This post is mostly aimed at younger member (18-25 years old) but could also be useful for people who are interested in youth development.
Just as a side note, if you don't want to read everything that's below, then just watch our team's video:
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd17QxIQDYs
(please excuse the sound, it was my first time editing a video and I messed it up a bit).
In January to April this year, I was given the opportunity to take part in a government-funded scheme, International Citizen Service (ICS). ICS is open for volunteers aged between 18 & 25, and team leaders aged 23+. Those volunteering with the scheme can travel to nearly 30 different countries around the world to take part in an international development programme that focusses on the UN's Millennium Development Goals.
The organisation that I was assigned to work with was Raleigh International. Raleigh are a youth and sustainable development charity founded many moons ago, older visitors to this site might remember them under their old name "Operation Raleigh".
Raligh's ICS programme can take you to India, Nicaragua or Tanzania. I was lucky enough to be given my first choice - Nicaragua. This is what happened:
All of the British volunteers first met each other on a very cold Tuesday morning at Heathrow Terminal 4. As our programme co-ordinator had not yet arrived, we very awkwardly introduced ourselves to each other, all of us in bright red "Raleigh ICS" T-shirts, standing out like sore thumbs and confusing to the tourists.
We naturally split into a few groups. The group I was with decided that the best option (once we were through security) was the pub. At 7am.
Anyhow, cue a fairly uneventful flight and then landing in Managua, the captial of Nicaragua, at 10pm the same day. We had been unescorted on the flight, so had no idea what to expect on our arrival. The second we stepped outside the terminal, we were greeted by a wall of humidity! It was unbelievable!
One of the rules in Nicaragua is that you don't travel by road at night. Armed bandits can be found on most of the major routes. So we were informed that, despite the fact our base was in Esteli, we would be spending our time until 3am in a hostel just outside Managua. We arrived at 11pm and by the time we had organised ourselves, had a shower, realised that the Nicaraguan volunteers who were with us didn't speak any English and climbed into bed it was gone midnight.
2 hours later, we were stirred. Not that many of us had slept anyhow, given the extreme humidity there had been overnight. We pulled our kit together and climbed back on board the yellow, ex-US school bus that had brought us to the hostel for our 4 hour journey to Esteli.
Upon arrival, we disembarked, had breakfast then immediately began 2 days of training. It was intense, to say the least. Following this, we travelled for an hour to a smaller town called Achuapa, which was home to one of the cooperatives that we would be working with. At this stage, we were split into our six project groups or "Charlies". I was assigned to Charlie 1, working in the small community of San Nicolas, just 30 minutes drive (or as it later turned out, 3 hours walking) away from Achuapa.
San Nicolas is a small farming community in the North West hills of Nicaragua. We were greeted by the leader of the local Catholic church and introduced to the families with whom we would be staying for the next 9 weeks. I was introduced to my family, who happened to be the leading family of the local Evangelical church.
Our project focussed on reforstation of the surrounding area. The ovens used by the local people use a lot of wood and vast swathes of the forest had been felled to make way for farm land. This was causing the soil to lose its water retention and, in a land that doesn't receive any rain for 3 months of the year, this was a serious issue.
We had 2 concurrent main project: building improved ovens that use less wood and developing tree nurseries that the local environmental youth group would then take responsibility for.
The ovens were very time consuming. Firstly, we usually had to dismantle the old ovens. Then we had to mix manure, sand and earth together with water to create our cement. This had to be mixed by hand or, more accurately, by foot in a big pit. It was then applied into the correct shape by hand and allowed to dry for 3 days. Following this, we created chimneys from bricks made using the same method in order for the smoke to escape the kitchen. The residents reported that as a result of this project, they were using a lot less wood.
Next, we had to repair the damage done to the forests already. What was once a lush green forest was now mostly farms and dust. To do this, we worked with the local community to create tree nurseries suitable for about 10,000 saplings.
