Archive for the Lattitude News Category

International Day of Charity

Today is the International Day of Charity, established with the objectives of getting people together from all around the world, to help others through volunteering and acts of kindness.

The 5th of September was chosen as it marks the anniversary of the passing away of Mother Teresa; a woman known for her nurturing character, love of humanity, and hard work to over come the struggles of poverty.

Some may see charity as purely a monetary donation, but charity is much more than just this and comes in many forms. Giving your time is perhaps the greatest form of charity because when you give your time, you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back. Another aspect of charity is that of raising awareness of local and global issues, such as those highlighted by the Millennium Development Goals, which leads more people and organisations to act charitably.

Here at Lattitude Global Volunteering, charity is about volunteering to help those in need around the world, about raising awareness of global issues and our common humanity, and above all it is about empowering young people through the beneficial experience of charity and volunteering; developing skills, meeting new people, and opening our eyes to the world we live in.

To get you thinking about charity, here are some quotes from some of the most inspirational figures in our history:

“It’s Not How Much We Give, but How Much Love We Put Into Giving” - Mother Teresa

“Charity sometimes gets dismissed, as if it is ineffective, inappropriate or even somehow demeaning to the recipient… Let us recognise charity for what it is at heart: a noble enterprise aimed at bettering the human condition.” - Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary General

“The Best Way To Find Yourself Is To Lose Yourself In The Service Of Others.” - Mahatma Gandhi

“No One Is Useless In This World Who Lightens The Burden Of Another” - Charles Dickens

“It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power; may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result” - Mahatma Ghandhi

“Everybody can be great because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” - Winston Churchill

“Not until the creation and maintenance of decent conditions of life for all people are recognized and accepted as a common obligation of all people and all countries - not until then shall we, with a certain degree of justification, be able to speak of humankind as civilized.” - Albert Einstein

“Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go” - Mother Teresa

Being A Lattitude Volunteer In Fiji: Laurel’s Story

So my placement in Fiji is a teaching placement, at a primary school called Marist Convent in Ovalau. Myself and another Lattitude volunteer Ashlee are here for 2 school terms and the first school term we were teaching.

During our first term, we found the library which had been neglected and needed a lot of organising and tidying so we asked our head teacher if we could change our role to librarians when we began term 2. The first four or five weeks we worked hard to organise, clean and decorate the library and then we had a donation of a few hundred books from an Australian charity called Bula Books, so we added these fantastic aids to the collection of books and organised a timetable for classes to come in and have the opportunity to read and borrow books.

We spoke to teachers about students who need help with their reading and began a 40 minute reading programme twice a day every weekday inviting a few of those students who need extra help from each class for one on one sessions. It’s been fantastic to watch the students grow in confidence when they read and very rewarding.

We decided that the children would benefit more if they could come to the library more than once a week and outside of class time too so we began staying in at recess and lunchtimes and made a timetable for different activities, quiet reading, storytelling sessions, colour and crafts and fun and games. The quiet reading sessions have been really popular, we have almost 50 children lined up outside the library, the response has been fantastic. The children come in and pick books to read and sit with their friends or by themselves and it’s wonderful to see them so interested. They eat their lunch and then come straight to the library to spend as much time as possible reading the new books; it’s really wonderful to see.

I really am having such a wonderful time here, I’ll be sad to say goodbye and go home at the end of next month!

Laurel Dunne

Play Soccer Army invade Cape Coast

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Third week into placement and things were really getting exciting…the Street Walk was the first of our events we had organised and it was a key method in raising awareness of the re- launch of the Street League programme- one of the main programmes at the centre that target unemployed youths. We had decided on a street walk as it would grab people’s attention and with the aid of leaflets, put across our information immediately.

Around 9am on Saturday after our 2 hour core soccer programme we gathered the kids in a massive rally. This wasn’t a considerably hard task as the kids tend to follow us everywhere! We were amazed at how engaged and energized the kids were about going on the walk. We had been scared initially as the UK volunteers had ever organised an event quite like this and we had a severe lack of drums and whistles- there was no need to worry, the kids made it! From start to finish they bellowed out different chants and songs, accompanied with make shift drums and instruments.

