Global Xchange

Are you a Tanzanian citizen living outside Dar es Salaam, aged 18-25, completed secondary school education?

2010-06-01T03:15:00.000-07:00

The Tanzania Youth Coalition (TYC) together with VSO Tanzania, British Council Tanzania with funding support from the Wood Family Trust are jointly implementing the GX Programme.

The Global Xchange (GX) Programme is a programme that works with 18-25 years old from Tanzania and the UK. Global Xchange gives youth a unique opportunity to live and work together as volunteers in local communities in Tanzania and the UK on a 6-month exchange. The Municipality of Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam will be the host community for the Tanzanian phase of the programme. The programme aims to build active global citizens, committed to working for positive change.

We are seeking applications from youth who are interested to be GX Programme Volunteers. This is a 6-month contract starting in September 2010. The successful applicants will be expected to spend 3 months in the project host community (Dar es Salaam) in Tanzania and 3 months of the project in the host community in the UK(Aberdeen).

View and download the application form here

Applicants must fill in their application form and send to Mr. Julius Kanwakaita, Global Xchange Programme Supervisor, Tanzania Youth Coalition, Msikitini Street, House No 127, Kijitonyama, P.o.Box 34612 Dar es salaam or Email gx.tanzania@yahoo.com deadline is 15th June 2010.

Week Eight - Burhan and Laura!

2009-12-11T06:46:00.002-08:00

Did you know that one in ten people in Aberdeen lives in deprivation? To try and reduce this shocking statistic Instant Neighbour provides support to people living on low incomes in Aberdeen City and Shire. They recycle and distribute quality used furniture, clothing, and baby equipment to people who need it most. We help by going out and about in the van, picking up the furniture, distributing the furniture, and sorting out the other goods which are donated from members of the public (including thousands of cans of tinned food!). Preparation for Christmas has already started, and we have had a busy week with the launch of the Giving Tree! Through the Giving Tree members of the public donate gifts to children who might not normally get to receive one at Christmastime! At the launch we met the Lord Provost for the second time; we were first introduced at the beginning of the programme when we were invited for a tour of the Aberdeen City Council buildings.Instant Neighbour receives lots of volunteers, so this week we have had the opportunity to meet other volunteers from all different part of the community (including lots of ‘warembo’ from the Police Cadets!). Despite the fact that we are so busy the happy and relaxed atmosphere at Instant Neighbour (and the fact we are always laughing and joking!) stops it from being tiring.Aberdeen Forward is the other place where we are working in Aberdeen. It’s an environmental charity working to reduce waste and improve the surroundings for citizens of Aberdeen City and Shire. The charity runs many interesting projects including the Real Nappy project, Composting programmes and the Creative Waste Exchange (which is basically an Aladin’s Cave full of goodies and other exciting stuff!). Aberdeen Forward also conducts workshops with students from different schools to make sure that the environmental education begins at a grassroots level. At Aberdeen Forward we are doing a research project on the carbon footprint of the charity. At the weekend we escaped from Aberdeen for a few days and headed west to Grantown on Spey! It was busy week but nice and lovely!CHEERS‼ YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH‼‼‼

Week Seven - Maria and Charlie!

2009-12-11T06:46:00.001-08:00

This week was a busy week we went to Edinburgh, to our Volunteer Placement, and we had a team day in which we went bowling.So the week started off by going to Edinburgh early on Monday morning, almost everyone fell asleep on the bus on the way, probably because we were all at a gig the previous night. We arrived in Edinburgh and went to the Scottish Parliament for a tour; unfortunately buttons didn’t show us around this time. After we had been shown around the amazing building which we were informed cost £414million.We went to the British Council for lunch. And after the British Council we were free to roam the city in which we saw the castle, a few of us walked up the big hill, walked along the Royal Mile, went to the childhood museum and a few of us even ate our first battered Mars bar.On Tuesday we went to our Volunteer Placement at Aberdeen Foyer on a project called Community Signature. The idea behind it is that it is a type of questionnaire that is interactive and gets in depth responses from the people we are asking the questions to. The community we are working with is Torry, the aim of doing the Signatures is that we can send the gathered information to the Council who can then find the areas that need investment. We were at a retirement home on Tuesday asking five pensioners what they thought about their community.On Wednesday it was Charlie and Lillian’s GCD which was on Human Rights.On Thursday we again went to our volunteer placement where we did a signature with two men who are on initiatives run by Aberdeen Foyer.On Friday there was a team day in which the group discussed several issues and ways to solve those issues. We decided that we would like to see what each other would be doing in their placements rather than always discussing problems as the team is starting to integrate and communicate very well. We also had a session run by Dave looking at stereotypes and how that can affect peoples attitudes to one another. Later on in the evening we went bowling where we all could relax after having such a busy week.

