Training day for volunteers
30th January 2010
Volunteer training day
On 30th January 30 Yebo volunteers gathered together for a training day. The aim of the day was to support all of the volunteers in the work that they will be doing abroad and in the UK. It was also a chance for volunteers to meet us in person and to get to know eachother.
The day was held at Loseley park in Guildford, Surrey and covered the following topics:
Play therapy/therapeutic play : Veronica Etherington, Play therapist, CHASE hospice care for children
Primate behaviour and conservation: Alasdair Davies, London Zoo, Great Primate Handshake
Working with children with disabilities: Veronica Baily, Children’s nurse, CHASE
Working with children who have been victims of crime. : Hayley Green, Child protection officer, Surrey police
Veronica Etherington talking about play therapy
The speakers spoke about the work that they do, the scenarios that the volunteers may come across in their roles and some examples of activities that they could partcipate in with the children they will be working with.
The play therapy was aimed at developing different activities for children, and the volunteers were asked to draw and play with toys that they were given on the day. Everyone looked anxious when they were asked to get into pairs and play with some toys. But when asked to put them away there was some laughter when Veronica said that they looked like they were having fun now. The aim of this was to allow the volunteers to be relaxed when playing around children, and were told that there was no need to feel silly, and that this would all be part of their time with the children.
Volunteers use ‘play’ to communicate
Working with children with diabilities highlighted the work that a childrens hospice does, with an aim of allowing UK volunteers to understand life inside a children’s hospice, which is often thought of as ‘difficult’ or ‘very sad’. It aimed at showing the positive and rewarding examples of the work that children’s hospices do. South African and UK volunteers will be working around children with disabilties so this subject was also spoken about.
Working with victims of crime looked at scenarios that the volunteers may come across in the UK and Africa. Hayley Green from Surrey Police spoke about different aspects of child abuse in the UK, and how this may be related to the work they may do in Africa. Many of the children abroad have been through severe traumas such as abuse and this was something that was spoken about openely by Hayley to give volunteers examples of abuse in the UK, and how children that they may work with in Africa, have had similar experiences.
Primate behaviour and conservation was looked at and Alasdair Davies from London zoo spoke about primates that are found in the world, and the similarities between us and them. Conservation was also talked about to allow volunteers to learn about the support that they will also be learning about when they visit and work with various primate sanctuaries on the trips abroad. As primates are used to front Yebo’s projects it was a good chance for volunteers to understand the link between the behaviour and life expeirences of some of the children they may be working with, to the primates they will also be learning and working with.
We hope that the volunteers enjoyed themselves and many got out of their beds at the crack of dawn travelling from various places around the country such as Birmingham and York. We were very grateful to all of the volunteers that came and appreciated their feedback on the day.
UK volunteers will be contacted soon regarding UK projects we are looking at expanding.
Veronica Bailey, children’s nurse
Training days will be held 3-4 times a year. To get involved in the next one email info@yeboyes.org.
By Salome Busuulwa, March 11, 2010 @ 1:52 pm
Hi there, I would like to hail for the great work that you are doing.
I am a social work Student at Brookes university in my second year and have a great interest in learning more about the impact of war, conflict and violence on child behaviour.
I would have been interested in the workshops running in Summer but I will have been in Uganda for voluntary work between 14th may and 16 June. Will you be running any workshops after then?
By Lisa, March 14, 2010 @ 9:16 pm
Hi Salome
Thank you for your message. Yes we will be running our projects and training workshops regularly, the best thing to do would be to apply to attend a day on our application form and we can keep you updated with all of the latest news and dates.
http://www.yeboyes.org/apply.php