Successfully sending volunteers abroad for 10 years
2020 has certainly been a very challenging year for everyone here at Agape Volunteers, as it has for so many around the world. Our thoughts and very best wishes go out to everyone who has been affected by this horrible disease and the widespread problems it has caused.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit we moved quickly to ensure that all our volunteers in Africa were able to get back home safely - thankfully a complete success. Since then our programmes have remained closed and we haven’t been able to welcome people to our volunteer programmes in Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania or South Africa so far. This has been very frustrating for everyone, especially for those volunteers who were booked to travel this year and excited to get involved. We know that this has been a huge disappointment, especially if it was your one chance for such a life-changing volunteer trip.
It has also been an extremely difficult year for the programmes we work with around the world. Many of our plans and projects were forced to be put on hold and there are some very troubling long-term implications for the developing world and global poverty.
Ultimately though, volunteering is about believing that positive change is possible and that we can all play our part in achieving it. Some of our projects may have lain dormant for the past few months due to a lack of volunteers, but we have been busy preparing and planning so that we’re ready to hit the ground running as soon as it’s safe and possible to do so.
Thankfully there are a number of positive signs as we draw towards the end of 2020. As the first person receives a Covid-19 vaccination many countries around the world are planning to roll out similar mass vaccination programmes over the next few weeks and months. Sadly, there are already signs that these glimmers of hope will be unfairly distributed throughout the world, with richer countries able to buy up significantly more doses than most developing countries.
So where does that leave us? Well, it means that there’s even more work to do than ever and that we need to get started as soon as we can! With a range of new health and safety measures in place we’re hoping and expecting to be able to fully restart in early 2021. So come and get involved in our excellent Ghana volunteer teaching project, work in a medical placement in Tanzania, or help out our Kenya childcare volunteering programme.
We can’t wait to welcome you back!
In Other News
We've always got plenty going on, so why not check out some of our other latest news and thoughts? Or perhaps you're ready to gt stuck in yourself? If so, Apply Now to get in touch with one of our specialist trip advisors.
