YELLOW SUBMARINE - University College Dublin Newsletter May 2013.pdf · YELLOW SUBMARINE Campus...

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1 NEWSLETTER Spring 2013 Featured Stories Bell of the Ball Celebrating 10 Years of VO in style like only we know how...and we didn't even go to the Barge! Page 3 Rás UCD 2013 Fun in the sun as the annu- al 5km gets bigger, better and faster than ever! Page 4 What Next!? Motivated and rearing to go when you return from vol- unteering? Check out Fran’s experience with Comhlámh’s new course. Page 5 Fun-draising! Because you can’t have fun without the fundamentals (of fundraising!). Read Sam’s story on hitting that illusive target. Page 5 & 6 Therapy in Kisiizi VO’s first venture into Uganda with the five physi- otherapists Page 6 All Country Updates and Much More! Page 7 WE ALL LIVE IN A YELLOW SUBMARINE Campus goes yellow as volunteers take over for VO Day 2013 By Margaret Hayes April 4th this year was an early rise at 7:00 for the 125 Volunteers who will be working overseas this summer. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, each country group was as- signed to a different area around UCD and South Dublin and by 9:30 over €2000 had been raised for the charity. Continued on page 2 Bridgee and Michael enjoying the view from their homemade tuk-tuk Sport: Team Classic Nicaragua” take all in ‘Old Ones Vs Young Ones’ VO Day Football final Celebrating 10 Years of Developing Students, Developing Communities

Transcript of YELLOW SUBMARINE - University College Dublin Newsletter May 2013.pdf · YELLOW SUBMARINE Campus...

Page 1: YELLOW SUBMARINE - University College Dublin Newsletter May 2013.pdf · YELLOW SUBMARINE Campus goes yellow as volunteers take over for VO Day 2013 By Margaret Hayes April 4th this

1

NEWSLETTER Spring 2013

Featured Stories

Bell of the Ball

Celebrating 10 Years of VO

in style like only we know

how...and we didn't even

go to the Barge!

Page 3

Rás UCD 2013

Fun in the sun as the annu-

al 5km gets bigger, better

and faster than ever!

Page 4

What Next!?

Motivated and rearing to go

when you return from vol-

unteering? Check out Fran’s

e x p e r i e n c e w i t h

Comhlámh’s new course.

Page 5

Fun-draising!

Because you can’t have fun

without the fundamentals

(of fundraising!). Read

Sam’s story on hitting that

illusive target.

Page 5 & 6

Therapy in Kisiizi

VO’s first venture into

Uganda with the five physi-

otherapists

Page 6

All Country Updates

and Much More!

Page 7

WE ALL LIVE IN A

YELLOW SUBMARINE Campus goes yellow as volunteers take over for VO

Day 2013

By Margaret Hayes

April 4th this year was an early rise at 7:00 for the 125

Volunteers who will be working overseas this summer.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed, each country group was as-

signed to a different area around UCD and South Dublin

and by 9:30 over €2000 had been raised for the charity.

Continued on page 2

Bridgette and Michael enjoying the view from their homemade tuk-tuk

Sport: Team “Classic Nicaragua” take all in ‘Old Ones Vs Young Ones’ VO Day Football final

Celebrating 10 Years of Developing Students, Developing Communities

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Margaret Hayes volunteered on the 2012

Tanzania Project, was Events Officer for the

VO Student Society for 2012/13 and is cur-

rently Student Leader for the Tanzania 2013

Project. Margaret was elected Auditor for

the 2013/14 Student Society

That was only the beginning.

Following a scrumptious (‘chilled’ in the

doughnuts case) breakfast, kindly sponsored

by Superquinn in Blackrock and Café Brava

here in UCD, the volunteers donned their

best sports shorts and headed to the soccer

cages for the annual VO Day 5 a side where

friends became rivals and winning became

everything. This was certainly the case for

the Nicaraguan volunteers who managed to

get both teams to the Grand finale where it

was the ‘Classic Nicaraguans’ who took

home the trophy. Some hearts broken, Nic-

araguan hearts elevated, all the volunteers

then took a well earned break. Except of

course the trojan spinners who spun there

way through the day raising money

throughout while also promoting the UCDVO

Wicklow 200 contingent who will this year

again take part in the annual cycle through

the rocky Wicklow mountains in efforts to

pump up fundraising targets.

The now annual UCDVO Day ‘Global Aware-

ness Evening’ began at 17:00 and volun-

teers showcased the presentations they had

been working on for weeks in advance. Each

country where UCDVO works was represent-

ed via an interactive information stand

which aimed to build awareness of the cul-

ture and traditions of the communities

where volunteers work. The volunteers also

researched key development issues with the

aim of educating themselves and the wider

UCD community by displaying this infor-

mation on stands and speaking to people

about the topics of interest. Making sure

they didn’t lose the chance to showcase

their talents the Nicaraguan volunteers pre-

formed a traditional Nicaraguan dance that

entertained the crowd. The Delhi volunteers

also invited an Indian Henna artist to come

in and work his magic for the day.

