Monday, 14 December 2009
Friday, 11 December 2009
Week Eight - Burhan and Laura!
Week Six by Burhan and Laura
Did you know that one in ten people in Aberdeen lives in deprivation? To try and reduce this shocking statistic Instant Neighbour provides support to people living on low incomes in Aberdeen City and Shire. They recycle and distribute quality used furniture, clothing, and baby equipment to people who need it most. We help by going out and about in the van, picking up the furniture, distributing the furniture, and sorting out the other goods which are donated from members of the public (including thousands of cans of tinned food!). Preparation for Christmas has already started, and we have had a busy week with the launch of the Giving Tree! Through the Giving Tree members of the public donate gifts to children who might not normally get to receive one at Christmastime! At the launch we met the Lord Provost for the second time; we were first introduced at the beginning of the programme when we were invited for a tour of the Aberdeen City Council buildings.
Instant Neighbour receives lots of volunteers, so this week we have had the opportunity to meet other volunteers from all different part of the community (including lots of ‘warembo’ from the Police Cadets!). Despite the fact that we are so busy the happy and relaxed atmosphere at Instant Neighbour (and the fact we are always laughing and joking!) stops it from being tiring.
Aberdeen Forward is the other place where we are working in Aberdeen. It’s an environmental charity working to reduce waste and improve the surroundings for citizens of Aberdeen City and Shire. The charity runs many interesting projects including the Real Nappy project, Composting programmes and the Creative Waste Exchange (which is basically an Aladin’s Cave full of goodies and other exciting stuff!). Aberdeen Forward also conducts workshops with students from different schools to make sure that the environmental education begins at a grassroots level. At Aberdeen Forward we are doing a research project on the carbon footprint of the charity.
At the weekend we escaped from Aberdeen for a few days and headed west to Grantown on Spey! It was busy week but nice and lovely!
CHEERS‼ YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH‼‼‼
Did you know that one in ten people in Aberdeen lives in deprivation? To try and reduce this shocking statistic Instant Neighbour provides support to people living on low incomes in Aberdeen City and Shire. They recycle and distribute quality used furniture, clothing, and baby equipment to people who need it most. We help by going out and about in the van, picking up the furniture, distributing the furniture, and sorting out the other goods which are donated from members of the public (including thousands of cans of tinned food!). Preparation for Christmas has already started, and we have had a busy week with the launch of the Giving Tree! Through the Giving Tree members of the public donate gifts to children who might not normally get to receive one at Christmastime! At the launch we met the Lord Provost for the second time; we were first introduced at the beginning of the programme when we were invited for a tour of the Aberdeen City Council buildings.
Instant Neighbour receives lots of volunteers, so this week we have had the opportunity to meet other volunteers from all different part of the community (including lots of ‘warembo’ from the Police Cadets!). Despite the fact that we are so busy the happy and relaxed atmosphere at Instant Neighbour (and the fact we are always laughing and joking!) stops it from being tiring.
Aberdeen Forward is the other place where we are working in Aberdeen. It’s an environmental charity working to reduce waste and improve the surroundings for citizens of Aberdeen City and Shire. The charity runs many interesting projects including the Real Nappy project, Composting programmes and the Creative Waste Exchange (which is basically an Aladin’s Cave full of goodies and other exciting stuff!). Aberdeen Forward also conducts workshops with students from different schools to make sure that the environmental education begins at a grassroots level. At Aberdeen Forward we are doing a research project on the carbon footprint of the charity.
At the weekend we escaped from Aberdeen for a few days and headed west to Grantown on Spey! It was busy week but nice and lovely!
CHEERS‼ YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH‼‼‼
Week Seven - Maria and Charlie
This week was a busy week we went to Edinburgh, to our Volunteer Placement, and we had a team day in which we went bowling.
So the week started off by going to Edinburgh early on Monday morning, almost everyone fell asleep on the bus on the way, probably because we were all at a gig the previous night. We arrived in Edinburgh and went to the Scottish Parliament for a tour; unfortunately buttons didn’t show us around this time. After we had been shown around the amazing building which we were informed cost £414million.We went to the British Council for lunch. And after the British Council we were free to roam the city in which we saw the castle, a few of us walked up the big hill, walked along the Royal Mile, went to the childhood museum and a few of us even ate our first battered Mars bar.