Week six - Nathan and Seif

2009-12-10T08:11:00.000-08:00

“Foyer Music” is a recording studio and rehearsal space based within the Aberdeen Foyer itself. The studio and its facilities offer a great deal in terms of accessibility, education, practicality and engagement, which we have both observed and utilised during our short time spent there. As part of our VP we have been involved with various studio production and recording projects that range from film ambience to hip-hop, etc; during which we have been given a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and skills with our colleagues.Also we have set up two concerts at Transition Extreme where we performed, provided backline and equipment, got involved with some publicity and gained an insight into events management. One of the most rewarding experiences we had was during our workshops at Northfield academy where we showed classes of 15-17 year olds a more cultural side to music than they were usually used to by running a rhythm based drumming workshop with them that was extremely good fun. We’ve both valued our time here and are happy to have worked with some really amazing people. Mid Phase Review The MPR took place in our sixth week on GX for two days, which we spent in a bunkhouse in Craggan, near Grantown on Spey. The MPR’s objective was to overview and reflect on our time spent on GX since arriving in Aberdeen, covering any issues we may have faced and finding solutions to any problems. Also we brainstormed about how to utilise the following six weeks in order to maintain a healthy group relationship and a comfortable, fun learning and working environment. We took part in group work, activities, ate some fantastic Tanzanian cuisine and exceptionally good chilli which made for a really enjoyable weekend.

Week Five by Hawa and Lucy

2009-11-19T04:03:00.000-08:00

With the MPR looming and a few hectic weeks behind us, this week was mostly set aside for chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' or coolin'. But we couldn't introduce anybody to the UK without going to a fireworks display on Guy Fawkes' night. Everybody really enjoyed the show (despite severe lack of actual fire) and wished it could have lasted all night!! Even for the UK volunteers, new experiences - in the form of bagpipe versioins of Queen songs - were aplenty. In placement this week, Hawa and Lucy have launched their groundbreaking new questionnaire onto the streets of Mastrick and have so far had a massive 17 respondents!! Yes that's right folks, 17! They are are also looking forward to launching their brand new employment drop-in session on the 19th November, Inchgarth get ready. In the Airyhall household (Zai, Seif, Hattie, Lucy) at the weekend, lie-ins were the order of the day on Saturday, along with marathon sessions of 'Supernatural' and large amounts of tea. Sunday was a nice drive up to Balmoral with Diane (Host Mum), a quick expedition into the bushes for Lucy and Zai and fish and chips for dinner - nice! At Powis Terrace, Hawa and Laura with their host homes went 4 a dog walk at Belmedie beach.....it waz lovely!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Over and out x x Hawa and Lucy x x

Week Four by Harriet and Nashir

2009-11-17T06:44:00.001-08:00

At the Fersand and Fountain Community Project we are going to help run and promote a food co-operative. A food co-op is a non-profit shop where food is bought cheap and in bulk, and sold cheaply to the local community. This makes cheap and healthy food accessible to those who live on a low income budget. Monday we cleared all the remaining food from the flat that the food co-op used to be run from. We were moving it to the new Woodland Fountain Community Center.

We had help from CFINE, the organisation that provides the co-op with cheap fruit and vegetables. Part of our project is to promote the food co-op and try to recruit volunteers from the community. We set a date for the following week in which we would a call a meeting for all prospective volunteers and made up posters and flyers advertising the meeting that we would hand out. Tuesday we walked around the neighbourhood posting the flyers through every single door. For the blocks of flats that we couldn't get into, we put posters up in the entrance halls so that all could see the notice. We also helped finish setting up the new shop, arranging the shelves, drawing up notice boards and decorating the walls. We also had the opportunity to visit our friends Borhan and Laura at the neighbouring Instant Neighbour center. We got to see their work place and were impressed by Borhan's carpet cleaning skills.
Wednesday was Nathan and Nashir's GCD. They did it on Disabilities. We were given a talk by Michael from the Foyer who provides musica therapy to people with disabilities. He told us that people commonly preconceive their own notions of how people with disabilties live. He told us that most people who he had met and who were classified at disabled, told him that they lived what they thought to be quite normal lives. He challenged our own notions of what it was to be disabled;physically, mentaly or socialy. In a way, he said, we are all disabled. We also learnt about Disability in Tanzania. The GCD covered an interesting range of topics surrounding Disablities and was highly educative.

