Life changing stories

VSO has supported the development of the mental health sector over the last 15 years, helping to create more clinics and rehabilitation centres as well as establishing training programmes to raise standards of mental healthcare. An estimated 2.5 million Sri Lankans have been reached by the efforts of VSO volunteers during this time. Chandani's experience illustrates how VSO's intervention has helped transform one woman's potentially bleak future into a much brighter one.

Leandra Lok, a teacher training adviser, has lived in Cambodia for one-and-a-half years along with her husband who is also volunteering with VSO in Battambang.

Decentralisation is essential if isolated parts of Cameroon are to eventually fulfil their potential, but resistance to change is endemic. In the rural north west of the country, VSO volunteer Shamsul Akhtar works with local councilors to implement essential government reforms. Despite difficult living conditions and early frustrations, Shamsul is at last seeing progress.

Malaria is the world's biggest killer: someone dies of it every 30 seconds. In Uganda many people living in rural villages can't afford to pay for transport to get to hospital, so they don't get drugs and they die. That's why the work VSO nurse Pam Llewellyn is doing in Miirya sub-county is so vital: she is training village volunteers in malaria prevention so that they can help their communities to combat the disease. 

The Pamirs are an area of outstanding natural beauty in Tajikistan, boasting some of the most mountainous landscapes anywhere in the world. But against this remote backdrop most people live in poverty and over a quarter of the population live on less than US$2 a day. VSO is working with the Pamir Eco-Cultural Tourism Association to increase tourism in the area to improve the livelihoods of the local community.

Economic opportunities are limited in Tajikistan so large numbers of men are leaving the country to find work abroad. According to official estimates, approximately one seventh of Tajikistan’s population works abroad, leaving almost as many women to support family by themselves. These women are in urgent need of work but lack the skills and opportunities to make a decent living.

CUSO-VSO volunteer, Jan Teevan, always wanted to help mothers and children in the developing world. She got the chance in 2007 through a joint project with the Malawi Ministry of Health. 

In Vietnam, a widespread lack of awareness and education leads to discrimination against people living with HIV. Ben Nguyen and her two young children were shunned by their community when she discovered she was HIV positive. That’s why VSO volunteer David Graham is working to strengthen self-help groups that offer vital support to Ben and other people like her.

In Vietnam a ground-breaking online counselling service is allowing young people to access vital information about sexual and reproductive health. We find out VSO volunteer Ian Bromage’s part in its amazing success.

Twenty three year old Abass Koroma was just eight years old when the civil war in Sierra Leone began in 1992. During the next ten years he missed out on going to school. But five years after the war ended, and with support from VSO partner CCYA, he is part of a flourishing village enterprise.

Nurses are vital components in the treatment and recovery of hospital patients. In Sierra Leone, where many hospitals lack basic supplies and equipment, even a good bedside manner can mean the difference between life and death.

Marie Banaghan, a primary school teacher from Trim Co Meath, Ireland, volunteered with VSO along with her husband Kieran in September 2008. She currently works along Kieran as a professional development facilitator for the Ministry of Education in Malawi. Below Marie describes a typical day.

Giving something back to the community has been a life long passion for education manager Bola Ojo. Taking early retirement and volunteering with VSO International meant she could continue to contribute to the community – but this time internationally. She opted for a 12-week volunteer placement in Rwanda. At the same time as sharing valuable teaching and management skills that will help to improve standards in 126 local schools, she helped lay the foundations for a long-term volunteer to take her crucial work even further.

Ellen Crabtree has swapped her life as a highflying finance executive to help vulnerable people in downtown Johannesburg at risk from HIV and AIDS. Here she tells us about a project that helps sex workers find alternative sources of income - and explains how volunteering has changed her own life, as well as the lives of those she is working with.

Tourists flock to Zanzibar each year, but the money they spend has little impact on the lives of the majority of the population. A new project run by VSO International is helping an association of farmers to build better links with the thriving tourist sector, and to earn a far higher income from their crops.

Sifa, a young Rwandan girl, was found in Nyungwe forest, in the far south west of the country. It was clear she had been alone for a long time – she walked on all fours, was surviving on a diet of grass and sticks, and was terrified of people. We find out how VSO volunteer Antonia Eastman has played a crucial role in helping her new carers turn her life around. 

Head teacher Isabel Hodger had 36 years’ experience in education and just three years until retirement when she decided to volunteer with VSO. She’s sharing her expertise in Ethiopia, where classrooms are bursting with children due to free education, but teachers are poorly trained. Here Isabel describes how her work with teacher trainers from all corners of the country will ultimately benefit millions of school children.

With 30 years’ experience as a teacher and twelve years as head teacher at a large comprehensive in Plymouth, in the UK, Peter Reid has the combination of hands on classroom teaching and management experience that VSO is looking for. After retiring in 2001, he and his wife Rosemary decided to volunteer. Here Peter tells us how his skills are supporting the Ministry of Education and Sports as it prepares to offer Nepalese children a further three years of free education. 

Retired head teacher Jeremy White says volunteering has given him ‘satisfaction, fulfilment and hope’. We chat to him about his role as an Education Management Advisor in Rwanda, and find out why it’s been such an amazing experience.

Twenty eight year old Georgina Chetwynd is sharing her skills in Kolkata. Here Georgina – who has also volunteered with VSO in Pakistan – describes the challenges faced by disabled women in India and explains how, by telling their stories, she is helping to tackle some of those challenges. 

South Africa is home to over a thousand informal settlements; communities with limited resources, sanitation and formalised welfare. Children often suffer within these communities and miss out on an education. VSO volunteer Mary Njuguna is working with local organisation Children on the Move to help get children back into school and enjoying life again. 

Primary teacher Caroline received support from her school when she decided to volunteer abroad with VSO in northern Malawi. Here she describes her voluntary work the warmth and generosity of her colleagues and neighbours and her sometimes very muddy commute to work...

Child sacrifice is on the increase in Uganda. VSO volunteers are working with the African Network for Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) to ensure affected families receive counselling and legal support.  Vivien’s ten-year-old son was abducted for child sacrifice but survived. Here she tells her story.

VSO was thrilled when psychotherapist Stella Wragg decided to volunteer again. With the experience of her first VSO placement in Nepal, Stella is now preparing to volunteer in Sri Lanka.

Her expertise will be put to excellent use improving the care available to people who are living with mental illnesses as a result of years of civil war and the 2004 Tsunami.

Here she reveals her hopes and fears about her upcoming placement.

With over one million people in Tanzania living with HIV and AIDS, raising awareness among young Tanzanians is a high priority for VSO. We’re working with local partners like Femina HIP to help young people create a healthy future.