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| | February 10, 2012 | | Here are the latest updates from our teams and interns. All our volunteers in Costa Rica, Guyana and Vanuatu will be finishing their projects on Monday and and returning to Australia or heading off to do some independent travel. We are so proud of all the work they have done over the last 10 weeks and we will post some photos soon once the volunteers get back and have access to fast internet so they can send us lots of photos! | | | | Vanuatu | | The team are now back in Port Vila. They arrived today from Tongoa and are said to be looking well and looking forward to a big steak tonight! They'll take part in closure tomorrow and then have free time on Sunday to do whatever they please before returning home. They will certinaly enjoy the luxury that Port Vila has to offer over the weekend! | | | | Guyana | | The team will be returning to Georgetown today where they will have a project debrief and relax in Georgetown before boarding their flights home. Some of the volunteers will take the opportunity to visit the beautiful Kaiteur Falls over the weekend as well. The team have had a great time over their last few days in the community and were given a wonderful farewell by all accounts. Sara, the field staff told me that much effort went into the preparations for them and the gifts given to them were very nice. Leaving will be bitter sweet!!!!! The last few days has seen the volunteers involved in making costumes and preparing for Mashumani which is a celebration of Guyana’s republic anniversary and is a very big party in Guyana! They helped the children in the community practice and prepare and then some of the volunteers accompanied the children to Lethem, a nearby larger town, to participate in the festivities and competitions and the children from the community actually won, and this was helped largely by the efforts of Elise who really spent time with the children helping them practice and making their costumes. They received two first places and one third which they were excited and thrilled about! Apart from the festivities of Mashumani, the English classes continued, as did reading and music classes, and community work continued on the airstrip and on a number of activities surrounding the eco lodge. The volunteers were working hard to get as much done as they could before leaving. | | | | India | Out three interns in India continue to have a great time and are thoroughly enjoying their work and the lifestyle Bangalore has to offer. Christopher Doig will be finishing up his placement next week, and then heading off on a month of independent travel, while Claire Broderick and Danielle Edwards still have a month of their placement left. The group are headed to Hampi this weekend, which is a beach resort very popular to visit and within fairly easy distance of Bangalore. It will be a nice break from the busy polluted city. Below is a photo of Chris Doig outside one of the impressive temples in Mysore that the interns visited last weekend.
 | | | | February 8, 2012 | | | | Vanuatu | | The team are doing really well and are now in their final few days of their project. They will be heading back to Port Vila shortly for a debrief there before the end of their project on 13th February. They have all been working so hard and done a great job and the headmaster of the school is just so happy and he stated that without these volunteers his dream of having a library would never have come true. The volunteers had been busy preparing for the Mini Youth Skills Summit which took place last week. They focused on Life Skills and Leadership training with local youths in each host community. They also managed to conduct the same training with other nearby communities such as Lupalea and Selembanga. The idea of the training was to prepare local youths for the Mini Youth Skill Summit which provided workshops on a range of topics to youth from seven surrounding communities. Below are some photos that Anita Samana, the Youth Challenge Vanuatu Project Manager, took when she visited the team in their 6th week of the project.  
       
| | | | February 7, 2012 | | | | Costa Rica | | The latest activity report from Andrew Livingstone, the Costa Rica Field Staff, has just come in and below are some of the activities the team has been involved in lately. Also below is a photo of some of the children in the English Classes and also April Kermeen helping to plant a tree in the community of San Francisco where the volunteers are living and working.  
Tourism Plan - · Downloaded satellite images and made graphics for tourism document
- · Writing attractions section of report
- · Writing tourist profiles and community activities for report
- · Drafting sections of the tourist plan, confirming contact details for the plan
Children’s English Classes- 3.5 hours total - · Taste testing (learned names for different foods and the adjectives to describe them)
- · Spelling (unscrambling of nouns)
- · Months (sang a song with the names of the months and copied the lyrics into books.
Adults English Classes- 28 hours total - · Comprehension, verb tense time line – explaining past, present and future tense, tastes and adjectives.
- · Conversational Skills, Verb – Tense – Timeline.
- · Interview with a friend
Waste Management · Setting up and painting of the donated bins- The community now has three general rubbish bins and four recycling bins that can hold all the towns recycling and general waste. There is also an abandoned shed that has been donated by the community to use as a storage station for the recycling waste as a means to manage the excess waste they accumulate over the one month. Painting the bins with the children in the community was a great activity to help the locals beautify the area the bins will be placed. They were also an important part of the establishment process of the bins and it allowed the children to learn about recycling and where each bit of rubbish they have is supposed to go. · Clean up San Francisco!- After we had painted and set up the bins in front of the school, we took a number of volunteers (children) around the main areas of San Francisco to do a local clean up of rubbish. While cleaning with the children we showed them where each item of rubbish was to go and what categories the recycling rubbish was separated into. The children then showed great initiative by picking up the rubbish and placing it in its corresponding bin correctly. They then went around with their own bags and continued to clean up the entire community. Community Activities · Community Involvement, preparing food for a carnival in San Carlos- This provided an Insight into the cultural, economic and social activities of the local community. Direct monetary benefits from selling the food will be to the Navarro Castillo family. This was also a way for the team to give back to the Navarro Castillo family after all the assistance they have provided to our team. · Community Involvement, for a section of the San Carlos Carnival; El Tope. Serving drinks, serving food, helping with registrations. | | | | January 31, 2012 | | Here is the latest from our teams in Costa Rica and Vanuatu; | | Vanuatu | All the core projects will be completed by the end of this week! All volunteers have really put in a lot of effort into their projects which means that all projects will be completed before their departure which is a great achievement. With the Kutundaula Primary School project they are now putting up the louvers and the ceiling and hopefully they will finish up the painting at the end of this week. For the Naworaone Primary School the team are nearly finished with the construction and by the end of this week they will be doing the last part of their work which is the painting of the classrooms. Today was the first day of the Mini Youth Skills Summit which is being attended by youth from seven communities so the teams will be busy with the preparation and organisation of that for the next two days.
