“It has been hard work. It has made me cry with laughter, cry with frustration and sometimes just cry. I’ve been, annoyed and scared (the driving!). It has been hilariously funny, unbelievable sad, humbling, very hot, very humid, very sweaty and very wet. The food, mostly fabulous, sometimes dodgy. The toilets, ever a challenge, the […]
Tag Archives | past vols
Volunteer Case Study: Pauline: Arriving in India
Pauline volunteered with VESL in September last year for six weeks in Kerala, India. Pauline has very kindly written up parts of her diary to share with other people who are interested in volunteering with VESL, or who are already going overseas to India and want to get more of an idea about what it’s […]
A Review of 2013
2013 has been a busy year here at VESL, we sent our highest ever number of volunteers overseas and we are continuing to see an increase in demand for our volunteers to teach English in the countries we work in. So we feel that it is about time that we updated you in a bit more […]
Volunteer Case Study: Rural Projects
VESL runs projects in rural parts of Chiang Rai in Thailand, these are unique projects in the mountainous regions of the province where the local villages are inhabited by various hill tribe populations. Andrew Durrant, now a Keele University graduate, volunteered in a rural hill tribe project in 2012. Here Andrew talks about what the […]
Volunteer Case Study: A Second Family
Victoria Will recently graduated from Nottingham University and spent six weeks this summer volunteering in a school in Chiang Rai with her volunteer partner Tata. Victoria has written a great blog about her experiences of staying with a host family, from her initial nerves to a tearful goodbye at the airport! Please note that not […]
Volunteer Case Study: Memories
Tazreen Kassim-Lowe from Keele University has written a second blog (first blog can be found here) for us, reflecting on her experience and memories after spending four weeks in Northern Thailand teaching English. Tazreen and her project partner, Kate, were placed at a rural primary school between Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, having returned to […]
Volunteer Case Study: Excerpts from a Diary
Ola Smuklerz is a student at Manchester Metropolitan University and she spent four weeks this summer in Kerala, India volunteering in a school in a Muslim community just south of Trivandrum. Ola has put together a collection of excerpts from her diary that reflect on her experience, from meeting her host family full of nerves […]
India: A Volunteers Guide From Start To Finish: Part Five: Weekends
Becky’s fifth and final instalment covering her trip to India touches on travelling, whether at weekends or before/after your project, Kerala (and the rest of India!) has some amazing places that you can visit! Remember if you have missed her other posts, you can start from part one by clicking here! If you go travelling […]
India: A Volunteers Guide From Start To Finish: Part Three: Host Family
Meeting your host family can seem like a very daunting part of your project, in her third instalment of ‘India: A volunteers guide from start to finish’ Becky describes her worries and how living with a host family was one of the best parts of her trip. Read her post below to put your worries […]
India: A Volunteers Guide From Start To Finish: Part One: Fundraising
Becky McMullin has recently returned from a four week project in Kerala, India where she was volunteering in a primary school in coastal village near Trivandrum. Becky has written a great series of posts which we will be bringing you over the next four days about her experiences including fundraising, packing, meeting her host family, […]
Why are Student Leaders Important Overseas?
What is a Student Leader? Our Student Leader programme helps support our summer volunteers and enable them to have extra support whilst overseas, the programme was developed in 2012 and we are now in our second year. Student Leaders’ role starts in the UK in the Autumn/Winter before a summer project, and they recruit a […]
Student Leader Interview: Lucy Allcock
Our next Student Leader post comes from Lucy Allcock who volunteered in India in 2012 and is returning with a team of six volunteers this summer, check out her advice below! I’m Lucy Allcock, just finished my second year at Edgehill University studying Drama and Creative Writing. Last summer, I went to Kerala, Southern India […]
Congratulations to the VESL Major Series Runners
A huge congratulations to everyone who ran the Major Series in Tunbridge Wells on Saturday for VESL and raised £955! A team of past volunteers & VESL supporters endured the freezing weather and 20 obstacles over 10 kilometers to raise money…so a MASSIVE thank you to Eve (past volunteer), Katrina, Lauren, Charlotte, Alastair, Nick and […]
Fundraising Idea: Writing To A Trust
A really good way to fundraise money is through applications to charitable trusts and foundations, there are nearly 10,000 different trusts and foundations in the UK alone who in 2011 gave over £3.6 billion to a range of different causes. Most charitable trusts and foundations work through giving away income on capital investment, trustees are […]
