Please Come and Work With Us in Tanzania!

To all my beloved volunteers who have come on the Tanzania program, I take this opportunity to thank you and wish you my best and would also like to invite you again to help us by serving on another program. And we also ask you to encourage your friends and family to also come to our community as a volunteer.

In the past 6 months, 30 Global Volunteers came to Pomerini and Ipalamwa. Whole heartedly, they contributed their time and talents in the two communities through serving, teaching, and learning with us. There were plenty of opportunities for the volunteers to help us in various projects teaching students, construction, attending patients, equipping the community with primary health supplies, painting, and coaching in sports.

As always, the people of Pomerini and Ipalamwa extended a warm welcome to the Global Volunteers. The local people took time off from their busy lives and freely mingled with the volunteers to know more about the volunteers and also to share information about their lives and the needs and goals of the community.

Computer education was a welcome subject for our students which is presently taught in Pomerini only. Both students and teachers now have a better understanding of Power Point, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, etc.

The local people learned how to construct an environmentally friendly stove through Global Volunteers. Sixty local people attended the stove construction demonstration which went hand in hand with the teaching of primary health and hygiene to sixteen primary health service providers from eight villages in Pomerini.

Volunteer donations also provided medications and supplies to Pomerini and Ipalamwa Clinics. The schools received supplies like wall maps, erasers, chalk, globes, books, pens and pencils. This has greatly helped our schools in meeting the shortage of supplies.

Thank you for your contribution of your precious time with us, and also your skills, materials, and the good spirit you bring to our community. I want to remind you that our fight to improve our community is still on and with your help we will definitely win. So I kindly request you to come back again.

We love you all,
Edward Mgeni, Tanzania Country Manager

Vote for Global Volunteers in the Star Tribune Full Page Project!

From November 15 - November 21 the Star Tribune newspaper is holding a contest entitled 'Full Page Project' amongst MN non-profits and the winner will receive a free full page ad in the Sunday paper!

Please vote for us this week ~ you can vote once per hour!

Here is the link where you can register and then vote for Global Volunteers (please copy and paste the link):
http://startribune.upickem.net/engine/Registration.aspx?contestid=22815

We would also encourage you to pass this link along to your family and friends, and post it on your personal Facebbok page or blog. Let us know if you have any questions, and remember voting has begun!

Thank you for your support.

Xin Chao from Hanoi!

Thank you to all the volunteers who have participated in our Global Volunteers Vietnam Program. From September 2009 through September 2010, a total of 47 volunteers served on five teams. For each one, this was a most memorable service experience.

Hanoi is a vibrant city, full of history and contrasts, where the ancient and the modern co-exist side by side. The September team had the great privilege of partaking in the city’s 1000th anniversary celebrations! For ten days, the city “exploded” with a multitude of historic and cultural events, parades, performances , laser shows and fireworks while dedicating new bridges, theaters, and museums… For the volunteers who joined the proud Vietnamese people in celebrating this momentous event, it was a unique experience!

We have consolidated our relationships with our hosts in Hanoi:
Nguyen Binh Kheim High School (NBK) in a residential district where Mr. Hoa, the Principal of the School, and Mr. Hoa, the Head of the English Department, continue to look forward to welcoming our volunteers. Many of the English teachers – at first somewhat shy about working with our volunteers - have now become enthusiastic partners as they realize that they are learning a lot from the volunteers. The children enjoy showing their appreciation to their “teachers” and everyone is always sad on the last day of the service program! The evening “cross-cultural exchange” when older students come to the hotel to take the volunteers on a walk around the historic neighborhood continues to be a success. Foreign Trade University (FTU) has the reputation of being the best University in Hanoi, and is growing very fast. As more volunteers have been lecturing there, the English teachers have learned how to better integrate them into their programs. The students are respectful and appreciative of the opportunity to improve their conversation skills and have been engaging the volunteer teachers in meaningful exchanges. The volunteers on the last team there were invited by some of the students to tour some of the cultural sites around the city.