All volunteers are fine and are looking forward to being back in Port Vila on the 10th of February 2012 for their project debrief with Youth Challenge Vanuatu.
| | | | Costa Rica | | The team in Costa Rica have been working hard, with a strong focus on the tourism plan over the last few weeks. They have been holding tourism committee meetings with the community, exploring further sites that could be a draw for tourists such as nearby waterfalls and parks and they have now written a very comprehensive Tourism Business Plan. With this plan now almost complete they will be organising a lot of meetings with the community and other interested parties over the next two weeks to ensure they know how to continue with things once the team has left. Apart from the tourism plan, the team has also been busy working on the waste management project. They have managed to get materials donated for make shift bins, and they will be setting these up and handing them to community members so they have access to effectively manage their recycling waste. They also had a discussion with the community on why recycling hasn’t been successful in the community in the past and it was decided that they needed to increase people’s education on the topic of recycling. To combat this they will focus on creating a brochure that provides information about recycling and hand it out to every house hold. They also gained permission to have some bins outside the local school so they will hopefully be well used by the school children and they will become accustomed to thinking about their rubbish and recycling what they can. The English classes have been halted for the time being due to it being peak coffee picking season and the children have been working during the day to help their families. The team is revising their timetable to fie around this and hope the children will have time to attend the classes again. Other activities the team has been involved in have included Peeling broad beans and preparing banana leaves for tamales which has given the team an insight into the cultural, economic and social activities of the local community. They are also planning on holding a number of community workshops and are in the process of gathering all the information and resources to make these happen. | | | | January 30, 2012 | | We have just received the latest update from our In Country Manager, Nalini, in Bangalore, India and she had the following to say about our three wonderful interns that we currently have in Bangalore:
"Danielle Edwards is very happy at Belaku. She loves it and is so enthused. She has been helping out at the fundraising sales and also enjoyed her visit to the village to see the Women's income generation projects at work.
Chris Doig is having the best time as he is constantly challenged and loves the work he is doing. He is doing many things he says he never dreamt he would do but is enjoying it a lot. He recently helped organise the Bala Janaagraha Civic Fest for the 8th grade students which went really well and he is really thrilled. Clare and Danielle joined him at the fest.
Clare Broderick is enjoying the research work she is doing for the India Urban Space Foundation at Janaagraha. She is doing some good work there and is impressed with the dynamic team of Swathi and Ramesh Ramanathan who set up Janaagraha.
Last night we met for dinner and a pre-meeting about work and their updates. I introduced them to Kerala cuisine, as they are going there and should know what to order. They loved it! We plan to eat a different cuisine each week/fortnight, so they experience the variety available in India." 
| | | | January 24, 2012 | Here are the latest updates from our teams in Vanuatu, Costa Rica and Guyana;
Vanuatu
Youth Challenge Vanuatu's Program Manager, Anita Samana, recently returned from a trip to visit the team on the island of Tongoa and she was very impressed and proud of what the team has achieved so far. All the international volunteers are working on the main project at Kuntundaula Primary School, alongside some of the Ni-Vanuatu youth and they have nearly finished the library and should be putting the roof up and starting painting next week! They have also nearly finished the construction of the three VIP toilets, and they have completed the renovation of the classroom. The construction of a new double classroom at Naworaone Primary School that the rest of the Ni-Vanuatu youth are working on is also coming along really well and is close to completion. The headmasters of both schools are so happy as when school starts again in the second week of February, all the students will be so pleased to see their newly built library, and new and renovated classrooms. The headmasters are planning to organise a feast for all the volunteers to show their appreciation and acknowledge all their hard work. As well as all the hard work they have been doing regarding the construction projects, the volunteers have also been busy working on their small team project which is the Mini Youth Skills Summit. They will be holding the summit on 31st January and 1st February and it will be attended by youth from the surrounding 7 communities where they are living and working. Click here to read the latest report on the teams activities from the Youth Challenge Vanuatu staff in Port Via: Update from YCV
Costa Rica Over the last 2 weeks, the team have been continuing to teach English classes to the children which are popular, and get positive feedback from the community. They are even getting some children travelling from nearby villages three evenings a week to attend the classes. There is a wide range of different abilities they are trying to cater to, and little by little they are seeing the students are starting to lose their fear of making a mistake and talk more confidently in English. The adult classes they are running continue to have a large attendance, which is great! The tourism plan is progressing from the diagnostic stage to the intermediate stage where the team need to research similar projects and their costs and benefits, to identify specific tourist trails and plans for the San Francisco area. This is a delicate stage that requires a lot of community consultation and time, and they anticipate making good progress over their last few weeks. The waste management project is progressing well, after a slow start, in which few members of the community understood where recycling facilities are located. This is a project that the community needs to accept to be a success, and the team are making progress convincing the community it isn’t impossible to reduce and recycle rubbish. They anticipate starting to construct recycling bins in the next few days. As a group, they have befriended many members of the community and have let me know that really feel a aprt of the community and they feel as though every effort has been made by the community to ensure they feel comfortable there. As a result of their great community relations the team have taken cooking classes, cooked and shared their food with the community, taken Latin dancing classes and taught a few moves of their own! The team have also helped with traditional work activities in the community, including picking coffee, milking cows and making cheese from the milk, tending pigs and other livestock and they also held a soccer skills workshop where they taught passing, shooting and goal keeping skills. Guyana Since the New Year the team has been busy teaching again at the school, providing reading classes, assisting at the Eco Lodge and assisting community members with farming. They have returned the favour of so many dinner invitations and been hosting community members for dinner in their home and they group was also invited to a birthday party. They are popular in the community and have made many friends which they have said will be very hard to leave. The team has also received invites to take part in some more local trips in the area so they are looking forward to arranging another trip somewhere soon.   