The new Ugandan volunteers showed what

they had learnt with a fruitful display while

the Tanzanians quizzed all present on their

Swahili skills. The Haitian volunteers made

sure there weren’t any stomachs rumbling

tarian Action who gave an insightful view

on volunteering on the ground and the

many issues that volunteers are likely to

face this summer.

To finish what had been a fantastic day we

enjoyed some delicious Four Star pizza giv-

en to us at great discount prices and sat

down to watch a UCDVO exclusive viewing

of the Lion King, where a sense of Hakuna

Matata after a busy day really began to sink

in.

Overall over €2,300 was raised for the

charity but the real success of the day was

raising awareness of the issues faced by the

communities we work with overseas and

promoting this awareness around campus

with a sea of yellow seen throughout cam-

pus!

with a great array of Haitian food and the

main attraction of the evening was the

homemade Tuk Tuk put together by joint

efforts from the South Indian and Delhi vol-

unteers. Wrapping up the Global Awareness

evening we had a talk from Dr. Pat Gibbons

– Director for the UCD Centre for Humani-

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UCDVO 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY BALL Yellow t-shirts and hard hats swapped for ball gowns and black tie as Stillorgan

Park hosts 10 Years of Volunteering!

The 23rd of February 2013, will go down

in VO folklore as the single biggest reun-

ion and party celebrated in the organisa-

tion’s honour. Stillorgan Park Hotel set us

up with a dance floor, food and wine, De-

lorean pumped the tunes, Fr Tony Coote

rocked the mike, Red was on hand with

the insults and the rest, as they say, is

history!

Special Guest Robert Lyakurwa, of Tanz-

Ed, was a treat for all the Tanzanian vol-

unteers and his comments set the tone

for what was a special evening. In an all

too rare occurrence, volunteers and board

members got a chance to celebrate together

the 10 years of combined planning and volun-

teering, and the dance floor proved to be the

ideal location.

In total over €5,000 was raised on the even-

ing for the charity and I think everyone in at-

tendance agreed on one thing; we need to do

this again!

Final word goes to Patrick “Red” O’Neill to

sum up the evenings events. “Congrats to all

on a super night. So well planned and it made

it a great night. Couldn't have gone better!”

ANNIVERSARY YEARBOOKS STILL AVAILABLE: with pictures, stories & messages that cap-

ture 10 years of blood, sweat and 10 years with UCDVO, to get yours contact [email protected]

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Laura Shaughnessy (Tanzania 2011 & Tanza-

nia Student Leader 2012) Ailbhe Ní Chon-

ghaile, Assistant Irish Language Officer,

Bórd na Gaelige UCD, and Kate O’Donnell

(Tanzania 2012, Tanzania Student Leader

2013, Campaigns Officer with UCDVO Stu-

dent Society 2012/13 and loads of other

stuff too!)

SAORÁLAITHE SLÁINTIÚLA SPRAIÚLA

AG RÁS UCD 2013 By Ailbhe Ní Chonghaile

Ar an 6 Aibreán rith breis is 450 duine Rás

UCD 2013. Rás bóthair 5 ciliméadar é seo;

rás trí mheán na Gaeilge, ar champas Bel-

field. B’iad Emmet Jennings a bhuaigh an

chéad áit i gcomórtas na bhfear agus Aoife

O’Connor a bhuaigh comórtas na mban.

Is comhthionscnamh é seo idir Bord na

Gaeilge UCD agus Saorálaithe Thar Lear

(UCDVO), carrthanacht atá 10 bliain ar an

bhfód i mbliana. Ba é Dónal Ó hAnnrach-

taigh a chéad bhunaigh Rás UCD 4 bliain ó

shin. Is mac léinn leighis ildánach é Dónal

a bhí ar scoláireacht i dTeach na Gaeilge,

Bord na Gaeilge, ina bhall de Chumann

Aclaíochta UCD agus ina shaorálaí le Sao-

rálaithe Thar Lear (UCDVO). Tháinig Dónal

aníos leis an smaoineamh seo ar mhaithe

le mic léinn na hollscoile a mhealladh i

dtreo an spóirt, iad a chur ag caint Gaeilge

ag imeacht spraoiúl agus airgead a bhailiú

don charthannacht UCDVO. I mbliana

bailíodh breis is €5,000 a rachaidh i dtreo

tionscnaimh eagsúla UCDVO, sa Tansáin, i

Háití, i Nicearagua, i Uganda mar aon le

Delhi agus Vijayawada in India.

Students Laura Ní Sheachnasaigh and Kate

O’Donnell lead the Rás UCD 2013 committee,

with the support of UCD Volunteers Over-

seas, Bord na Gaeilge UCD, UCD Sport, UCD

Services, Centra UCD and Bank of Ireland.

UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science

commemorated 2012 medicine graduate and

athlete Jevon Newman (RIP) with the Jevon

Newman Trophy. Rás participants included

students and staff, both Irish and interna-

tional from a wide range of UCD schools,

centres, clubs and societies as well as ath-

letes from numerous athletic clubs in the

greater Dublin area. If you would like to par-

ticipate in or help organise Rás UCD 2014,

contact UCDVO Manager Caroline O’Connor

at www.ucdvo.org or Bord na Gaeilge Officer

Ailbhe Ní Chonghaile at www.ucd.ie/bnag.

For all results, photos and news on next years event please visit

www.ucd.ie/rasucd/en/

Photos taken by volunteer photographer

Norabeth Hogan

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WHAT NEXT? Returned volunteer Fran Egan

(Tanzania 2012) on how to turn

your overseas experience into

action back in Ireland

In October 2012, nine UCDVO returned

volunteers were given an opportunity to

participate in Comhlámh’s ‘What Next?’

course, for volunteers who are interested

in continuing their engagement in devel-

opment education in Ireland. A range of

very successful projects emerged includ-

ing the Gender Equality Art Workshop,

which I worked on, as well as the ‘Worlds

Best News’ initiative and a series of

presentations on development and volun-

teering in secondary schools around Ire-

land.

I really enjoyed the ‘What Next’ course;

especially the first two days in Cloughjor-

dan, where the group had a good chance

to build relationships. The facilitators

were excellent over the entire course and

ample support was provided regarding

our action projects. After the debriefing

session with UCDVO on my return from

Tanzania, I knew I wanted to keep en-

gaged in global justice issues in some

way but I wasn’t sure in what form. The

course was ideal for me; as it gave me

an incentive to do something tangible

and not let my good intentions fall by the

wayside. It was also brilliant to be surrounded

by like-minded people; and to get to know

others from organisations outside of UCDVO.

For my action project, along with two others, I

organised a series of workshops which ex-

plored gender equality through the medium of

art. Two paintings were created by our group

of participants, and these formed part of a

wider exhibition on the theme of women’s

empowerment and gender equality. The ac-

tion project was a very positive experience for

me; and being a part of a team made it much

easier and more enjoyable to complete. Since

completing the course, I co-facilitated for one

day of the second ‘What Next’ course, I have

participated in facilitator training with

Comhlámh, and I have provisionally accepted

a place on the ‘Masters in Equality Studies’ at

the School of Social Justice at UCD. All of

these were influenced by my participation in

the ‘What Next’ course.

TOUGH TIMES FOR FUNDRAISING? NO, SAYS SAM! Sam McDonald on raising funds in a tough economic climate

Back in November when I first heard of

the €2500 we would each have to raise,

there is no point in denying it, I found

the prospect quite daunting. We all know

that times are extremely tough for peo-

ple in the current economic climate and I

suppose there were two thoughts running

through my head. First of all what type of

events could I run to raise the money

and secondly how can I convince people

to give the much needed donations to our

projects abroad when times are so tough fi-

nancially in our own country. To begin with I

decided to brainstorm and I asked around all

my friends for some suggestions as to how I

could raise the money. My friends and I had

been involved in some fundraising cam-

paigns while in school and so many valuable

ideas were thrown up including everything

from coffee mornings to charity cycles and

Fran and the Gender Equality Art Workshop

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even the old classic hair shaving and body

waxing. However in the end I decided that

none of these events alone would raise a

substantial amount of money and so I de-

cided to go about trying to organise a

church gate collection.

A problem I faced while trying to organise

the collection was that due to the tough

times in Ireland many churches have

started to limit the number of collections

which they have while the number of

charities looking for a date is always in-

creasing. I decided to write a letter ex-

plaining the good work which UCDVO does

and I sent it to many churches around my

area in the hope that I would get lucky

and be offered a date. Thankfully I did!

The Three Patrons church in Rathgar very

kindly gave a weekend where I could speak

at every mass and collect outside the church

afterwards.

By the end of the two days I was shattered

but it was worth it! In total I raised just over

€3000 euro so the hard work really paid off!

The people of Rathgar Parish were incredibly

generous and I must say a huge thank you

to them and also to the priests of the parish

who were extremely kind and without whom

it wouldn’t have been possible. I am also

hugely thankful to my friends who took time

out to help me with the collections! I sup-

pose what it shows is that even when times

are tough people are willing to donate to

genuinely good causes and as long as you

put the hard work into organising whatever

event you are doing the chances are you will

be successful!

NEW PROJECT IN UGANDA? ‘STU’ MUST BE JOKING! Stu Garrett (Team Leader & Haiti 2008, Nica-

ragua 2009, Delhi 2011), Alice Waugh (Team

Leader), Sinead McGann and Sarah Burke

donning the now famous, and apparently cul-

turally accurate, glittery grass skirts for GAP

The Elective Placement and C.O.U

Kisiizi Hospital

With each student required to have com-

pleted 1000 hours of clinical placement

upon graduation, the elective placement is

an important component of the physio-

therapy degree programme. It affords

students the opportunity to work in a clin-

ical setting, anywhere in the world, before

commencing their final year of study. On

the back of the success of our colleagues

John O’Lone, Darragh Devlin and Donal

Ahern who completed their elective place-

ment in Kisiizi Hospital last year, UCD

School of Physiotherapy and UCDVO have

formed the first structured elective place-

ment at the hospital. We are fortunate to

have the experienced physiotherapists Alice

Waugh and Stu Garret leading us in this pro-

ject. From a physiotherapy perspective, this is

a great opportunity for us to treat patients

with a variety of conditions using skills and re-

sources which will be unlike anything we are

used to in Ireland’s developed hospitals.

