NEWSLETTER FOR NOVEMBER 2009

Hello Everyone,

It’s been a very busy month both on the business and domestic front.

Felicity our youngest daughter had to go to Great Ormond Street in London for major brain surgery this month so as you can imagine our minds have been elsewhere.

Thankfully Debs came to our rescue and has been manning the office on our absence so a very big thanks to her for keeping us afloat.

This aside November is a month for briefing people before they head off in January and February 2010.

We like to prepare all our participants fully before they head out. We invite all participants who are travelling together to come along for the briefing – we include information about visa application processes, departure procedures, what happens on arrival and details about the placement and the host families.

This gives our participants added confidence in what lies ahead and sufficient time to make any necessary preparations before departure. All our participants end up with a long ‘to do’ list but in all cases it helps focus the mind and excite for the adventure ahead.

It’s small things that get forgotten – what about organising your bank account? ‘Oh had not thought of that!’

In an ideal World we like to have a returned volunteer along to the day. Whilst I can pretend to know the various projects Worldwide there is no better advice from those people who have been on the placement themselves for a sustained period of time – they can tell the story so much better than I can – ‘warts and all!’.

A big thanks to all our returned participants who have helped us out this autumn – your input has been invaluable and I always learn so much from the stories you tell.

RICHARD OLIVER – YEAR OUT GROUP

We were delighted to welcome Richard Oliver of the Year Out Group (YOG) to the office at the beginning of the month.

Changing Worlds has been an active member of the Year Out Group for the last eight years. We concur to its code of practice and attend the regular meetings in London.

Since 2001 the YOG has grown and now has over forty active members. You can imagine our delight that Richard came to visit us.

On the agenda we discussed the Gap Year industry in general and where Richard could see future developments.

We talked about procedures beyond our placements – what happens when participants return to the UK and what feedback we gain and provide. At present we issue a Post Placement Questionnaire to all returned participants and we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of this procedure. Richard supplied us with some useful food for thought that we will be implementing in the future.

Jill Baughen was present to discuss in considerable detail the implementation of the safety guidelines BS8848. We have been working hard at understanding the small print involved with BS8848 and had issues with the definitions of terms like ‘venture leaders’, ‘down time’ and ‘personal time’.

Richard was able to clarify the situation for us.

We thank Richard for giving up his time to come and meet us and provide us with the help and advice we require.

NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA

The following day after meeting Richard Jill took off to New Zealand with her husband Jeff – with her BS8848 hat on!

They arrived to North Island and visited our placements in the Bay of Islands region. Jill meet with our representatives Roger and Carol Ludbrook (see October’s newsletter)

From the Bay Jill took some ‘down time’ to see Auckland, Rotorua and Taupo before heading to Masterton.

There Jill met with Anne McDonald our representative and went to see the girls at the stud. According to Jill the girls are having to work very hard but at the same time are learning ‘a hell of a lot about the workings of a stud’.

Jill went along to meet Ed Hodgkinson the head teacher at Lakeview school in Masterton where we have sent people in the past and have people booked for the future as well. At the school volunteers act as assistant teachers to the local primary school children.

From North Island Jill headed across the stormy Cook Strait to the delights of South Island.

Jill went to meet Debbie our rep in Queenstown and to meet our group of people who are working in hospitality – the feedback she gained has been very useful to us for the people going out in late January 2010.

 From Queenstown Jill took off to Dunedin to meet our old friends Peter and Liz McCarthy. There we have a school who want volunteers to help teach in the classroom but more importantly to help with outdoor education. We will be setting up this new placement over the coming weeks and will be adding to our website soon – watch this space!

Jill then said good bye to Kiwiland and the mountains and headed off to Australia and the desert to see Polly in Mount Isa.

I await more news but Jill will be back to the UK (and the rain!) and I will update you on her return.

SOUTH AFRICA

I had the great pleasure of travelling to this wonderful country for the first time last month.

With the soccer World Cup coming up next Summer the place is simply humming with excitement.

I landed in Cape Town with friends Harry and Leslie from Africa Sabbatical who were setting up the placements for Changing Worlds.

 We met with our first representative Siliziwe at Cape Town airport who then, over the next six days, drove over 3 000 kilometres (2 000 miles!) showing us his country.

We saw all angles of Cape Town – from the newly constructed dock area with its modern shopping malls and eating areas through to the poorer townships north of the city. It was a microcosm of what was to come.

We drove two hours east along the main highway to Gansbaai where I had the privilege of meeting Tracey the lady responsible for the volunteer programme with Marine Dynamics based in the town.

Tracey told me all about the important conservation work taking place off the coast with the marine ‘big five’ – sharks, whales, penguins, dolphins and seals.

The next day Siliziwe and I did the cage dive with the Great White shark – one of those experiences that will stay with me for a very long time.

You get a wet suit and mask and popped in to the cage. The water is cold and murky with a visibility of around 4 metres. They fill the water with ‘chubby’ – fish guts – and it turns the whole place a sort of reddy colour.

Then the fun starts – firs lots of small silver fish arrive in their hundreds eating the fish guts. You wait and nothing happens, you wait longer…I was struggling with the fact that I had not snorkel and found it hard to hold my breath under the water.