Armed with a 70 child army, 2 banners, whistles and various instruments and led by our very own Abraham , we owned the streets of Cape Coast for over an hour- stopping traffic, chatting to locals and sticking leaflets anywhere that would hold it. The atmosphere was electric and unlike anything we had experienced before. Through fountains of sachet water children could be seen dancing and singing like their lives depended on it! It really hit us how surreal the experience was when one of the centre staff, Coach Ali, was running up and down a busy road hailing at oncoming traffic and throwing leaflets in taxi windows…unreal!

This walk demonstrated how different things are here, it would be hard to get the kids parents to agree to their children participating, never mind local councils letting us take over the roads! The culture here is so relaxed and allowed us to have a great event and really spread the word about the programmes at the centre. One of the best days here easily!

- Thenneh and Johnny UK Volunteers

Up and Coming Africa

As our returned volunteers from the likes of Malawi, South Africa and Ghana will know, many African countries are far from the skewered portrayal they too often receive as archetypes of impoverishment, disease, conflict and corruption.

You visit a country like Ghana or Botswana as I and many Lattitude volunteers have done and you find a vibrant and exciting culture, a happy people and increasingly visions of wealth, prosperity and success.

Africa is a continent of over 1 billion people and 54 countries. It has some of the greatest supply of the most valuable natural resources in the world and has some of the most varied and dramatic natural beauty and biodiversity. Looking to the future, many African countries look to be the generators of global economic growth with their high proportion of young people and consistent growth rates of 7-8%.

African’s, for the first time, are excited about their future prospects and this is being translated into a burgeoning confidence of self-expression through all manner of means, both on the continent and within it’s diasporas across the world, including hubs of African culture in cosmopolitan societies like the UK. When this is compared to the grimmer outlook of the rest of the world, this African vibrancy and cultural confidence is becoming increasingly alluring.

None are more so emblematic of this trend than the British-Ghanaian Afro-Beat artist Fuse ODG, who with hits such as Antenna and Azonto has been bringing Ghanaian music and dance to the forefront of popularity in the UK. It is no secret that African culture has often punched above its political and economic weight in the past, namely through the success of African-American artists in the US and UK who have systematically been the instigators of sequential popular music trends the world over; from blues to funk, disco, hip hop and rap. Furthermore artists such as Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon have been instrumental in exposing the world to more traditional African music. However, unlike in the past, this latest expression of African culture by artists like Fuse ODG comes directly from Africa and importantly is being identified with particular countries such as Ghana.

As Fuse ODG is keen to make a point of through his campaign ‘TINA’ (This Is New Africa) and in his recent interview on Newsnight - Africa is changing, it is different and it represents a positive and aspirational outlook, which in much a reverse to the past, the rest of the world is increasingly looking to.

Now more than ever it is an amazing time to volunteer in countries such as Ghana and Malawi and it is important to realise that as a volunteer you will not only be helping within the community you will be based in, you will also be gaining a lot from the experience – being exposed to an exciting cultural environment, which will be playing an ever more important part in what the world of the future will look like.

Volunteering with Lattitude – a look to the year ahead

2014 has just begun, but already we are looking forward to an exciting year of volunteering overseas. For many budding volunteers, 2014 will have been marked on the calendar for several months as the year that they depart from the UK and begin their adventure overseas. For others, volunteering is still an option being considered. Whether you are pondering whether to volunteer or not, of if you’ve already committed to a place and you’d just like to see what Lattitude volunteers in other countries will be up to this year, here is a break-down of all our volunteer departures planned for 2014.

Please note these are for Lattitude’s Core Programmes - they do not include International Citizen Service departures.

January

Australia: 5 or 11 months, volunteer as a Schools Assistant or Outdoor Instructor
Canada: 3 to 12 months, volunteer as Schools Assistant, Outdoor Activities Instructor, or Carer.
Fiji: 3, 7 or 11 months, teaching in communities.
Germany: 6 or 12 months, volunteer as a Schools Assistant.
Malawi: 6 months, volunteer as a Community Worker, Teacher, Conservation or Health Worker.
New Zealand: 6 or 12 months, volunteer as a Schools Assistant.
South Africa: 2.5, 6 or 11 months, volunteer as a Caring Assistant, Outdoor Activities Instructor or Teacher.
Vanuatu: 6 months, volunteer in communities as a Teacher.

