Rob and Holly have recently returned from Australia having spent 5 months working and travelling around the Outback. Before heading to Aus, Rob and Holly spent time volunteering on the Oyster project with Bears in Romania. Here they tell their story…

“We started our mini adventure in the depths of the forests in Transylvania working at a brown bear sanctuary. We stayed in Brasov, the second largest city in Romania, a beautiful and historically interesting place to roam around at the weekends. The bear sanctuary is an awe inspiring place, set in the hills surrounding the city it houses both Brown bears and a few wolves. Our main job at the sanctuary was feeding the bears, collecting food from the huge supermarkets and throwing it over the electric fence for the bears to argue over. The bears have all been rescued from appalling circumstances and we really felt like we did our bit to help out. We would love to go back to see our favourite bears and see how the sanctuary has evolved.

After Romania we spent 2 days back in the UK before flying into Brisbane, Australia. In Australia we spent a week learning the basics of farming at a training farm on the east coast. Our week consisted of tractor driving, motor bike riding, chainsawing, fencing and other farm based activities. After finishing our training we managed to get 3 jobs over a period of 5 months. Our longest was 3 months on a 42,000 acre cattle station right in the heart of the outback. We did a lot of mustering cattle on motor bikes, moving them from one place to another and yard work. We got accommodation, food and a wage, It was an amazing experience and one that I would recommend to anyone. After 3 months we had saved enough money to fund the rest of our travels around Australia and saw some classic Australian sights on the way. Because of our work on the farm we can now apply for a second year visa which may tempt us back and away from our radiators back in Suffolk!”

Thanks very much for sending in a great read! We are so pleased that you had such a great time on both of your placements!

It is such as shame that the current media coverage of the child care institutions in Romania give the message that the situation is all bad. Since the fall of Communism, and with the help of external funding, Romania has worked hard to improve the lives of the vast majority of orphans. There is still work to be done and the institutions really do benefit from the work of international volunteers.

Whilst the situation has improved, a lot of the children’s homes are still under-staffed. The carers just about have enough time to feed and clean the children in most cases. Without volunteers, the children do not get the emotional support that they so desperately need.

Oyster Worldwide has been sending volunteers to work in children’s homes since 2004 and over the past 5 years have sent 250 people who have all done vital work to improve the lives of some of Romania’s orphans. Romania needs more volunteers, if you are interested please visit our Romania Child Care page and apply to volunteer for a month, or even longer.

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that, in the last couple of days, the Banff Oyster Representative details have changed. This is because Karine is expecting a child and has decided to step down as our rep after 4 years of hard graft to start a family and we wish her all the very best of luck.

Karine is due to give birth in December and over the past couple of months has been thinking long and hard about whether she will be able to combine the role of being a new mum with that of being our representative. As our November group of 9 people will be arriving in Banff about 2 weeks before Karine’s due date, she felt it would be best for her to stand down.

Karine has put us in touch with Alison who will be officially taking over the role in November when the group arrives. Alison, a born West Coast Canadian, first arrived in Banff, in the spring of 1999 as a summer student, working in the hotel industry. She enjoyed it so much she came back again the following year! Alison knows what it is like to be a long way from home for a long period of time, when she was 16 she spent 10 months in Italy as an exchange student!

Alison now calls Banff her home and is looking forward to sharing this beautiful part of the world with future Oyster participants. Alison still works in hospitality, as part of the marketing team for a local company. She has a happy dog, two friendly cats and loves the outdoors.

From all at Oyster, we wish Karine (and Brian!) the best of luck for the future and big thanks for all of her efforts. Also a big thanks to Alison for agreeing to become our new rep – we are really looking forward to working with you!

Emma has now returned to work for Oyster after a fantastic 5 months in Australia. Whilst in Oz, Emma took part in our Outback work scheme and after a successful rural training course, moved to a farm to be a Home School Tutor (or Governess as the Aussies refer to the role!)

