Some feedback from a volunteer in Nepal.

It is very important to plan activities and projects for the children, as to make the most of your time at an orphanage. I will advise that you spend the first two days getting accustomed to the daily routine of the orphanage. Every orphanage is run differently.

The children are eager to be active and learn. What we might think are boring chores at home, can be new and exciting activities for the children. Though your time at an orphanage may be short, you can make a small change if you plan your time wisely. Remember that the children appreciate every minute you spend with them, acknowledge them and care for them.

Project and activity ideas:

• Green area activities: Ball games, Frisbee, badminton, song-games, tag, competitions etc.

• Cooking. At the orphanage both breakfast and dinner consists of Dal Bhat. Therefore, any variety teaches the children about western culture. Cook something that is typical for your home country as the entire meal or simply as an exciting side dish to the Dal Bhat.

• Making or maintaining a vegetable garden, so that the orphanage can be self-reliant on vegetables and fruits. You can teach the children to plant, water and maintain vegetables and fruits.

• Teaching projects at schools or orphanages. Use western teaching methods for example songs, role-games, drawing, hang-man for spelling, quizzes, competitions etc.

• Cleaning. Cleaning articles can be expensive for the orphanage and therefore not the first priority. It is therefore important to teach the children how important and also easy it is to sweep, dust and dry dust away, to wash kitchen tables and articles, two wash door handles and so much more.

• Hygienic. The orphanages only have limited amounts of water, so they can only shower once a week. However, they can never be taught to many times how important it is to wash their hands!

• Database of children. Make creative children profile-collages and, if there are any new children, fill out a children-database form.

I hope you will do one or all of these projects or perhaps just get inspiration. And do not hesitate to add new ideas and thoughts to the list.

• Good luck!

For more information Click Here

Volunteer projects make a difference to kids, communities and animals around the world… but that’s only half of it. Volunteer projects change the lives of the volunteer.

And the more experienced you are to start with, the bigger the difference to make! See the full article in the Express on two of our 50+ volunteers

here: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/313006/Gap-Year-grown-ups

(extracts) Christine – teaching & yoga – Nepal: The big spur for me was having breast cancer 15 years ago. That taught me you can’t take life for granted. I had a very aggressive form of the cancer and then had a deep vein thrombosis which left me with a weak left leg and in chronic pain. I was signed off from the pain clinic last year and decided to test myself and my recovery by making quite an extreme trip. My husband isn’t very adventurous but he’s quite happy to let me take off on my own. I see this as a point in life when I have the time and money to travel and also hopefully to make a difference in the countries I visit. I had the time of my life. I trekked up Annapurna – and threw my walking stick away! I realised I did not need it. I had to dispense with all my ideas of Western comfort and immerse myself in the life of the people. I was invited to family festivals and welcomed with open arms. It gave me faith back in myself. Now I am planning other trips.

(extracts) Morvern – Dolphins – Australia

“I felt a different person out there – much younger and far more free. I lived in a volunteers’ hostel with people of all ages – many a lot younger than me – and of all nationalities. A trip like this takes you out of your comfort zone. It’s all too easy as you get older to make life very safe and predictable. I wanted to shake all that up and start to experience life before I am too old to travel widely. I worked in the same job for 20 years and although I loved it I knew I wanted more out of life. I don’t have any ties apart from my cats and I decided to take early retirement and just take off to wherever I fancied. I simply typed “adult gap year” into the internet and found a company called Travellers Worldwide…..

The whole experience really pushed me out of my comfort zone and I learned a lot about myself. I learned I am much more resilient than I thought and that I still have so much to give. I can talk to anyone and feel at ease in their company. When I left I was so emotional and I cried on my last day on the beach. Baby dolphins were being born and I thought: “Will I ever see you again?”

I made so many new friends and the internet is great because I can get updates from the centre and keep in touch. I’d love to go back. Now I am determined to be as adventurous as I can for as long as I can.

Grown up Gapper? Click here…

Carmen B / Australia / TV: To sum up the 4 weeks I have spent at the TV station, I have thoroughly enjoyed receiving hands on experience. I feel that where in the UK you would not be used for anything more than making the tea, at the TV station here you are granted the freedom to be creative; to think and research interesting briefs and then to be allowed to go and shoot them at various locations. The pace of life may not be as busy as UK media offices, but it is a perfect opportunity to ease yourself into the industry, without it being too daunting. I have also gained the initiative to work that much harder and to gain more experience within the industry.

I completed a month’s TV work experience in Perth. In the UK, I had struggled to obtain media work experience and thought your program was an excellent way to combine the two. The stay was great; the accommodation was nice, I had contacts in Perth in case I ran into trouble, and made loads of new friends.  I then went on to travel all of Australia. I came back to the UK from my travels in May and in September I was offered a 6 month contract with MTV as their creative intern, and upon nearing the end of my contract, have now been offered a year contract at the BBC as production co-ordinator.

