VSA Vista Issue 2 2011

VSA’s window on the world of development issue two 2011

If you've finished reading this copy of Vista please pass it on to someone else so they can enjoy our news.

A good cAreer moVe: The benefits of volunteering

on turtle pAtrol in the Solomon Islands

ShipShApe in kiribAti

Te-na- koutou o Te Tu- ao Ta-wa-hi

Volunteer Service Abroad works with people in the Pacific, Asia and Africa,

adding the skills and energy of New Zealanders to strengthen communities

striving for change.

About VSA VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) is a home-grown Kiwi volunteering organisation and

has placed more than 3,500 skilled New Zealanders on volunteer assignments

overseas since 1962.

We recruit ordinary New Zealanders to achieve exceptional work with our partner organisations. Our work is locally identified,

locally relevant and locally delivered.

We are an independent charity and are non-governmental, non-religious and

non-political.

Become a VSA volunteerGo to www.vsa.org.nz to find out about

application criteria, to register your skills, or to see what assignments are being advertised.

Become a VSA supporterWe send people not money, but we need

money to send people. Visit www.vsa.org.nz to donate or to find out about becoming a

VSA member.

Join a local VSA branchPhone 0800 VSA TO GO (0800 872 8646)

for details of the branch nearest you.

Te Tu-ao Ta-wa-hi Volunteer Service Abroad Inc is a registered charity (CC36739) under the

Charities Act 2005

The New Zealand Government is proud to provide significant support through the

New Zealand Aid Programme for New Zealand volunteers who work in a development

capacity overseas.

Kia ora

Te Tu-ao Ta-wa-hi Volunteer Service AbroadPatron: His Excellency Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae GNZM, QSO,

Governor-General of New Zealand President: Gavin Kerr, QSO Kauma-tua: Awi Riddell (Nga-ti Porou), QSM Council Chair: Farib Sos, MNZN Council members: Felicity Gibson, Don Higgins (Deputy Chair), Kerry Lee, John Macalister, Sandra McIntyre, Evan Mayson, John Overton Chief Executive Officer: Deborah Snelson

Te Tu-ao Ta-wa-hi Volunteer Service Abroad, 32 Waring Taylor St, PO Box 12246, Wellington 6144 AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND

Tel: 64 4 472 5759 Fax: 64 4 472 5052 Email: [email protected] Website: www.vsa.org.nz

Vista is the official magazine of Te Tu-ao Ta-wa-hi Volunteer Service Abroad Incorporated. Please note that views expressed in Vista are not necessarily the views of VSA. Editorial and photographic submissions to the magazine are welcome. Please address all queries and submissions to the Editor, Vista, at the address above.

Please ensure all material is clearly marked with your name and address.

© VSA. All rights reserved. ISSN 1176-9904Reproduction of content is allowed for usage in primary and secondary schools, and for tertiary studies.

Vista is printed on environmentally responsible paper. It is chlorine free and manufactured using farmed eucalyptus trees.

In September we interviewed an amazing group of young people keen to become part of VSA’s UniVol programme. The programme, which provides 10-month volunteer assignments to students taking development studies at Otago and Victoria Universities, has now been running for five years.

So far, 30 UniVols have completed assignments in the Pacific, Asia and Africa, with another five due to return to New Zealand later this

year. I’m looking forward to meeting many of them at our Annual Congress in November, where we will celebrate five years of the UniVol programme.

The theme of this year’s Congress is “Growing our volunteering pool”. At VSA, we want to provide volunteering opportunities to as many New Zealanders as possible. That includes young people. I am constantly impressed by the enthusiasm of our UniVols; they make a unique contribution through their ability to connect with other young people. For many, like Anna Reid, who is interviewed in this issue of VISTA, becoming a UniVol has been a turning point in their lives. We want to keep harnessing this enthusiasm by providing more opportunities for young volunteers in the future.

We have also started working more closely with other development NGOs, and with New Zealand businesses and organisations keen to provide their staff with the opportunity to undertake short-term volunteering assignments. Since we established our new partnerships development unit in August we have signed partnership agreements with World Vision and engineering and infrastructure company Downer (NZ) Ltd. Our first World Vision/VSA volunteer leaves on assignment in Vanuatu in November. This is an exciting new initiative, and I am looking forward to establishing more partnerships in the future.

One of the things our new partners value is our proven track record in selecting and supporting volunteers on assignment. VSA volunteers are held in high regard wherever they go. This was confirmed when I received a certificate from the Binh Dinh’s People’s Committee in Vietnam (right) acknowledging the work of our volunteers there since 1992. You can read about their achievements on page 10.

Finally, I want to thank the members of the out-going VSA Council for all their hard work over the last three years. They have helped lead VSA through a period of change. I am looking forward to consolidating those changes with the new Council.

Deborah Snelson, CEO

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CoNVSATIoN News, views and happenings

FeAture Adele Broadbent discovers that the Solomon Islands offer a diverse range of experiences.

From The Field Making turtles count in the Solomon Islands.

From The Field Everything’s shipshape in Kiribati.

FeAture Going on assignment with VSA can be good for your career.

FeAture VSA’s programme in Vietnam ends after 19 years.

GrowING Support The latest news from our fundraising team.

