An important announcement regarding the future of VESL’s volunteer programme from Ian Livingstone, VESL’s CEO. Some of you may already be aware that Lauren Pluss, our Programme Manager and sole full-time employee, will be leaving VESL at the end of April and moving to a new job. We have therefore been required to re-evaluate how […]
Author Archive | Ian
Responsible Volunteering Overseas
In response to today’s BBC News article on volunteering overseas, we’d like to stress that nothing about volunteering with VESL is ‘voluntourism’… it’s challenging work, and of real and measurable benefit to those schools and communities we work with. All volunteers are interviewed and we don’t just send anyone willing to cough up the funding […]
International Volunteer Day 2012
December 5th is the UN’s International Volunteer Day… For volunteers this represents an opportunity to take stock of the valued work they are involved in and a chance to remind themselves of the challenges they’ve faced and the successes they’ve achieved this year. For others it is simply a chance to explore ways in which […]
VESL Appoints New Programme Manager
VESL is extremely pleased to announce that we have appointed Lauren Pluss as our new Programme Manager. Lauren is a past VESL volunteer and returned this year volunteering as an overseas programme assistant. Lauren’s first experience with VESL was on a project teaching English in a fishing community school in Kerala for 3 months in 2011. […]
New 2011 Photos
We’ve been able to collate photos from a number of our 2011 volunteers and have just added 4 new photo galleries… Kerala 2011 Thanks go to Elaine Abili & Kath McGuire for their photos from the summer of 2011. Elaine was helping to develop a new project in Southern Kerala for 3 months from June […]
VESL Volunteer Featured in Gap Year Travel Guide
Alex Quinn has been featured in a 2012 Gap Year Travel Guide… Alex is one of our long term volunteers in Northern Thailand on an 11 month project that began in Autumn 2011. Alex has been teaching English in a local primary school and also supports a special needs school near Chiang Rai. In […]
Volunteer Feedback : Alisdair Smith
“The teaching was great fun and, as someone with little prior experience, I would definitely say that it’s not as scary as you might think!” Alisdair Smith, Volunteer in Thailand, 2011
A review of 2011
2011 has certainly been a busy year for VESL… here are a few highlights from the year : Kerala We had great success with our new programme working in schools within fishing communities in Kerala (South India). All of this year’s volunteers did a magnificent job in helping to lay down the foundations of this programme. […]
Volunteer Case-Study : A Day in the Life
“We made a difference by teaching English to children who live in poor conditions and seeing them improve day-by-day in their English language as well as having fun, smiling and laughing with happiness was a joy every day.” Emma Powell, Thailand, 2010-11
Volunteer Case-Study : Chiang Rai, Thailand
“It is surprising how quick we settled in. Everyone was so helpful and caring.” Caley Vye, Thailand, 2010-11
Volunteer Case-Study : Thailand
“I cannot think of a better way to spend my summer… it will be an experience you will always remember” Emma Warrington, Thailand, 2010
Effects of Short-term Volunteering on Qualified Teachers
The Society of Educational Studies (SES) funded VESL to undertake a research project looking at the effects on attitudes and practice of teachers undertaking voluntary projects overseas. ‘Global Educators’ Report Summary Schools and teachers are increasingly being asked to use a global outlook in the classroom, and to appreciate the issues of identities and diversity […]
Student Leader Projects Underway
We’ve received a great response from universities to our new Student Leadership Programme. After receiving several notes of interest from past volunteers we were been able to establish Student Lead Projects within MMU, Keele, Edge Hill, Aston and Birmingham Universities and things are looking very encouraging for 2012 (fingers crossed). The past volunteers who are […]
VESL Volunteers Profiled in Adult Gap Year Guide
Two of VESL’s past volunteers in India and Sri Lanka have been profiled in Susan Giffith’s new book, ‘Gap Year’s for Grown Ups’