| | | | January 18, 2012 | | Welcome home to our Mexico Team! Our 8 volunteers who spent the last 6 weeks at El Nino Feliz Orphanage in Mexico are all back in Australia. We are glad they are all home safe and sound and are so proud of all the hard work they did over the last 6 weeks. The team completed a lot of hard labour and maintenance tasks for the orphanage that was a huge help to them, and they of course spent plenty of time with the lovely children who live at El Nino Feliz. We are proud of what they accomplished and look forward to speaking to them all soon about their time in Mexico. | | | | January 4, 2012 | | It has been an exciting week for our international volunteers as they have all been involved in various Christmas and New Year celebrations. | | | Mexico
| As far as activities the volunteers have supported the children at their Christmas 'Posada'!; they have continued to teach English to the children; ran a workshop about rubbish and recycling and maintenance activities at the orphanage has included painting base of tree trunks at girls house.
They have also had the chance to go hiking with the children up the local mountain; attended a Christmas Eve mass with the children; and even got in a trip to Mexico City with the Sanchez family to share in a Mexican Christmas! | | | | Vanuatu | Our volunteers in Vanuatu are also having a great time, especially during the Christmas period with many festivities taking place.
The core project is also going very well with the group being half way through their project and they are looking forward to complete their project before they leave! (An amazing achievement!) For their small team projects they have begun making arrangements and organising them with the communities. | | | | Costa Rica | The Costa Rica group have also been working hard on several community projects.
Firstly, the group has been holding English lessons for the community. The lessons are being run three times a week and each day they are receiving 30+ people adults and 15 kids attending – an amazing achievement.
The group is also having progress with the tourism plan, where they have been collecting data to determine the highlights of a tour package to offer. The idea they want to implement is to make a package for tourists, for 3-4 days were they will be able to go hiking in the forest, coffee tour and immerse themselves in the Costarican culture by sharing their way of living.
They have also been involved in a recycling program for the community, mostly for waste management.
Culturally, the group has also been sharing evenings with different families to get to know them better and to get a greater understating of a local rural family to include in the tourism plan. | | | | Guyana | The Guyana volunteers have been involving themselves in some fantastic community interaction. They have had visitors over for meals, the volunteers themselves have been invited to various community events and lunches; not to mention a three day Christmas party of dancing and socialising!
They have also been working hard on various activities. The volunteers have done some manual labour at the Eco lodge; supported the Women’s Centre exhibition; conducted reading classes three times a week; and held computer classes one day per week.
From the words of their Field Staff Sara: “As per above the group has both hosted community members and been invited to social events over the Christmas period. "The volunteers have been very successful in relationship building with the community and with individuals from the community- it will be very hard to leave!!!!!!!” | .JPG) | | | | December 22, 2011 | Nanjah, Heidi and Andrew have described this week at Cosa Hogar MEXICO, as one of “hard manual labour“! The volunteers have been working towards preparing the new training centre for its inspection in January; and it’s opening of the centre to local youth for learning. Some of their tasks have included cleaning the floors and walls; as well as general maintenance at the orphanage. They have also been walking the children to school and doing activities with them in the afternoon. Keep up the fantastic work!!
|  Heidi Schramm.JPG)  Heidi Schramm.JPG)
| | | YCA’s GUYANA volunteers are settling in very well into the new home in Surama. Their Field Guide Sara has reported that “for the last day of school, volunteers cooked two dishes for the event to contribute to the celebration. The group has succeeded in intergrating into the community as we have been invited to community homes and parties.”
They have also been involved in several activities such as: teaching at the local school; running health centre in workers absence; home visits with health worker; Community videos of Surama community; Bird watching; spent a day at the resource centre; and attending community events. | | | | |
We have just received photos of the Vanuatu team that were taken during their training in Port Vila last week. The photo below is of the whole team. Please click here to see all the photos
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| Here is a photo of our new interns (from left to right; Clare Broderick, Danielle Edwards and Christopher Doig) who are about to head to Bangalore, India to live and work for 2 months. We spent a day with them in the office yesterday preparing them for Bangalore and the experience to come. Christopher is departing Australia today and Clare and Danielle will be joining him in Bangalore on 6th January 2012.
 | | | | December 14, 2011 | | The latest update from Sara Lamedo, the YCA field staff in Guyana; “It has been a really intense and exciting week. The groups seems to be working really well together over all and everyone is finding their own strengths and how to adapt them to project. We are taking lots of pictures and will send some through soon. The project goals have been modified to suit the community needs/ wants- they still cover the original project goals though. The community seems to be happy with the direction the group is going in. My initial concerns were that the food and cleaning up was being left to the girls!! We have implemented a roster system now to manage this and it seems to be working. It has been really good having a YCG staff member here also!” Photos to follow soon!
| | | December 13, 2011
| Thanks to our in country partner, Youth Challenge Vanuatu (YCV) for the latest update from Vanuatu. They spoke to the YCA field staff Marnie Cunningham yesterday. The team are doing well and settling into life on the beautiful island of Tongoa. Photos to follow.