The yeAr in reVieW VSA’s highlights from the 2010/2011 financial year.

COVER: VSA UniVol Tom murray (right) on turtle patrol with conservation officers from the Arnavon Community marine Conservation Area (ACmCA) in the Solomon Islands. ACmCA was set up in 1995 to protect the nesting beaches of the critically endangered hawksbill turtle.

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Art on display Eight paintings by detainees at Vanuatu’s Stade Correctional Centre have been sold in the last few months, and more paintings are now on display at the Correctional Services office in Port Vila in a bid to increase sales.

The painters are all members of “Mr Keith’s” art class, run by VSA volunteer Keith Hambrook who is working as an art adviser with Vanuatu’s Department of Corrections.

Money raised from selling the paintings is used to buy materials for the art programme, which operates at both the men’s and women’s low-risk correctional centres.

The paintings are painted using house paint on plywood, then varnished and framed. None of the artists have any formal training but with plenty of encouragement and enough materials, they produce impressive results.

“They choose the subject matter and I’m amazed at the technical competence that they achieve using house paint and $2 shop paintbrushes,” says Keith.

Painted wooden fish made by detainees at the local women’s prison are also on display at the administration office, as well as carvings produced by men at Stade.

“It looks quite amazing.”

Keith is now producing a 2012 calendar featuring the paintings.

Why the West Rules – For Now The patterns of history and what they reveal about the futureBy Ian Morris (Profile Books, 2011)reviewed by Peter Swain

The United Nations has been tracking the progress of human development since 1990. The annual Human Development

Reports assess a range of ‘indicators’ of human development which comprise the Human Development Index (HDI). Countries can then be ranked and compared.

It has only been in the last 20 years that reliable data has been available to track human progress through the HDI and similar measures. Twenty years is a tiny blip on the lengthy continuum of human history. How can we measure human development over the last 15,000 years?

Something to sing about A group from Imvomvo, one of VSA’s South African partner organisations, had a full-on – and song-filled – time during a 12-day trip to New Zealand in August.

Imvomvo programme manager Zoe Tom (left) and manager Thoko Mlonyeni (right), along with Msoso Musuko and Bahayi Mtumane from the Winter Rose Rugby Club, broke into song during a photoshoot with VSA. While they were in New Zealand the group visited marae and Maori immersion schools. They also met Associate Education Minister Pita Sharples, and toured the New Zealand Rugby Union offices.

Imvomvo, which is located just outside the Eastern Cape city of East London, promotes healthy lifestyles through physical and social activities for pre-schoolers through to the elderly.

Several VSA volunteers have worked at Imvomvo, including Judy Moore, who helped set up the Winter Rose Pre-school when she was on assignment from 2008 to 2010. The group hopes to take elements of the kura kaupapa system to help strengthen the language and culture of the Xhosa people, and in particular the children who attend the pre-school.

Thoko says the trip would not have been possible without VSA: “If VSA had not worked in East London we could never have come here; we want to thank VSA for the opportunities it has created for us.”

This is one of the questions Ian Morris addresses in Why the West Rules – For Now.

Energy capture, urbanisation, information processing, and the capacity to make war were the four traits that Morris settled on to establish a means of measuring social development, defined as “...a community’s ability to get things done.” (For the details of his study read the book or check out www.ianmorris.org.)

Morris systematically reviews the last 15,000 years of human history, explains the rises and falls of the development of the ‘West’ and the ‘East’, and speculates about the future through ‘burrowing into the detail’ and providing insightful, and often humorous observations. My favourite is the Morris Theorem that states: “Change is caused by lazy, greedy, frightened people looking for easier, more profitable, and safer ways of doing things. History tells us when the pressure is on, change takes off.”

Morris’ book is worth reading.

* Peter Swain is VSA’s International Programme Manager


CoNVSATIoN

New VSA Council The new VSA Council has been announced following the election held during September. The new VSA Council members are: Professor Tony Binns, Don Higgins, Susan Hinkley, Shona Jennings, Dr Simon Mark, Evan Mayson, Farib Sos and Sandy Stephens.

We received 14 nominations for the eight positions on the Council.

The new Council will begin its three-year term after the Annual General Meeting being held in Wellington on 6 November.

Many thanks to the outgoing Council members – your contribution over the last three years is much appreciated.

Photos for the 50th We’re still looking for photos for the exhibition we’re putting together to celebrate VSA’s 50th anniversary in 2012. Thanks to all the returned volunteers who have already sent us photos – we’ve had some fantastic ones, including this one from Jenny Wadsworth, who went on assignment as an environmental awareness trainer in South Africa in 2007. It shows Paulos Koli with a net full of tilapia at Amalinda Fish Farm in East London.

“This picture captures the ongoing physicality, sweat and determination necessary to produce and support life, growth and abundance,” writes Jenny.

We’re looking for great photos – with a great VSA story to go with them. We want images that are engaging, and that:

• tell a story about your assignment• create a sense of place• portray the essence of VSA – New Zealand volunteers

sharing their skills with communities striving for change. If you have a photo or two from your assignment you’d like to share, send us a copy along with a brief summary of the story behind it.