February

China: 5 months, volunteer as an English teacher
Ecuador: 5 months, volunteer as a Community Worker, English Teacher and Care Assistant. Environmental and Music Teaching placements are also available in Ecuador.
Ghana: 5 months, volunteer as a teacher.
India: 4.5months, Community Worker, English Teacher, Teacher.
Poland: 5 months, volunteer as a Schools Assistant or Summer Schools Assistant.
Vietnam: 3,4 or 5 months, English Teacher

March

Argentina: 4 months, volunteer as an English Teacher, School Assistant or Community Worker.
Japan: 6 months, volunteer as a Care Assistant, Community Worker and Medical Assistant.

April

No departures.

May

Fiji: 3, 7 or 11 months, teaching in communities.

June

Canada: 3 to 12 months, volunteer as Schools Assistant, Outdoor Activities Instructor, or Carer.
Vanuatu: 6 months, volunteer in communities as a Teacher.
Vietnam: 3,4 or 5 months, English Teacher

July

Australia: 5 or 11 months, volunteer as a Schools Assistant or Outdoor Instructor
New Zealand: 6 or 12 months, volunteer as a Schools Assistant.
Poland: 5 months, volunteer as a Schools Assistant or Summer Schools Assistant.
South Africa: 2.5, 6 or 11 months, volunteer as a Caring Assistant, Outdoor Activities Instructor or Teacher.

August

Fiji 3, 7 or 11 months, teaching in communities.
India: 4.5months, Community Worker, English Teacher, Teacher.
Malawi: 3.5 or 9 months, volunteer as a Community Worker, Teacher, Conservation or Health Worker.
Vietnam: 3,4 or 5 months, English Teacher

September

Canada: 3 to 12 months, volunteer as Schools Assistant, Outdoor Activities Instructor, or Carer.
China: 5 months, volunteers as an English teacher
Ecuador: 5 months, volunteer as a Community Worker, English Teacher and Care Assistant. Environmental and Music Teaching placements are also available in Ecuador.
France: 11 months, teaching or caring placements.
Germany: 6 or 12 months, volunteer as a Schools Assistant.
Ghana: 5 months, volunteer as a teacher.
Japan: 6 months, volunteer as a Care Assistant, Community Worker and Medical Assistant.
Poland: 5 months, volunteer as a Schools Assistant or Summer Schools Assistant.

*Dates correct as of 31/1/13

2013 Volunteer Competitions Winners Announced

…And the winners are

We had some great entries into our competitions this year, and picking the winners has not been easy! Congratulations to the winners and a big thank you to all who entered.

Winner ‘Spirit of the Country’ photo competition:

Tim Williams, Fiji

Tim Williams, volunteered in Fiji

This category was shortlisted with the final winner being chosen by public vote. Tim one with a 32% of the votes. The photo is of Tim’s host father, Tevita using a makeshift oven to bake the pastry for a custard pie. Well done Tim!

Winner of ‘Your Turn Next’ photo competition

Syeda Razzak, Japan

winner_Syeda

The judges thought this photo Syeda sent in really encapsulated the work at her placement in Japan.

Best Video

John King, Fiji

John’s film is very well put together, narrated brilliantly and uses lots of great footage from his placement. The videos purpose - to raise money for the school he volunteered is certainly a cause worth supporting and is well demonstrated. Well done John!

Best Blog

Jennifer Shannon, Malawi

We had some great blogs this year, with many making use of the blogging feature on the Lattitude website. Jennifer’s blog reflected so much of her personality as she experienced Malawi. It is a great insight into volunteering overseas in Malawi and is genuinely entertaining to read!

Take a look here:

jshannonmalawi.blogspot.co.uk/

Highly commended blogs, that just missed out but are certainly worth reading are also:

James Nolan, Australia:

Sadye Butler, Malawi

Are looking to enter our competitions - you can enter them here: lattitude.org.uk/returned-volunteers/competitions/

UK pronounced 6th most charitable country in the world

The UK has come 6^th in this year’s World Giving Index, compiled by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), which ranks the proportion of people in different countries who give money to charity, volunteer and help strangers. Britain also came second, behind Myanmar, in terms of the number of individuals who give to charity. According to the index, 76% of Britons said that they regularly donated money to charitable causes, reflecting a general worldwide trend which reportedly saw the planet become a more generous place on the whole last year.

