TRAVEL WITH PURPOSE

MARCH 2012

Phew! It's been a busy month! With the launch of 1SOURCE going live from the 1 April we’ve been busy making sure that all the STAY volunteering products are available to be booked in 1SOURCE.

Round two of the Volunteer Ambassador Program opened on the 12th March. Over these three weeks we’ve been watching applications roll in and we’re excited to see so much interest from staff!

An announcement will be made to the successful applicants in two weeks so good luck to all those who've applied.

Catch an update from Joe Bass at the Operation Safe Drinking Water in Panama and read more about our staff heading out to projects in Thailand and South Africa.

Hien TranResponsible Tourism Manager

FUNDRAISING SUMMARY

0158,486Grand Total YTD 2012

055,945STA Match

0102,541Total Division Fundraising

07,687CEU

018,796AU & NZ

025,527US

023,285UK

027,246Group

Still with

division US ($)

Received by

PlaneterraUS ($)Division

Fundraising Summary 2010-12

23%158,486205,000Total target

47%53,486100,000Kenya Kikuyu Pediatric Ward

0%25,00025,000

Panama Safe Drinking Water Project

0%80,00080,000

Koh Phra Thong Community Centre Thailand

% left to fundraise

Fundraised US($)

Target US($)Project Targets

Project Fundraising Summary 2010-12

- Expected funds from UK & US to be transferred in April next month

PANAMA SAFE DRINKING WATER

8th March 2012

Hi STA Travel,

The design, building and launching of the ambulance boat was completed in record time. I thought at the time," this is too good to be true."

And it was. We soon ran into Latin American reality.Nation wide civic disorders broke out between the Indigenous people and the government of Panama. Road blocks and police action against them paralyzed the country for almost two weeks. The indigenous people rose up against what they saw as the government despoiling their lands by selling mining rights to foreign corporations.

The Indians, who are more or less powerless, blocked the Pan American Highway and other major roads, entrapping hundreds in stalled buses.They sealed land routes to Bocas del Toro province. The border with Costa Rica was sealed. I was stranded in Costa Rica where I had gone for a medical check-up.

Maribel, my wife, was stranded for two days in a Panama border town and confined to her hotel room by demonstrations outside.

It was a volatile, unstable situation for most of two weeks.

When all this subsided we rushed back to Panama to register the boat, only to find many government offices shut down for Carnival, which is a week-long event in Bocas del Toro.

When it rains, it pours.

The good news is I have an appointment to register the boat thiscoming week on the 15th. Then we'll be good to go.

While awaiting registration of the boat, our ambulance service manager and boat operator have been in stand-by mode with our water-tank boat in case of a medical emergency. I understand they had two emergencies, but have not learned the details yet. Schools are open and accidents do happen,

All of us -- school principals, indigenous villagers and our team ---will be glad when the registration is done next week and Island Ambulance Service can operate normally.

Safe water for indigenous schools

All the best,Joe BassFounder / PresidentOperation Safe Drinking Water

TEACH CHILDREN IN SOUTH AFRICA

Dawn Wigley from STA Travel UK tells us about her best five moments in Cape Town and her volunteer experience with ‘Teach Children in South Africa’.

Best School - Redhill Pre School. They have 2 different classes, one with 3 year olds and one with 4-6 year olds. The school is very basic and consists of shipping containers for classrooms but the kids are brilliant and so full of life.

Best afternoon project - probably the library in Masiphumelele township creating a craft in the afternoon for up to 120 kids - it is always chaos.

Best moment - when one of the kids who is normally a troublemaker spent most of the day helping me clear up after an activity and was really well behaved, he was like a new person!

Best activity - without a doubt, shark cage diving.

Best view - Table Mountain, you never get bored of that mountain no matter how many times you see it.

To read her story click here:

http://planeterra.bluee.net/cps/rde/xchg/planeterra/hs.xsl/10683.htm

Dawn with the kids at Redhill Pre-School

Shark Cage Diving in Gansbaai

Being jumped on in the playground

THAI ELEPHANT CONSERVATION

Shahid Khan from STA Travel UK tells us about his top three things he did as a volunteer and why.

Bathing the Elephants – This is the best activity of the day. Every day at 1pm you will see elephants marching to the river filled with volunteers holding buckets. The mission is to splashthe water on the Elephants using the buckets and get them clean. This goes on for several minutes as each elephant takes its turn and by the end of it you are equally wet and clean. This is a daily activity and anyone can join the fun.

Elephant Kitchen and feeding Elephants – One of the Morning activities is to get in the Elephant kitchen and show your skills with washing and cutting fruits. An Elephant can eatup to 250kgs of food per day and at ENP most of it is fruits. Preparing elephant food starts with washing and scrubbing watermelons, pineapples, melons and banana’s to clean them from pesticides used by the farmers. And the next step is to chop them in to 2-3 pieces. This makes it easier for elephants to eat and digest.

Elephant Medical Treatment with a Vet – There is nothing better than a morning walk across the park with a Vet feeding vitamins to Elephants. Vitamin tablets are stuffed in banana’s and feed to the elephant. Don’t be surprised if you find few vitamins on the floor as the elephants are very smart and often manage to eat the banana and throw the tablet out. The best part of this activity is that you will be introduced to each andevery Elephant in the park personally and get to know more about their health condition, their past and much more interesting facts about them.

Elephants have an bottomless stomach

Who you looking at?

Thai lunch buffet style!