UK Orientation March 2012
Orientation of volunteers into the UK from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ghana and New Zealand.
Overseas volunteer UK orientation Jan 2012
overseas volunteers on the walking tour in London
Orientation January 2012
Four o clock in the morning is not a time of day many people like to get up, but as it was the 10th of January and the beginning of the orientation for 135 overseas volunteers from around the world it was the time several Lattitude Global Volunteering staff got up to head for Heathrow.
By half 6 the first wave of volunteers arrived. Tired eyed and weary from their 24 hour flight from Australia, 45 volunteers staggered into terminal 3 where they were met, all accounted for and within 20 mins on their way to London and the start of their volunteering experience.
Lattitude staff with a bus full of overseas volunteers
Throughout the morning more and more arrived from South Africa, Brazil and a large influx from New Zealand. And so by 1 o clock everybody had been transferred from Heathrow to central London where the Lattitude Global Volunteering Orientation was held.
Throughout the afternoon there were seminars and lectures to help volunteers adjust to life in the UK and how to stay safe and enjoy themselves. It was also a great opportunity for all volunteers to ask any questions they may have about their placements, the UK and what their duties may entail.
overseas volunteers on the bus to London.
Later in the evening we offered the volunteers a chance to relax and see a bit of London by embarking on the Ghost Bus Tour. A great chance to see London by night and hear a bit about its murkier history.
The next morning, after breakfast all the volunteers headed to Westminster to experience more of London by embarking on a walking tour. On the tour volunteers get a chance to see Big Ben, Westminster Cathedral, HorseGuards, St James Park and Buckingham Palace to name a few. Hopefully it will help them to experience London a bit too so if they come back within a break or school holiday they have had a bit of experience navigating the underground and walking around London and its traffic.
volunteers at the orientation hostel in central london
After a quick lunch, all volunteers were then escorted to their relevant London station terminals by Lattitude staff and helped onto the correct trains and buses where they would then be met by their hosts and taken to their schools, outdoor centres, field centres and care homes.
It was an activity packed couple of days and we hope all our overseas volunteers enjoyed themselves and gained from the experience. We wish you all the best for the next year and would like to remind you all that of course we are here to help you out should you need anything
overseas volunteers aussies in a phonebox
