Testimony from Sam, Long Term volunteer in Peru

Sam Webb will join Clair Brown, the Everything is Possible Co-Founder at the event ''Your Story''. He will share his experience with partners working through the Leonardo, Grundtvig and Youth in Action Programme.

Discover his enthusiastic testimony about his Long Term Project in Peru.

''Teaching English was a new challenge that I was excited, if pretty nervous about taking up. Although at first was a struggle to get used to and it’s certainly incredibly tiring job, I feel like I’ve developed my skills as a teacher and have taken on more and more responsibility within the English team.''

Sam

While I have travelled a lot and volunteered in England before, my experience in Peru is my first time living outside of the country and volunteering full time. I chose to come to SKIP after meeting the director, Liz, at an event organized my Everything’s Possible in Leeds. The organization came across as having clear goals, a methodology and a purpose driving it. It also seemed like somewhere I would be able to work hard and actually be able to contribute.

Before arriving here I had some experience of working with kids and working with organizations but no real experience of teaching. Teaching English was a new challenge that I was excited, if pretty nervous about taking up. Although at first was a struggle to get used to and it’s certainly incredibly tiring job, I feel like I’ve developed my skills as a teacher and have taken on more and more responsibility within the English team. This has given me all sorts of new coordination skills, lesson planning experience and increased self-confidence that I feel that will be incredibly useful both personally and professionally in the future.This can also be paralleled with my experience learning Spanish, this too has developed and I hope will continue to do so throughout the rest of my stay here.

What has struck me most whilst working with SKIP, is the immensely high caliber of volunteers that the organization attracts. People with a vast range of experience from around the world seem to be turning up every day.This means that, although a volunteer based organization, everyone is giving their work the dedication, responsibility and hard work that are required in order to make SKIP successful. It also a great place to learn about the world and live and work with people from a variety of countries.

The experience of living and working in Peru has also been incredible. Trujillo itself is, on the surface, a rather unremarkable place. However, the colonial center is nice, its location near to the beach fantastic and the long-weekend trips that are available from here to explore Peru are incredible. The lifestyle here is also intriguing, stimulating and, at times, frustrating, which makes living here all the more enjoyable. The fact that Peru always lurks just outside the door means that the daily routine is often broken up by exciting adventures in taxis, trips to the enormous markets and the exotic sounds (and smells) of the city.

Finally there are the kids. The most incredible bunch of little people you will ever meet. Insane, frustrating and exhausting beyond belief they definitely are extremely hard work. However, spending time with them, working with them and developing my skills amongst them has been a more rewarding experience than I ever imagined.  Getting to know the community and seeing their everyday struggles can be difficult. However seeing the work that SKIP does working with the people and immensely positive results that can be noticed nearly every day insures that we can all feel positive about the contribution we are making.

Sam Webb

Project part of BREAKING BARRIERS
BUILDING PARTNERSHIP
and supported by EACEA

and the Youth in Action Programme

of the European Commission.

For more information about BREAKING BARRIERS BUILDING PARTNERSHIP, visit the special webapge in clicking here.

Discover the VIDEO of our project in INDIA and the testimonies of Rebbecca and Lauren

Discover a video about Rebecca and Lauren, short term volunteers in India.

" My dream was to work with children but I didn't have the skills to fulfill this. After my one month adventure in India, I now have developed the skills to pursue my dream."

Rebecca

To read the full testimony of Rebecca, click here

"After my A levels, I was very indecisive about what I wanted to do next as I’d lost the flare to learn and I wanted to do something new and exciting. Everything is Possible gave me the chance to go and work in India. This experience brought the fun back into working and has made me more excited for the future.” Lauren
To read the full testimony of Lauren, click here

Project part of CREATIVE INCLUSION

and supported by EACEA

and the Youth in Action Programme

of the European Commission.

For more info about Creative Inclusion, visit the special webpage, clicking here.

Welcome to our 3 new short term volunteers

Karolina, Friedrich and Anna with Barbara, their mentor.

