Children in Tamil Nadu, India

By Ian Birbeck, Recruitment Director - UK

As a big fan of India I was eager to get along and see Slumdog Millionaire. It was a great film which certainly brought back to me many of the images of India that I had forgotten. It made me laugh and think but really did grasp the spirit of the place but was it good for India?

I came across this interesting article examining the issue: http://www.examiner.com/x-4641-SF-Budget-Travel-Examiner~y2009m3d15-Slumdog-India-hurting-or-harming-tourism

A friend of mine who has never set foot in India before but was thinking about it before has been put off. She could not understand the reviews which called it “A feelgood movie”.

India remains a popular destination for Projects Abroad but will Slumdog see more volunteers choosing to head out to India?

African hunting dog observed by volunteers in the Legodimo reserve

African ‘Painted’ Wild Dogs have been on the verge of extinction for many years now, this mainly down to the impact of man. The Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus), also know as the Painted Wolf and Cape Hunting Dog, have been seen as a pest to the farmers of Southern Africa for many years.

The African Wild Dog is vulnerable to many risks pushing it closer and closer to extinction. The more South Africa westernizes developing bushveld to farmland lessens the chance of the dogs future survival.

On the 5th of March 2009 a new pack of 16 strong Wild Dogs were spotted minutes from the Projects Abroad base camp Legodimo in the Tuli Block of Botswana, this is a great sign as wild dogs have not been seen in this area for over 5 years.

Projects Abroad volunteers stumbled across the pack on a routine game drive through the Legodimo reserve earlier this month.

Gerrit Prinsloo the Projects Abroad conservation Director has since found out that the pack of 16 wild dogs were re introduced to Mashutu game reserve last April, and are being monitored by Andre Sneman from the Endangered Wildlife Trust. Projects Abroad volunteers will be making a special effort to monitor the movements and habits of this particular pack whenever they are in close proximity to the Legodimo base camp.

Projects Abroad began sending volunteers to Legodimo in the summer of 2007. The type of work they get involved in ranges from research projects into elephant numbers and their migratory routes to the building of research hides around the reserve.

Kath Potgieter, wild dog specialist who conducted Masters Research in the area explained.”It is very encouraging to hear of the wild dog sighting in Legodimo. The area, which is perfectly situated to become part of the transfrontier conservation area with South Africa once fences are dropped, holds great potential to contribute to the continued conservation of these endangered canids in southern Africa”

To learn more about the Conservation program check out the website http://www.projects-abroad.org/destinations/south-africa/conservation-and-environment/south-africa-africans-plains-project/

Koh Rong Samleom

By Suzi Lamb, International Development Manager - UK

I’ve been out in Cambodia for the last week and a half to finalize our newest Conservation Project.

We are working in partnership with Marine Conservation Cambodia who are doing some pioneering work for the Fisheries Department in Cambodia to ensure that the seas and coral reefs around Cambodia’s coastline get the vital protection needed. Sadly many of Cambodia’s coral reefs have already been destroyed but by getting more areas protected and by using techniques like coral farming we can ensure the regeneration of the reefs.

Volunteers will be involved in a range of projects, and will be taught to scuba dive, if they want to take part in dive related conservation activities like species research and dives to remove debris like fishing nets that get entangled in the reefs. Non-dive activities will include mangrove restoration, community projects and educational awareness campaigns.

The Conservation base is on the island of Koh Rong Samleom, 2 hrs boat ride from the coastal town of Sihanoukville. The island feels a world away from the busy city of Phnom Penh and lively coastal town of Sihanoukville, no traffic, no loud bars, no one asking if you want a massage or to buy some sunglasses!

Volunteer Housing

To begin with volunteers will live in rustic wooden bungalows, 2 minutes walk along the beach from the local village, which is home to 200 people. The bungalows have their own ‘bathroom’ with a bucket shower and a western style toilet with a Cambodian style flush! Electricity is provided by a generator and is turned off once everyone goes to bed. A dormitory block will also be ready for volunteers in the next few months. There is also a large communal area where volunteers will eat and relax.

If 5* luxury is your thing, this isn’t the project for you. However, if you don’t mind getting back to basics with the bonus of your own sea view a couple of meters from your bungalow veranda then it’s well worth considering spending some time here. If you like the outdoors and want to be involved in some ground breaking conservation initiatives in a country where the concept of conservation is still in its infancy, then a couple of months here will be time very well spent.

Pises, Suzi and Paul from left to right

The staff here including Pises, the Projects Abroad Director for Cambodia and Paul, the Director of Marine Conservation Cambodia are looking forward to welcoming George, Navina and Carly, our first three volunteers on the Conservation Project.

My way of judging any new project, is whether I could happily take part in it. I could so easily return to Koh Rong Samleom tomorrow, get my hammock slung on the bungalow veranda, do a diving refresher course and spend the next couple of months working with a fantastic team of people. In fact, I’m sure I have a changeable flight ticket, maybe a UK member of staff is needed here for awhile?!

Suzi all geared up for some snorkeling

(Unfortunately Suzi did take her return flight back to London, and is now back at her desk in the UK office, however, she hopes to return to the Conservation Project soon.)

Click here to learn more about this Conservation program

The Canadian Projects Abroad team will be hosting an Open House on Thursday April 2nd, 2009 from 4-8pm at our Toronto Office just south of Yonge & Bloor. This is a great opportunity to meet the staff and former volunteers who will be able to answer questions about our projects and destination countries. We will be holding a BBQ with proceeds going towards the purchase of new desks for schools in the Sacred Valley in Peru. For more information about this event please visit Toronto Open House or contact or contact info@projects-abroad.org.

