Showing posts with label volunteering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volunteering. Show all posts

04 April 2016

Wherever I turn, there’s Mary

Dr Mary Gillham was an extraordinary naturalist. When she died in 2013, at the grand age of 91, she left her massive archive of biological sightings and information, slides and diaries to SEWBReC, the South East Wales Biodiversity Records Centre. With the help of a two-year Heritage Lottery grant, SEWBReC has begun the ‘Dedicated Naturalist’ Project to decipher, digitise and record Mary’s material, and to ensure her incredible achievements are known and recognised.

Since I first heard about Mary Gillham at a SEWBReC biological recorders’ training course on 15 February 2016, she seems to pop up wherever I go.

That's Al in the centre of this photo, wearing the black beanie
The Thursday after the course I went and chatted to Al Reeve, the project officer, about volunteering on the project, and I started my first day’s volunteer work on the 23rd. But, even before I got started, Mary began appearing in my life. I mentioned the voluntary work in an email to a friend and he replied:

Dr.Mary was a lovely character, amazingly knowledgeable. When I first started working at Forest Farm, she gave me a lot of advice about the area around the farmhouse; and about what species were rare in the general area (so what we might want to plant/seed "out and about"). Would pop in and chat to volunteers from time to time about matters wildlifery. Top woman, ever so helpful.

On my first day I was reading Mary’s diary of her time in New Zealand and almost immediately came across the name of an author I had worked with during my publishing career in Auckland. I contacted her to see what she could remember of Mary and this was her response:

… I do remember she did pretty well out of Massey and New Zealand. She got herself appointed warden (Matron we said then) at Moginie – free board and lodging – but she didn’t mean to be there too much – she was away on the Cook St islands as much as possible researching the effects of seabirds on coastal vegetation or something.

Coltsfoot re-wilding the paths at Cardiff Bay

When I’m out walking I seem to find myself involuntarily walking in Mary’s footsteps. On a glorious spring day in mid March I went for a wander around Cardiff Bay and found myself thinking Mary would be delighted to see that wildflowers are re-wilding the man-made paths of gravels and concrete where her records show wildflowers once grew in abundance. On Good Friday I was walking the Taff Trail, the section from the Castle Street bridge down to the bay, and couldn’t help but check if the plants I had been transcribing from Mary’s records the previous Tuesday were still growing there. (They weren’t.)

Danish scurvygrass dominates the Taff embankment - not one Mary recorded
Last Saturday I went on a foray with my friends from the Glamorgan Fungi Club and there she was again. One of the women is a member of the Cardiff Naturalists Club (as was Mary) and was involved in sorting out all the unsold copies of Mary’s numerous publications after she passed away.

Mary Gillham in her later years
Our fungi club leader also told me that his mate Brian had been telling him stories about Mary recently over a pint or two at their local pub. It seems Brian had sometimes acted as Mary’s scribe when they were out walking and frequently got told off for not paying attention or not writing quickly enough.

And just yesterday I got this email from a local friend:

Mary Gillham is a name from the past!

When we moved to Cardiff I took courses at what was then the extra-mural department of the university, particularly picking out those with field courses. It seemed a good way to get to know the area - and it was. Geology was the best, led by John Perkins, who was also head of department. His field trips were in the summer, but he also led an informal group of walkers (the Hummocky Drifters) in the winter "so that they could get fit for the formal summer trips" ... and the winter rambles were free!

I can't claim to have known Mary, but she did come on some of John's field trips, because they often went to locations where the botany was good, too. I remember one occasion when John chided Mary, when the botany talks took up precious time meant for geology. But it was all good natured, as everyone enjoyed a wide range of interests and the social atmosphere was as important as the subject.

Mary, if you’re listening, I think this is just the beginning of a long journey together!

You can follow our progress with this project on Facebook and on Twitter. A website will follow soon.