Thursday is our day at the Workers' Educational Association. This day of the week is dedicated to local or Scottish History and cooking. The WEA provides education to adults who might have missed out on their chance earlier in life. In the morning we taught about Scottish music and dance. We listened to bagpipe music, Robert Burns' songs, military bands, and Aberdeen's very own Annie Lennox (one of the pupils told us of how he grew up around the corner from her and how the community used to find her music obsession very bizarre and amusing. "Who's laughing now though" he added.) We also looked at different Ceilidh dances. In the afternoon we prepared the food for the following day's Halloween party. We were going to make toffee apple and other Halloween themed foods that the students had researched. We were charged with going to the local Morrisons with half the class to pick up the ingredients and we spent the rest of the afternoon preparing the food and carving ghoulish faces into unsuspecting apples. Friday we work with a group of teenage boys who have dropped out of school.

Unfortunately most of them have falied to turn up to the courses and on this particular day only one turned up. So we dragged him to the WEA's Halloween party to enjoy a day of gruesome face painting, local ghost stories and scary music with all the other members of the WEA.Friday Night the whole GX crew gathered at the Foyer to make our own cinema night. We use a projector to screen our movie of choice on the wall of one of the boardrooms. We made a chinese stir fry which was new to many of the Tanzanians and we watched Scream.

Saturday is a social day,so all volunteers went to a Halloween party to have fun,we were at a cinema hall, The Belmont picture house,to watch a scary movie. It started at 9:00pm and finished at 10:50pm. The movie was called An American werewolf in London.
Sunday we relaxed.

Week Three by Charlotte and Zaituni

2009-11-17T06:19:00.000-08:00

Transition Extreme is a social enterprise that aims to provide people of ages with opportunity of a different out look on life. By offering them different way of learning new skills, whether this be life or sport specific. Over the next three months me and my counter part Zai will be offering ideas to help develop the projects further. One of these project is the 16+ academy that aims to give skills to pupils that have left school with no or very few qualifications. This will give these young adults a chance to go on to gain a degree in sport science or other areas of sport. According to are superviser Victoria we will also be able have are own project that will hopefully offer some kind of sustainablity for the next three years. During my first week I couldn't have been further from what i would doing. At the moment Aberdeen, it is the school holidays, which meant that Transition was inundated with 100s of screaming school kids, most of which were coming for the kids club.
Over the course of the week I managed to bruise every bone in my body, trying to establish how to inline skate. After almost breaking both my knees I decided may this is not be the sport for me. Instead deciding to try STAKE BOARDING despite having two swollen and very sore knees I was quick to pick it up, pumping at the right time up and down ramps, attempting front side kick turns, not forgetting the numours times i feel! But soon started to felt like a pro!The kids club that was running gave the kids a chance to try there hands at other actives i.e graffiti workshops, rock climbing, swimming, snow boarding, costume making and last but not least a halloween party( everyone made costumes - I made a spider to go along with theme!) Even though the placements are one of the main parts the Xchange the whole team is to carry out what is known as Communty Action Days. This week the CAD was working with Oxfam on a project called OXJAM which is a music festival. This is helping promote climate change and it devestating effects it is having on the world, as well as giving local bands the change to showcase their music for free. The venues consisted of: Tunnels, Drummards, Revolution and many more. Are aim was to get as mainy people as we could to either sign petitions either by drawing a picture of there self, or having their faces painted blue by one of the GX team. Like any CAD the whole team got invovled, by painting their own face and bodys blue ( and what ever stood in their way) WELL DONE GUYS.

By Charlotte and Zai

Week Two

2009-10-23T01:27:00.000-07:00

The main focus of week two was for us volunteers to become more familiar with the community in which we will be working and also to discuss more specific aspects of the group activities during our time here.