You can post copies of photos (please don’t send originals) to: Alana mcCrossin, Graphic Designer, VSA, Po Box 12246, wellINGToN 6144. You can also email a low-res version to: [email protected]

Star fundraiser Madeleine Diver was a star performer during the inaugural Live Below the Line campaign held in August, raising an amazing $2115 for VSA.

VSA is one of six charities that took part in Live Below the Line, a new fundraising initiative to help raise awareness about the challenges of living below the poverty line. Participants have to feed themselves on just $2.25 a day for five days.

Madeleine, who is studying development studies and inter-national relations at Victoria University, first became involved with VSA when she helped run Project Friendship at Napier Girls High School in 2008. She spent last summer working as a volunteer teacher in Indonesia.

“That was an amazing experience. Doing Live Below the Line to raise money for VSA was a no-brainer for me – I wanted to help others do volunteer work, just like I have.”

Madeleine spent five days living on rice, chickpeas, frozen vegetables and rolled oats, with a few onions, kiwifruit, and ginger thrown in for variety.

“The hardest thing was the lack of energy; I had a headache most of the time.”

Madeleine has recently been selected as a VSA UniVol, and is looking forward to spending 2012 on assignment in Melanesia.


CoNVSATIoN

Rats, though not numerous, are an unfor-tunate side effect of Honiara’s infrequent rubbish collection. Locals do their best to deal with the problem by burning the piles of rubbish that build up – plastics and all – but without much success.

Honiara is the gateway to this archipelago of 992 islands, which boasts some of the best diving, snorkelling and surfing in the world. The city was built in the 1940s and is now showing the inevitable signs of rapid growth and a lack of proper infrastructure. Power outages are an almost daily occurrence and congestion on the two main roads sometimes brings traffic to crawl.

Outside the capital most people live in villages made up of wantok – extended families. Honiara has hamlets of these, but it also has a disconnected and sometimes dislocated population of young people. At night, well-oiled patrons spill out of the Solbrew bars, and while I never felt unsafe I was careful about where I walked, and I only went out at night with other people – just as I would in many other cities.

Honiara may be run down but, as Laurie points out, it grows on you.

“You begin to see the smiles and the colour as opposed to the hungry dogs and the rubbish,” he says. “You hear waves of the most beautiful singing from the numerous churches rather than the rumble of broken car exhausts. And you wake up to a clear blue sky, a flat calm sea, and the wafting scent of the frangipani – what a joy.”

For westerners, flying into Henderson Airport, east of the capital, means flying into

Paradise rediscoveredVSA’s programme in the Solomon Islands is one of its most diverse, both in terms of the types of assignments available and their geographic spread. As Adele Broadbent discovers, the experiences you can have there are just as diverse.

When he’s at home in Honiara Laurie Williams can be found sweating over a hot computer (in this case no exaggeration) in shorts, a singlet and bare feet. During the working day at the city’s main state high school, King George VI, a shirt replaces the singlet and pressed trousers take the place of shorts – though keeping the creases in them is near impossible in the humidity.

This is the reality of life in Honiara – temperatures of 34 degrees plus, and 100 per cent humidity. Nobody moves fast and few dress up. There’s not a lot of point when even strolling down to the local shop leaves you drenched in sweat.

Laurie, who is on assignment in Honiara as a school leader mentor, has already been ‘out in the provinces’ on a short-term mentoring stint on the island of Makira. His accommodation in Honiara is more westernised than it was in Makira, but not necessarily any cooler. Leaf houses, in which at least 80 percent of the Solomon Islands population live, are designed to breathe in the stifling heat. They’re also easier to maintain than the ‘permanent’ accommodation preferred by westerners.

I was privileged to spend time with Laurie in Honiara in July as he was waiting for his accommodation to be sorted. We were housemates at St Agnes Mothers’ Union, an immaculate Anglican guesthouse just a gentle (but sweaty) slog up the hill from the city centre – and from the Lime Lounge, Honiara’s best latte stop. My excuse for going there was access to the internet, but the air conditioning and well-made coffees were a definite drawcard.

Laurie had recently arrived from Makira – along with his VSA-recommended rattrap, which we used in a hilarious and fruitless attempt to get rid of a nightly visitor.

leaf houses in the Solomon Islands are designed to breathe in the heat. They are also easier to maintain than western-style housing.


Gary King, right, and conservation officers from ACmCA record data about the endangered hawksbill turtle.

Making turtles count The village of Kia, a 24-hour boat ride from Honiara, is an idyllic base for helping to save the critically endangered Hawksbill turtle.

Longtime accountant and outdoor enthusiast Gary King reckons he’s found the perfect VSA assignment.

Gary is working as a management adviser with the Arnavon Community Marine Conservation Area (ACMCA) management committee. The ACMCA is the Solomon Islands

first community-managed marine conservation area. It was set up in 1995 to protect the nesting beaches of the critically endangered Hawksbill turtle on three small, uninhabited islands known as the Arnavons.

The assignment means Gary gets to live in an idyllic setting, in a house built on stilts over the water in the village of Kia. “It’s like living over an aquarium – you can see tropical fish swimming below you”.

He shares the house with UniVol Tom Murray, who is also on assignment with ACMCA.

Gary, whose career includes five years managing the Hawke’s Bay branch of conservation organisation Fish and Game, also goes fishing and diving regularly – seafood is an important part of the local diet – and he travels by motorised boat and a local-style canoe.