23 October 2014

Tanzania: Giving back through photography

The final part of my 76-day gad about the world took me to a new country, to Tanzania for a 10-day adventure with The Giving Lens, an organisation that uses the medium of photographic workshops to bring volunteers and much-needed funds to local NGOs at the same time as providing their participants with photographic training and a more genuine, less touristy travel experience.

Our Giving Lens team of photographers (photo: Daniel Nahabedian)


























I first got to know the folks at The Giving Lens back in 2012 when the founder, Colby Brown, brought a team of photographers to Picaflor House, the NGO I was then managing in Peru. This time, I was to experience the Giving Lens philosophy from the other side, from behind the lens of my camera and, of course, I was also hoping to learn a bit more about how to actually use my new Canon 100D. Fulfilling my long-held dream of seeing wild animals roaming free on the plains of Africa was also a huge drawcard.

In contrast to my previous volunteering, teaching English in Cambodia and in Peru, this was a somewhat different experience. Though we did spend one day teaching photography, the focus was more on using our cameras to document the work of the local NGO and their partner organisations, to provide them with images they could use for their media and websites, and, through those images and our own social media outlets, to help raise awareness and fundraise so they can continue their essential work with the underprivileged people of Tanzania.

With my two students (photo: Kate Siobhan Mulligan)
Our first day began with an introduction to Art in Tanzania, the NGO we were working with and who had organised our Tanzanian adventure. We visited their offices in Moshi, met the key staff members, had a quick lesson in basic Swahili, then moved on to visit one of their partners, the Mkombozi Vocational Training Center. We were greeted warmly by their founder, Asha Mshana, and members of her team and given a tour of the compound: dorms for some kids who live in, facilities for training the girls in sewing and knitting, and a workshop in progress training local men to be soccer coaches.


We then spent several hours full of fun and laughter giving fourteen delightful teenage girls their first introduction to photography on point-and-shoot cameras our team members donated to the NGO. We had barely any common language – the girls had a little English – but miming, pointing and smiles worked just fine, and the girls loved it. After looking at the basic workings of the cameras, we took them on a scavenger hunt – ‘take a photo of something round’, ‘of something red’, etc. It was a hoot!




Checking pronunciation (photo: Trudey Peterson)
We spent the next morning visiting Korongoni Primary, a school that is supported by Art in Tanzania. The school principal explained the chilling realties of Tanzanian education to our team: government funding is insufficient, resources limited and many families can’t afford the cost of school fees, uniforms and stationery, so AIT’s support for the school is much needed. Our task there was to document the situation so we moved from class to class, meeting the delightful children and their hard-working teachers, seeing for ourselves the grim truth of special needs education in an underdeveloped country, noting the lack of supplies and equipment. The teacher in me couldn’t help but put the camera down from time to time to check spelling and pronunciation, and the children’s smiles were a joy to see.


After relocating to the little township of Karatu that afternoon, we spent some time the following morning visiting the AC Day Care and Orphanage Center. It was set up by Angela (above left), a retired teacher who decided to use her retirement money to help the local children, and what beautiful children they were. Despite their dirty, tattered clothing and snotty noses, their smiles and need for hugs touched our hearts. 





Here again, our task was to document the plight of the orphanage and the children, to try to solicit much-needed funds to support the school and to obtain sponsorship for the children. If I wasn’t already sponsoring two children elsewhere, I would certainly have taken on one or two of these. Although I took lots of photos of the kids, I also spent quite a long time with just one or two of them. It was a special time and affected me deeply.


On the last day of our Tanzania trip, we had one more stint of volunteering. In Karatu, we visited the compound of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania to meet their team and hear about the work they do supporting local people who have AIDS or are HIV positive. I am not a fan of the methods churches use in their interactions with the locals in underdeveloped countries, offering assistance in exchange for religious conversion. And while I salute the support this church is giving to local people, I was very disappointed to learn that they were making no effort to educate their congregation about the positive effects condom use would have in preventing the spread of this disease. In fact, when I asked why the disease was so prevalent in the town, they giggled - hardly a mature attitude! I found out later that Karatu is the base for the drivers and tour guides who take tourists on safari to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, so there is a high incidence of prostitution to ‘service’ their needs.