“The group had their first day at the project site today and started mixing cement to build the bricks for the building. 10 community members came to the site to help them and some Mum's from the community made them lunch and brought it for them to eat. Marnie said the community has been very welcoming, and that they all have host families. Marnie and Alice have been given custom (Kastom) names, Leiweia and Leipunuan. The group will be sorting out their group roles this week, working at the site and will have their first church ceremony on Sunday.” | | | December 12, 2011
| | We have just received an email from one of our Mexico Field Staff, Heidi Schramm. The team are being kept very busy doing labouring work for the orphanage, spending time with the children and enjoying the many religious festivals that are taking place.
“The volunteer group arrived on Sunday. Our main goal is to get the three-level training centre ready to pass inspection and to improve the wellbeing and education of the nine young orphanage kids. We are gearing up for a big week. Each day we’ll do about five hours of hard labour and spend three hours with the kids. We are here to make a difference and there is only 5 weeks left!!
Click here for Heidi's full update. Click here for photos of the Mexico Team 
| | | | December 8, 2011 | All of our 22 volunteers who departed for projects in Mexico, Costa Rica, Guyana and Vanuatu arrived safely to their project countries and they have been busy having training over the last few days with our in-country partner organisations. Below are the latest updates from the field for each project:
MEXICO- The team of 8 volunteers and 2 field staff are all having a great time and settling into their new surroundings at the El Nino Feliz Orphanage where they will spend the next 6 weeks. The team has been busy getting settled in and they have now arranged their schedule for the next 6 weeks which details the work they will do and also weekend trips they will undertake to explore Mexico City and the surrounding areas. The field staff, who arrived a few days prior to the volunteers, are really happy to have the team there and are excited to get the project underway.
COSTA RICA- The team of 6 volunteers and their field staff spent a few days in San Jose having training with our in country partner, Reto Juvenil Internacional, and today they travelled into the field and are now in the community of San Francisco where they will live for the next 10 weeks. The team will be teaching English to the community and also working on an eco-tourism plan for the community. Our partner said that the volunteers were very excited to get to San Francisco and settle into their new home.
VANUATU- The team of 4 volunteers and their field staff have had a busy time in Port Vila at training as, as well as the team of Australians, there are 30 Ni-Vanuatu Youth who will also be working on the project! Marnie Cunningham, the field staff, emailed to say that the team spent yesterday in Port Vila exploring, shopping and they were all very excited about heading to the island of Tongoa to start their project. The team will be flying to the island of Tongoa today where they will be working on two construction projects and also running some educational workshops.
GUYANA- The 4 volunteers and 1 field staff member all arrived in the community of Surama yesterday where they will be living for the next 10 weeks. After a couple of days in Georgetown with the Youth Challenge Guyana team, they had a long 10 hour bus ride to their new home. They had a meeting with the community yesterday so plans for the project have already begun.
We will post some links to some photos from the field soon so watch this space! | | | | November 25, 2011 | | | For the past 7 weeks, Cleo and Elise have been at Jabiru Area School as in-class tutors supporting the teachers and Indigenous students. Here’s what Cleo's had to say about her placement…
“Over the past 5 weeks I have mainly participated in school based activities… mainly been working with the Indigenous kids in both year 5 and occasionally year 4. There is a real focus on and need to improve the literacy and numeracy of these children… [She has also been involved in] …associated activities within both Jabiru and the Kakadu National Park. I have been on two excursions within the park with the year 7 and 8 Culture First Class which have been really great. The kids have been looking at the differences within the 6 seasons recognised within this region by the Indigenous people. On the excursions, we took photos and notes which the students will then use to write about.
I have also been on the year 4 excursion to Yellow Waters and Cooinda to look at and try different bush tuckers. This was lead by one of the Elders within the community, and a grandparent within the school.
I am really enjoying myself, and finding it to be a very valuable experience overall. I think that there are so many different things to see and do up here and without this I would never have had the opportunity to live up here. As a teacher, I am finding that being in the classroom is so valuable, just watching how things work up in the territory and the way the school works being in a ‘remote’ area is so interesting.