The input of UCD Volunteers Overseas makes

this project particularly unique and special.

Not only will we be putting our physiotherapy

skills to use, we will also have the opportunity

to work on a community development project

while we are there. Church of Uganda Kisiizi

hospital is located rurally in the Rukungiri dis-

trict of South Western Uganda, and was

founded in 1958. The rehabilitation depart-

ment was established in 2000 by an Irish

Physiotherapist. The hospital consists of 6

wards, and 250 beds. Follow team Uganda via

their blog at:

ucdvouganda2013.blogspot.ie

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COUNTRY UPDATES

Round up of all the preparations for this year’s projects!

TANZANIA It’s all ‘goro-goro-goro’ as Team Tanzania’s plans for 2013 are in full swing

By Maura McGinn

UCDVO began working in Tanzania in 2009.

This year Team Tanzania will continue to

work in partnership with our local NGO, Tan-

zED and Camara.

In 2013, we are bigger and even more am-

bitious than ever. We have an unprecedent-

ed 24 strong team; two team leaders, four

student leaders (all returning from the 2012

project) and 18 first –time volunteers, giv-

ing Tanzania a really strong team to deliver

this year’s programme. A planning trip in

February identified four new schools, two in

Morogoro (SUA Primary and Kigurunyembe

Demonstration School), and two in Mikumi

(Mikumi Mpya and Mikumi Town). For the

first time the Tanzania team will be split

across two locations, (Morogoro and Miku-

mi) delivering computers, training and sum-

mer camps to four new schools and a re-

fresher training programme. 120 computers

will be distributed to schools benefiting 115

teachers and almost 3,000 students.

Computers are donated within UCD and are

collected, refurbished and transported to

Tanzania by Camara Education Ireland, an

Irish organisation aiming to empower com-

munities in Africa by using technology in

education. As a new development Camara

Education, Tanzania was recently estab-

lished in Dar es Salaam. UCDVO will be

working closely with this local hub and looks

forward to further developing relationships

over the summer project. If that wasn’t

enough UCDVO volunteers will also deliver a

refresher course to teachers from thirteen

schools who participated in previous years.

This refresher course will be based in

Morogoro and will build upon training deliv-

A taste of the 2013 Tanzania Volunteers

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ered by UCDVO since 2009. The training

programme has been adapted to respond

to requests and feedback from our past

participants. The training will focus on fur-

thering teachers’ skills and confidence with

computers. In addition, Team Tanzania will

transport books to assist in developing li-

braries and teach English to school stu-

dents.

Of course we cannot do this work without

our local partners. During our planning

trip, TanzED’s Regional Coordinator Robert

Lyakurwa was on hand and behind the

wheel to deliver us from school to school

and meeting to meeting. We met with

Robert’s counterpart in Mikumi, Isaac

Mwakasinga, and between them both they

had organized 13 school visits, Irish Em-

bassy meetings, a meeting with the Re-

gional Ministry of Education and the new

Camara Hub, not to mention the other

courtesy visits to old friends that we have

made since our initial project in 2009.

We had further excitement when Irish Aid

funding facilitated a trip by Robert to Ire-

land in March of this year. Robert visited a

number of Primary Schools and was the

guest of honour at the UCDVO 10th Anni-

versary Ball. Robert also met with this

year’s volunteers and spoke to them about

the challenges faced by children attending

primary and secondary school in Tanzania.

Robert also gave Team Tanzania their idea

for this year’s Global Awareness Project

(GAP). The group researched the issue of

primary school students, who are completely

taught in Swahili, transferring to Secondary

school where they are taught entirely

through English. The group highlighted the

issues and problems faced by these pupils

and the difficulty of adapting to a new lan-

guage in such a short time frame. The group

challenged fellow volunteers to try and

memorise as much Swahili as possible in or-

der to win a Tanzanian themed cupcake!

Minister of State for Trade and Development,

Joe Costello visited Mafiga Primary school in

Morogoro on the 11th March, 2013. The Min-

ister spent time at the school visiting the

Special Needs classroom, Library and Com-

puter room where UCDVO volunteers had

supplied the furniture, electrification, com-

puters and teacher training.

Since March our plans continue, team meet-

ings are being held, funds are being raised,

work is on-going in developing lesson plans,

sorting books, taking Swahili lessons and ex-

citement is building until finally we depart on

June 14th.

