Chiswick hosts sought for youth volunteers

Families asked to provide room to help VSO project

In October, nine British and nine Nigerian volunteers aged between 17 and 25 years will arrive in Chiswick to begin a six-month exchange programme as part of the World Youth Programme Voluntary Services scheme. The volunteers are offering their time and skills to make a real difference to local community projects, whilst living with local families in the area.

The World Youth programme is run by VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) with the financial support of the BAA 21st Century Communities Trust. The programme aims to engage young people in voluntary work of real community value, to promote international and inter-cultural understanding and to develop young people’s skills and attitudes so that they can go on to make a positive contribution to their own societies.

The volunteers will spend three months getting to know each other’s cultural backgrounds and working on community initiatives, before setting off to Nigeria for a further three months, as part of the second phase of the exchange programme.

They will be working on several environmental projects, including regeneration of part of the riverside at Chiswick Pier and landscaping and planting native plants on the Chiswick Wildlife Allotment. They will also be assisting the 2000 Club at Chiswick Community School with events for people with physical, sensory or learning disabilities, and will be helping several other voluntary organisations in the Borough.

To ensure this exchange is successful, the VSO Project Supervisor, Hannah Jones, is urgently looking for host families who can offer accommodation for two volunteers (one Nigerian and one British), for some or all of their ten-week stay. Volunteers will be of the same sex and happy to share a bedroom and VSO will provide expenses of £60 a week to cover costs for food. They will arrive in mid-October and leave just before Christmas, will be working full-time and will be expecting to fit into the host family’s way of life. This is a great opportunity to learn about a new culture, to build friendships and to see your world through somebody else’s eyes.

September 17, 2004