“I’ve always liked the outdoor life, and I really enjoy the sea,” he says. “When I went onto the VSA website to look at assignments the first one I found was this one – it could have been written for me.”

The ACMCA is a partnership between three Solomon Islands communities, the Solomon Islands Government, the Isabel and Choiseul provincial governments and the American conservation organisation, The Nature Conservancy. It has become something of a conservation success story since it was first set up. The number of Hawksbill turtles nesting on the Arnavon Islands has increased by almost 400 per cent, and the population of coral reef fish and marine invertebrates has also increased markedly.

As an experienced accountant, Gary is well-placed to carry out his assignment, which involves helping local members of the ACMCA develop the skills they need to manage the project by themselves.

“In the past The Nature Conservancy has done all the financial management; now they want local members of the committee to take over responsibility for it. It’s a big challenge, as they have very little experience of doing this kind of thing.”

Gary has worked with his local colleagues to develop an annual workplan for the project. They have also developed a budget and an accounting system, and are now starting to develop a strategic plan.

Their next goal is to find more funding for the project, which is currently funded by the income from an endowment fund. As for Gary, the longer he lives in Kia the harder he finds it to imagine leaving.

“I love the people – they are hugely the best thing about the Solomons – and the environment. The 29-degree sea water is pretty awesome, and I like doing things in boats. It’s just wonderful – most people don’t get the opportunity to do this.”


VSA in the Solomon Islands VSA has been sending volunteers to the Solomon Islands since 1965. The programme there is now one of VSA’s most diverse, both in terms of the types of assignments available and their geographic spread.

VSA’s volunteer recruitment manager Carolyn mark says the programme has been slowly expanding over the last few years, particularly since the appointment of Steve hamilton as in-country programme manager three years ago.

“our volunteers now include teachers, lawyers, marketers and conservationists; we even have an assignment for a heavy plant machine operator on the island of Kolombangara in the western Province,” she says.

She says that in the past most assignments were based in the province of makira. Now they’re spread from one end of the country to the other.

“That means volunteers have the choice of having an urban lifestyle in honiara, or living in an idyllic village right next to the sea. wherever they go, they will get to experience a truly unique way of life.”

The Solomon Islands has over 900 islands, 5,000 rural villages and 550,000 people. Between 1999 and 2003 it experienced a period of conflict, but peace has now been largely restored.

“our volunteers tell us that as long as you take sensible precautions, like not going out late and night and early in the morning in honiara, it’s now quite safe in the Solomons,” Carolyn says.

* To check out our latest assignments in the Solomon Islands, visit www.vsa.org.nz

a piece of our history. The airstrip was built by the Japanese and taken by the Americans during World War II, and the Guadalcanal region was the scene of three years of bitter fighting. The sites of sunken ships and downed planes are now popular with Japanese and American tour parties.

But it is the people that make the Solomon Islands so unique. You only have to travel a few kilometres out of Honiara to meet villagers and see their traditional leaf houses – many surrounded by beautiful gardens. Putting a little more distance between you and the capital means a more intense and intimate experience. People are curious and kind everywhere, but the further out you go the more you understand that in the Solomon Islands traditions vary from island to island, wantok to wantok, religion to religion.

If you want a relatively touristy experience, you can head to what the guidebooks call the Solomon Islands’ tourist mecca

– Western Province. The towns of Munda and Gizo are said to be among the most beautiful in the Pacific. The province is also home to the famous Morovo and Vonavona Lagoons, and a growing number of excellent eco-tourism lodges in protected sites.

But it really doesn’t matter where you go – you are guaranteed a priceless experience in just about any island of this stunning part of our Pacific world.

* Adele Broadbent is VSA’s former communications coordinator. She spent six weeks in the Solomon Islands earlier this year doing field research for a Masters in Development.

CENTRE: Abundant produce on display at the market in honiara.

TOP: Village women with baskets. BOTTOM : local-style canoes.

TOP: A shop front in honiara. BOTTOM: Tropical fish for sale at the market.


Shipshape in Kiribati Wearing naval uniforms to work is just one of the unique experiences Val and Birnie Duthie have had since they started VSA assignments in Kiribati in May.

When we first arrived in Kiribati we weren’t sure what to expect. People we talked to who had lived there were so positive, particularly about the friendly, welcoming people and the strong cultural values. But the news media painted a different picture of poverty, ‘third world’ diseases and poor infrastructure. What had we let ourselves in for?

Flying in from Fiji our first glimpse was of a long, fertile-looking, very narrow strip of low-lying land snaking its way into the horizon, set against a backdrop of deep azure ocean. It looked magical.

On the ground, the reality reflected both the positives and negatives we had anticipated. Kiribati is very different from other Pacific islands we are familiar with. Neither McDonald’s nor KFC have reached here yet and tourist chain hotels don’t seem to be on the horizon. As the Kiribati Tourist brochure says, “Kiribati is for travellers, not tourists!”

We are working as ESOL trainers at the Marine Training Centre (MTC) in Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati. The MTC trains Kiribati seafarers hoping to get work in the international shipping industry. Our job is to help integrate a new English language curriculum at MTC; our trainees come to Tarawa from Kiribati’s 32 atolls.

