Christmas at Blindschool

No Christmas tree, no decoration, no Santa Claus but nevertheless a lot of happy children. The blindschool staff, I as Englishteacher, the Blindschool coordinator Trang and two local volunteers, had organised a Christmas party to introduce an important western tradition to the blind students. Since blind people lost one of their five senses they focused on the development of the ears, the nose and the sense of taste.

So we brought a CD-player with a “Best of Christmas”-CD and all kinds of cookies, among others the famous German “Spekulatius” and “Lebkuchen”, known for their specific taste. Soon we had more than 20 kids sitting in the English classroom, listening to “Merry Christmas”, enjoying the cookies and chatting lively with each other.

Highlight of the party were the presents we bought for the kids. Pencil cases, soft toy animals and other little gifts waited for their new owner. But first the kids had to play stone-paper-scissors to compete for the best presents. In the end the room was empty, no cookies, no presents, no children left. Only a few poor volunteers who had to tidy up the chaos.

Marius

Message from an Italian partner organization

Medium Term Voluntary Project
For the following projects a motivation letter is required

APPLICATION DEADLINE 12TH FEBRUARY
Send the application to incoming@legambiente.it

LegMTV13 Verona (Vr) Veneto 1/03/2010 – 31/5/2010 ENVI
2 female volunteers

For the 7th year Verona will host international volunteers during the entire year. Verona is a very famous city (do you remember Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare???) in the North East of Italy; it is a very tourist place with a long history and culture; rich of historical monuments, first of all the famous arena (the ancient roman theatre). Even it is a great example of fortified town, in fact the walls and the surrounding area is going to become a national park. Unfortunately some parts of the area are still damaged and abandoned.
Read both projects carefully, and express in the motivation letter your preference, keeping in mind that volunteers from both projects will be in continuous contact. The local group will consider the volunteer's choice and decide the place to stay according to the preference of the volunteer and the needs of each project.


VILLA BURI
Legambiente’s projects are addressed to anyone who wants to live an unusual experience, wising to get from their own ideas to adapt their habits and making them sustainable for the care of the planet.
In our projects the volunteers will experiment a different life style : they will have the opportunity to deal with ecological practices such as the production environment friendly detergents, separation of garbage for it’s reuse and recycling, water and electricity saving, food based on local and season products, etc.
Volunteers will practice principles of sustainable mobility using bicycles and public transport, they will discover a different kind of tourism, exploring the territory rich in nature, according to the workcamp’s context instead of visiting the bigger and more common cities.
Life in community is a key point in any of Legambiente’s project, since it is the link which allows the cultural exchange and the discovery of the surroundings.
Therefore, it is important that the candidates are willing to adapt their own habits during the period of the camp and realize together how a different world is possible!

Villa Buri is a Venetian Villa built ate the beginning of the 1600’s. It is located about 5 kilometres far from the centre of Verona (20 min. by bike).
This Villa is surrounded by 4 hectares of park which have an interesting range of flora and fauna. The association “Amici di Villa Bosco Buri” is in charge of the maintenance and the valorisation of the Villa’s park since 2005. The work in Villa Buri is perfect for people who love nature.
The main tasks are:
- Park cleaning and maintenance
- Gates opening and closing
- Medicinal, herbs and biologic vegetables growing
- Manual Work inside the Park
Volunteers will work about 30 hours, together with Italian volunteers and in collaboration with local people. The association offers board and lodging. The volunteers will organise shifts to clean the house and prepare meals.
Villa Buri’s international volunteering program is reserved to girls only.
The official language is Italian but it will be possible to communicate in English, Spanish or French. For this reason, it is required to send curriculum vitae and a motivation letter. The internet access and a house phone are available in the apartment. Volunteers will also have a bike at their disposal.
Accommodation: Apartment inside the Villa Buri’s park
Number of participants: 2 girls
Official languages: Italian, English, Spanish and French
What to bring: working shoes, working clothes (old clothes you can get dirty), warm clothes (even if it is Italy, it gets cold sometimes!), raincoat.
Suggested: sleeping bag, games, instruments, something typical from your country

SJ Vietnam birthday

SJ Vietnam is busy celebrating its 5th birthday. Everybody is eager and expects a wonderful and memorable evening with the attendance of all SJ Vietnam's staffs, Vietnamese and international volunteers, together with all respectful guests and many exciting activities such as brief introduction about SJ Vietnam, music performance, game shows, etc with humorous MC.

In Between festival

The festival named “IN BETWEEN” will be organized at Nola café’, at Hoang Hoa Tham street, (near Botanical garden) on 24th, January, 2010 by the international volunteers, belonging to SJ Vietnam. This festival is organized for the purpose of calling support for the citizens living in the fishing village near the Red River and in broader sense of making public aware of some social issues at present such as sustainable development, environment protection, poverty against. We all hope that the festivals would help the poor people in the fishing village have a better life.
There will have many interesting activities during the event. They are donation activity, picture exhibition, music show, free shop and many many other exciting and crazy activities by dancing groups in Hanoi, and international volunteers. All money and belongs collection from this event will be directly sent to poor people living near Red River.
In order to make the festival more successful, SJ Vietnam need all supports from volunteers for the preparation work.
For whom wants to join and perform in this event, please register with Ms Fred before 8p.m, 20th, December, 2009
Email: fred.sjvietnam@gmail.com
In the email, please clarify:
- Your full name and nationality
- Your email address and phone number
- The name of the activity you want to perform or join
- The time of performance (how much time it lasts) and primary description of that performance.
- What instrument you need for your performance.

Thank you very much for your cooperation!

International Volunteer Day 2009- 5th December

 "A day for recognizing and honoring the efforts of volunteering worldwide, and an opportunity for volunteer organizations and individual volunteers to show case their contribution to the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals."

Here were the goals of the International Volunteer Day 2009 which took place on the 5^th of December at the Botanical Garden of Ha Noi as in many other capital cities throughout the world.                        

This year, the event was organized thanks to the contribution of 14 local and international organizations active in the sphere of volunteering in Ha Noi.

                    

The global theme was “Volunteering for our planet”  and provided the participants with the opportunity to find more about a wide range of volunteer opportunities. It also allowed them to increase their knowledge of environmental issues and environment protection through thematic activities that covered topics like wildlife protection, the ocean, green transport, waste, 3Rs, global climate change and urban pollution.

They also took part in many leisure activities such as fun games and music performances done by the volunteers themselves and had the chance to get to know other local and international volunteers.

During the whole day, SJ Vietnam staff, international and local volunteers contributed to the celebration by holding SJV’s own tent and organizing many activities (fun games, music, dance and cheer performances).

That sunny Saturday was a big success, as the number of participants suggests, and all the organizations already settled an appointment for next year !