I think, that if this sort of program was pushed more towards teachers of people at uni training to be teachers, then there would be so many more people applying for teaching jobs up here and in other remote communities. I know that I myself, am now considering it for the future, and there are so many opportunities available.” | | | | October 31, 2011 | | | | Thanks to Tash for the special Diwali update from the VoICE volunteers in India. Not exactly roughing it over there by the sounds of things, but for they record as well as all the socialising they are also doing some amazing work and we are proud of them all!: "This week was a fun one with Diwali - the festival of light, and celebration of the triumph of good over evil - happening across India…and it is no secret that they love an excuse to party here! Bangalore is looking beautiful, with shops, buildings and entire streets aglow with fairy lights and a general festive mood sweeping across the city. On Sunday afternoon, Tori and I went sari shopping at the Forum Mall in preparation for Nalini’s Diwali party on Monday evening. After a last minute dash... to Commercial Street to get blouses, petticoats and bangles in the rain, we were all set for the full Aussie Desi experience! Monday night was Nalini’s bash, and there was definitely an air of “high society” to it….a lot of rich young (and old) things mingling, press photographers snapping and plenty of amazing food and drink to keep us all happy. Despite holding off for most of the day, the heavens decided to open at around 9pm, forcing everyone inside and under cover. Thankfully though, it didn’t dampen the evening and the cool breeze was a welcome addition. We were all excited to see that we’d made it into various newspapers as well! Claire, Michael and Jessie were all in the “Afterhours” section of DNA, and Tori and I were in the Times of India [have a look at the pictures here]. ...It was back to work on Tuesday. Wednesday was the “official” Diwali day, although there seemed to be several others as well, with different rituals reserved for each. Tori and Michael both headed off to work, and the rest of us enjoyed a day off, which was mostly spent reading, studying and catching up on domestics. That evening Casa Cottage held a Diwali party on the lawn... Thursday and Friday were back at work, and on Friday evening everyone (except me) headed off to Kerala for a long weekend…Tuesday being another public holiday in Karnataka. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to participate in many of the weekend activities due to study pressure, and this weekend was sadly no exception. Everyone seemed excited about the adventure, and I can’t wait to hear about it all and have them back! The flat certainly feels very empty without them. None of us can believe that we are already half way through our placement and Kat will be here in a week! The time is going incredibly fast, and we all working hard to achieve as much as possible before our time in Bangalore comes to and end." | | | | October 27, 2011 | | | | Thinking of going to Mexico? Hear about Jacqui's recent experience in Mexico in June 2011. You can read Jacqui's reflections in full here. | | | | "Being a part of the Mexico project in June this year was an unforgettable experience, one that has changed the person that I am and will forever shape everything I want and do in the future. Living in a different culture, being a part of a new community, and of course, spending time with the beautiful children of the Casa Hogar Orphanage for six weeks provided me with experiences and memories that I would never experience at home. On top of this, the friendships that I developed with my fellow volunteers and group leader I will treasure forever." | | | | October 7, 2011 | | | | Thanks to Rose, one of our recently returned Vanuatu volunteers, for sending through some thoughts on her time on project. The group tell us that Rose has some great photos from their time in the community, and we are looking forward to getting these up soon! | | | | "Going to Vanuatu was one of the most incredible experiences I think I will ever have. Learning about their way of living in the community really opened my eyes up to how different cultures can be. It definately made me appreciate what we Australians take for granted... My time in Vanuatu working with Youth Challenge Australia really taught me great leadership skills and has definately put a new perspective on what I want to do in the future. The trip definately gave me more confidence to reach my full potential and showed me I can make a lifelong career out of doing this kind of work. Living with the community and having the chance to teach them useful lifestyle information... gave me a great sense of accomplishment and happiness knowing that I had been a part of the process to help better many people's lives. I am truly going to miss Vanuatu and the strong friendships I made whilst being there." | | | | September 30, 2011 | | | | This is David and Nathan's last week in Jabiru as part of YCA’s education program. They have done a fantastic job in Jabiru, and we couldn't have asked for two better volunteers for our first program with the Jabiru School. Having spent the last 10 weeks working with teachers, students and community members, they have shared some reflections on their time in Jabiru… Nathan has been working with the Jabiru youth centre: “The most enjoyable thing has been everything that comes with a new experience. Meeting people, learning things, the fulfilling feeling of helping and volunteering, the weather, the change, the alone time, the scenery, the wildlife, and so on. Overall, considering my personal situation, it has been the catalyst for change I was looking for. Although my role was not school based, I still believe I assisted [with] some improvement, whether direct or indirect. I believe the Youth Centre’s work with the kids has both an indirect and direct impact on their education. It provides them with a direct resource and facility to assist their education pathway as well as a resource which promotes productivity and a learning environment after school hours which indirectly improves the possibility for success at school. It has provided me with unique knowledge and life experiences which otherwise I would not have obtained.” David has been working as a class tutor in the school: “I found the Jabiru program to be a great experience and very rewarding. I have reached all the goals I set out to achieve as well as some other ones I wasn’t expecting. These goals included learning more about Indigenous culture, contributing to the Indigenous community and enjoying the experience. I think the most rewarding part of this project has been the knowledge I’ve gained about Indigenous people in Kakadu. Since Jabiru is a mining town in the middle of a National Park it’s quite unique. This uniqueness extends to the relationships between the towns different groups, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. It’s through these relationships that I learnt the most about the Indigenous groups and their relationship to non-Indigenous culture. The most challenging aspect of the program will be leaving the community and the many friends I have made here. The most enjoyable aspects are the ones that will make it difficult to leave.” We are looking forward to pre-departure next week with Cleo and Elise, who will be heading out to Jabiru for the next school term. | | | | September 29, 2011 | | | The first round of VoICE