Mark Fox (Camara) amongst one of the big-

gest ever computer pick ups for Camara in

UCD last November. Over 130 machines

were collected on the day which will be fixed

up and shipped off to disadvantaged schools

throughout Africa

Robert Lyakurwa (Tanz-Ed) enjoys a

spot of hurling while on a visit to St.

Brigid’s National School, County Wex-

ford as part of his trip to Ireland

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SOUTH INDIA Team leader Paddy O’Shea ‘Cares and Shares’ team South

India’s progress in preparing for this years trip to Vijayawada

Over the past three years, volunteers

have been working in partnership with

Care and Share India at two locations in

Andhra Pradesh in the south east of the

country. Following on from previous years

we will be helping with the running of

classes in English, History, Social studies

and Mathematics, as well as organizing

sports events, competitions and much

more.

Since coming together as a team in late

November everyone has gotten to know

each other well and with the late arrival

of the team leader in January we went

into the February training weekend as a

complete group for the first time. Team

bonding took the form of a trip to the

Guinness storehouse and spicy Japanese

cuisine to round off an enjoyable week-

end.

The planning trip this year was a joint af-

fair between both South India and Delhi

groups. It was an excellent opportunity

for these “rookie” leaders to get to grips

with their surroundings. Asides from the

usual planning trip activities, this year we

were fortunate enough to be invited to the

Irish Ambassador’s residence for St. Patrick’s

day celebrations while visiting Delhi and got

to meet not only the Ambassador but also the

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

Frances Fitzgerald!

Back on Irish soil it wasn’t long before the an-

nual VO day had rolled around again and the

volunteers took to the streets to raise much

needed funds. Sadly South India (team Coco)

couldn’t take home the crown of VO day 5

aside champions, even after signing a world-

class French goalkeeper, but we did put in a

valiant effort all the same! After all the fun

and games the volunteers set out their dis-

plays in the global lounge for the Global

Awareness Projects (GAP). The South Indian

display centered on Women’s Rights, a very

important and topical issue in India at pre-

sent.

Less than two short months remain before we

set out for the sub-continent and all the vol-

unteers are hard at work preparing for the

trip as well as their upcoming exams!

Team South India brave wintery conditions for the VO Day collections

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NICARAGUA With preparations for this year’s project ‘Somoto-ring’ ahead, Team

Leader Nicolita Brennan gives a brief round up of all activities to date

The planning trip in March was hugely ben-

eficial and all partners were extremely

grateful for all the efforts put in by past vol-

unteers since 2007 and are eagerly looking

forward to the arrival of this year’s volun-

teers in June. This prior groundwork and

communication is essential in selecting the

most indispensable projects for the local

community. The key focus of this year’s

projects will be balancing the construction,

health and education with greater commu-

nity integration and ‘solidaridad’!

Once again, we will be working with an NGO

called INPRHU for the construction of a pre-

school in the Las Palmiras community, as

education for 3-5 year olds is currently be-

ing provided in family homes. This is where

the muchas palabras picked up in the Span-

ish classes will come in handy, thanks to

Andrea Ruiz whom we would like to thank

for all her patience as our resident Latin

American Spanish teacher. What’s more,

the team will work on a kitchen and library

extension for a small school in the centre of

the town. Volunteers will also continue to

work at Los Quinchos through their primary

school reinforcement programme. And final-

ly, a new physiotherapy project will also

begin in Los Pepitos, a school and rehabili-

tation centre for children with physical and

intellectual disabilities.

For the success of the projects, the team

have been very busy preparing for their trip

with a range of activities from meetings to

fundraising events. A training weekend al-

lowed for the group to present the infor-

mation that they had researched on the re-

gion to the rest of the group. This knowledge

was then showcased on UCDVO Day as part

of their Global Awareness Project. That af-

ternoon, Team Nica 2013 narrowly lost out

to Nicaragua’s 2010 volunteers in the foot-

ball tournament final in which all groups took

part (the taking part is what counts right?!)

Still, it was good training for the football and

volleyball competitions that will take place

with the locals on their trip. Somoto may be

home to two 2008 Athletics Olympians, but

this group won’t go down without a fight!

Coincidentally, the Latin America Solidarity

Centre screened ‘Dreaming Nicaragua’ a

documentary portraying the hardships of

Nicaraguans through the eyes of four sur-

prisingly humorous, hopeful, and optimistic

children. This inspiring perspective further

enthused and encouraged the volunteers

ahead of their trip in June.

Team Nicara-

gua enjoy a

bit of break-

fast after the

VO Day collec-

tions around

the Donny-

brook and

Booterstown

areas

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DELHI No ‘Lang-ing’ around for Delhi volunteers as preparations for

this year’s projects are well under way

By John Langan

UCDVO’s longstanding tradition of volunteer-

ing in Delhi shall continue this summer, with

24 avid volunteers travelling to the summer

heat of India on the 21st of June. We will

continue in the footsteps of the many volun-

teers who have paved the way for us, and

given us such a good reputation around the

streets of Delhi. Myself and Jess O’Dowd

(Team Leaders – Delhi’13) travelled on a

planning trip during the mid-term break

from college, to liaise with our local part-

ners, work out plans and logistics for this

coming summer.

