204 replies to this topic

[malkers]

Hi Amber & Welcome To The Tree!

Having visited Rob back in October whilst I was in Goa I can assure you you would be in safe hands there and volunteering to a worthwhile cause with a great bunch of people!

Rob (poiple shadow) doesn't bite so just drop him a personal message. I'm sure he will know this thread has a response anyhow and be in contact himself!

Cheers
Malc

[ambermarie]

Thank you, I'll do so! Did you have a good time volunteering for Children Walking Tall? Would you mind telling me a bit about what you did?

[iwanttogoback]

malkers was living in India for a couple of years until quite recently and met quite a few of the members of the tree, including rob.

rob has been posting here for a while, and his posts and newsletters show children walking tall to be a great charity.

and welcome to the tree amber. i'm sure there'll be lots of other India questions you'll have.

[ambermarie]

I've not had any reply from Rob after I sent him a private message on here; I've also filled in the form on the charity website and there's been no acknowledgement or anything Do you think they just don't want any volunteers right now? It's a bit disappointing as I really do want to go to India and from the website this charity looks good and like it's well-run, plus my saving isn't going too well so the fact you don't have to pay to volunteer is a bonus. Now I might go to South Africa instead because some friends have links with an orphanage there that I could help at! But my heart was set on India ... alas ...

[malkers]

Hi Ambermarie

This is the longest period I've known for Rob to be offline so there could be a valid reason why he has not got in touch, you can lose internet for weeks in India due to various frustrating reasons.

I really wouldn't give up, check their website on the contact page for a phone number and simply give them a call in UK or Goa and at least from that you can determine whether they need you or not.

Cheers
Malc

[Poiple Shadow]

Just a quick one... Been REALLY busy and also been on a little holiday - We've got lots of volunteers at the moment but will try and reply properly on Monday or Sunday...

It's Christmas - got 1000 prezzies to give out!

[iwanttogoback]

have a wonderful christmas rob, i can imagine there's going to be 1000 very happy children on monday.

[Poiple Shadow]

I reply to all...

Iwanttogoback, Priya and Judi....

The newsletters... I agree you have twice as much to write and the more frequent you do them then it is much easier to remember, but if I do them monthly then I'll remember more stuff (as months are VERY busy as it is) so I might end up writing more anyway... Although I do think I prefer monthly newsletters, it's also good for the readers so they can keep up to date. At the moment it takes me about a week to get a newsletter out, unfortunately my time has to be split as we get visitors, volunteers etc always wanting my time, and then there's emails, accounts, which have to be done every day or they just pile up no end!

I don't think anyone else can really help (other than reading through what I write) as most of it is just thinking abck and writing about it. Occasionally I get volunteers to add their bits, but again there's is a quite narrow view as it's normally just one side of what we do...

After Christmas I will try and get back to monthly ones, and see how it goes...

Ambermarie..

HI.. Sorry if I haven't replied to your email yet, things are VERY busy and we are lucky to get LOTS of people wanting to volunteer, unfortunately as we are only a very small charity just replying to emails is a huge task (had ten emails in the last 3 days for people wanting to volunteer!)

I think one reason we are so popular is that we do not charge volunteers to come, although we do help with any costs - accommodation, food etc.

I think we will be full up until March 07 for placements as we have had so many people interested, but from March I'm sure we could take a few more (correct at time of writing! )

We have generally accepted all volunteers who have requested as long as they fulfil the age requirement (18 years) and also provide us with a recent police check. We have recently added a minimum time for volunteering to try and reduce the number of people who apply, but at present we are still getting more than we can cope with. We will try and sort a better system out for next year, perhaps only have 20 placements available and that these are viewable from the website (but it will take a while to sort out).

Traveling as a 19 year old is fine, it's always a bit daunting to start with but I feel that Goa is much safer than the UK. Most of our volunteers are between 18 and 28 and travel alone.

Hope this helps

Finally - Merry Christmas to one and all!!!!

[Poiple Shadow]

To get everyone in the Christmas spirit here are a few photos from our first Christmas present distribution to children in the slums... Managed to give out around 350 presents and goodie bags... another 200 each day up until Christmas... Have a feeling I'm going to be shattered... I don't think the volunteers knew how much work was involved

Anyway here if you would like a look

http://www.childrenw...m/Pictures8.htm

http://www.childrenw...m/Pictures7.htm

Enjoy!
************
Thanks, Rob - www.ChildrenWalkingTall.Com

[john.sw]

Fantastic pictures! Thanks, Rob, and a very happy Christmas and New Year to you all!

[iwanttogoback]

cool - two santas.

what beautiful faces and colours.

thanks rob, and a merry christmas to you all. god bless you for the work you all do.

[Yashodhara]

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Children Walking Tall! Those pics are lovely, the kids seem very happy.

[Poiple Shadow]

Thank you, glad you liked the photos... I've updated another 2 pages today... Probably do the same tomorrow, we're hoping to have Christmas Eve off as we've already given out over 650 presents!!! So we're doing some tomorrow (Saturday) and then of course on Christmas Day

http://www.childrenw...m/Pictures9.htm

http://www.childrenw...m/Pictures1.htm

Enjoy!

[Poiple Shadow]

Hey All - Hope you all had a good Christmas, we managed to give out over 1200 presents in total, probably 4000 pieces of fruit and it was fabulous. We also got our own little present (just after Christmas) in the form of acceptance of our opening/licence!!! The government has finally given us the go ahead to do what we've been waiting for for 14 months. There's still a little bit of paper work to do, but we hope to open the doors to the children within the month!

Happy new year to all!

[iwanttogoback]

rob

that's brilliant - congratulations.

and a happy new year to you all.

god bless.

[ambermarie]

Does anyone know the name of the woman who works for Children Walking Tall in the UK, because I phoned her to ask about volunteering but I didn't write it down and I'm supposed to send a letter only I don't know who to address it to! Bit stupid of me I agree, but someone on here must have it... Thank yooou!

[Poiple Shadow]

Hi the lady's name is Denise

You're also more than welcome to send the letter via email (as Denise just scans it and emails me it anyway ) - hope that helps

Thanks

[Poiple Shadow]

One of our volunteers wrote a very funny piece about his Christmas 'ordeal', see below for more info... (It's very funny!!!!)

http://www.childrenw...Experiences.htm

[ambermarie]

Hello, sorry to bother you again but I wrote to Denise (thanks for the name btw!) a while ago and haven't heard anything since ... do you know if I'm likely to soon? I really need to organise things but obviously can't go about booking flights unless I know that I have somewhere to go. Do you think that you will be needing more volunteers soon? When I spoke to Denise she said probably mid/end of March, is this still the case? I'd really like to help at CWT, I don't want to just turn up in India completely on my own with no plans, but I need to know what I'm going to be doing soon or I can see my gap year passing without me even leaving Jersey ... nooooooo!!!!

[priya]

Poiple Shadow, on Jan 7 2007, 08:53 AM, said:

One of our volunteers wrote a very funny piece about his Christmas 'ordeal', see below for more info... (It's very funny!!!!)

http://www.childrenw...Experiences.htm

Jake's story was wonderful - not only did I have a giggle, but I also got a lump in my throat reading his descriptions of the childrens' responses to the gifts - and, especially, the little girl from Sinquirim showing off her modest home.

It sounds as though you all had a Christmas that was celebrated the way it should be - a true inspiration.

All the very best to you and all your children for 2007.