volunteers are coming up to the two week mark in Bangalore, and they are beginning to settle in and get stuck in to their roles with Janagraaha, Belaku, and the Freedom Foundation. With thanks to our wonderful in-country manager (Nalini) as well as the support staff at our 3 partner organisations, the team looks set for a rewarding and challenging few months ahead. The volunteers are (L to R) Natassia (Freedom Foundation), Jessie (Freedom), Vinnie (Janagraaha), Vik (Belaku), Michael (Belaku) and Claire (Janagraaha). |  | | | The first weekend in Bangalore also marked Claire's birthday, and the following report came in on Monday of the festivities: "The weekend was officially known as the Birthday Weekend of Claire - with Nalini organising multiple activities/dinners/places to drink etc, so we had a lot of fun... We went to a local Ganesh Puja celebration in a small neighbourhood community and were invited up on stage with the dignitaries and treated like celebrities - lots of photos. Then it was off to a swanky bar for drinks with Bollywood celebrities. In short, we are all feeling a bit tired this morning! "We've also bought tickets for a cricket match in a couple of weeks, and are starting to think about weekend trips etc, as the time will no doubt fly by." We look forward to bringing you continued updates from the team about the fun they are having, and maybe even some details about the fantastic projects they are working on as well!! | | | | August 24, 2011 | | | | The past few weeks has seen the return of our volunteers from West Arnhem Land and Willowra in Australia, as well as the groups from Vanuatu and Mexico. They achieved great things in their time away and we are proud of all of them. All of the nearly 3000 YCA past volunteers out there know how massive an achievement it is, and we welcome our newest alumni into the YCA network! One of the Indigenous Youth Leadership group (pictured right) reflected on the Youth Skills Summit that the group organised and ran alongside their ni-Vanuatu counterparts: "[A] moment that stands out was at the certificate giving ceremony at the closing of the Youth Skills Summit. This involved the youth that attended being presented with certificates. The collective smiles and feelings of rejoice from the participants made me feel so much pride for them. They had dedicated 5 days to learning skills that could change their lives, and I had seen them grow and develop personally and in their skills base." |  | | | Meanwhile, Nathan and David are hard at work on the Term 3 education program out at Jabiru. David has been based at the Jabiru school, where he works with the two Indigenous classes. Thanks to the big focus these classes have on Indigenous culture, David is learning a huge amount himself! Nathan has also been having a great time based at the Youth Centre, where he is involved in after school activities for the kids. Nathan is also helping to organise the local Wind Festival that's set to take place in Jabiru in a couple of weeks time. | | | One of the unique aspects of the Jabiru program is the amazing location inside the Kakadu National Park, and Nathan and David have been making the most of it on their weekends off. They have been camping at Barramundi Gorge - home to one of Kakadu's amazing waterfalls, and have also been on a walk to Nourlangie, a site which is full of Aboriginal painting and rock art. | | | We are grateful to the Principal, teachers, and youth workers for their support, and look forward to hearing the ongoing updates from Jabiru as they pass the half-way mark of term. | | | | August 3, 2011 | | |  | Kat O’Connor, YCA’s International Program Manager has just got back to Sydney after visiting the Mexico volunteers at El Niño’s Feliz. They are all doing really well, and feeling sad that their time is coming to an end. They have been very busy over the course of their project, and have completed tasks such as painting over a 1000 trees, painting and varnishing signs, planting onion and lettuce seeds in the veggie garden (set up by the previous group of YCA volunteers), designing and painting a wall mural (pictured left), completing mosaics with the children, and of course spending hours playing with the gorgeous children. | | | | They have also enjoyed weekends exploring nearby Mexico City and the surrounding areas, and they are very excited about their upcoming trip to Acapulco to end their time together in Mexico. The experience has been life changing for them and they will find it very hard to say goodbye. |  | | | | | Meanwhile, the Vanuatu teams are back in Vila after successfully completing their Youth Skills Summits. There were teary goodbyes all round as the volunteers farewelled their host families. We are looking forward to the end of project reports from Youth Challenge Vanutu, and to catching up with the IYLP volunteers in Sydney on Tuesday. | | | | July 28, 2011 | | | | Thanks to the in-country partners, Field Staff and volunteers for the latest updates from Vanuatu and Mexico: VANUATU: Both Youth Challenge Projects in Vanuatu are in the week of their Youth Skill Summits. The main objective of the project was to organise and run a Youth Skills Summit which would bring together guests for a week to gain and share knowledge. The organisation and logistics of the summit was entirely the responsibility of the Youth Challenge participants. Both summits are said to be running very successfully and all participants and community members involved are enjoying the experience. AULUA- MALEKULA - (Natalie, Rose, Sophie, Tanya, Fallon and Lisa) The Aulua project on Malekula has proven to be a huge success thus far. The Youth Challenge group originally anticipated around 50-70 participants in the Youth Skill Summit, however ended up with a total of 97! This is a great achievement on their behalf and testament to the good work they have done in raising awareness about the summit in the prior weeks. After some issues with arranging guest speakers for the event the group did brilliantly to end up with 5 guest speakers, presenting on topics such as Physical Health and First Aid, Leadership, Climate Change, Mental Health, Business, and Small Business for women. The Youth Challenge participants are all presenting at the Youth Skills Summit as well which will provide them with a chance to enhance their public speaking skills and develop confidence in such situations. PELMOLI- ESPIRITU SANTO – (Amanda, Arly, Zach, Kelli, Garrad and Leroy) The IYLP group in Pelmoli, Santo have also proved highly successful in organising their Youth Skills Summit. They have approximately 60 participants in Pelmoli which again is greater than expected. The group have been searching high and low for guest speakers on certain identified topics and have done a fantastic job in arranging for 8 highly knowledgeable speakers to present at their Youth Skills Summit. The guest speakers are presenting on a range of topics including Health, Disability Awareness, Leadership, Agriculture, Crime Prevention, as well as cooking classes. The Youth Challenge participants will be presenting about HIV/Aids awareness at the summit as part of one of their small teams projects. INDEPENDENCE DAY Vanuatu celebrates Independence Day on July 30. All communities across the nation come together to celebrate this event and the Youth Challenge participants are in for an enjoyable weekend wherever they are. Following the Independence celebrations both groups will conduct their reporting and evaluation commitments with the