I started looking at Volunteer work at the beginning of this year. Hunting around the internet yielded literally hundreds of ‘Projects’ – as they’re called.
Well I was astonished to find that there are other ‘do gooders’ out there. There’s me thinking I’m the only one. In fact there’s a whole industry devoted to helping people become parted with their money. Most of them are no more than glorified travel agents, in fact some of them ARE travel agents.
Obviously the first principle of volunteering is to ensure that the local people get the maximum benefit from one’s efforts. That ain’t always the case – in fact, hardly ever when arranging through an agent. Sometimes only a small proportion of what is paid goes into the local community.
It doesn’t take much research to find the actual NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) who operate the projects and go to them direct. This is how I’ve gone about things.
I’ve selected two NGO’s. The Trailblazer Foundation and The Sangkheum Center. Both of these are based in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I’ve been in contact with both and hope to share my time between the two.
Trailblazer are a
USA-based NGO. They’re geo-technical engineers. They get involved with
well-drilling in villages and bio-filter water filters. This is to
provide drinking water for the many small rural villages in Cambodia.
It’s
the water-filter project that I plan to be involved in. Hopefully I’ll
be able to draw on my years of experience working with sand and gravels
for the Tarmac Group as a Technical and Quality Manager back in the UK.
I’ll put a link to their website so that anyone who wants more info can read about it there.
That'll save me having to recreate it here.
The Sangkheum Center is proposing to establish a ‘Young Adult Preparation Program’
The Preparation Program offers participants English, Computer Science and Personal Development tuition as well as careers advice, job-hunting skills and workplace visits.
These ‘young adults’ are the business people of tomorrow – and who will help drive Cambodia forward. As I understand it – tourism is set to become a major industry for Cambodia. They have seen their neighbours – Thailand and more recently Vietnam benefit from tourism.
Again – I’ve posted a link to their website.
These plans may change a little by the time I get to Cambodia in December. The NGO’s generally have a preference for volunteers to be ‘in country’ before making firm arrangements. I can understand that – many things can happen in a few months of travelling.
Previous Comments:
Warren - a lovely surprise to get this communique from you - hope all goes to plan. Glad to see you're keeping up the Sax play.
Best, Steve Gershon (swim coach, Ware, Herts)
Amanda McDonald:
Hi Warren
Great blog so far. Looking forward to reading about your adventures for the next 9 months or so. Amanda
Kay Tott:
Hi Warren
the blog is looking good and I await the next episode with bated
breath as I am sure there will be a lot of partying done in the next
month before yoy step on the plane on your adventure. The two projects
sound very interesting and rewarding and will definately make a
difference . good on ya.
Kay
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