On Tuesday we went to our Volunteer Placement at Aberdeen Foyer on a project called Community Signature. The idea behind it is that it is a type of questionnaire that is interactive and gets in depth responses from the people we are asking the questions to. The community we are working with is Torry, the aim of doing the Signatures is that we can send the gathered information to the Council who can then find the areas that need investment. We were at a retirement home on Tuesday asking five pensioners what they thought about their community.
On Wednesday it was Charlie and Lillian’s GCD which was on Human Rights.
On Thursday we again went to our volunteer placement where we did a signature with two men who are on initiatives run by Aberdeen Foyer.
On Friday there was a team day in which the group discussed several issues and ways to solve those issues. We decided that we would like to see what each other would be doing in their placements rather than always discussing problems as the team is starting to integrate and communicate very well. We also had a session run by Dave looking at stereotypes and how that can affect peoples attitudes to one another. Later on in the evening we went bowling where we all could relax after having such a busy week.
So the week started off by going to Edinburgh early on Monday morning, almost everyone fell asleep on the bus on the way, probably because we were all at a gig the previous night. We arrived in Edinburgh and went to the Scottish Parliament for a tour; unfortunately buttons didn’t show us around this time. After we had been shown around the amazing building which we were informed cost £414million.We went to the British Council for lunch. And after the British Council we were free to roam the city in which we saw the castle, a few of us walked up the big hill, walked along the Royal Mile, went to the childhood museum and a few of us even ate our first battered Mars bar.
On Tuesday we went to our Volunteer Placement at Aberdeen Foyer on a project called Community Signature. The idea behind it is that it is a type of questionnaire that is interactive and gets in depth responses from the people we are asking the questions to. The community we are working with is Torry, the aim of doing the Signatures is that we can send the gathered information to the Council who can then find the areas that need investment. We were at a retirement home on Tuesday asking five pensioners what they thought about their community.
On Wednesday it was Charlie and Lillian’s GCD which was on Human Rights.
On Thursday we again went to our volunteer placement where we did a signature with two men who are on initiatives run by Aberdeen Foyer.
On Friday there was a team day in which the group discussed several issues and ways to solve those issues. We decided that we would like to see what each other would be doing in their placements rather than always discussing problems as the team is starting to integrate and communicate very well. We also had a session run by Dave looking at stereotypes and how that can affect peoples attitudes to one another. Later on in the evening we went bowling where we all could relax after having such a busy week.
Friday, 6 November 2009
Month One!
Well I am well and truely settled in now, working at cornerstone and living with Zai, Seif, Lucy, Diane and Grant, it's quite a houseful. We ended up staying together because Nashir and Nathan had no host home so we gave them ours. I like living together, we have swahili lessons and the tasks of cooking, cleaning, washing and tidying (my strengths) are all shared and supported. At work I having been doing a stock take for the last week or so, I find it weirdly satisfying, (something i don't think it's great to shout about, it's not a usual hobbie) but I end up very drained in the evening and start thinking about how much my fork would sell for at dinner, very Sir Jack from "England, England". Me and Zai are getting on better, she is super super quiet and I can find that tough because I talk so much, but we rub along ok and so long as we keep talking about stuff I think we should be fine.
Because we have a houseful no one has much space, I am sharing a bed, a room and the living, dining, kitchen area is all very open so space is a little bit of an issue, especially when you can't get outside because it has rained so much there are streams running through the garden! But moaning over home life is great, lots of movies (Zai loves vampire movies, not my favourite thing in the world but we compromise) and swahili learning is really great. Me and Lucy have books and flash cards, we have sorted The human body, colours and fruit and veg this week, Zai and Seif just laugh at our accents.
The team as a whole are getting on ok, we had a team day on Monday where lots of issues we brought up with communication and effort etc, but nothing too serious. Homosexuality and the role of women are things that cause some serious cross cultural debates but no serious friction - I think I will find it hard in Dar es Salaam when I am exspected to clean the underwear of the men in my house - but at the moment because the team is girl dominated the boys wouldn't last two seconds if they even suggested it.
We have had loads of fun Socials and CAD's, I have been to the ballet for free, played football in Duthie park, dyed my hair red for a couple of days for Oxjam music festival and the Cornerstone disco (pictures will be up as soon as I can get hold of the right lead). Had a great halloween out dressed as the ace of spades and a witch and went to see "An American Wearwolf lost in London" (I think that is what it is called) and hit the town afterwards (Scotland has a SERIOUS drink problem, we were all shocked by the volume of very very very drunk people).
