Photos from Our Partnership Project in South India

A keen volunteer spent several weeks at our partnership project in South India this summer.

Here, you can see his beautiful photos from the project area - hopefully they will make you interested to learn more about our partnership project over there:

http://www.kolam.ch/leed/eingang-english.htm

New Beds for Orphan Girls in Uganda

In September, Volunteer East received a generous donation of £500. The money was donated to our partnership organisation in Uganda and spent on purchasing beds for the new orphan girls living at the school. Up until then, the girls had been sleeping on mattresses on the floor, with up to six girls sharing one mattress! 

Thanks to the donation money, the quality of life has improved significantly for the girls. They can now have a proper rest every night, there is less illnesses spreading around and the girls feel like they have their own small private space in the new dormitory halls where their bedrooms are located. 

Peas Education Organisation working across Africa

In many African countries, attending primary school is common. For example, in Uganda, 93% of the population go to primary school. However, across the continent,  20 million children are missing out on secondary education. Over half of these are girls. The Peas (Promoting Equality in African Schools) Smartaid School Organisation, based in the UK, aims to change this by developing a network of quality, sustainable secondary schools and catalysing systemic change across the continent. So far, they have managed to build hundreds of secondary schools and to educate thousands of children who would have otherwise never had access to education. To find out more about their amazing work and to how to get involved, head to: http://www.peas.org.uk/

Director's New Personal Website

Dear Readers, I have a new personal website that brings you up to date information on all my ventures. The website has sections for my educational, music, charity and writing work.

This blog and other sites that I write to are linked to it so that everyone can happily see what is going on in my world!

The web address is:www.tiijarinta.com

Dress a Girl Around the World

Earlier this year, Volunteer East came across a UK-based charity called Dress a Girl Around the World. The charity makes dresses out of pillowcases for girls and shorts for boys in developing countries. It is a great initiative, as this way all of us who cannot travel to other countries can still help from the comfort of our own homes! 

Over the past three years, the charity has made nearly 3 000 dresses and 2 000 pairs of shorts that have been sent to partnership charities in different African countries, such as Ghana and Uganda, and to India. The charity links with reliable local partners and always sends the clothes over with someone travelling to the respective countries from the UK. This way everyone knows that their hard work is really going to those places that it is intended to go to, and also the dress-makers can then see lovely photos of gorgeous children wearing their dresses in different parts of the world! 

To link up with this amazing charity, please see their blog and facebook page below - and do get in touch with them if you have a little bit of time and sewing skill to spare!

http://sewscrumptious.blogspot.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/DressagirlaroundtheWorldUK       

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

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