For the first time in 40 years of educational experience we have to wear a uniform

– beige for work and white (with epaul-ettes) for formal dress. Rather than using names, we address the cadets by their number – “Please stand up, 9135!”

This is consistent with the naval regime at MTC. We check in at the gangway (entrance) each day via fingerprint recognition, and stand at attention at two full parades per day where the trainees (cadets) have uniform, hair, and nail inspections, and are given their orders. The campus is immaculate and the trainees are positive, responsive and respectful – as would be expected aboard a contemporary merchant ship.

“Kiribati is for travellers, not tourists!”

Shortly after we arrived we had the opportunity to visit one of the nearby atolls, Maiana. The occasion was a first birthday party – a significant event in a country with the highest infant mortality rate in the Pacific. We had our first hint that this was no ordinary, New Zealand-style child’s birthday party when we boarded the plane along with several large, uncovered, lavishly-iced birthday cakes, which the pilot held while the passengers fastened their seatbelts.

Once we had landed on Maiana we continued our journey on the back of a truck – along with our precious loads.

When we arrived at the village we were surrounded by groups of people gutting and roasting eels, cutting up pumpkin, roasting pigs and decorating the baby boy and his mother in elaborate traditional costumes. Eventually (a word that is very important in Kiribati timekeeping) everything was ready and we moved across into the huge mwaneaba, or meeting house, for the party itself.

We joined about 300 people sitting respect-fully inside the building, with a large empty floor space in the centre. Eventually (again) the two guests of honour arrived and sat on a ‘throne’ on one side of the centre. Music started to play and a group of young people in traditional dress began to dance, carrying one of the birthday cakes. Their arms and heads moved in unison as they slowly danced their way around the central space, finally presenting the cake to the birthday boy. More dances followed, as well as speeches, tonnes of delicious food, impromptu dances by the imatangs (foreigners) and finally the presentation of specially woven mats to the foreign guests.

We felt privileged to attend this ceremony and to see I-Kiribati culture in action – not as tourists but as courteously received guests. This insight into village life has helped us understand a little better who our trainees are and where they come from.

* VSA has resumed its programme in Kiribati as part of its recent decision to focus its work in the wider Pacific.

Kiribati sits against a backdrop of deep azure ocean.

Birnie and Val Duthie (left) on parade at the marine Training Centre in Tarawa.

Trainees at the marine Training Centre stand to attention on the parade ground.


Working as a VSA volunteer in the Solomon Islands provided Debbie Bax with some unexpected opportunities to develop her professional skills.

During the two years she spent in Honiara as a financial advisor for the provincial government of Guadalcanal she helped buy a ship from Korea, wrote speeches for the Premier, and worked in a flood disaster response team.

“You certainly don’t go backwards in your career,” says Debbie of her volunteering experience. “It gives you the opportunity to get involved in a lot more things than you might at home.”

The skills Debbie developed during her assignment helped her find paid work in Honiara – first with United Nations Development Programme and then working as a financial adviser for the Honiara City Council with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum.

She says the time she spent in the Solomons as a VSA volunteer was excellent preparation for her subsequent jobs there.

“Being a volunteer gives you a really different view of a place. You can’t afford to live the expat life, which means you do more things with local people. If you come as a consultant you don’t always get such a good feel for the place and the people.”

Being a VSA volunteer also helped her take her accountancy career in a new direction.

“I’m keen to keep working in the not-for-profit or government sector, and I’d like to do more development work in the future,” she says. “Doing a VSA assignment has definitely changed the direction of my career and opened up many more opportunities.”

Debbie is one of many former volunteers who have found that going on a VSA assignment is not only hugely rewarding personally, it is also a good career move. In 2004 VSA selector Sheena Hudson wrote a PhD thesis based on the results of in-depth interviews with 48 volunteers who went on assignment in 2002 and 2003.

Almost all of them told her that the experience had influenced their career “more than somewhat”. About half said it had provided them with the opportunity to learn new technical skills, and a similar number said it had allowed them to develop personal skills such as self-confidence, patience and adaptability.

Those findings are echoed in Valuing Volunteering, a 2006 study of 100 returned VSO volunteers and 99 managers carried out by the Chartered Management Institute in Britain. It found that the majority of returned VSO volunteers rated the skills they developed during their assignments very highly. These included skills in communication, problem solving, change-management, and mentoring.

One senior manager who had employed many returned volunteers described the skills they learned overseas as invaluable: “It pushes individuals outside their normal comfort zone and the experiences they get from that can apply to their day job; they may also view the way they do things slightly differently in the future.”

That has certainly been the case for returned VSA volunteer Tim Park, who spent just over a year as a community environmental adviser with the Osotwa Mt Meru Community-Based Conservation Organisation in Tanzania in 2005 to 2006. He says the time he spent in Africa gave him a completely different perspective.

“In Tanzania it’s much harder to work on conservation and biodiversity because people have more urgent things to worry about,

ABOVE: Jill Best and a local library assistant sort through books donated to the University of the South Pacific in Suva in 1969. Some books were more useful than others.

Volunteering is good for your careerGoing on assignment with VSA is not only hugely rewarding personally, it can also be a good career move. ruth Nichol reports.


like finding work and food for their children. It made me realise that here in New Zealand we have a lot of easy wins, and we should appreciate them and just take them.”