Heading down to Edinburgh for the day in a couple of weeks because we have been invited to the Scottish Parliment, we have our Mid Phase review next weekend (should be fun) and a tonne of other stuff too! I am in charge of two blogs at the moment, this one and the team one which is: www.gx-tz.blogspot.com have a look to see what we are all getting up to!
Anyway I am still in Cornerstone and the office is horribly empty because I have stayed late to use the computer so I think I will be off now to find food and home.
I hope I won't be too long in writing!
Hattie xxx
Because we have a houseful no one has much space, I am sharing a bed, a room and the living, dining, kitchen area is all very open so space is a little bit of an issue, especially when you can't get outside because it has rained so much there are streams running through the garden! But moaning over home life is great, lots of movies (Zai loves vampire movies, not my favourite thing in the world but we compromise) and swahili learning is really great. Me and Lucy have books and flash cards, we have sorted The human body, colours and fruit and veg this week, Zai and Seif just laugh at our accents.
The team as a whole are getting on ok, we had a team day on Monday where lots of issues we brought up with communication and effort etc, but nothing too serious. Homosexuality and the role of women are things that cause some serious cross cultural debates but no serious friction - I think I will find it hard in Dar es Salaam when I am exspected to clean the underwear of the men in my house - but at the moment because the team is girl dominated the boys wouldn't last two seconds if they even suggested it.
We have had loads of fun Socials and CAD's, I have been to the ballet for free, played football in Duthie park, dyed my hair red for a couple of days for Oxjam music festival and the Cornerstone disco (pictures will be up as soon as I can get hold of the right lead). Had a great halloween out dressed as the ace of spades and a witch and went to see "An American Wearwolf lost in London" (I think that is what it is called) and hit the town afterwards (Scotland has a SERIOUS drink problem, we were all shocked by the volume of very very very drunk people).
Heading down to Edinburgh for the day in a couple of weeks because we have been invited to the Scottish Parliment, we have our Mid Phase review next weekend (should be fun) and a tonne of other stuff too! I am in charge of two blogs at the moment, this one and the team one which is: www.gx-tz.blogspot.com have a look to see what we are all getting up to!
Anyway I am still in Cornerstone and the office is horribly empty because I have stayed late to use the computer so I think I will be off now to find food and home.
I hope I won't be too long in writing!
Hattie xxx
Friday, 9 October 2009
Mambo!
I have been is Aberdeen for a week now and i am loving it. My counterpart is called Zaituni and I am going to be working four days a week at corner stone, which is a charity which helps 16 -25 year olds with learning difficulties, I will be working with solutions to helping the clients to move from school to work and I spoke to the lady today who will be running my placement and she has a great programme sketched out for us. My work counterpart is called David, he is very funny, so I am looking forward to working with him!
To rewind to my arrival, I got the train up from York which took a good 6 hours. I sat down on the train and found Harriet a fellow UK volenteer in the same carriage and then Charlotte came and sat next to us completely by chance. By the time we changed at Edinburgh five of the UK volenteers we travelling together and it has been non- stop ever since!
For the first few nights we were staying in a hotel in Stonehaven just outside Aberdeen, it was 3 people to a 2 person room with horrible food but I think the lack of space helped us to bond as a team! On wednesday we moved into our host homes, I am living with a mother and son, but the son, Grant (who is late twenties/early thirties) is the only person in the house because Diane his mum is walking in Spain until Sunday! We are in the house for a couple of weeks then we will be moving to our actual host home because the couple we are staying with are on holiday too! (It's tattie holidays in scotland!)
The Tanzanian's arrived on Sunday night and are all really lovely. We have a real mix of people, but we are all getting on very well, lots of laughing and dancing! They Tanzanian's taught us all some dances and we returned the favour by teaching them Saturday night and the Hokey Kokey! For the first few days I was very daunted at the cultural differences and the challenges of the programme, but now I just can't wait to get stuck in!
In the last week we have been doing loads of training, learning about each other, each others cultures and also about issues that are important to us. I have learnt that it is rude to smell food in Tanzania and I am having lots fo fun practising eating with my right hand as a leftie, because in Tanzania they all eat with the right hand.
I could write for a very long time, I am full of stories already, but I have to go because we are heading out into Aberdeen (which is lovely).
