Projects Abroad Blog

Take a look at the daily tasks of a volunteer on our unique Equine Therapy placement in Argentina. I hope you like it!

The Osu Children’s Home in Accra, Ghana has welcomed Projects Abroad Care volunteers for many years and recently Projects Abroad was happy to donate funds to assist in building a new website to help raise donations. Please check out the site HERE

Ian at the World Travel Market

By Ian Birbeck, Recruiting Director - UK

This year Projects Abroad were invited to speak at the World Travel Market which is held annually at the Excel Centre, Docklands, London. It is a huge event which goes on over four days and brings together all sorts of people from within the travel industry. There are some amazing stands representing every part of the world. It is well worth going just to see the scale of the event.

On the Thursday of the event every year students are invited in to find out how to get to work in the travel industry. The Tourism Society approached Projects Abroad to find someone to speak to the students. I found myself speaking under the embarrassing title of “From volunteer to Recruitment Director of Projects Abroad”. It gave me the opportunity to show some pictures of me through the years from a young volunteer to an aging Recruitment Director! I included a few pictures of my fellow volunteer, Will Pashley first as a volunteer and then as Recruitment Director Australia.

The organiser of the conference was warm and welcoming explaining that I would be speaking after a few other speakers. One lady talked about how she got her role working at London City Airport, another talked about how to get a job working on the railways. I was waiting for the next speaker who hadn’t turned up. In walked two giant cartoon characters dressed in Busbies! It was a little bizarre to say the least as they came in hugging members of the audience and dancing down the aisles! After ten minutes I thought I was in trouble trying to settle the audience for my presentation.

They listened attentively maybe taken in by excited hand gestures I didn’t see until later on in the pictures. The 300 in the audience went away presumably bemused as to whether they ought to drive a train, dress up in a bizarre costume or aspire to a role working for Projects Abroad!

The annual George and Rita Britton Cup tournament, organised each year by Projects Abroad, took place on December 4 and 5, 2009 at the Prisons Park in Accra.

Tom Davies, Country Director of Projects Abroad Ghana explained that the event forms part of his office’s social responsibility to develop local talent.

In an interview with Daily Guide Sports, Tom said that Projects Abroad, “…intends to establish a soccer academy in the next few years to nurture some young talents. It is in this regard that we launched this annual George and Rita Britton Cup tournament. It is basically to unearth talents and send them abroad for justifiers,” adding that after last year’s event, three young footballers had the opportunity to travel abroad for trials.

“This year we have local U-14 and 17 colt teams like Shepherd Stars FC and AC Milan taking part. After the tournament, we would select the best talents, groom them and send them abroad for justifiers.

Apart from the volunteer services we render in the fields of journalism, medicine and human rights among others, we feel that since football is the passion of the nation, our contribution to national development would not be complete without it,” Mr. Davies noted.

The photograph shows last year’s welcome banner to the Rita Britton Cup.

Due to drastic governmental budget cuts, the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania is in danger of no longer being able to do its work of finding the victims of the communist regime, and is in need of our volunteers’ help.

Founded by the historian Marius Oprea, the institute’s work largely consists of finding the unmarked graves of the people murdered by the secret services of the Romanian communist government from the moment it took over power in the 1960’s. The victims were executed in isolated places, and buried in shallow graves, without proper Christian rites and without their family’s knowledge. In 2009, the institute found 17 bodies of anti-communist fighters and their tragic stories – as well as part of the unearthed objects (clothes, bullets etc) - are now part of an international exhibition.

The institute now needs help on the first of their projects taking place at the end of March and start of April 2010: the excavation of a common grave on Muntele Mare, in the Apuseni Mountains in Romania. This is where a resistance camp consisting of 5 anti-communist fighters (one of them a pregnant woman) was stormed by the communist secret service forces in the 60’s. The defenders were murdered and buried together.

Volunteers are needed to help with the actual digging, cleaning of objects found, recording the proceedings and interviewing family members. The living conditions are likely to be basic, you’ll be based in a tented camp for one or two weeks, and the work will be physically demanding. After participating in this project, volunteers have the choice of continuing to help with the institute’s initiatives or joining our normal Archaeology Project.

It’s interesting to note that this project will get massive media coverage, as it will be filmed for a documentary by the Czech Republic’s National TV station.

Please find more details about the IICCR project by clicking here.

Macmillan Education made a very generous donation to the Projects Abroad office in Rabat, Morocco over the past year. Coursebooks were given to local schools and associations for students to use and this year teaching aid books were donated to help in the training of our Teaching volunteers. Many thanks all around!

By Cherricha Jacobs, Desk Officer & Social Manager - Jamaica

Rain! Wind! Fog! …were the only words which could be used to describe the day when the Mobile Clinic from the Manchester Health Department in collaboration with the Red Cross of Jamaica and Projects Abroad Jamaica, rolled in the community of Alligator Pond. The quiet fishing community, approximately 40 minutes drive from Mandeville, was the main target on Friday, November 13, 2009.

This community; like so many others have individuals who suffer from varied chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and heart disease, illnesses seen mainly among the elderly. However the issue of under-vaccination for infants and lack of proper maternal care are also of concern.