Tim, who now works as biodiversity restoration advisor for the Greater Wellington Regional Council, says his experience as a volunteer also helped him become a more patient person.

“The attitude to time is completely different in Tanzania; things happen in different ways. I made me appreciate that you don’t have to get things done immediately, that it’s alright if they take a bit longer.”

“It made me realise that here in New Zealand we have a lot of easy wins, and we should

appreciate them and just take them.”

Like Debbie Bax, he got a chance to do things on his assignment that he’d never done in New Zealand.

“One of the first things I did when I got there was to work with them to do a stock-take and prepare a report on what the organisation had achieved to date. I’d never done anything like that before and it was a real asset for them.”

He also got the opportunity to get up close and personal with the extraordinary African landscape.

“As an ecologist, that was great. I saw some really amazing country, and a lot of different species of plants and animals – most of which, like New Zealand, originate from a former Gondwanan landmass.”

Africa pushed Anna Reid’s boundaries too; it also helped set her on an unexpected career path. Anna went to South Africa as a VSA UniVol in 2010, after graduating in law and development studies from Victoria University.

She was on assignment with Restless Development in East London. She helped run an HIV health education programme with local secondary schools, using dance and music to get the message across.

2010 was a year of firsts for Anna – she danced properly for the first time, and she lived alone for the first time. She also worked with large groups of slightly unruly teenagers for the first time.

“That was hugely daunting, especially at the start.”She quickly learned what worked well in the classroom – and

what didn’t.

“I think that was probably one of the best things I learned from my assignment. I now feel quite confident about going and talking to any group of people.”

The experience also gave her the confidence to apply for a job at MFAT, rather than pursue a career in law as she had originally planned. She has been working as a policy officer in MFAT’s special relations unit since December last year. The unit is responsible for running New Zealand’s development programmes in Niue and Tokelau.

“I don’t think I would have got the job at MFAT if I hadn’t been a UniVol – my academic marks just weren’t good enough,” she says. “It helped MFAT see that I was adaptable and able to live overseas. It also helped that I had development experience.”

Spending a year as a VSA volunteer in Fiji in 1969 helped set Tauranga City Libraries Manager Jill Best on her career path too. She worked as a library assistant at the then newly established University of the South Pacific in Suva; during that time she began library training by correspondence.

Several decades later Jill’s VSA experience once again influenced her life. In 2006 she volunteered through Local Government New Zealand to write a strategic plan to improve public libraries in Fiji. She wrote the plan with another librarian, Philip Calvert, who had worked as a volunteer for VSO in Fiji – “We were the obvious people to do it.”

Jill was dismayed at how basic the libraries in Fiji were, and she decided to offer some practical help. In 2007 she set up a project to gather donations of books and computers for Fiji’s public libraries. So far, she has been responsible for shipping more than 30,000 books and 75 second-hand computers to Fiji. Another 24,000 new children’s books donated by booksellers Wheeler Books were shipped this month.

Jill is now involved with a similar project in the Solomon Islands; she has also started helping the Nadi library computerise its systems.

She says her experience as a VSA volunteer has been invaluable for projects – particularly when it came to specifying what kinds of books she was looking for.

“When I was on assignment in Fiji we got sent 59 tea chests full of second-hand university textbooks that we couldn’t use. I was very conscious about not wasting money on shipping unusable books for this project, so I put together a list of criteria for accepting donations. As a result we have been able to use 95 per cent of the books we’ve been given.”

Tim Park (second from left) with elias y mollel, and two supervisors from the engorika hill Conservation Project in Tanzania.

TOP: Debbie Bax relaxes with friends in the Solomon Islands. BOTTOM: Anna reid (left) celebrates Freedom Day with restless Development in east london, South Africa.


End of an eraVSA’s last volunteer to Vietnam returned home in June, marking the end of our 19-year programme there.

When former VSA director Chris Hawley went to Binh Dinh province in Vietnam in 1990 to investigate the possibility of setting up a programme there, he found the local people had not forgotten the New Zealanders who helped them during the Vietnam War.

Several New Zealand medical teams were based in the province in the 1960s and 70s, and the New Zealand government also funded a new children’s ward at the Province Hospital.

“Even after so many years, they still had a lot of respect for New Zealand and for New Zealanders,” Chris recalls. “They remembered that the New Zealand staff had been prepared to treat everyone, regardless of which side they were on.”

Anne de Bres, VSA’s last volunteer to work in Vietnam, says those feelings of respect were just as strong two decades later.

“People spoke very warmly of that time – it set the bar for the volunteers who went there in the future. One of my friends had actually been delivered by a New Zealand doctor, and from what I’m told, he saved her life.”

Anne returned from a short-term assignment as a nurse educator in the neo-natal department of Binh Dinh Province Hospital at the end of June, officially marking the end of VSA’s programme there. Anne went on three short-term assignments to Vietnam

this year. They followed up on work she had done during a two-and a half-year assignment spent helping nurses at the hospital increase their knowledge and skills in caring for sick and premature infants.

Like the other 60 or so volunteers who have worked in Vietnam since VSA set up its programme there in 1992, Anne treasures her memories of the place – and of the people.

