African volunteers help British homeless as part of international exchange programme
Volunteers from Namibia are supporting homeless projects in the North East of England as part of an international exchange programme.
The volunteers are spending the next few months assisting homeless charity projects across Newcastle after returning from Africa. The initiative aims to bring organisations together to share skills and best practices and is focused around the idea of empowering vulnerable people wherever they may be in the world.
The 17 volunteers, aged between 18 and 25, have spent the last three months in Namibia and come from the UK and Africa. They are volunteering as part of Global Xchange (GX) an international partnership between VSO, The British Council and other organisations around the world.
GX also works directly with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and is part of the pilot year of International Citizen Service (ICS). In Newcastle Global Xchange will be run through local partner organisation Crisis Skylight which is run by the national homeless charity Crisis.
The scheme consists of accredited education and training, offering creative and practical workshops that lead to qualifications and employment.
Crisis has Skylight centres in Birmingham, Edinburgh, London, Merseyside, Oxford as well as Newcastle and is currently preparing to spread its services to other UK cities. Newcastle’s Crisis Skylight centre offers classes in ICT and English language amongst its skill sets.
Crisis says the exchange programme has been set up to allow young people the chance to live, experience and volunteer in another culture with the aim of promoting international cooperation and development. The volunteers all live in pairs with one from each country in host homes. The Newcastle exchange with Namibia at present means all the volunteers are currently staying with host families in Newcastle.
The young people will be volunteering at homeless organisations across the city until March when they will stage an event at a local homeless centre, explaining the work they have been involved in...
The youngsters previously spent three months volunteering in Namibia with a network of nurseries that support vulnerable children.
Crisis has paid tribute to the enthusiasm of its young volunteers who it has described as deeply caring and supportive...
Country
