News

Projects Abroad's first 'vulture volunteer' Lindsay Bevan recently discovered a last surviving population of whiteback vultures, in an isolated rural area of northern Tamil Nadu where all species of vultures were previousy thought to be extinct.

November sees the first Projects Abroad Information Evening being held in Scotland. This is your chance to come along and speak to ex-volunteers and our Projects Abroad staff members about volunteering opportunities abroad.

Gerrit, the Director of our Conservation Project updates us on all the news from South Africa and Botswana

Romania Care Volunteers Organise Concert Fun Care Supervisor, Daniela Christea tells us about a programme of shows and concerts arranged by the Care and Drama volunteers in Romania. 'Last year the volunteers from the foster homes in Tarlungeni started a new type of programme to help the children socialise: they organised shows, carnivals and puppet shows.

Our two week special volunteers who were in Argentina on a medical programme are now all back home recounting tales of their time in Cordoba. One of the highlights was the middle weekend when the intrepid group were taken up into the hills outside of Cordoba.

Not getting the grades you need for university can be extremely upsetting, especially when you thought you had your future career mapped out.

Emmanuel Eboué of Arsenal has recently thrown his support behind the latest Projects Abroad sport project.  Projects Abroad have set up a football academy to help develop the talents of a local community team based in Ghana.  The academy, which has 3 youth teams and 1 senior team, provides top quality coaching for over 80 players in the Cantonments area of Accra, the capital of Ghana.

The town of St Louis, Projects Abroad's base in Senegal is well known because of its international Jazz festival. People travel from all over the world to play, watch and appreciate the music in St Louis.

No one can deny that protecting the environment can be as dry as the dust of the ever-expanding Sahara Desert. Now all that's changing with Projects Abroad. We've been working with Club4Climate and soon we'll be launching our eco-clubs – dance-clubs with a big eco-twist – around the world.

May has been a month of great excitement with the implementation of our first initiative at the Ese'eja community of Palma Real, a visit from an old friend of Taricaya, Mauricio Ugarte, the commencement of our first in depth botanical investigation and some breathtaking wildlife sightings around the reserve.

Richard Clowes, Deputy Director of Projects Abroad is cycling 1,000 miles from Lands End to John O'Groats to raise money for Addis Ababa Safe House in Ethiopia.

Seventeen year old Manon Oliver from Esher is the 20,000th volunteer to join Projects Abroad. Manon and her brother, both from ACS Cobham International School have joined a two week medical project in India this summer.

Inca Trail - As always the volunteers on the Inca project have kept up their hard work on keeping the Inca Trail in Sicre (not far from Huyro) clear of vegetation. The volunteers have been working with machetes and pruning sheers to carry out this work. The work aims to protect artefacts which may be present on and around the Inca Trail.

Although our places are filling up for the summer we do still have some places available. Please give us a call or send us an email to check the availability of our summer placements.

After its emergence as a Projects Abroad destination last year, Morocco has been rapidly eWxpanding in terms of volunteer numbers and placements! As of this month, we're beginning sports projects in and around Rabat, which is our base in the country.

Thailand is the only one of our destinations to take their main school holidays during April and the start of May. This year we've been running two exciting holiday teaching programmes, one in Ao Nang and one in Chumphon.

The 2-Week Specials programmes were introduced by Projects Abroad four years ago in response to lots of interest from students who wanted a gap year taster experience either in a school holiday or in the summer before starting university.

Country Director, Tim DeWinter tells us about a recent drawing competition organised by Projects Abroad:

On 2nd December 2007 two Cornish gig rowers began the ultimate rowing challenge: to row across the Atlantic Ocean.

Projects Abroad has teamed up with Supermodel Petra Nemcova to help her select 10 Thai school children to appear in a new Hollywood movie.

The International Year of the Reef 2008 is a worldwide campaign to raise awareness about the value and importance of coral reefs and threats to their sustainability.

Projects Abroad has been asked to show that Sudan is safe for volunteering - following the Gillian Gibbons teddy bear incident.

Projects Abroad has established a programme in Pakistan in collaboration with James Caan, BBC “Dragon's Den” star and a leading member of the million-strong UK Pakistani community.

The African Cup of Nations began this month, with 16 teams battling it out in a 3 week footballing extravaganza. The eyes of the continent turned to Ghana - the host nation, and they did not disappoint.

From 8th - 24th August 2008 the biggest ever Olympics is being held in Beijing, China and you could be there!

Projects Abroad is launching three new destinations in 2008, Brazil, Jamaica and Togo.

News has hit Manchester United websites following a piece in the Independent newspaper this week about a possible link up between Manchester United and Projects Abroad's Eikomena Football team who play in the Moldovan A Division.

2007 was a fantastic year for Projects Abroad in terms of the sporting achievements of our staff.

Conservation director, Stuart Timson gives us the latest news from the Taricaya Reserve.

James Caan - of BBC Dragon's Den fame - has asked Projects Abroad to set up a teaching and care programme in Sudan.

On 2nd December 2007, two Cornish gig rowers began their adventure to row across the Atlantic Ocean in aid of Cornwall Hospice Care.

In the light of the recent arrest of Gillian Gibbons who was teaching in Sudan, Sky and BBC News asked Director Peter Slowe to appear on their evening news shows this week.

Assistant Manager, Catherine Stidston tells us how the volunteers in Sri Lanka had the chance to experience a traditional Sri Lankan wedding.

As the Khao Lak trip is where I left off last month, I’ll begin with that. Though the principal aim was to clean beaches, the trip was a good opportunity to show the present volunteers a wider view of Thailand and impress on them the enormity of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami as Phang Nga was the province that was hit the hardest, with whole coastal communities being practically wiped out.

South African volunteers witnessed a great accomplishment on Saturday night as the Springboks took the 15-6 victory over England for the Rugby World Cup!

Our Teaching Programme in Peru takes a different form in the school holiday period in January and February, when we run a scheme to improve the English of the local Peruvian teachers.

The conservation project at Legodimo reserve in Botswana has been developing rapidly. We now have a clear view of the Limpopo River thanks to our volunteers who spent a hard day’s work with their machetes.