The United States came 1^st in the league table, followed by Canada, Myanmar and New Zealand in joint second place, then Ireland in fifth place. The proportion of people who volunteered in the UK was reported to be lower than those who regularly give financial support to charities, although at 29% the number of volunteers was still 3% higher than last year. There was also an increase in the number of people reported to frequently help strangers, with 65% of Brits affirming that they do so in a typical month: an increase of 9%.

John Low, Chief Executive of CAF, expressed his delight at the results: “We should be proud of the excellent culture of giving we have in the UK, but must not get complacent. There is still so much the government, businesses and charities can do to encourage greater giving and volunteering.”

The news that the world has become a more generous place is certainly positive, especially given the knock to the charity sector almost inevitably felt in the economically testing climate of recent years. However, it also underlines a predominance of financial charitable giving in the UK, over other actions such as volunteering. Indeed, it can be difficult to squeeze in a few hours of volunteering when working or studying full time, especially if you are also juggling with family responsibilities. Donating money is, therefore, a relatively time-efficient way of supporting charities.

However, finding time for volunteering locally can be easier than you think, with some roles only requiring an hour or two of your time each week. The best way to find an opportunity that can fit in with your schedule is to touch base with your local volunteer centre or to search online via Do-it.org.

Another great way to do some volunteering is to go abroad. For people between the ages of 17-25, the period of time between school and university or between graduating from uni and getting a job can be a great opportunity to spend a few months volunteering before becoming tied down with work and family commitments. Once you have bagged yourself a full-time job, it can be difficult to give up the position to embark on a few months of volunteering abroad, and holidays from work will rarely last longer than a couple of weeks. While it may be tempting to join the rat race to find work, you will lose nothing by taking a few months off to consider your options while doing something meaningful. And who knows where the skills you pick up while volunteering may lead you?

World Aids Day

Sunday 1 December: World Aids Day

This Sunday 1 December is World Aids Day, and a chance for us to show our solidarity against this virus, which continues to devastate millions of lives around the world every day. According to World Aids Day’s official webpage, approximately 100,000 people live with HIV in the UK alone, which jumps to an astounding 34 million if we consider all people worldwide who have been infected with the virus. Figures for the period between 1981 and 2007 show that Aids has claimed the lives of 25 million people around the world, making it one of the most destructive public health issues in modern times.

Although, of course, combatting Aids is a non-stop endeavour, World Aids Day provides “an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died.” It is also an opportunity to raise awareness of the illness, its transmission and its prevention. More practically, World Aids Day also aims to raise money for the National AIDS Trust (NAT), a body that champions the rights of people living with HIV.

While the virus clearly has a profound effect on the lives of those who contract it, the spread of HIV/Aids has serious consequences for all members of the community, particularly in developing countries, which have been the worst affected. Especially prevalent in young people (accounting for around 40% of new HIV infections), deaths caused by HIV/Aids have lead to generations of children being raised by their grandparents following the death of one or both parents. And with fewer relatives available to work, such families are at an increased risk of falling into poverty.

As discussed a few weeks ago in our Millennium Development Goals In Focus series, the fight against HIV/Aids – along with other highly destructive diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis – has been singled out by the UN as the target of its sixth Millennium Development Goal. In aiming both funds and anti-poverty initiatives at tackling the issue of HIV/Aids, the UN and its partner organisations hope to reduce transmission of the disease through, for example, educative measures where young people are taught about the importance of safe sex. While progress has already been made (infection rates dropped by 33% between 2001 and 2011), there is still a long way to go before the issue of HIV/Aids ceases to ravage populations the world over.

And combatting Aids is not the only issue that deserves our attention and efforts. Since joining the UK government’s ICS programme earlier this year, Lattitude has been preparing to send its first batch of volunteers on the scheme to Malawi and Ghana in January to help out on a range of community projects, from education and empowering local women, to tackling more specific health issues. Lattitude ICS volunteers work in groups with both UK and local volunteers and remain in-country over a 10-week period. If you would like more information on undertaking an ICS placement with Lattitude, feel free to send any questions to [email protected] or find out more here.

Individual fundraising

Children in Need raises record £31m, but how easy is it for individuals to fundraise?

