Mount Kilimanjaro First Aid Community Programme is unlike any overseas project out there. We take young people from the UK over to Africa, who have been given transeferable skills that they can pass on to the young Africans we work with. We take a holistic approach and use what ever skills a person is willing to share with others both here in the UK and Africa working to help support disadvantaged young people living within the uk lacking in aspertation for life, to providing vital life saving skills and emergency equipment to impoverished communities within Africa where access to emergency equipment and hospitals are severly limited.
Join us on our amazing journey and become part of our 2012 team of international volunteers, myself, Jessica and Lorraine did in 2011 as we have some amazing memories too good to leave behind!
Join us in JUNE/JULY/AUG/SEPT for 4 weeks helping to support those living in extreme poverty or climb Mount KIlimanjaro “the roof of Africa” on behalf of Mount Kilimanjaro First Aid Community Programme and its JOYSAT projects (Joining of youths in Scotland/Sunderland/South Tyneside and Tanzania)
We have a number of peer projects that we carry out such as a Football Coaching Programme and Arts and Craft projects. We are also very keen to come up with new workshops that you, yourself, could develop.
What ever your skills are we can utilize them, so why not find out more about our peer education workshops, sustainable food programmes, arts, crafts, music, sports development and much more. By giving you will receive ... join this international humanitarian organisation to see how you can make a difference too!
We believe in giving EVERYONE an equal chance. Are doors are open to everyone. We pride ourselves on being INCLUSIONARY not exclusionary!
So if you are interested please APPLY NOW!
Please contact either Amy Melody at bf88bt@sunderland.ac.uk or Tina at the project email siobhan@kilimanjarofirstaidcommunityprograme.com
In the initial ‘Climb Kilimanjaro for COCO’ meeting, I was sat thinking to myself “I can’t climb Mt Kilimanjaro!” Laura from COCO made the whole experience sound so amazing, with the help of two girls that took part the previous year. I always wished I could take part in something like this but always managed to convince myself that I couldn’t. After the meeting I couldn’t stop thinking about climbing Kilimanjaro and how amazing it would be, but I still kept thinking “I can’t climb Kilimanjaro, I struggle with the escalators in ASDA!”, then a thought popped into my head “but what if I could do it!” That was my mind made up really, I was going for it, and I signed up for ‘COCO Student Kilimanjaro Challenge 2011’. It was the BEST decision I ever made.
After signing up, we had lots of meetings to prepare us for the challenge and to help reach fundraising targets which seemed like a mammoth amount. However, once you start organising events to raise money you realise it’s very do-able and this actually ended up being one of my favourite parts of the whole experience. The COCO meetings also meant we had plenty of opportunities to meet and get to know other people before going on the trip so there were no unfamiliar faces.
The day before the climb we were taken to some of COCO’s projects in Tanzania, one of which was called Uwawayaki. This is a support centre for women whose lives have been affected by HIV. It is somewhere they can go and be with other women who are in the same situation and help and support each other. Uwawayaki is also a school for children in the area and when we arrived and walked through the gates the children came running up to us. They were so excited, they just wanted us to pick them up, give them a hug and talk to them. I met one girl called Aziada who asked me how I was and counted up to ten in English for me, not bad for 5years old. Meeting children like Aziada was the source of my determination for the week ahead of me.
We arrived at Machame Gate and signed in, this was real, this was what we had been waiting for and working towards for the past eight months. We started the trek together; I was not as fit as the others so I fell behind, however one of our guides Bruno walked with me. The first day for me was the hardest, I got upset thinking I was going too slow and couldn’t keep up with the group. However, Bruno and another guide Epa always reassured me that it did not matter what time we got into camp. I will never forget the feeling of getting into camp on that first day, the relief of finally being able to sit down and go to sleep, but also being so proud that I actually did it. I climbed approx 1490m, (higher than Ben Nevis’ 1344m) and that was just the first day! I thought of this challenge one day at a time and it worked! I walked with some of my friends Kelly and Esta but it was Bruno who stayed by my side every day of the climb and I got to know him well. Being a travel and tourism student I love learning about different cultures etc, so who better for me to spend my week with than the local guides?!
I reached Stella Point which was only 139m short of Uhuru Peak (the very top summit) when Bruno advised me to go back down as I was too cold and tired to continue. I thought I would be devastated by not reaching the Uhuru Peak (5895m), but I am very proud of the 5756m I did climb. I wouldn’t change a single thing about my experience!
The feeling of achievement you get once you are back down from the mountain is amazing and worth every minute of everything I had been through in the past week. I can now say climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is the hardest thing I have ever done but it is also the BEST! Who knows one day I might just make it to Uhuru.
At the risk of sounding cliché, this experience really did change my life. I met the most amazing people, made friends for life, and surprised myself at what I achieved. Most of all I got to experience, firsthand, the fantastic work of COCO, see where the funds go to and to see the children at Uwawayaki, who really gain from our fundraising and help.
If you are interested in climbing Kili for COCO, the same trip will take place this coming Summer in 2012. If you are interested and want more information please email Laura at kili@coco.ac.uk or call 0191 261 7427. To find out more about what COCO does please visit their website at www.coco.org.uk.
● Acquire experience in the field
● Enjoy interacting with volunteers from several countries
● Work at the last remaining nesting areas of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) in the Mediterranean
For more than twenty-eight years, ARCHELON - the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece has been conducting conservation projects on all major nesting grounds of the loggerhead in Greece.
If you are over 18, have at least 4 weeks available, can cope with demanding work and rough living conditions, can communicate in English and feel committed to protect nature, then join ARCHELON’s efforts.
The following placements are now announced:
►During the year 2012 nesting season (mid-May to mid-October)
on Zakynthos, Crete and Peloponnesus
Volunteers are involved in fieldwork, public awareness and maintenance. Volunteers stay in basic designated campsites.
►All year round at ARCHELON’s Rescue Centre, situated in Athens
Volunteers are involved in sea turtle rehabilitation, public awareness and maintenance work. Accommodation is provided at the Centre.
Volunteers cover their own travel and food costs as well as other personal expenses.
Research opportunities are available only for people who have worked or volunteered previously in our projects.
Contact us now for further information
ARCHELON - the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece
57 Solomou Street
GR-104 32 ATHENS, Greece.
Tel/Fax +30 210 5231342
www.archelon.gr
Email: volunteers@archelon.gr
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