Now that Emma is back, she is looking after our Australia programs (both the rural and, new, urban option in Sydney). In the 5 months that she was away, she gained a wealth of experience and is looking forward to passing that experience on to you!

The 2008 Romania Christmas Card Appeal has been a great success. We managed to raise almost £600 in the sale of the cards. A big thank you to all of you that helped us by selling them to your friends and family.

Oyster volunteers with the new Codlea Wheelchair

All of the money was sent to Romania and has now bought a brand new wheelchair for use at Codlea Children’s Home.

A big thank you once again to all of you that were involved!

Many people are turning the gloom and doom of the recession into an opportunity to get out of the UK, travel and do some worthwhile work abroad.

With the lack of employment opportunities in the job market, others are turning to education to see them through. People are thinking that if they cannot get a job for the foreseeable future, they may as well go to college or University to study and improve their CV in that way. In 2009, this has meant that University applications have seen a massive rise in numbers. The BBC has said that, according to UCAS, over 42,000 more people have applied to University than there are places available.

With that in mind, come August, many thousands of students will be disappointed when they find out that they do not have a University place. We believe that, once over the disappointment, students should see this as an opportunity to enhance their CV and personal development by taking a Gap Year. Read the rest of this entry »

I have just opened a Twitter account for Oyster. The plan is for us to keep it updated as much as possible with the goings on at Oyster, a little bit more regularly than the blog. Watch this space…

To ‘follow’ Oyster, just search for ‘Oyster Worldwide’.

The global economy is in crisis and we’re all tightening our belts. Is this the right moment to be volunteering?

Yes! Volunteering is still a smart move. Here’s why:

You’ll help poorer countries through the crisis by:

• teaching English (vital in this global market)
• helping with social care, health or environmental problems
• spending your money locally
• supporting their tourist industry by sightseeing and travelling around

You’ll help yourself because:

• you can live very cheaply once you’re out there
• you’ll learn new skills and grow in confidence
• you’ll enter the jobs market with a more impressive CV
• AND you’ll have a great time!

We hope this motivates you to keep stacking those supermarket shelves and raise the cash. It really is worth it!

Oyster is a small and well regarded Gap year organisation sending volunteers and paid workers to 10 destinations worldwide. We are able to offer an internship for 6 months at our UK office. The last month is spent overseas on one of our projects (Emma, our present intern has opted for our Australian working program).

Ideally, the right candidate would begin straightaway. You will gain valuable experience in this popular sector in a role that will cover administration, destination management and making presentations to schools. The role is unpaid but mileage to work at 40p a mile is paid for up to 15 miles and a lunch allowance of £3 daily will be paid. Living costs are not covered.

The ideal candidate would be someone who has had a Gap year and who has a desire to work in the Gap year world. He or she would probably be a recent graduate who can multi task and has a car. You would need to be based close to our office which is between Tunbridge Wells and East Grinstead in the South East of England and be prepared to travel to other parts of the UK for recruiting events.

Please email Roger with a CV and cover letter - roger@oysterworldwide.com

This time last year Kenyans were getting ready for change. The then Prime Minister Kibaki, had been in power for the last 40 years and had presided over the most stable political situation in Africa. However this was not to last through the December 2007 elections. The results were extremely close between Kibaki and his opponent Odinga, with each having a sudden increase in votes causing voters to cite corruption in both camps. This resulted in mass protests throughout the country lasting for weeks. 260,000 people were left displaced and many more fearing for their safety. Since then the global community has assisted Kenya with the formation of a power-sharing government which has helped the country back.

One of the main casualties of the protests was the Kenyan tourism industry. When the violence broke, the Foreign Office advised against Britons travelling to the country. Oyster had five volunteers due to go to Kenya at the beginning of January and at the last minute we had to cancel their trip. Luckily we were able to find them similar projects in Tanzania and all had a fantastic experience. Read the rest of this entry »