Last weekend I attended the first training weekend for the trip. We stayed in YHA, a youth hostel overlooking Holland Park, London, and trained in the Indian YMCA. The latter being where the title of this post came from.
The VolunteersMost my team had trained prior to me as I couldn't make that weekend but I was glad to meet many interesting and brilliant people, including Laura - the only other there on my placement. Speaking to lots of enthusiastic like minded people, discussing our placements was one of the biggest parts of the training.
Day 1 & 2The first two days the group of around 30 were split into two. Namibia, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Kenya were all covered by volunteers in my half of the group. There were many more countries in the other half. Our main dog (this is 'street' lingo for the trainer taking our sessions) was a top class break dancer with plenty of experience volunteering overseas. His name was MC Gav-meister. He took us through issues such as global development, culture shock and fundraising. On top of this we had lots of 'energizers' - games to get people going, sort of like drinking games but without the drinking.
Between the training there was plenty of time to eat curry and socialise with the other volunteers. After such long days with lots of information to take in it was nice to unwind with everyone - although our placements and VSO were never far from our minds and often the main area of conversation.
The final part of day 2 was the medical talk. It was a bit frightening but after hearing it all the effort going into immunisations really seems worth it.
Day 3The final day was purely for those on the Global Xchange programmes. It was a great chance to learn more about our placements. Christmas and New Years will be spent in Namibia and, the much more important national holiday, my Birthday, will be spent in Newcastle. A summary of what my team will be doing is below.
A Few Things
The girls can expect marriage proposals in their exchange country.
All tap water should be boiled before drinking.
Things might crawl under my skin.
Not only will we experience a culture shock abroad, but on return too.
Indian YMCAs serve curry and NOTHING else.
London pubs are expensive and have a tiny range of ciders.
My Placement
NambiaWe will be placed with The Mehozetu Network of Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children. The Mehozetu project is situated in Rundu - a part of the country where poverty is rife and the HIV and AIDS pandemic has significant implications for livelihoods in the area.
The placements where the GX are likely to be involved in are:
- School building constructions
- Feeding scheme and garden projects
- Teacher training and children engagement
- Income generation
- Parent and village involvement in the project
- HIV/AIDS vs livelihoods in the villages
NewcastleWe will be working with
Crisis Skylight Newcastle. Crisis is the national charity for single homeless people. The team will be working around themes of education, employment, health and wellbeing, awareness, and campaigning.