All the Everything is Possible Team is happy to welcome our 3 new EVS volunteers: Karolina, Friedrich and Anna. They come from Poland and Germany and will volunteer in a environmental project for one month.

They will be joined by Lidia, short term trainee (Leonardo).

The volunteers during their on-arrival training.

Volunteers during their on-arrival training. Activity: Why did you want to be an EVS volunteer?



DISCOVER the VIDEO of the Gruntvig Learner Workshop ''Exchanging Dreams''

In one week, 25 participants from five european countries - France, Hungary, Italy, Sweden and United Kingdom - learnt about media and gained skills in Photography, Exhibition, Television, Movie, Video editing, Soundtrack editing, Radio show, Radio drama.

''Exchanging Dreams'' is a Grundtvig Learner Workshop organised by Everything is Possible and supported by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union and its UK National Agency, ECORYS.

For more information about the Grundtvig Learner Workshops (previous and future) organised by Everything is Possible, please visit this blog : http://epgrundtvigworkshop1.blogspot.com/

Information about the programme : http://www.grundtvig.org.uk/

''Rain, rain and my first day at school'' extract from Paul's blog, volunteer in Jamaica

Paul, volunteer in Jamaica

''Was I going to be able to cope taking a group of kids by myself? How was I going to work around my lack of sign language? [...] Anyway, thanks to Miss Cilda insisting all the senior boys turned up, and also thanks to Ryan, Mr Lewis' son, who signs perfectly and kindly acted as my interpreter, I think I got away with it. Just. I wonder if I can get away with the same with the girls tomorrow?''

Around teatime Saturday, the persistent drizzle that had been falling since early afternoon advanced itself into a steady downpour that quickly shrouded the surrounding hills in a thick mist that made it difficult to decide where the heavy grey sky finished and the lush green lanscape began. By the time dark fell, the wind had whipped itself up into a frenzy and the rain had begun to lash down with the kind of ferocity that makes even a precipitation-hardened Northerner like me cower inside. Barely 24 hours in Jamaica, and three days after the official start of Hurricane Season, and I was being treated to my first tropical storm.

48 hours later and the rain has yet to let up. There are peaks and troughs in its intensity, and the violent wind that woke me up several times Saturday night has more or less subsided, but bar for one particularly crazy week of rain I remember in Leeds one October about 10 years ago when I vividly remember Clarendon Road being turned into a small river, I can confidently say I have never seen so much rain fall in my life. So much for the tropical roasting I was expecting from JA!

Rain like this obviously brings its problems. There are reports of extensive flooding around the island already, and with the weather forecast predicting more of the same possibly for the rest of the week, there is a real concern of some very serious damage being done. And this could be just the start - Miss Veronica, one of the ladies who works here at CCCD, told me that they are predicting a particularly bad wet season this year, with as many as 16 major storms forecast in the coming six months. Looks like I picked the wrong year to leave the good old miserable British summer behind.

 

The main school building during a rare bit of sunshine

Closer to home, the rain has given my first few days at the CCCD a slightly strange feel. Apart from the fact that I can currently barely hear Junior Murvin's 'Police and Thieves' booming out my laptop such is the noise being made by the rain thundering on the roof above me, it has meant that I've spent a considerable amount of time cooped up in my apartment twiddling my thumbs (or reading). Despite regular empassioned pleas from some of the kids for a repeat of Saturday's impromptu cricket match, strict school rules against playing out in the rain (as well as the laws of general sanity) have unfortunately prevented such an occurence. It has also thrown a bit of a temporary spanner in the works of my brief as sports coach.

Anyway, after a very quiet (and damp) first weekend in JA, Monday morning finally rolled around and with it my first proper day at school. I actually felt quite nervous when I got up at 6.30 to shower, dress and get to the dining room on time for breakfast at 7 - was I going to be able to cope taking a group of kids by myself? How was I going to work around my lack of sign language? After breakfast, the day started with Devotion (what I'd have called assembly at school), which included the brilliant sight of all the kids sign-singing hymns. At the end it was my turn to stand up and be introduced by the Principal, Mrs Demercardo, and I even had the honour of being given a sign-name - after some debate it was decided it should be the signs for my initials signed against the open left palm, and early variation being rejected for apparently being too girly. Well, either way, it saves me painfully fingerspelling my entire name everytime I'm asked.

