22nd March 2007
by ecofriendlytourist.com
Volunteers please!
The website www.ecofriendlytourist.com discovers how for one student what began as a holiday in France became a lifetime journey
For Claire Goddard it all started with wondering what to do during her summer vacation. As a languages student it seemed natural to spend time in France. Volunteering was worth a try, so she headed off to a project on the west coast.
For around two weeks she was with a small group of young people drawn from all over the world. “It was an amazing experience,” she says, “and wet my appetite for much more!”
The next summer, in 2003, she headed off to Croatia and then on to the Czech Republic. “The children I was working with in Croatia were fantastic and it was a great opportunity to get to know an area not at all touched by tourism and where the wounds of the recent war were still healing.”
One year on and the volunteering bug had definitely set in. Claire was back in France and this time she decided to take part in three projects in the south where the highlight was the annual transhumance high up in the Alps. It meant getting up at 4.30am to walk up a mountain escorting over a thousand sheep to their summer pastures.
Claire arranged it all through Concordia, a small charity based in Brighton on the south coast. It offers international youth exchange schemes in over sixty countries worldwide and close to home in England. Concordia’s volunteer manager Fiona Taylor has herself been a committed volunteer for the past twelve years. She says its real value is “building stronger communities, people taking pride in what they do, pulling together for a common cause, having fun and meeting like minded people - and many, many more things too.” She says it is vital to be positive and open-minded and have a flexible approach.
In 2005 Claire Goddard trained with Concordia to lead a project at an international music and dance festival in nearby Hastings. “It certainly wasn’t easy,” she says, “but [it was] very rewarding and looks great on my CV!”
Yet this still wasn’t enough so straight after that she flew to Iceland and coordinated another project with the striking name “Pompeii of the North”. She was staying in a stunning location on a small volcanic island off the south coast which had been transformed by a five-month-long volcanic eruption in 1973. This created a new mountain and the lava flows formed a new part of the island. ”We were digging up houses which had been buried by the volcanic ash.” As leader she says “it was strange this time to be the ‘expert’.”
Despite all its advantages volunteering has come in for criticism, with some questioning what volunteers with no qualifications can really achieve in a couple of weeks. The answer, according to Concordia’s Fiona Taylor? “Volunteering is a great way to learn new skills and gain experiences which can lead on to qualifications and volunteering should be open to everyone who wants to have a go.”
Another programme that Concordia runs is the European Voluntary Service. This offers young people aged 18-30 the chance to volunteer in Europe for periods of 6 to 12 months. The type of placement varies enormously and might include conservation, renovation, agriculture, work with adults or children, arts and cultural projects. A big incentive is that placements are fully funded.
By 2006 Claire Goddard was coming to the end of her MA course at university and decided to step up her commitment, do something longer-term and also develop a career in European music policy.
“I was getting quite dispirited as it’s so difficult to break into this and the only jobs that I could find were all in the UK and required at least a year’s work experience. I also wanted to move back to Germany where I’d spent a year of my degree but couldn’t see this happening any time soon. So, when I found a placement at a European music organisation in Munich on the EVS database I couldn’t believe my luck! The EVS scheme is great as accommodation, insurance, flights and living expenses are all covered and there is lots of support available before, during and after the project.”
Now aged 25 Claire says she has gained enormously from her volunteer experiences. “I have explored beautiful and fascinating places, learnt about many different cultures and made friends all over the world. Thank you very much Concordia and I’m sure you haven’t seen the last of me!”
ENDS
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Details of Concordia’s volunteer programmes can be found at this address:
www.concordia-iye.org.uk
www.ecofriendlytourist.com is a user-friendly guide for green travellers. It was launched in December 2006, is based in London and its content is based on journalistic research.
For further information please contact: webmaster@ecofriendlytourist.com
___________________________________________________________________________________________