During the past year on the Vietnam Program, Global Volunteer’s contribution towards the United Nations Millennium Development Goals are as follows: On Target 3 – To ensure education for both boys and girls to complete a full course of primary education, we contributed 1148 hours of conversational English and taught other subjects to over 2200 students.

Francoise Yohalem – a Volunteer Team Leader who had lead twice to Hanoi – looks forward to her next assignment there. She advises: “Hanoi is moving fast… unfortunately trying to catch up with Saigon. Go there before it changes too much! You will enjoy the charm, the quaintness, the historical and cultural sites, but, most of all, you will be touched by the kindness, sincerity, and generosity of the Vietnamese people.

Our hosts, community partners, teachers, children, and other Vietnamese whom you have taught or helped while there want to thank you for the help they have received and hope you will visit again. For those of you who cannot do another service program soon, please do continue your service as a sponsor through the Global Volunteers Child Sponsorship program or by telling others about your Vietnam experience as an Encore Team member. We welcome your support in any way. We need your help in our ongoing work in Vietnam.

- Stephen Raja Chinnappan,
Regional Manager – Oceanic Pacific, Asia and Africa

The Happiest Place on Earth

Saludos desde el lugar más feliz del mundo!

Greetings from the happiest place on earth! And the one of the most productive!
In the past 6 months, volunteers contributed 720 hours to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women, Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality, Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health and Goal 6: Combat Diseases. In addition, the volunteers provided a total of 936 hours of labor, working hand-in-hand with our dedicated community partners on achieving their own locally defined development goals.

Cañitas: This lovely tiny town hosted a strong and dedicated team of volunteers. Upon arrival, they witnessed firsthand the consequences of flooding, as the village health clinic was submerged in mud. Patiently, work was initiated by cleaning and scrubbing the inside of the structure while on the outside the garden also needed maintenance. This crew also dug enthusiastically a large dry well next to building, and cleaned the surrounding drainage and property to ensure the effectiveness of the structure during the rainy season year. A walkway was built to enter the building securely and a wall was built inside to separate the infirmary from the doctor’s office. The fence was welded and got lots of green paint! The outside of the building was painted cream and the window frames got chocolate color enamel. And in between all the hard work, a few soccer pick-up games, Costa Rica vs. USA, friendship scored!

CASEM: We supported our dear CASEM this past summer by helping them build a new diner! Faced with difficult economic times, it is their goal to increase income by serving wonderful local cuisine. At the beginning of the year the wood for the diner’s furniture was scraped, sanded and perfected. The first chair rolled out of Faustino´s hands and the others came quickly! Another team built and painted additional storage space at the back of the building to provide room for the new traditional kitchen stove. The tabletops were also sanded and prepared. We celebrated the 200th Team to serve in Costa Rica after 18 years of service in the Monteverde area. This team moved and stored the materials into the newly built storage and prepared the back room for the new chairs and tables.

Join us again: I would like to share what some of our volunteers said after experiencing the service program: “If we get to know people from other countries we will lose distrust” – Pat. “I learned the way the women never gave up during our work and kept trying until everything was done” - Zack, “Speechless at the sincerity of the of the local peoples’ gratitude” - Donna.

Come and work hand-in-hand with people you get to know and support. Let your friends and family know about your experience and encourage them to do the same, or send someone you love to perpetuate this chain of goodwill and peace. Entertaining rides guaranteed! The only line you will have to stand in is to get a shovel or a brush! Adventure in Service, smiles waiting to greet you!

You may also contribute to the priorities of all of our host communities in Costa Rica by clicking here to make a donation to the general Costa Rica fund.
Mil Gracias to all the dedicated volunteers’ families, mother and daughters, college and high school students, friends and colleagues, retirees that refuse to give up work that brings joy, enthusiasm, and knowledge to this happy place. You have made it even happier! So, in the words of Ben Franklin: “Well done is better than well said!"

Tropically yours, Costa Rica Country Manager Nia Salas