A treasure hunt on Monday allowed us to find our way around the glorious city of Aberdeen. Tuesday was a special treat as the Lord Provost himself, Peter James Stephen, gave a guided tour of the Town House along with pantomime favourite, Buttons (pictured, right).

Another gardening themed CAD was scheduled for Wednesday but was unfortunately cancelled at the last moment. Green fingered GXers need not fear though, as it will be rescheduled for a few weeks time (phew!)

The rest of the week involved discussion surrounding the Community Action Days (CADs) and Global Citizenship Days (GCDs) which are extremely important to the GX program.

Our Counterpart Pairs are:

David and Duncan
Seif and Lucy
Lucy and Charlotte
Laura and Howa
Lillian and Charlie
Harriet and Maria
Hattie and Maria
Simon and Burhan
Nashir and Nathan

Our Work counterpart pairs are:

Laura and Burhan
Duncan and Lucy
Lucy and Howa
Hattie and David
Charlotte and Zai
Nathan and Seif
Harriet and Nashir
Charile and Maria
Simon and Lilian

Week One

2009-10-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

Global Xchange Tanzania/Aberdeen has begun! The first week has been a journey from timidly shaking hands and name learning to dancing together in front of Aberdeen’s finest.

The first half of the week was spent in Stonehaven where the initial training and In Country Orientation began. This involved, amongst other things, mimicking farmyard animals and being violently hummed and hissed at as we entered the land of the Albatross (Don’t worry – just a role play!)

Mid-week saw the volunteers move into their new host homes which are spread far and wide about “the shire” and which all welcomed us with good Scottish hospitality.

Friday was the main event of the week: our launch (or Karibu) to Aberdeen. We met a handful of Sirs, namely Sir Ian Wood (pictured) and Sir Andrew Cubie as well as many more prominent figures from the local charity scene. After the speeches it was time for the main event...us! We put our dancing skills to use, performing a creative blend of African rhythm with UK funk (‘Saturday Night’ and the ‘Hokey Kokey’).

Bongo Flava! Sir Ian Wood talks with volunteers, Seif Kirungi and Nathan Fraser

The week ended with a trip to Drum Castle for our first Community Action Day where we put our gardening know-how (or lack of!) to the test. All in all a great first week!

Kwaheri!

Now these are the Tanzania representatives........!

2009-08-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

These are three from the grooup of nine (9) youth who are going to represent Tanzania together with other from UK in the Global Xchange programme, more profile comming your way soon!

United Kingdom representatives for the Global Xchange......!

2009-08-07T03:49:00.000-07:00

These are the youth who are going to partcipate in the Global Xchange programme starting soon!

SELECTED VOLUNTEERS FOR GX10 ABERDEEN-TANZANIA EXCHANGE

2009-07-13T03:50:00.000-07:00

Volunteers from UK includes Harriet Andrews, Harriet Jane Thompson, Lee Walsh, Nathan Fraser, Laura Price, Duncan Lang, Simon Gore, Charlotte Elliss and Lucy Blow. Together with the GX Programme supervisor from Tanzania and Senior Support worker from Aberdeen Foyer.

GLOBAL XCHANGE PROGRAMME

2009-07-13T03:38:00.000-07:00

Global Xchange is a partnership programme managed and delivered by the British Council, VSO, and Tanzania Youth Coalition sponsored by The Wood Family Trust, aiming in developing and delivers international volunteer exchanges and other activities to help create active global citizens who value volunteering, diversity, community development and social action.

GX Vision is ‘A world where active global citizens create positive change and build mutual understanding and respect.

Global Xchange defines active global citizens as: ‘individuals who learn from the experience of others around the world, have an awareness of issues facing all countries, and put that learning into action’.

GX Programme works with a team of up to 18 young people (aged 18-25), with nine (9) participants each coming from the UK and Tanzania, The Volunteers will be expected to live in Tanzanian host community. During this GX 10 the host community will be Kinondoni Municipality. The participants (volunteers) are recruited, and the team is formed, to reflect diversity in terms of geography, ethnicity, ability, education and gender. Together, in cross-cultural counterpart pairs, they live with host families and work in host communities, for 6 months being 3 months in the UK and 3 months in Tanzania. They also work on a global citizenship project specifically aimed at raising awareness of development and diversity within their host communities.