“It’s like an eye feast – the colour and the vibrancy, the paddy fields which are a hundred shades of green. It’s a combination of a beautiful country and wonderful people – their generosity, their friendliness, their openness and their ability to go forward.”

Health was a major focus of VSA’s work in Vietnam. The first group of volunteers to go on assignment in Binh Dinh province included a primary health care specialist and a maintenance adviser who helped get essential equipment at the Province Hospital functioning again. Since then volunteers have included medical laboratory technologists, physiotherapists, midwives, and nurses. In recent years, they have focused on training and mentoring local staff, rather than filling in-line positions.

“We’re proud to have been able to support our partners, the Binh Dinh Department of Health and the Binh Dinh Red Cross, to improve health services in the province,” says VSA chief executive officer Debbie Snelson.

As well as focusing on health, VSA volunteers in Binh Dinh carried out assignments in rural development, fisheries and education. They were supported by a team of dedicated local interpreters, including Phuoc Nguyen who joined the VSA interpreting team in January 1996. He went on to become an indispensable part of VSA’s programme in Binh Dinh, becoming the programme administrator in November 2002. In January 2006 he took on the job of field officer based in the provincial capital Qui Nhon.

“He was totally committed to the job and absolutely loyal to VSA,” says Anne. “He was always there to help with problems or to give advice on how to make things happen – he always knew what to do when you were struggling to make headway.”

Debbie Snelson agrees: “Nothing is too much for Phuoc. It’s been an honour to work with him; he is very committed to the development of his country, and he built a real engagement with the volunteers.”

Phuoc will continue to liaise on VSA’s behalf with the Nguyen Nga Centre, an organisation supporting young people with disabilities which makes the friendship bracelets for VSA’s annual Project Friendship.

“It’s a combination of a beautiful country

and wonderful people – their generosity,

their friendliness, their openness and their

ability to go forward.”


CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Pre-schoolers take part in dramatic play at an early childhood education centre; A fishmarket in Qui Nhon; Anne de Bres on assignment at Binh Dinh Province hospital; Small fish out to dry; Phuoc Nguyen in wellington last year; The gardens are a hundred shades of green; Children releasing fish in Binh Dinh province; A woman in a leaf hat.

“It’s like an eye feast – the colour and

the vibrancy, the paddy fields which are

a hundred shades of green.”


eArthquAke no obStAcle Project Friendship 2011 is well on its way to raising $70,000 – an impressive result

given the devastation and disruption suffered in Canterbury earlier this year.

The Christchurch earthquake gave students at Casebrook Intermediate School an unexpected lesson in the importance of friendship when they found themselves hosting more than 200 Year 7 students from nearby Heaton Intermediate for five weeks during Term 1.

“Our children had to learn how to share – we had to stop our technology programme, and we ran the music programme out of a garage because we needed the classroom space,” says deputy principal Anne Clark.

But the earthquake and the consequent trauma and disruption didn’t stop Casebrook Intermediate from signing up for Project Friendship 2011, which ran from 15 to 21 August.

And according to Ms Clark, it was just as successful as it was in 2010.“We could have sold twice as many bracelets as we did,” she says. “They were incredibly

popular and the kids really liked being able to buy them for their friends; apparently some of them even put them on their skateboards and scooters.”

The students also enjoyed hearing about VSA and the work it does from returned volunteer Beulah Edwards. She was one of 22 returned volunteers who visited 30 schools during Project Friendship 2011. According to VSA’s fundraising coordinator Karla Paotonu, the speakers added a new dimension to Project Friendship.

“We got great feedback from schools. Students really loved hearing about volunteers’ experiences, and it gave them a real sense of what VSA and Project Friendship is all about – banding together to make a change. We’ll definitely be having speakers again next year.”

Casebrook Intermediate was one of seven Christchurch schools that signed up to Project Friendship, despite the earthquake.

“I was so impressed by the Christchurch schools that decided to take part – it really is a tribute to them and their students,” says Karla.

Altogether 118 schools, 43 Girl Guide districts, and 124 retailers took part in Project Friendship 2011. The retailers included 98 Four Square stores in the lower North Island, two Levis and 24 Body Shops throughout the country. Among them was The Body Shop on Wellington’s Lambton Quay, where buying bracelets for friends was also a bit of a theme. When Karla visited the store during Project Friendship the store manager Nicola Robinson told her that someone had just bought a bracelet for her friend.

“She said they were best friends, which was really cute,” Nicola said. “It’s such a good cause sending Kiwis overseas to volunteer.”

For the Somervell Brownies unit in Auckland, the highlight of Project Friendship was learning how to carry a bucket of water on their heads, and carrying a baby using a kanga – activities in our new Project Friendship syllabus for Pippins and Brownies.

“They really enjoyed doing it and it helped them experience life in another person’s shoes,” says their leader Penny Jarvie.

One of Riley Priddle’s classmates was so impressed by what she read about VSA that she bought 13 bracelets from him.

“She looked online and said it was a good cause, so she got her family into it too.”Riley, who is deputy head boy at Kaikoura High School, signed up to run Project

Friendship at his school after seeing a poster about it in the school library. “I wanted to help make a difference and VSA is definitely a worthwhile cause.”