community members before saying a very sad farewell and returning to Port Vila. As much as the participants are looking forward to seeing their families again they have begun to feel nostalgic at the thought of leaving their new home. We wish to thank everyone for the great job they have done thus far, and look forward to seeing them upon their return to ‘the big smoke’. Tankyu Tumas The YCV Team MEXICO (Claire, Lucy, Jacqui, Sean and Esteban): The team in Mexico have been working with the ‘Niño’s Feliz’ (‘Happy Kids’) orphanage in San Joaquin. They have been contributing towards a range of objectives, including improving the orphanage maintenance and aesthetics; facilitating activities, workshops and teaching English with the orphanage children; assisting with the Mexican Red Cross community fair activities; and conducting a community youth survey for the training centre which is currently being developed. The community were welcoming since the first day, and have continued to spend time with the volunteers and support them. The highlights for the volunteers have included participating in activities organised by the Mexican Red Cross, door knocking local residences for the community youth training centre survey, and meeting with neighbours and learning about Mexican culture and lifestyles. The project work is going well, and the team have been achieving their goals, despite a slow start due to lack of resources as a result of the delivery truck arriving late with materials. The volunteers were able to make good use of the time while they were waiting, work on different projects like painting and varnishing signs, and washing and painting bricks. The Field Staff report that the volunteers have been great, they are enthusiastic to work every day, and their positive attitudes make the work so much easier. They have been interacting with the kids every Tuesday and Thursday, and the kids love them already and love to play with them. This is a critical time for the orphanage as they plan the new training centre, and the volunteers are making an invaluable contribution. | | | | July 27, 2011 | | | | Somewhere in the Australian desert, Michaela is just over 8 weeks into her 10 week project with the wonderful Mt Theo organisation. | | | | Based in the small community of Willowra, during the past two months Michaela has been helping the Mt Theo staff to provide diversionary activities to young people over the school holiday break. This is particularly important in remote Indigenous communities without many options for young men and women to keep themselves entertained. A huge range of activities have been run, including discos, movie nights, basketball games, and all manner of sports and events. | | | | As well as contributing to the youth program, Michaela has been building relationships with the community members, and having some amazing cultural experiences. She has been spoilt in Willowra, with a veritable cornucopia of bush tucker on offer on one of her recent bush trips. With a little local knowledge from some new found friends she was able to try five or six different traditional Australian foods including her favorite - bush potatoes. | | | | July 22, 2011 | | | | As the school holidays in the NT draw to a close, the volunteers working on the youth programs with the West Arnhem Shire Council have all been doing a fantastic job. | | | | Elyse and Lauren have been working hard running the holiday program in Warruwi. The community has warmed to the volunteers, who have followed in the footsteps of Jenni and Lesley who recently finished tutoring in the Warruwi School. They’ve been running a great range of sports in the mornings and then in afternoon. | | | | Jannice and Nicole have been leading gangs of kids around Minjilang on bikes. Similar to the other groups, the kids have been tearing it up with sports like basketball and soccer, and then relaxing with some painting or beach combing in the afternoons. The recent State of Origin was a big event in Minjilang, with most residents happy with the result. | | | | The three ladies in Maningrida have been helping to run the local swimming pool through the school holidays. Eliza, Amandine and Katherine have been keeping the kids safe while they cool off in the community’s swimming pool. With winter temperatures exceeding 32⁰C the pool is a vital part of the community and the biggest attraction for kids all year round. | | | | Meanwhile, Nathan (left) and David (right) are here at the YCA office for pre-departure training today, ready to head out to Jabiru for the school term. David will be working in the Jabiru school, and Nathan will be working with students who are completing a vocational training program. Both are very dedicated and impressive volunteers, and we look forward to hearing about their work in Jabiru over the coming weeks. |  | | | | | July 19, 2011 | | | | Claire, Lucy, Jacqui and Sean, along with their Field Staff Esteban are hard at work and achieving great things at Casa Hogar in Mexico. As well as spending a lot of time hanging out with the kids, the team have done a stack of work around the orphanage, painting and varnishing signs, preparing the main entrance for a mural, and even rebuilding a bridge which was destroyed in heavy rainfall. A lot of work has gone in to preparing for an upcoming fair which is being run by the local Red Cross, planning games and activities, and doing essential work like helping the Red Cross to retreive their van after it was stuck in mud! Casa Hogar has recently gained funding to build a new training centre near the orphanage, which will provide the opportunity for children from the orphanage, as well as youth from surrounding areas, to gain skills which will assist them in finding work. The YCA volunteers have been doing a fantastic job of going out in to the community to survey the local youth on the sorts of things that this centre might be able to provide for them, and they have worked hard to overcome obstacles and difficulties in getting access to the local youth. Keep up the great work Mexico crew, we are looking forward to the next report! | | | | June 30, 2011 | | | | Our thanks to the team in the Youth Challenge Vanuatu office for sending through this report on the arrival and orientation training of our volunteers: "After weeks of preparation the team at Youth Challenge Vanuatu were well prepared and very excited for the arrival of the Australian Field Staff and volunteers. We had the pleasure of welcoming Leroy and Lisa, the two Australian Staff for their pre- project training and they both took to Vanuatu with great enthusiasm. Leroy (Indigenous Youth Leadership Program) and Lisa were both keen to learn more about Vanuatu, so much so that Lisa started dreaming in the local language (Bislama) in the first week! One last fundraiser was held by the Ni-Vanuatu Future Leaders Program (FLP) Participants, who are joining the Australian volunteers in the rural Vanuatu Communities. The FLP is an 8 month program where selected local youth initially take part in various training courses designed to build life skills and capacity for leadership. They then join with International Volunteers in the Rural Community Development projects and after returning enter into a 10 week Internship with one of a variety of organizations in Port Vila. After all the fundraising and Field Staff training was complete and all project logistics arranged it was time for the Youth Challenge Australia volunteers to arrive. The Ni- Vanuatu participants