Every year we bear witness to the astounding ability of Children in Need or Comic Relief to shatter yet another fundraising record. It seems that once a year the hearts and wallets of the nation open in an apparently unstoppable flow of compassion and generosity. But what about the rest of the year? For many young people hoping to do some volunteering abroad, the prospect of fundraising towards the costs can prove to be a big psychological barrier. So how easy is it to raise money for charity when you don’t have the help of Sir Terry Wogan, Fearne Cotton and the gang?

The answer is that it may be easier than you think. The main thing to bear in mind is that fundraising can take an almost unending variety of forms so do not panic if the thought of performing in some kind of sponsored talent show fills you with dread. One of the most effective and painless ways to fundraise is to try and incorporate sponsorship into an activity you actually enjoy. Classic examples of this include sponsored bike rides, swims, dance-offs, and marathon races.

However, if, like many, you are averse to any kind of exercise, there are still lots of other ways to raise some cash, and fortunately the internet is a real treasure trove of ingenious ideas. The likes of Children in Need and Red Nose Day all have their own fundraising pages, full of tips and suggestions, and ideas range from selling lunchtime manicures to being sponsored to eat only red food for a week. Generally-speaking, the more creative you are and the better you are at communicating your cause, the more likely you are to encourage people to sponsor you.

If you’re feeling brave, public humiliation can also be a surprisingly effective way of raising money within a relatively short space of time. In the past, some Lattitude volunteers have even gone so far as to shave off their eyebrows for charity… but we hasten to add that this is not a prerequisite for undertaking one of our projects. Other ideas might include a sponsored day of dares, where your friends are given the freedom to dare you to do whatever they want, or a week where you wear a different type of clothing.

Elsewhere, selling your old clobber on ebay or at a local car boot sale can also be an effective yet more low-key way of raising money, while clearing some space in your room for all those souvenirs you’ll bring home from your time away. And of course there is the most traditional fundraising method of all: getting a job.

So fundraising should not stop you from embarking on the volunteering experience of a lifetime, and in fact, the initiative and commitment you show in raising money will be a great talking point in future job interviews. If you would like to talk to someone about fundraising ideas, get in touch at [email protected] or have a look at our A-Z of fundraising here.

Happy International Tolerance Day!

Saturday 16 November is International Tolerance Day, so we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the fine work our volunteers have done over the years to promote tolerance and global citizenship around the world.

The UN first established International Tolerance Day back in 1996 in celebration of the adoption of a Declaration of Principles on Tolerance, which ‘among other things… affirms that tolerance is neither indulgence nor indifference. It is respect and appreciation of the rich variety of our world’s cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human.’

One of the ways the UN suggests to counter intolerance is through education: ‘Greater efforts need to be made to teach children about tolerance and human rights, about other ways of life. Children should be encouraged at home and in school to be open-minded and curious.’

Although when Lattitude volunteers go abroad, their main duties may involve teaching, caring or helping out on other projects, the promotion of tolerance is an important yet often underestimated benefit of spending some time volunteering abroad. For many of the people you will be living and working with, you will be one of the few foreigners they know. Exposing children to people from different countries and cultures from a young age not only encourages them to be accepting of difference, but also often stimulates a curiosity that may lead them to study a foreign language or culture themselves.

And tolerance is not a one-way street. Although few volunteers would class themselves as ‘intolerant’ before their time spent abroad, the experience undoubtedly opens their own minds to different ways of life around the world. Most will have never spent any time living abroad over an extended period of time, and so learning to fit in and deal with unexpected cultural clashes can be a very memorable and gratifying experience indeed. In fact, in the past some of our volunteers have enjoyed their experience so much that they have chosen to stay on in their host countries, some even setting up their own charities.

Even for those who do return home as planned after the completion of their volunteering placement, the deep respect and attachment with their host country and culture often lasts far into the future. Many return to visit their placements, or help to raise funds for their projects from the UK, by running the London marathon or taking part in other sponsored events. Others also maintain an academic interest in their host countries, and we have had many past volunteers go on to study subjects such as Spanish or Japanese studies after completing their placements with us.

And these are not the only avenues your volunteering placement can lead to you down. Past volunteers have often drawn on their experience of volunteering abroad when it comes to deciding on their careers, with international development and jobs in the UK charity sector featuring as popular career choices.

For more information on how you can help bring more tolerance into your life and the lives of others by volunteering abroad, check out the opportunities we offer here.