

After 26 hours of traveling and I am back home from a two week trip to Bolivia where I was visiting placements, meeting with volunteers and training a staff member. Hence the lack of recent blog posts! I apologize to the blog’s loyal readers.

I actually went down to Bolivia with the intention of live blogging my whole trip or at least put up a new blog post every day about my trip. I even brought my laptop with me for this express purpose but, alas, my computer for some reason wouldn’t recognize the internet at our office in Cochabamba.

Consequently, I was left with all these new blog posts and photos but with no place to put them! This is why with the help of technology I am going to be uploading the blog posts for my trip to Bolivia from October 30th to today. Although they will be a little late and not necessarily “live blogged”, I hope you enjoy them!

I thought I would hold off until my last day in Cochabamba to visit and do a post about probably the most iconic image of the city, the statue of Cristo De La Concordia. The statue stands on a hill overlooking Cochabamba and is visible from close to every point in the city. It is actually a couple of centimeters higher than the more famous Cristo Redentor in Rio De Janeiro, which was recently named to the “New Seven Wonders of the World”.

Grabbing a taxi or walking the 1250 steps (I would recommend the taxi!) to the top is a nice way to spend a lazy afternoon over the weekend and it affords some amazing views. Below you can see the city of Cochabamba and even make out the peak of Cerro Tunari at 5035 m in the upper right hand corner.

There are more photos after the jump

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Me with the Christo. It was a very bright day! Notice the sun burn?