* You can buy a funky $3 Project Friendship bracelet – or three – from our new online shop from 1 November. They make great stocking stuffers and they’re popular with children and adults. You can visit the online shop at www.vsashop.org.nz

FROM TOP: returned volunteer Beulah edwards at Casebrook Intermediate; riley Priddle wanted to make a difference. Photo courtesy of the marlborough express; Nicola and Ashley from The Body Shop on lambton Quay; walking with a bucket of water from the Project Friendship syllabus for Pippins and Brownies.

12 vista issue two 201112 vista issue two 2011

GROWING Support

From: Karla Paotonu, VSA Fundraising Coordinator

To: All VSA supporters

Subject: Fundraising update

Hi Everyone

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is just a couple of months away – the year has gone so

quickly! If you’re wondering what to give your friends and relatives this year, we have the

answer – a VSA volunteer.

At VSA, we send Kiwis – not goats. You can help send a Kiwi volunteer overseas this

Christmas and get a gorgeous plantable Kiwi Christmas decoration to give to your family

and friends.

We’re launching this year’s Send a Kiwi appeal at the end of October. Check it out on our

website, www.vsa.org.nz, from 1 November.

As well as all our regular fundraising activities, VSA has recently joined an exciting new fundraising

initiative, Live Below the Line. We were one of six New Zealand charities that took part in the inaugural Live

Below the Line campaign in late August – you can read all about it in the attachment below.

I’d like to thank everyone who has donated to VSA this year; we’re now well on our way to meeting our

fundraising target. If you’d like to support our work, use the donation form attached to this page. Just fill it out

and post it to us – you can use the Freepost option but a stamp saves us the cost of postage!

Thanks for your support.

Karla

Karla Paotonu

VSA Fundraising Coordinator

www.vsa.org.nz

rising to the challenge of living below the lineVSA communications coordinator Lesley Smeardon got a special good-luck card from her friends Sarah and Steve in August – it spelled out the words “good luck” in fruit and vegetables.

The card arrived by email as Lesley – along with 35 VSA staff and supporters – embarked on the inaugural Live Below the Line campaign.

Their challenge: to live below the poverty line and feed themselves on just $2.25 a day for five days.

They lived on oats, rice and pulses, supplemented by small quantities of vegetables, the occasional banana and – for the coffee addicts – several tablespoons of the cheapest coffee they could find.

VSA recruitment coordinator Carolyn Mark’s chickpea and potato curry got the thumbs up for tastiness. Graphic designer Alana McCrossin’s soda bread was quite a hit too.

But the prize for the most ingenious use of funds goes to Lesley, who had $45 to feed her family of four. She even managed to make a batch of oat and raisin biscuits, using margarine, two eggs she bought from a neighbour who keeps chickens, and raisins she found on special at the supermarket.

“I had to have something to put in my children’s lunchboxes – otherwise they would have mutinied.”

VSA is one of six New Zealand charities that took part in Live Below the Line, which is intended to raise awareness about the challenges faced by people living in extreme poverty. It raised $14,000 to support VSA’s education work in the wider Pacific.

VSA will be taking part in Live Below the Line in 2012, and we plan to make it even more successful than this year.

* Go to www.vsa.org.nz to read VSA’s favourite Live Below the Line recipes.


GROWING Support

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timor-leStetokelAu

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pApuA neW guineA

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VSA 2010 / 2011

Te Tu-ao Ta-wa-hi Volunteer Service Abroad Inc is a registered charity (CC36739) under the Charities Act 2005

Contact us on 0800 8728646 or visit www.vsa.org.nz

The year in review

¨ In the 2010/2011 financial year 139 exceptional VSA volunteers (+ 22 partners and 2 children) shared their skills in 151 assignments.

¨ They delivered an amazing 1055 months (87.9 years) of assignment activities with 106 partner organisations, mostly in the fields of economic development, social development and education.

¨ They worked in 14 countries – Papua New Guinea, including Bougainville, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Timor-Leste, Kiribati, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa.

¨ Their ages ranged from 21 to 75; 53% were men, and 47% were women.

¨ 52 volunteers returned to New Zealand after a life- changing experience and many joined one of our nine branches, continuing their engagement with VSA and spreading the word about our work.

¨ The number of skilled New Zealanders who signed up to VSA’s database of prospective volunteers increased by 67%.

Our highlights

¨ We developed a new strategic intent to guide our work from 2011 to 2015.

¨ We began sending short-term volunteers to the wider Pacific in order to provide New Zealanders with a greater range of volunteering options.

¨ We re-engaged with Samoa and Tonga and Kiribati.

¨ We increased the number of assignments in Melanesia by 10%.

¨ We established a Partnerships Development Unit to work with New Zealand businesses and organisations keen to provide their staff with volunteering opportunities.

¨ We refreshed our brand and launched a new website – www.vsa.org.nz

¨ We joined the world of social media, with a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

Find out more about VSA’s achievements this year by downloading a copy of VSA in View 2011 from our website, www.vsa.org.nz For a printed version, call 0800 8728646.

VSA’s summary financial statements for the 2010/2011 year can be downloaded from our website, www.vsa.org.nz. The full financial statements will be available at VSA’s Annual General Meeting being held in Wellington on 6 November 2011. To get printed versions, contact VSA 0800 872 8646.

Documents

VSA Vista Issue 2 2011