Our visit to Delhi started with a rendezvous

with our Indian Mammy – Sunita. Sunita has

been working with the Delhi group for years

and is responsible for the recruitment of the

local volunteers who work alongside the

UCDVO Delhi crew. We talked about the

plans for the summer, and the recent tumult

within Indian society revolving around wom-

en’s rights and safety. Interesting times in

the Sub-Continent.

For the most part we will follow the time

honoured and refined framework that has

worked in Delhi for the last decade. The

project that sticks out most in my mind is

the work we shall do with ‘Habitat for Hu-

manity’ in Bawana slum in the north west of

New Delhi. The poverty of the slum is strik-

ing and ghastly. On a tour of the area with

Martin, our local point of contact, we walked

many of the streets and visited two differ-

ent houses that UCDVO helped build in

2011 and 2012. Once the occupants learned

that we were from UCDVO they were more

than happy to receive us (this was really a

theme of the entire trip – previous volun-

teers have evidently worked from the heart

in all of their efforts over there).

One house had been converted into a 3 sto-

rey house (with the reassurance of an actu-

al foundation under the building) and the

property now housed a tailoring business in

——————————————————————

Student Leader Glenn Daly (Delhi 2012,

2013) gets to grips with the local attire. Dur-

ing the GAP evening Team Delhi focussed on

Indian heritage and culture. Many of the vol-

unteers were attired in the finest (well may-

be not really the finest!) of Indian dress,

with Glenn stealing the show with his curly-

pointy toed shoes. Along with the South In-

dia group – a mock up auto-tuck-tuck was

even built, getting people properly geared up

for the upcoming barrage of Delhi style traf-

fic (not for the faint hearted!)

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12

the ground floor which provides and income

and employment for the family. Inside the

two other stories the dwelling was humble

and homely. Looking out over the slum from

the roof top terrace of the building, I mar-

velled at the efforts of previous volunteers

and the difference that they had created for

this family.

The team of volunteers have been making

great efforts in preparation for departure.

Our student leader Glenn has even gone as

far as organising Hindi lessons with volun-

teers from IndiaSoc, helping us all get a

footing on the basics of the language, en-

suring a smooth transition into local life on

arrival no doubt. He even organised a lan-

guage session tailored to the physiothera-

pists who will be back working in the Anyto-

daya Home for the Ill and Destitute.

After liaising with all of the local partners

and agreeing on agendas for the summers

projects we headed for Indira Ghandi Airport

with tired bodies and excited minds. Very

much looking forward to getting back to

Delhi and continuing on the brilliant legacy

that’s been built there over the last decade

with all of the wonderful volunteers in our

group.

Bring on the Dal!!!

IT’S ALL POLITICS! UCDVO enjoys season of Ministerial audiences to help

promote and create awareness of our work overseas

(Right) Minister for Trade and Development

Joe Costello during a recent visit to Mafiga

school, where UCDVO built a computer lab

and carried out various trainings and renova-

tions in 2011 and 2012

(Left) Jess (Delhi 2013), Caroline and Paddy

(South India 2013) pose for a photo with

Minister for Children & Youth Frances Fitz-

gerald celebrating St. Patricks day in the

Irish Ambassadors residence, Delhi

(Left) Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn,

Hugh Brady (UCD President) and Alex

Metcalfe (Interim Director of International

Affairs) meet with Robert and Caroline in

March

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HAITI Everything ‘aiight’ with team ‘Ayiti’ as Indira talks us

through pre departure activities Creole classes The Haiti group has had a

few Creole sessions as we realize the im-

portance of being able to communicate with

the local community. For a few weeks in a

row we met up as a group and we learned

the basics of Creole and worked on creating

sentences. Volunteers feel more comfortable

after the sessions, and have a basic under-

standing of the language. A Haiti Facebook

page has been created to bring the group

together. Many interesting facts, articles,

documentaries, clips and pictures have been

shared on our weekly postings.

Team bonding This years’ group have en-

joyed getting to know each other and spend-

ing time together. The team had a bowling

session one afternoon. The guys and gals

split up into two groups for a little bit of fun

competition before heading over to Eddie

Rockets for food. Many of the Haiti mem-

bers bonded on a night out for UCDVO’s

comedy fundraiser. Everyone met up in one

place and spent the night laughing away

and having the craic. Each member’s fund-

raisers have been a perfect opportunity for

bonding time as well. There have been vari-

ous fundraisers completed; coffee morn-

ings, concert nights, zumba day, store col-

lections, church collection, horse races, and

many more!