The type of house the poor of Karatu live in
From the church compound we walked to the homes of three local families who are affected by HIV. Once again the idea was to photograph the people and to document their situation, partly to provide images for fundraising and awareness, and partly to supply the families with photographs – something we take for granted but which these people almost never have. 

Personally, I thought this photography very invasive and, although they had agreed to it, potentially overwhelming for the people involved. Also, as the families live in constant fear of their disease being discovered and thereby being ostracised, I thought the presence of a group of Western photographers was potentially damaging for them - I saw neighbours watching from behind raised curtains. For these reasons I declined to take part in this volunteering, as did some of my fellow team members for their own reasons.

It was a sad end to our volunteering experience but I don’t want to end this blog on a negative note. The plight of the children of Tanzania affected me so greatly that I intend returning in the future, hopefully in 2015, to do some voluntary English teaching with Art in Tanzania. And if any of my readers feel inclined to help, here’s a link to the donations page of their website. Every little bit helps!   



26 February 2012

Colombian kids


There’s no doubt about it - Colombian kids are cute!

I have recently returned from a week in Medellin, Colombia, where my employer, UK charity Globalteer, works with two local organisations to help the underprivileged children of Colombia.

The first organisation I visited was Poder Joven, which has two projects in Medellin. Poder Joven is a non-profit organisation, founded 16 years ago by students from local universities and young professionals, who resolved to work together to provide better life opportunities to the young victims of the humanitarian crisis in Colombia. 

I was extremely impressed by Poder Joven’s director, Clared, who is passionate in her efforts to help her fellow Colombians.

At the first of Poder Joven’s projects I visited, Casa Karah, the dedicated and hard-working staff provide a protective environment for kids who live daily with parental drug-taking, poverty, abuse and violence. 

Casa Karah is located in a poor inner-city suburb and assists 60 children between the ages of 3 and 14. These children live with their families in individual rooms (one per family) in a local lodge. The children live in very precarious conditions and are often mistreated and disregarded. Casa Karah’s work with this population is focused on providing the children with education, with two meals a day, and with psychological and medical assistance.

One of the beautiful young girls
at Casa Karah
And one of the cute boys, with the
remains of his lunch still on his face!
The next day I visited Poder Joven’s second project, Casa Maren, where the organisation is working in a community of displaced persons to try to assist both the families and their children to live dignified lives without the threat of poverty and violence. Just to put this problem in context, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, since 1985 more than 3 million people have been forced to leave their homes in the Colombian countryside to seek refuge in the major cities as a result of the escalating armed conflict between the illegal paramilitary forces and the guerrillas. This is the world’s third largest internally displaced population.

Casa Maren assists 70 children between the ages of 3 and 12, who are provided with food and education, and receive psychological and medical assistance on a daily basis.









The final project I visited was Antorchas de Vida, which means torches of life. It was established in 2001 by husband and wife team, Luis and Lucy. They gained funding from many sources to purchase a house to accommodate the children they wished to help, and Antorchas de Vida is now home to 68 children from 2 to 17 years old, many of whom come from the street, from very poor families or from parents with various problems that do not allow them to care for their children. The building is no longer a large house but rather a family home, where the children think of each other as brothers and sisters, and the staff and volunteers are their uncles and aunts. Where possible, contact is still maintained with the children’s natural families.



The international volunteers supplied by Globalteer play a vital role in supporting these projects, both through their donations, by teaching the children English and, more simply, by being there to provide the kids with affection and fun. Despite their often miserable life conditions, all the children I saw at the projects were full of smiles, and constantly wanted to hug and play and help each other. It was a wonderful though very humbling experience to spend time with them and to see the amazing work done by project staff and volunteers. I would like to have stayed much longer.