Enjoy your visit on this site - hope you decide to volunteer for us or to help us in other ways!

Wednesday 31 October 2012

Volunteers Needed for Our Partnership Project in Pakistan

Our partnership project in Pakistan is in need of volunteers. The political instability in Pakistan has made it harder to recruit volunteers for the project site. Yet, they would certainly appreciate any help.

The partnership project is a youth organization providing educational programmes for the local youth, with the vision of empowering the youth to seek employment in the future and to develop into fulfilled individuals. Volunteers can get involved in organizing educational activities for the youth, teaching, administrative tasks, fundraising, or any other useful activity that they and the host organization can think of.  

The project is located in Murree, in the Punjab region, not far from Islamabad. The area itself is safe and has not had any security threats for a very long time. Historically, the area has suffered from high youth unemployment, which is the reason for the project to have been initiated.

Volunteers do not need to pay towards any placement fees. They will lodge with a host family and also be treated to a couple of nights in a hotel by the host organization. All they need to pay for is their flight and insurance costs. During their stay in Murree, volunteers will also have a chance to visit other branches of the organization. All of such trips and airport pick up will take place in secure cars provided by the host organization. The organization welcomes volunteers at any time of the year, for any length of stay.

For more information on this opportunity, please contact: tiija.rinta@gmail.com.

For more information on Murree, please see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murree

Saturday 6 October 2012

Fellow Organisation in Palestine

I had the pleasure to meet an old friend recently when she popped over to London for a few days. She works for the UN in Palestine, in the Gaza district, and does some amazing work over there with organisations serving children who are physically or mentally disabled. 

In Palestine, there is still much stigma around issues to do with disability. Such children are often hidden away by their parents and so one would not see them on the street or have much contact with such children. In some cases, the treatment of disabled kids is disgusting. For example, there was a case when such kids were tied to a tree with ropes for days on end. 

My friend gave me a present from one organisation that she works with called Atfaluna. They do valuable work with disabled kids in the Gaza district. One aspect of their work is to have the kids and adults they work with do handicrafts and then sell them online and otherwise for fundraising purposes. The little handbag that I got is stunning traditional Arabic embroidery and a very special gift to anyone. 

Have a look at the organisation's website and see if you can support them by ordering any of their goods - as in many parts of the world now, the organistions in Gaza are also struggling financially and would appreciate any help!   

www.atfaluna.net