Planning Trip At the beginning of April,

Red and myself went on a planning trip to

Haiti. We visited and assessed prior UCDVO

Haitian projects. Bigue, a school that

UCDVO has been working with had great

news on the visit! Out of 22 total students

that took exams to be moved on to second-

ary school, 22 of them passed! The two of

us visited the latrines previous volunteers

have built and the community had wonder-

ful remarks about them. They are being

used on a consistent basis and have been

well kept. Also, we met with various plan-

ners for 2013 proposals of projects. Upon

arriving home from the planning trip, every-

one met up with the volunteers to share ex-

periences and pictures to discuss potential

projects.

Upcoming plans The volunteer’s main fo-

cus is finishing up their fundraising and get-

ting as many resources as possible donated

(basketball, soccer balls, paper plates, art

supplies, books, etc)! Team and Student

Leaders will be organizing Haitian students

and partnering them with UCDVO volun-

teers, as well as planning school and camp

curriculum. For this years projects, Volun-

teers will continue to work on the summer

camps at Bigue and Jean XXIII, while also

constructing a flood prevention wall at Vil-

lage Claudine and a food storage facility for

the Hens for Haiti project.

Bit of bonding in Eddie Rockets

Indira & Red on the 2013 planning trip

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ENTERTAINMENT UCDVO Development Film Series attracts the A-listers in creating awareness of a

variety of global issues on campus right from our very own UCD Cinema

The UCDVO Development Film Series ran

over two months, screening 5 different docu-

mentaries and was attended by over 130

people, all in UCD’s new state of the art Stu-

dent Cinema. There were a variety of global

issues covered throughout the series includ-

ing international aid, trade, water sustaina-

bility, overpopulation and climate change.

We were very lucky with the fantastic stand-

ard of guest speakers to introduce the is-

sues and answer questions following the

screening. Many thanks to everyone who

attended and participated in our lively de-

bates. Special thanks to our partners in

Trócaire, the UCDVO Student Society and

the UCD Cinema for helping make the se-

ries such a success.

VO FAMILY CONTINUES TO GROW WITH TWO NEW ADDITIONS

(Above) Siobhan Twomey and Colin Quinn wel-

comed baby Liam into the world on the the 17th

April 2013. Siobhan and Colin met on the Delhi

2004 project and were married by Fr. Tony Coote

(UCDVO Founder) in March 2012. Siobhan was in-

strumental in establishing the UCDVO project in

South India and Colin was a member of the VO

Board between 2005 and 2008.

(Below) Baby Ellen Ryan showing off her

support for UCDVO! Paul and Sarah Ryan

met on the UCDVO Haiti 2006 project and

were married in 2011 by Fr. Tony Coote

(Founder of UCDVO). They also took part in

the Tanzania 2009 project, and Paul joined

the Haiti alumni project in 2010.

UCDVO gang with guest speaker for ‘Chasing

Ice’, John Gibbons (Climatechange.ie)

Director of Fairtrade Ireland, Peter Gaynor

speaking at the Black Gold screening

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DELHI AND SOUTH INDIA PROJECTS ENJOY

UNEXPECTED CONNECTION By Caroline O’Connor, Manager, UCD Volunteers Overseas

In March this year I travelled to India with

the new Team Leaders for the 2013 pro-

jects, Jessica O’Dowd, John Langan and

Paddy O’Shea. It was a strange feeling

handing over the reins after leading the

Delhi team for the past three consecutive

years, but having spent the week introduc-

ing our new Leaders to the wonderful chaos

of India, I’ve no doubt they are going to do

an amazing job! India has always been a

very special place for me as it’s where I

started my volunteering with UCDVO as

part of the Delhi 2004 team, but this plan-

ning trip was definitely one that I’ll never

forget! As part of the planning process, we

spent the first few days on the Care and

Share campus in Vijayawada, in the south-

ern state of Andhra Pradesh and then trav-

elled up north to Delhi (approx 1,800kms

away) to meet with our local partners - The

Society for Working Life, Salaam Baalak

Trust, Antyodaya Shelter and Habitat for

Humanity.

Last year, Ross McCarthy (Team Leader

South India 2012) and I undertook the

same journey in order to prepare for the

2012 programme. During last year’s plan-

ning trip, Ross and I came across a young

boy while we were visiting the Childline of-

fice in Vijayawada. He looked about 12

years old, had a huge smile and was eager

to interact with us despite the fact that he

couldn’t speak. I noticed he had a scar on

the inside of his forearm and he signed to

us that this was from an electric shock. No-

el Harper, Director and Founder of Care

and Share India, was with us at the time

and the Childline staff asked his advice on

where to place him, as they had no infor-

mation on where he had come from or if he

had any family members to contact. Noel

agreed to take him to Butterfly Hill, one of

the Care and Share campuses, and house

him with some other children with speech

and hearing impairments; however, we re-

cently learned that he didn’t remain there for

long and was moved to a different home, but

shortly afterwards ran away. No one seemed

to know much else about him and it was

saddening to think that he had slipped into

the ever growing pool of street children who

move throughout India every day.

