The UK volunteers met in Cardiff on Friday the 20th March, sadly the Zambian volunteers were held up due to problems with the Visas. On Monday 23rd March a further 3 volunteers joined the group after being told it was currently too dangerous to go to Pakistan. On the same day all the UK volunteers were introduced to their host families.
The next two weeks was spent getting to know Swansea, host families and various community projects. Oh and each other. The community welcome, sadly without the Zambian counterpart, was carried out as planned on the 31st March and was a huge success. The night saw a lot of drumming, dancing and of course lots of very good food.
So after a few delays and a couple of unexpected arrivals, all 19 volunteers and the 2 programme supervisors were in Swansea on Wednesday 1st April. After a good party on the Thursday night, the whole group spent the following week getting to know each other and learning about one anothers cultures and expectations.
On the 13th April saw most counterparts starting their works placements. This was a very exciting time with a lot of new relationships and partnerships being forged between volunteers and agencies. The placements were as follows:
Ness & Jackson - Connect/
Fatness & Tommy - Down to Earth/ Dylan Thomas comprehensive
Maggie & Paul - SYSHP/ African Community Centre
Ngawa & Matt - Swansea community farm
Vally & Mwata - Mo Green Project
Prudence & Elliots & Jessy - St Helen's Primary School
Naomi & Mwansa - Discovery
Luchembe & Charlotte - Swansea Youth Services
Franklin & Christina - SPARK youth centre
The team has been together for about 4 weeks now and are developing its own dynamics and working style. They have been actively getting involved in various projects such as two Easter Sunday events, volunteering with the Swansea Bay Refugee and Asylum seeks group plus much more. They have a lots more planned for the up and coming weeks, including the 'GX - Factor'.
This is an opportunity to welcome the Zambian volunteers as well as giving local community development projects the chance to network. The event will be at St Helen's Primary School, Wednesday 06th May at 5.30pm. Everyone is welcome!!!