were buzzing with excitement and prepared a welcome song for the Australian volunteers at the orientation venue. The Australian volunteers were chuffed with their reception and the groups started smiling and having fun together instantly, as is the Vanuatu way! All volunteers were mingling and the Australians were making a good fist of learning some Bislama on the first evening. The Australians then had a real taste of Ni-Vanuatu culture with a shell of Kava, the local drink made from ground root. Judging from the faces and reactions post-kava it may not be a regular occurrence for some of them! Some local Kakae (food) was provided and after plenty more chatting and getting to know one another the YCA volunteers first day in Vanuatu was complete. The following morning everyone was up and ready for training and orientation to begin. The main aspects of training revolve around cross cultural awareness, flexibility, roles within the group, reporting responsibilities of the group and how to get the most out of such a fantastic opportunity. One of the activities saw all volunteers split up into sub-groups. The sub-groups were Indigenous Australians, non- indigenous Australians as well as Ni- Vanuatu groups from the 6 provinces. The groups each gave a presentation about their cultures. Some of the highlights were the SHEFA province group of Vanuatu and their rendition of a famous string- band song, the Boomerang throwing demonstration from Leroy, Field Staff of the Indigenous Australian’s (the boomerang forgot to come back - instead it went straight into the adjacent building and broke!), and the Custom Dance from TAFEA province in Vanuatu. After a fun and informative day of training the volunteers had some free time to go and buy anything they thought might come in handy in the 6 weeks they will spend in the Rural Communities. Later that evening after some more Island kakae everyone was off to bed, lead by Zachary who was out and kindly providing some background noise from his nasal passage before 8pm! The 29th saw all volunteers waking up to very unwelcome alarms to pack bags, get dressed and get to the domestic airport for their check-in at 6 am. Everyone made it without too much protestation and all excitedly left Port Vila to their destinations in Pelmoli, South East Santo (IYLP) and Aulua, South West Malekula. We all want to wish everyone all the best as they embark on what everybody hopes is a fantastic and enriching experience. Vanuatu is a beautiful country full of smiling faces, and offers a unique experience for all visitors to the country with its traditions, culture, beautiful coastlines and wonderful people. We will keep you all updated with the progress of both projects as the weeks pass. Tankyu Tumas (Thanks very much), The Youth Challenge Vanuatu Team" | | | | June 29, 2011 | | | .jpg) | We are happy to hear that all of our Vanuatu and Mexico volunteers arrived safe and sound. The Mexico team (pictured left) are starting their in-country training, and the Vanuatu teams are heading off to their communities today. | | | | | June 27, 2011 | | | | Our Field Staff in Vanuatu have been working hard to tie up the last of the loose ends in preparation for the arrival of the volunteers today. These updates came through this morning. Lisa (Field Staff – International Program, Vanuatu): “…Working out of the Youth Challenge office has been a great experience. It took a few days to get used to the way things ran as I have realised how different 'Island time' is from 'white man time'… Being able to spend time with the other Ni-Van field staff before [the Australian] volunteers arrive… has given us time to develop good relationships with each other, talk about our different cultures, learn some Bislama and get a plan in place for our project. The Ni-Van volunteers have been working so hard and are full of ideas and energy… Mi glad tumas lo opportunity lo Vanuatu.” Leroy (Field Staff – Indigenous Youth Leadership Program, Vanuatu): “I have been in Vanuatu for 10 days now. From this short time I can say that Vanuatu is home to some of the most beautiful and friendly people I have encountered. Meeting and talking with the Ni-Van volunteers has made me aware of just how important this project is, and what a magnificent opportunity this is to better the lives of the youth in Vanuatu. I am very grateful to be a part of this wonderful opportunity.” | | | | June 24, 2011 | | |  | Excitement all round at YCA at the moment. End of term reports are in from Jen and Lesley's time in Warruwi, with amazing progress made as a result of their one-on-one tutoring work. One of the students has improved from a reading level three to a ten as a result of the program. Some of the students have written and produced story books, and the students being tutored have improved their literacy rates across the board. The 5 successful applicants for the June Indigenous Youth Leadership Program - Garrard, Amanda, Zac, Kelli and Arlene (pictured left) - arrived in Sydney yesterday and spent the day with us at the YCA office. We are inspired by what a fantastic bunch of young leaders they are. We can't wait to hear the updates from Vanuatu over the coming weeks. The whole gang will be here tomorrow, with the two Vanuatu groups and the Mexico group doing pre-departure training. It will be fun to get to know them before they head off on their adventures. | For the most part, the ash cloud has been kind to us, with only a couple of people stranded and unable to make pre-departure! The volunteers on the West Arnhem school holiday programs were on one of the first planes out of Sydney on their Darwin flights, and are training in Darwin before heading to their communities this weekend. Michaela has been out at Willowra in Central Oz for a couple of weeks now, working with the wonderful people at Mt Theo. She has been flat out getting things ready for the school holidays and is already making a fantastic contribution to the Mt Theo team. Thanks go to the Cultural Advisors out at Willowra who have taken the time to share lots of stories with Michaela and help her settle in. Members of the YCA team are heading off over the next week to conduct field visits for the upcoming VoICE placements - If you need any more motivation to get involved in these fantastic opportunities, I'm sure there will be lots of amazing stories and photos to share in the coming weeks! | | | | June 17, 2011 | | | | Jenni and Lesley are finishing up their time with the Warruwi School on Goulburn Island in West Arnhem this weekend. They have done such a fantastic job, working with children in Years 4 - 6, providing one on one literacy and numeracy tutoring to students who are falling behind. Jen and Lesley have slotted themselves into life in Warruwi brilliantly, fishing, bike riding and Zumba-ing it up with the teachers and others in the community. We are so proud of the contribution that the girls have made to the School and the community, and our thanks to the community for being so welcoming. We are looking forward to hearing all of their stories when they finish their travels and head back to Sydney. |  | | |
| | June 16, 2011 | | 
| The YCA staff farewelled the Field Staff for our mid-year International and IYLP projects yesterday, and they are now all safely in country and ready to begin their in country training. We are looking forward to meeting all the volunteers when they come to Sydney for pre-departure training next week! | | | | | | | |
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