The health team, including medical volunteers, was well-equipped to provide health checks and information. These included blood pressure testing, diabetic checks, vaccines for children, HIV Rapid Test, HIV/STDs information and how to use condoms (male and females).

On entering the mobile clinic, a woman in her mid 40s said “Mi sick, so mi cum fi get some help - a two week now mi a cough”. In the meantime, a little girl sat quietly waiting for her vaccination. After registering the woman, the nurse referred the “patient” to the “doctor” for further examination. This “doctor” was Elisa Combe, final year medicine student, who was volunteering with Projects Abroad Jamaica for one month at the Mandeville Regional Hospital. She displayed professionalism and was eager to help when she was asked by the nurse to assist the woman who complained of chest pain and coughing. “Doctor” Elisa took a brief medical history from the patient, listened to her lungs and heart and eventually recommended further tests and happily called her next “patient”. This young boy aged about 9 complained of wrist pain which seemed “sprained. “Doctor” was kept busy as right after an elderly woman came. After checking her blood pressure, she was immediately sent for a talk with “Doctor”. The soft-spoken old woman said “A di pink an white tablets mi tek, but mi na hab none now”. A look of despair overshadowed the doctor’s face, as she realized how unconcerned the elder woman appeared - she was oblivious of the danger which can be caused by this high blood pressure reading. “Doctor” Elisa explained to her the critical nature of her condition and told her to see the doctor who will visit on Tuesday.

Volunteers: Marike Wisman, (pre-med) Kristina Bader (pre-med)and Gianin Wuethrich
(Nurse) were also present and very prepared to give talks on H1N1 influenza, maternal care and hygiene and nutrition for toddlers and mothers to be. However the presentations were not realized as the turn out due to weather was a bit low, nevertheless they tried to assist the community nurses and RedCross team where possible.

Though only a few community members came out to access the “free” services, the health team was satisfied that they provided quality services to the needy who braved the rainy weather. It was obvious that the rain had affected the turn out and the mobile team will definitely visit the community of Alligator Pond again soon! As the team rolled out, rain, wind, fog disappeared and there were now smiles…sunshine…warmth!

Projects Abroad donated medical supplies which included; speculums, bed rolls, cotton, gauze, hot packs, gloves, lubricant, bandages, alcohol, tongue depressors and syringes.The nurse on duty exclaimed that she was extremely glad for any assistance that Projects Abroad was able to extend and she is looking forward to an even stronger partnership.

Volunteers from the Human Rights project have been working with the Shelter for Abused Children in Ghana and the Department of Social Welfare for some time now. The shelter is located at Osu Ako-Adjei in Accra, just five minutes walk from the Projects Abroad Human Rights Office. 

Last month the volunteers let the Projects Abroad staff know that the shelter was badly in need of a coat of paint and so we arranged to donate enough paint to paint the whole center. The painting work will be completed with the help of volunteers before the end of the year.

In the future we are hoping to send Care volunteers to help work at this project.

Football Coaching in Ghana from Dave Oswell on Vimeo.

By Scott McQuarrie, Director - Projects Abroad Pro

David Oswell, a sport volunteer in Ghana has just returned from his coaching trip to Accra, where he has been coaching and donating football equipment to young kids in the African nation.

David raised over $5000 in a charity football match before heading off to Africa and was able to donate 120 pair of boots, 150 footballs, 40 pairs of shinpads, plus training equipment like cones, bibs, pumps and medical kits.

“I went over to Ghana as I wanted the opportunity to coach football in a developing country,” said David, who was in Africa for three weeks.

“There was only basic facilities and equipment there. Most players had boots, but footballs were either old, second-hand or falling apart. The pitches were incredible – a blend of sand, dust and rocks, with open sewers for sidelines!”

Back for six weeks now, Oswell is not treating this as one-off trip.

“I’m speaking with a couple of different organisations at the moment – Projects Abroad, Love Football and the school where I teach – about how we could provide long-term support. Everyone’s support so far has been amazing but there’s more work to do if we’re to truly help this community”.

Cantonments Football Club, Ghana

By Harry Kent, Programme Advisor - UK

Tomorrow the mother city of South Africa, Cape Town, will host the draw for the 2010 World Cup.

This is promised to be a vibrant traditional African affair welcoming the competition to the continent for the first time in history.

The Grammy award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir, Benin’s singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo and one of South Africa’s greatest music exports Johnny Clegg will be entertaining at this nail biting event.

With 5 Projects Abroad destinations (South Africa, Ghana, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina) making the cut this tournament is set to be an exciting time for the Projects Abroad community.

Having spent time in Africa I know the attitude towards football and I am sure this tournament is going to have an incredible atmosphere, lets hope we stay in long enough to enjoy it!

With a variety of worthwhile volunteer projects in Cape Town what better time to give something back and enjoy the world’s favourite game?

If you’re interested in getting involved in a soccer program in Cape Town, South Africa than stay tuned for the release of our new World Cup Football Community Outreach project being launched in January 2010 on the blog and our website.

Tune in to BBC 2 at 5.15pm tomorrow (December 5th) to catch the draw as it happens.

To learn more about the projects on offer in South Africa click HERE.