Jamie Blaikie is just back from a year in Roatan, an island just off Honduras. He’s been teaching in a village school and has done it all with bucket loads of enthusiasm and dedication. He has also formed some fantastic friendships along the way. Great to hear Jamie! By Jamie Blaikie I have returned home after my year in Honduras! I am writing this to give thanks to the support you gave me to help me reach the country in the first place. The year […]
Izzy Richards is just about to leave for Otjikondo School in Namibia – she has been awarded one of our Footprinter Grants for volunteers heading to educational projects in disadvantaged communities. We are always especially delighted when “Footprinters” go to Otjikondo – this is the school Hazel put so much energy into when she was a volunteer teacher in 2001/2002. Reflections from Izzy Richards as she sets off When I think about how in six days (Thursday 30th August) I will be embarking on the […]
We are over the 8 month mark. A completely ridiculous thing to think about. For me – Jamie Blaikie – it is such a crazy thought as I have become so invested in the Project and in the teaching and living in Punta Gorda that I can’t imagine how life is going to change when I go back to Scotland. Moreover I can’t imagine life without our wee house, without Merilu’s cooking and without teaching nutter kids every day! Back to Punta Gorda I last wrote […]
As we head into 2018 I thought this would be a good time to tell you about our first few months in Central America. I’m volunteering as a teacher at a school on Roatan Island, off the coast of Honduras. Island Life My project partner Solomon and I live and work at a school in a place called Punta Gorda on the island of Roatan off the north coast of Honduras. The town is utterly beautiful, it is right on the Caribbean Sea, and the […]
After nearly two months in Ghana, I can safely say that the mad way of life here feels almost ordinary. Power cuts, taxis with doors falling off and the absence of any organisation are all quite normal. There are so many moments where I pinch myself, wondering how and why I never appreciated such luxuries like hot showers and toilet paper. Comfy beds and functioning kettles are things of dreams! At first, everything was a massive shock. The difference in culture, people, values and norms […]
As I sit here back home in my comfortable kitchen, it’s hard to believe that only four weeks ago I was standing up in front of a class of 55 pupils. It was 36 degrees and 99% humidity and I was teaching them about numeric bases and superlative adjectives, amongst other things. As cliché as it sounds, my time in Ghana has been the best experience of my life. I’ve spent eight months living in a completely new environment. I’ve met some amazing people, heard some incredible […]
My first placement was at MRSM TAR, which was located on the East coast of Malaysia. After a few weeks of being at the new school, we were eventually given classes to teach ourselves. It was quite hard at TAR as not many people spoke to my partner and I. I put this down to the language barrier and perhaps they were too shy to approach us or reply if we conversed with them. A handful of the older students really helped to make us […]
Hello, I welcome you find out more about my Art Workshops and life in India, let me tell you about the last 3 months. India bursts with colour, through the landscape, the transport, the music,the people, the buildings, the food. You can spend 5 minutes here and you will see that art is naturally a large part of the culture. But I have noticed that in school, the children are not exposed to expressing themselves with art or creative thinking. This is where I come […]
Murray Watson reports on his volunteer year at Sand Creek Secondary, Guyana. Time to write from Letham Day 110, again I’m in Lethem – 3 hours from Sand Creek. This time meals and accommodation have been provided for by the ministry – thus the room is shared, the bed has no sheet or duvet and there’s no mossy nets but hey it’s free. Ben and I are here to represent Sand Creek Secondary at a mathematics workshop with the purpose of relaying information about the […]
Stephanie Smith writes her final report on her experience volunteering in Ngcizela, South Africa. My life in Ngcizela Yho, (this kind of loosely translates to a sigh in English) is the first word I think of to begin summing up my life in Ngcizela! Firstly, I would really like to take this opportunity to thank the community for having us live in and amongst them. It was such a different way of life. However, it is not so much the tangible things in the sense […]