Now I know I'm not much of a story teller, so I will try to get some pictures up soon. But if what I've told you so far has wet your appetite, take a better look at http://www.ics-uk.org.uk/about/
Just as a side note, if you don't want to read everything that's below, then just watch our team's video:
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd17QxIQDYs
(please excuse the sound, it was my first time editing a video and I messed it up a bit).
In January to April this year, I was given the opportunity to take part in a government-funded scheme, International Citizen Service (ICS). ICS is open for volunteers aged between 18 & 25, and team leaders aged 23+. Those volunteering with the scheme can travel to nearly 30 different countries around the world to take part in an international development programme that focusses on the UN's Millennium Development Goals.
The organisation that I was assigned to work with was Raleigh International. Raleigh are a youth and sustainable development charity founded many moons ago, older visitors to this site might remember them under their old name "Operation Raleigh".
Raligh's ICS programme can take you to India, Nicaragua or Tanzania. I was lucky enough to be given my first choice - Nicaragua. This is what happened:
All of the British volunteers first met each other on a very cold Tuesday morning at Heathrow Terminal 4. As our programme co-ordinator had not yet arrived, we very awkwardly introduced ourselves to each other, all of us in bright red "Raleigh ICS" T-shirts, standing out like sore thumbs and confusing to the tourists.
We naturally split into a few groups. The group I was with decided that the best option (once we were through security) was the pub. At 7am.
Anyhow, cue a fairly uneventful flight and then landing in Managua, the captial of Nicaragua, at 10pm the same day. We had been unescorted on the flight, so had no idea what to expect on our arrival. The second we stepped outside the terminal, we were greeted by a wall of humidity! It was unbelievable!
One of the rules in Nicaragua is that you don't travel by road at night. Armed bandits can be found on most of the major routes. So we were informed that, despite the fact our base was in Esteli, we would be spending our time until 3am in a hostel just outside Managua. We arrived at 11pm and by the time we had organised ourselves, had a shower, realised that the Nicaraguan volunteers who were with us didn't speak any English and climbed into bed it was gone midnight.
2 hours later, we were stirred. Not that many of us had slept anyhow, given the extreme humidity there had been overnight. We pulled our kit together and climbed back on board the yellow, ex-US school bus that had brought us to the hostel for our 4 hour journey to Esteli.
Upon arrival, we disembarked, had breakfast then immediately began 2 days of training. It was intense, to say the least. Following this, we travelled for an hour to a smaller town called Achuapa, which was home to one of the cooperatives that we would be working with. At this stage, we were split into our six project groups or "Charlies". I was assigned to Charlie 1, working in the small community of San Nicolas, just 30 minutes drive (or as it later turned out, 3 hours walking) away from Achuapa.
San Nicolas is a small farming community in the North West hills of Nicaragua. We were greeted by the leader of the local Catholic church and introduced to the families with whom we would be staying for the next 9 weeks. I was introduced to my family, who happened to be the leading family of the local Evangelical church.
Our project focussed on reforstation of the surrounding area. The ovens used by the local people use a lot of wood and vast swathes of the forest had been felled to make way for farm land. This was causing the soil to lose its water retention and, in a land that doesn't receive any rain for 3 months of the year, this was a serious issue.
We had 2 concurrent main project: building improved ovens that use less wood and developing tree nurseries that the local environmental youth group would then take responsibility for.
The ovens were very time consuming. Firstly, we usually had to dismantle the old ovens. Then we had to mix manure, sand and earth together with water to create our cement. This had to be mixed by hand or, more accurately, by foot in a big pit. It was then applied into the correct shape by hand and allowed to dry for 3 days. Following this, we created chimneys from bricks made using the same method in order for the smoke to escape the kitchen. The residents reported that as a result of this project, they were using a lot less wood.
Next, we had to repair the damage done to the forests already. What was once a lush green forest was now mostly farms and dust. To do this, we worked with the local community to create tree nurseries suitable for about 10,000 saplings.
Now I know I'm not much of a story teller, so I will try to get some pictures up soon. But if what I've told you so far has wet your appetite, take a better look at http://www.ics-uk.org.uk/about/