Exactly one year later, in the Salaam Baalak

Trust home in Delhi (1,800kms away from

Vijayawada), I was approached by a young

boy who, like many other children, welcome

visitors with great affection and follow them

around with the hope of gaining their undi-

vided attention. However, this boy was dif-

ferent as he didn’t have the ability to speak,

but seemed intent on getting me to notice

him. I looked at him and immediately turned

his arm to check for a scar – it was the boy I

had met a year before in Vijayawada! We

both recognised each other, but as he could-

Caroline meets Panchi a year later in Delhi

after their chance encounter in Vijayawada

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16

n’t speak he was unable to explain to the

staff that he had met me before. The staff

up until that point had no idea where he had

come from or how he got to Delhi; they felt

that maybe he had come from a rural area

in northern India due to his strong connec-

tion with birds (when he first arrived he

liked to sleep outside close to the birds).

They have named him “Panchi” – the Hindi

word for “bird”. I’ve since put both organisa-

tions in touch with the hope that they will be

able to trace some information about Pan-

chi’s background and possibly find a family

member or some indication as to where he

is from. It is expected that Panchi, like so

many other children in India, travelled the

1800km to Delhi by train, however, the cir-

cumstances of his journey are unknown. For

now, Panchi is being well looked after by the

Salaam Baalak Trust in their long-stay home

and is living in a secure environment where

he is provided with food, shelter, education,

love and attention. A team of five UCDVO

volunteers will work in the Salaam Baalak

home for four weeks this year, assisting the

staff in providing over 150 children with

these basic rights.

India is home to 430 million children, how-

ever it is estimated that 40% of them are

vulnerable to threats such as trafficking,

homelessness, forced labour, drug abuse

and crime and are in need of protection

(Human Rights Watch 2013). The magnitude

of this social issue is clearly evident as you

move through streets, railway stations and

slum colonies throughout India; however,

there is a worrying sense of complacency as

children living in circumstances of poverty

and neglect seem to be somewhat the norm

or accepted by the majority. This can be a

frustrating realisation, however through

partnerships with organisations such as the

Salaam Baalak Trust and Care and Share In-

dia, UCDVO can play a role in providing sup-

port for children who, although clearly visible

throughout India, have somehow become

invisible to the majority in the race towards

modernisation and economic development.

FAREWELL MESSAGE By Sean O’Connell

When the possibility of working with UCDVO

came up back in June last year my imagina-

tion immediately went into overdrive. A

chance maybe to visit all VO projects in one

year, more free yellow t-shirts to keep the

wardrobe ticking over, lunches in the stu-

dent society office everyday (no crumbs)

and enough table quizzes to maintain a

steady year’s supply of Milk-Tray, USA

tinned biscuits and Tesco’s second cheapest

bottles of wine were all obvious UCDVO re-

lated benefits. Countless early morning post-

er runs, bucket collections, coffee mornings,

visa applications, coin counting sessions,

evening meetings, volunteer interviews,

passports, and nine months later I can con-

firm that life behind the scenes with UCDVO

is not all glitz and glamour. While I had al-

ways recognised there must be an incredible

amount of work required to keep things run-

ning smoothly year after year, I always

thought it best for my conscience not to think

too much about it and go on trying to focus

on the exciting aspects of the projects. The

administration required, right from making

sure there is enough blu-tack and sellotape in

the student society office all the way up to

organising 125 volunteer flights, visas and

trainings, really is the foundation that allows

all the great work overseas to be carried out

upon.

When asked to write something for the news-

letter (despite the snappy headlines!) I knew

I could not miss an opportunity to

acknowledge and thank Caroline for not only

allowing us to execute such worthwhile pro-

jects by keeping things afloat year after year,

but for constantly improving them beyond

everyone’s expectations. While the scale of

the tasks that allow for the projects to hap-

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17

pen every year was daunting throughout, I

would like to thank Caroline again for giv-

ing me plenty of fun and exciting responsi-

bilities well above that normally expected

of an intern, with the film series a high-

light of my time on campus. My experienc-

es with the student society committee be-

fore this year were limited to say the

least, but I struggle to think there could

have been a better group in charge of run-

ning so many successful events before the

2012/13 team. It was a real pleasure to

see the efforts and sacrifices people made

to ensure the promotion and continued

progress of UCDVO on campus, and with

the recent appointment of next year’s

committee this improvement shows no

sign of stopping. Finally, a special mention

has to be made of all those who help out

so selflessly in their humble capacity as

simple ould volunteer or returned volun-

teer. It seems to me that the real strength

of UCDVO is found here in students, board

members and past volunteers giving so gener-

ously of their time to ensure we continue to

grow and improve as a charity despite some of

the capacity challenges we face compared to

other organisations our size. While I am sad to

be finishing up in the VO office, the great thing

about VO is they can’t stop you from coming

back and helping out in the future in whatever

way you can! As I have seen so many before

stay involved throughout 10 years of UCDVO, I

hope to do the same.

This image is taken from the 10 Year Anniversary poster series designed by Bryan Tormey

(Haiti 2005, Nicaragua 2007 & 2008)

Telling it how it is to the volunteers...