Volunteer Addict

Last week I returned from a 13 day trek to Everest Base Camp and back. Covering 120km and rising 5350m in just under two weeks was one of the most gruelling and tiring things I have ever had the pleasure of completing. With only two hot showers, patchy sleep, heavy breathing and blisters that looked like extra toes, there was definitely a lot of pleasure when I returned safely to Kathmandu. Despite all these perhaps negative points, I had a bloody brilliant time, really enjoyed the hiking, made some great new friends and learnt how to survive two whole weeks without meat… the toughest part by far!

First sighting of Everest Summit. Beautiful!

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I wasn’t quite sure how finding volunteering opportunities around the world was going to work, I have a few potential contacts when in India and in a couple of South East Asian countries but nothing in Nepal, in fact I didn’t even know if I had time to volunteer whilst in Nepal. However whilst trekking I happened to mention to a guide I was chatting to over a Raskhi (don’t ask) that I was planning on volunteering. ‘oh my brother runs an orphanage 3 hours outside Kathmandu, you can volunteer there, here let me ring him now and you can arrange’. Continue reading →

This week is the second most important week in the volunteer calendar… the first being Student Volunteering Week in February. I hope you have all made the most of the week, volunteering, promoting volunteering and celebrating volunteering where possible.

Each year Volunteering England helps promote the brilliant achievements of volunteers and volunteer managers across the country, you can see some of the events that are happening or have happened for this week on their website.

For me I am always celebrating volunteering, as you can probably tell from this blog, but this week I celebrate by starting my first volunteering position on my travels around Asia. I will be teaching in a local school for a week whilst living with a local Nepali family.

A month has passed since I said farewell to my friends and colleagues at the London School of Economics and thought the Volunteer Centre @ LSE Careers deserved a special farewell post. After almost two years running the Volunteer Centre at LSE it was time to say goodbye, stop talking the volunteering talk and start some volunteering action of my own!

To send my appreciation to all my incredible ex colleagues at LSE Careers here is a little leaving poem just for you… Continue reading →