YELLOW SUBMARINE - University College Dublin Newsletter May 2013.pdf · YELLOW SUBMARINE Campus...
Transcript of YELLOW SUBMARINE - University College Dublin Newsletter May 2013.pdf · YELLOW SUBMARINE Campus...
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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
8
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
9
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
10
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
11
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!)
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
13
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
14
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
15
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
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-
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...