I just wanted to say a massive thank you for my experience, both work and culturally, in Australia. I would hugely recommend this to anyone, especially those who want to break into media via an alternative path. My employer said she was impressed with the month I did in Australia, because it showed I had the initiative to get out there and do something productive, and it was something that stood out amongst the hundreds of CVs she received!

For more information on our internships in Perth click here:

TV Internship

Radio Internhip

Journalism Internship

News in from Sepilok!

Thanks to the help of Travellers volunteers, Sepilok’s work with the Orang-utans continues to go from strength to strength.  This month saw the first of 6 releases back into the wild planned for this year. Eyos (a female) was returned to the wild and so far, the release appears to have been successful.  Eyos’s progress will be monitored closely for the next 2 years or so.

Why not get involved?!

*please note this project books up far in advance - click here for more info

PAINTING THE CHILDREN’S HOME, A PERFECT DAY, SOUP KITCHEN … AND HOT DOG PARTY! – Knysna – March 2012

The local Children’s Home is home to over 50 children and is in a township on the outskirts of Knysna town. On a recent visit there, the manageress, Eva, had expressed how desperate they were for the front reception and dining area, where the children eat their meals, to be painted. I must admit the walls looked really grubby and dingy, in various shades of brown, yellow, blue and green. I said I would speak to our SA director, Bill, and see what how we could help.

Bill agreed and we went and bought the paint that Eva had chosen in a shade called “Purple Tryst” with extra white ceiling paint. So on this beautiful sunny Saturday the volunteers and I headed up to the local children’s home armed with our paint, brushes, trays and rollers ready to tackle the job. We were fortunate to get two local chaps that I know to help out, which was great as they were a little bit more experienced in the field of painting and decorating – without a doubt it is NOT an area I excel in or enjoy! With their help and supervision the painting went faster than we thought it would.

Becca, from Edmonton in Canada, and Anisah who has joined us from London, got to work on the itty bits around the skirting and all the intricate spots. George, who is our volunteer from Manchester, who is quite a tall chap, did all the intricate bits around the top and helped finish painting the ceiling. We all had a turn at painting with the rollers and within the record time of 3 hours we had finished the job.

At this time the children, who had been playing at a nearby park to keep them out of our hair while we were busy painting, came back to the home and started peering through the windows so they could see what we had been doing. They were so pleased with what we had done; I must say it was a HUGE improvement, many of them telling me in Afrikaans ‘dit lyk mooi’ which in English means ‘it looks beautiful’. That was all the reward we needed and as we drove off down the hill back into town I know that all of us had a huge amount of self satisfaction at the difference we could make in their surroundings and hopefully that will make their lives just that little bit brighter .

I am so grateful for the help and hard work that Anisah, Becca, George and our two local chaps, Byron and Rustin, put in. Painting the children’s home would never have been possible without them- and of course the donation of paint from Travellers Worldwide on behalf of our volunteers. Sharon (South Africa volunteer liaison)

A PERFECT DAY! 4th of March 2012

Off we went at the crack of dawn – 6.15 am – to Mossel Bay. It’s a fair drive from Knysna but a beautiful one. My three volunteers had an early morning appointment with a few Great White sharks and we didn’t want to be late and upset them!! So at 8.15 am their journey to meet the ‘white death’ began.

While they were floating in a cage off the side of a boat being eye balled by one of the top ocean predators, I took it easy walking around the town, looking at the historic buildings – Mossel Bay was discovered by Bartholomew Diaz, a Portuguese explorer, in 1488, which is a lot earlier than when Jan van Riebeek first set up a colony in what is now Cape Town.

Seeing as the volunteers were getting to have fun with sharks and I didn’t want to be left out, I took a walk around the “Shark Lab” , a research facility and aquarium, and watched the Soup Fin sharks swimming around. Then it was back off to fetch the volunteers who, at this stage, were totally exhilarated and also a bit queasy – sea sickness is no joke. The girls and I went and walked around the Bartholomew Diaz Maritime museum and then met up with the chaps and went for a brief tan and swim at Santos beach which is just so picturesque.

Then it was off to the town of Groot Brak, which lies between the cities of Mossel Bay and George for our next deadly adventure, walking with lions!!! Now although the lion, Mufasa, and lioness, Lila, are only 17 months old, they are fairly big already and I have no doubt that if we didn’t listen carefully to our guide’s instructions, things could get quite scary. The walk itself went so quickly – too quickly -as it was so entertaining to watch the lions playing around. Before we knew it we had to say good bye to them, partly I think because they were getting a bit rowdy, and off we went, tired after a long but very perfect day!