Click here to RSVP

By Nicole Pinnington, Desk Officer - Botswana

Work is going well at the moment. We have finished the new deck, the tree house deck and the stairs in front of camp. Lots of pictures will be included in the next newsletter! The volunteers are currently working on a greenhouse for us to begin planting tree saplings in the hope that we can re-plant trees on Legodimo that are being destroyed by elephants. The elephants are currently spending a lot of time close to the river and to camp; we hear them most evenings and one was even drinking from the swimming pool the other night and munching on the nearby mopane tree. We are also gradually increasing the species on our bird species list having added 8 new species this week.

I would just like to say a big thank you to all those volunteers who left us this month. Thanks for your hard work and I hope you all have many fond memories and awesome photos.

Click here to learn more about our Conservation project in South Africa and Botswana

If you see this gentleman (me) and the Projects Abroad stands, then you have found the fair!

The gap year fair will be at Scarsdale High School in New York from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM. I hope that people in the Westchester County area can make it out!

See you tonight

Pabbu, Deputy Director of Administration, enjoying the snow in France. I am 100% sure that this would never happen in Tamil Nadu, India!

The title, which at one point represented the unanimously decided plan for the weekend, for me, least describes the event which undoubtedly proved to be a great success!

Being one of the newer representatives of Projects Abroad I was delighted for the opportunity to meet the Continental Europe team. I was lucky enough to have a passport in my possession and, due to Jessi’s misfortune I was the only Irish representative!

Arriving late to the conference after a slight baggage delay and miscommunication with the taxi driver who seemed to insist we wait for Jessi, (we would have been waiting a while!) This was my first encounter with the French –English communication barrier. I managed to get there anyway and found the meeting to be extremely helpful and was pleased to be able to put faces to the names of everyone. Though not working for Projects Abroad that long I found I couldn’t contribute as much as those who fully “know the ropes”. My aim however was to listen as attentively as possible, aware of the fact that I would have to repeat it all again come Monday evening!

On Thursday evening we made our way to the Moroccan restaurant where Elisa was on translation duty- we couldn’t understand the menu and it couldn’t understand vegetarian! However luckily for Simona and Jürgen Elisa came to the rescue yet again. Later that night we found our local with its strange ‘no music and no sitting down’ rules, fortunately for us we had our trusty D.J Michael “He-Harms” in the house!

Friday- ah the Future workshop! The day that made me question “who are these crazy people?” Here we got the chance to learn a bit more about each other, from what I can remember; Ian plays cricket, Terry “likes to kick the ball”, Karen enjoys stretching, Peter enjoys playing loud music on the piano, LAUrens represents Holland as a windmill and…. Frank needs dancing lessons!

Following this we showed Frank a few moves (hmmm maybe that was his plan?!) as we were instructed to dance around the room to his compilation CD splitting into groups of three when he paused the music, to 1) dismantle a tower, 2) restrain a five legged animal whilst feeding it before 3) “beaming” each other to far distant lands. We also got the opportunity to practice our artistic skills - You really can get a lot done in an hour!

However strange this approach was it did prove beneficial creating lots of ideas. It also allowed us the opportunity to get to know each other in an amusing, informal setting and brought us all closer as a group…….. In saying that later at dinner we did manage to let Pabbu’s disappearance go unnoticed for quite some time before being rescued by Blandine. (Sorry Pabbul!)

Terry and his pink hat

Saturday saw the arrival of Scott, snow, and Terry’s pink hat! Setting off early up the mountain it wasn’t long before we began to see the masses of snow which blanketed over the terrain. We were all excited but no one could compare with the amazement and awe shown by Pabbu- being new to experiencing both snow and snowball fights, he managed to quite successfully cover himself more than anyone else!

After a quick bite to eat we had the snow shoes on and were ready to go! Partially new to the whole snow experience myself (only being familiar with the ‘slushy’ excuse for snow we occasionally receive in Ireland) I couldn’t wait to set off on an adventure like no other, from making snow angels and snow fights to veering off course both accidentally and…Well… accidentally on purpose! Needless to say we were far from traumatised and well deserved our traditional French meal of tartiflette, raclette and fondue washed down with some of the local Chartreuse liquor.

All in all the weekend was a huge success and I think I speak for everyone when I say we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
It was a pleasure to meet you all and I’d like to thank everyone for their kindness and hospitality shown.
Cheers!!

Go Raibh Mile maith agat!

Koreen Walsh, Programme Advisor - Ireland

From left to right, Douglas Alexander and Peter Slowe

By Peter Slowe, Director and Founder of Projects Abroad

I was invited to attend a meeting with the Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for Overseas Development, at Labour Party headquarters in London on Thursday 26th February. There were about fifteen members of the Party organisation present.

We had a wide-ranging discussion about self-funded volunteering, professional volunteering and other matters. There is a growing realisation about the impact of the kind of volunteering offered by Projects Abroad, on the relations between communities in the developing world and communities in the UK.

The last time I had met with Douglas Alexander he was a speech writer for a then young and upcoming politician, Gordon Brown, who was then the Labour spokesman on Trade Industry. I was Secretary of the Labour Finance and Industry Group. He went off and fought the SNP in Perthshire and eventually won a seat for Labour in Paisley in Scotland. I went off and wrote books about geography and founded Projects Abroad.

Water flows under the bridge…