My love to you all! I will write again when I can, it is all very busy and I am not supposed to use the internet in my host home because of insurance, but I will try to keep in touch.
Oh i almost forgot! I have been learning swahili! it is a really nice language, I am a fan!
Also we had our launch today and we will be in the local press so I will post a link to their websites if I find them!
Hattie
xxxx
I have been is Aberdeen for a week now and i am loving it. My counterpart is called Zaituni and I am going to be working four days a week at corner stone, which is a charity which helps 16 -25 year olds with learning difficulties, I will be working with solutions to helping the clients to move from school to work and I spoke to the lady today who will be running my placement and she has a great programme sketched out for us. My work counterpart is called David, he is very funny, so I am looking forward to working with him!
To rewind to my arrival, I got the train up from York which took a good 6 hours. I sat down on the train and found Harriet a fellow UK volenteer in the same carriage and then Charlotte came and sat next to us completely by chance. By the time we changed at Edinburgh five of the UK volenteers we travelling together and it has been non- stop ever since!
For the first few nights we were staying in a hotel in Stonehaven just outside Aberdeen, it was 3 people to a 2 person room with horrible food but I think the lack of space helped us to bond as a team! On wednesday we moved into our host homes, I am living with a mother and son, but the son, Grant (who is late twenties/early thirties) is the only person in the house because Diane his mum is walking in Spain until Sunday! We are in the house for a couple of weeks then we will be moving to our actual host home because the couple we are staying with are on holiday too! (It's tattie holidays in scotland!)
The Tanzanian's arrived on Sunday night and are all really lovely. We have a real mix of people, but we are all getting on very well, lots of laughing and dancing! They Tanzanian's taught us all some dances and we returned the favour by teaching them Saturday night and the Hokey Kokey! For the first few days I was very daunted at the cultural differences and the challenges of the programme, but now I just can't wait to get stuck in!
In the last week we have been doing loads of training, learning about each other, each others cultures and also about issues that are important to us. I have learnt that it is rude to smell food in Tanzania and I am having lots fo fun practising eating with my right hand as a leftie, because in Tanzania they all eat with the right hand.
I could write for a very long time, I am full of stories already, but I have to go because we are heading out into Aberdeen (which is lovely).
My love to you all! I will write again when I can, it is all very busy and I am not supposed to use the internet in my host home because of insurance, but I will try to keep in touch.
Oh i almost forgot! I have been learning swahili! it is a really nice language, I am a fan!
Also we had our launch today and we will be in the local press so I will post a link to their websites if I find them!
Hattie
xxxx
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Preparing to go
Welcome to my Blog!
This is where I will be letting everyone know about my six months in Aberdeen and Dar es Salaam. I will send you an email when I have updated my blog so you don't have to keep checking it, this is just a nice format for long pieces of writing and I can put up pictures and video's far more painlessly without my laptop!
I am getting very excited to be off on my travels, I leave on the 4th October for a six hour train journey to Aberdeen where I will do my initial training, meet the Tanzanian's and decide on my placement and who will be my counterpart. We will then all move into our host families and the trip will be well and truely underway!
I have to organise a ten minute presentation on Women's role in buisness in Aberdeen and Tanzania and how they are similar or different. Everyone in the group has chosen a different topic to explore and we will all be giving our presentations in our introductory few days.
Anyway! This is just me saying hello and that this will be where to find me!
Thank you again to everyone who supported me financially, I couldn't be doing this without you.
I will be posting again once I am on my way!
Hattie
This is where I will be letting everyone know about my six months in Aberdeen and Dar es Salaam. I will send you an email when I have updated my blog so you don't have to keep checking it, this is just a nice format for long pieces of writing and I can put up pictures and video's far more painlessly without my laptop!
I am getting very excited to be off on my travels, I leave on the 4th October for a six hour train journey to Aberdeen where I will do my initial training, meet the Tanzanian's and decide on my placement and who will be my counterpart. We will then all move into our host families and the trip will be well and truely underway!
I have to organise a ten minute presentation on Women's role in buisness in Aberdeen and Tanzania and how they are similar or different. Everyone in the group has chosen a different topic to explore and we will all be giving our presentations in our introductory few days.
Anyway! This is just me saying hello and that this will be where to find me!
Thank you again to everyone who supported me financially, I couldn't be doing this without you.
I will be posting again once I am on my way!
Hattie
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