 

Sports Club in full effect

After Devotion I had a meeting with school administrator Mr Nicholas Headley and Mrs deMercado (Miss Cilda when out of earshot of the kids) deciding what it was they would like me to do during my time at the school. It's pretty straight forward - at present the kids have very little in the way of structured sports or PE, so they want me to run a series of after school sports clubs for different age groups and the two sexes, as well as offer some help with informal sports and games for the residential kids after supper on an evening and at weekends. Oh, and as an added challenge I will also be trying to organise an end of term Sports Day / Activities Day, possibly as early as a week on Friday. Eek. I think the idea is that if a clueless outsider with no sign language can give the kids a bit of structured sporting activity they enjoy and get something out of, it should be easy to follow up more formally next school year.

So, after a quick tour round a sodden Mandeville courtesy of Nicholas and a meeting with Paperfoot (aka Charlton Francis), my official mentor and main contact with the sending organisation back home, it was onto my first sports club - an hour-and-a-quarter with the senior boys. Given the fact we couldn't go outside, this was probably the toughest first assignment I could have had - with pretty much all the sporting equipment I'd brought / been given by two visiting benefactors from the States at the weekend, namely footballs, volleyball, tennis gear, badminton gear, a cricket set, and baseball/softball set, being negated by the weather, what exactly was I going to do with 15 or 16 teenage boys in an indoor auditorium? A lesson in planning for all eventualities, methinks.

Summoning all my reserves of blag, and quickly consulting a list of kids' games I'd downloaded from the internet, I struck upon one that might just work - Chinese Ball. Basically involving getting a group of people standing in a circle and throwing a ball around, with anyone who drops it having to drop out, I reckoned I could pass it off as a cricket catching training drill. I even fancied I could do a bit riffing on the idea by a) using two balls at once and b) getting anyone who dropped the ball to stand in the middle and try and obstruct throws around the circle, earning the right to get back into the circle by blocking throws and thus encouraging a bit of teamwork. Or something. Anyway, thanks to Miss Cilda insisting all the senior boys turned up, and also thanks to Ryan, Mr Lewis' son, who signs perfectly and kindly acted as my interpreter, I think I got away with it. Just. I wonder if I can get away with the same with the girls tomorrow?

Paul, volunteer in Jamaica

Project part of CREATIVE INCLUSION

and supported by EACEA

and the Youth in Action Programme

of the European Commission.

For more info about Creative Inclusion, visit the special webpage, clicking here.

To read more about Paul's volunteering in Jamaica, visit his blog : http://nogsjah.blogspot.com/

Testimony from Beth, Long Term volunteer in Peru

''I can’t believe I am almost halfway through my EVS placement. It has been a whirlwind ride mainly because I have been kept so busy. I am slowly finding my rhythm and feeling more confident in my roles."

Finding the time to practise my Spanish has really helped my volunteer experience in general and I am keen to extend my stay if I can! I work as a volunteer coordinator and currently also teach English and Sports.  I like the variation in the tasks that I have and even though I did not set out to be a teacher, I do appreciate the skills I am learning from managing a class full of children.

Living in the volunteer house has been an experience in itself as there are 20 of us living together from more than 10 countries in Europe and all over the world.  It has been great to share our cultures and especially our food!  There is a lot of energy in the team and we all keep each other focussed on the work we came out to do. Over the four-day Easter break a group of us took a trip to a beautiful town in the mountains– it was such a change from the noise and chaos of Trujillo. Apart from that, I’ve found a local Thai-boxing club, have started traditional Peruvian dance classes, and am progressing slowly at surfing! ''

Beth, Long Term volunteer in Peru

Project part of BREAKING BARRIERS
BUILDING PARTNERSHIP
and supported by EACEA

and the Youth in Action Programme

of the European Commission.

For more information about BREAKING BARRIERS BUILDING PARTNERSHIP, visit the special webapge in clicking here.