HELPING THE SOUP KITCHEN … AND A HOT DOG PARTY! 2nd of March 2012

Thanks to a kind donation to the soup kitchen by Andrew and Stephanie Rintoul, we were able to buy the soup kitchen 2 chalkboards and a table and extra chairs. We had a little bit of change left over so we decided to throw a ‘hot dog’ party for the local kids.

On the day we arrived with lots of wolls, tomato sauce and Vienna sausages. It all went very well with Rebecca, one of our volunteers, and I running up and down cutting rolls, heating up the vienna’s and dishing out hot dogs to the kids – some of the bigger ones even devoured two!!

I must say I was really happy with the afternoon ‘hot dog’ party as not only were we able to have hot dogs for all the kids that arrived but we also saw quite a few new faces and I hope we will be seeing them again in the future.

The soup kitchen is run from a Monday to a Friday after school closes and any of the children who come there will get a bowl of food. This can be anything from soup and bread, e-pap (a nutritional porridge that was originally developed for the terminally ill and those with HIV/AIDS) or soya mince with a starch. This means that at least the children are getting fed, because the area is plagued with poverty, alcohol abuse and unemployment. Sadly, though, for some of the children it’s the only meal they will get a day.

For all our projects in South Africa click here

Our Rehabilitation & Release Centre in South Africa produces such well adjusted animals that these 2 graduates just can’t keep away!

Hi there,

Thought you would really enjoy this photo – it really is for real!  These two rhino – now 2 years old, were hand raised as orphans and are at Thula Thula, the reserve where we will be building a new crow satellite station.  They were released into the wild 6 months ago but still like to find people!  They have a 24hour armed guard that walks every where with them to protect them from poachers. We are hoping to have the new centre built by September.

Take care and keep well

Samantha T~ Director – Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife

This wonderful project is always looking for volunteers, more information click here

Check out our fearless Manager in New Zealand, Annette Orchard, holding “Olive” the Python whilst on holiday in Australia at the Cleland wildlife park near Adelaide!

Read more about our awesome Overseas Teams, Click here:

Laura volunteered in South Africa on our Teach Disadvantaged Children in Knysna placement, here is what she told us:

“I thought Sharon was fantastic! She really made you feel at home as soon as you got there, and went above and beyond what was required from her role. She really helped me get the most out of my stay in Knysna.

I really did have the most fantastic time out in South Africa. It is without a doubt the best thing I have ever done.

I spent 3 days a week at a Soup Kitchen in one of the local townships, just helping out with dishing up food, cleaning up the bowls etc. and playing with the kids, giving them lots of attention. It was an optional after-school activity which I was really keen on doing as it allowed me to spend time in a different township and different culture – and spend even more time with kids!

I think it was this that really affected me the most – seeing the conditions some of the kids live in, and getting a true experience of what the townships are like. But the kids really are truly inspirational! They are rarely without a smile, and are always willing to give you hugs and kisses. It really cheered me up and put a smile (or bigger smile) on my face, just spending time with them. Of course they were naughty at times and played up – which was difficult to deal with considering they spoke Xhosa! – but majority of the time they were just extremely cute and playful.

Our excellent project was featured in the Guardian this week…

WINNING TIP: Amazon rainforest, Peru

When I joined a conservation project it wasn’t the jungle that was the best bit – it was the people. They taught me how big life can be, even with very little. On my last day we went to a natural oil spring – our guide said that in 50 years an oil firm would be drilling here. Upriver at Shintuya I saw a macaw painted on the side of a boat. It was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. I realised there are all kinds of marks we can make on the world. I knew then I wanted to leave a brightly coloured one.

By ginger66

More info about this project can be found here:

Rachel Connor our PR intern at our wildlife rehabilitation centre in South Africa told us about this little fellow:

“I am coming to the end of my work experience at CROW now and have had such a good time!

This hedgehog has been a bit of a mystery as we have spent the last couple of days trying to figure out what kind of hedgehog it is and if it is native to South Africa. He appears to be an albino! The hedgehog was found in a garden with grass caught around one of its legs. The grass was so tight that it cut off the blood supply to its leg and the leg unfortunately had to be amputated. We are hoping to discover exactly what breed he is within the next couple of days so that he can be transferred to another organisation that is better suited to finding him a new home. He is making a good recovery, however it is unlikely that he will be able to be released back into the wild with only three legs.”

Isn’t it nice to know that he will continue to live a safe and happy life at the wonderful CROW centre!

Internships and animal conservation projects available at this worthwhile centre – Click Here or contact us for more information!