“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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

There are hundreds of things that you can do on a Gap Year. I would say that this is the time for you to do something different and exciting while you have the opportunity - you may never get it again…

If, for example, you were to go abroad and spend 3-6 months as a volunteer teacher in Tanzania, you would come home with a whole host of new skills and abilities that will help you get that University place, and eventually, career. Having seen some of the world, lived as a local in a different country and learnt about its culture, you will be more interesting to talk to. Having lived away from friends and family overseas you will be more independent and more confident, not to mention, more mature.

You may have concerns with the financial side of taking a Gap Year in the recession. We have given this a lot of thought and believe that you would actually be better off, financially, living in somewhere like Africa for 6 months as a volunteer that you would be staying in the UK and looking for a job. In Africa you need no more than between £15-20 per week to live (food, transport, and a couple of nights out). You certainly could not live on that in the UK. Yes, you would need to pay a fee to get you out to Africa in the first place (approximately £2700 including return flights and accommodation with Oyster), but if you spread that cost over the 6 months that you were away, I still believe that overall, you are better off in Africa. Not just financially, but also personally better off.

By taking a Gap Year, you will be able to reapply for University and do something with your life that will put you ahead of the game when it comes to finding employment at the end of your degree. With so many more people attending University, so many more will be graduating with good degrees making it extremely hard for employers to differentiate between good candidates. Having taken a well spent Gap Year, you may well be ahead of the game!

Take the break from education and do something amazing so that you can then go to University refreshed, committed and focused next year.

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

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!

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

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.

Peace has now returned to Kenya. The region we send volunteers to was largely unaffected and is now safe to travel to. We have our first group of six (see left) Oyster volunteers eagerly awaiting their trip to Kenya in January to work in schools and orphanages, where their help will be greatly appreciated and is needed more than ever. They will experience the beauty of the area, and the
hospitality that is still very much alive in Kenya.