 Anyway you wait and wait. Then above you you hear people shouting and you know the shark is not too far off.

The almost without warning you see it advancing towards the cage with its black eyes looking at you!

With mouth gaping and teeth glistening it advances incredibly quickly and BANG! Nearly hitting the cage.

Wow it is simply amazing and something that I had longed to do for many years. The sharks on show that day were ‘small one’s’ – just four metres long!

Anyway the long and short of it is that we Changing Worlds can now offer the opportunity to work with these beautiful creatures.

Despite everything you read we know very little about Great White sharks – their eating habits, their migration routes, their social habits etc.

We offer the unique opportunity to work side by side with research scientists to find out more about them.

To find out more do look at our website at:

http://www.changingworlds.co.uk/Content/Destinations/SouthAfrica/WhatWillIDoResearch.aspx

As well as researching the sharks there is the opportunity to help with the conservation of the penguins on Dyer Island too!

I met with Ollie from the UK who is presently working as a volunteer on the shark project – his feedback was very useful. He plans to continue his own shark research in the future – what a job!

From Gansbaai we continued our drive east to Port Elizabeth, overnighted and then headed to Umtata.

Umtata is where Siliziwe lives and works. I felt the town was typically African in the sense that it was colourful, noisy and very vibrant. There are lots of things to see and do there.

Umtata is also the home to Nelson Mandela and as a result the town has a very informative museum in his honour.

We spent a lot of time visiting various schools and children’s homes. They varied enormously – some schools were well equipped and resourced and appeared well managed – others less so.

All schools were keen to have volunteers – there are opportunities to teach English and lots of other subjects too.

We were keen to get volunteers to help in sports and this was welcomed in the sports mad country – on offer are the opportunities to teach and coach rugby, soccer, tennis, swimming, cricket and basketball.

To find out more do look at our website at:

http://www.changingworlds.co.uk/Content/Destinations/SouthAfrica/WhatWillIDoTeach.aspx

We also visited a school for mentally and physically handicapped children – unfortunately disabled children can be stigmatised in South African communities so to see the school and meet the children was lovely.

One moment that will stay with me was taking a photo of a little girl – I showed her the photo on my digital camera and I saw her physically lift up as she saw herself in the image. A magical moment!

 The country around Umtata is outstanding and quite unique. It’s called the Transvaal and it is simply amazing – lots of dispersed villages across wide open grass plains that stretch to the horizon. I loved it!

From Umtata we headed north to Lydenburg (that’s its old name). It took over 12 hours to drive all that way but we went through some amazing places and saw wonderful sights. The beaches of Durban were impressive (particularly for surfers!) as well as the Drakensburg mountain range of Lesotho. We crossed the Highvelt around Newcastle and Volksrust before getting to Lydenburg.

This region was completely the other end of the spectrum from that around the Transvaal – here it was evident that racial segregation had not moved on from apartheid times.

As we drove around Lydenburg the pastor pointed out the ‘white areas’, the ‘Indian areas’ and the ‘coloured areas’. Wow this was different!

We went to an AIDS awareness event in the town – black people only were in attendance. We went to black schools – no white people there, kids or otherwise! I found it both interesting and challenging at the same time – I think volunteers from the UK would be the same.

We met Cynthia who will be the representative in the town. She works at the nearby Platinum mine.

Despite everything I sensed South Africa will be an excellent destination for volunteers. The people, from all walks of life, appeared friendly and helpful and were extremely hospitable. Everyone spoke English with confidence and there was no great language barrier.

The country is huge and very diverse. I would like potential volunteers to think about mixing and matching our placements – this would provide a wonderful insight in to South Africa seeing both its strengths and its weaknesses.

Do check out our website at:

http://www.changingworlds.co.uk/Content/Destinations/SouthAfrica/Overview.aspx

BRADT TRAVEL PUBLICATIONS

As part of our pre departure briefing sessions we always encourage participants to purchase a travel guide.

We are very proud to now be associated with Bradt Publications where Changing Worlds volunteers will enjoy 25% discount if you purchase their travel guides through our site.

 Bradt Publications have been in the travel writing business for many years. Their ethos is very much like our own – being relatively small and independent they offer a service second to none.

To find out more do look at our website at:

http://www.changingworlds.co.uk/Content/BradtTravelGuides/Overview.aspx

PHOTO COMPETITION

Craig is busying himself creating a new photo competition for December 2010. He hopes to have it on our website in the not too distant future.

To find out more do look at our website at:

http://www.changingworlds.co.uk/Home.aspx?vurl=%2f%2fRoot%2fContent%2fCompetitions%2fHoldingpage

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR

Shirley and I want to take this opportunity to wish you and your family and friends our best wishes over the forthcoming Christmas and New Year holiday time. We hope you get everything you dream for!

The Changing Worlds office will be closed from Wednesday 23 December 2009 until Tuesday 05 January 2010.

If in this time you do need to contact us then do e-mail me at; david@changingworlds.co.uk or do call the office and leave a message on 01883 340960.

I will be checking both my e-mails and the telephone daily and will get back to you as soon as I can.

Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year for 2010.

Have fun!

David