JourneyOnline
UNITINGWORLD’S 2011 Experience opportunities are now on the UnitingWorld website.
More than 100 placements are available in a range of exciting locations for participants to experience a diverse array of cultures in places such as Tonga, Papua New Guinea, India, Zimbabwe and South Korea.
There are many new opportunities available for volunteers to spend anything between four weeks and three years working alongside a Uniting Church partner in Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
UnitingWorld Associate Director for Experience Programs Katy Pereira said, “For placements in 2011 we’ve actively listened to the needs of our Church Partners, identified their needs and developed placements that will meet these needs.”
Former Gold Coast local Elizabeth Mullan served as a UnitingWorld Experience volunteer with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines as a primary school teacher at Smokey Mountain II in Tondo (see May 2010 Journey for full story).
Ms Mullan’s placement was supported by Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD), an Australian government AusAID initiative.
Ms Mullan had some advice for anyone thinking of taking up a placement.
“Be prepared to be challenged and changed,” she said.
Fellow Queenslanders Gary and Lynn Wallis have a longtime involvement in pastoral care, most recently as UnitingWorld Experience volunteers to the Madras Diocese in 2009.
They worked particularly in pastoral support for Dalit children at the Church of South India’s Jessie Moses School and are looking forward to leading an InSolidarity short-term group exposure trip later this year.
Leslene Woodward has been working with the Tangintebu Theological College in Kiribati to assist in setting up their library.
She has previously served as a volunteer in Bali and an English teacher and librarian at Nadu Theological Seminary in South India.
Ms Woodward’s skills have gone a long way to improving future theological education in Kiribati.
UnitingWorld needs inquisitive people who want to learn more about other cultures and are genuinely passionate about mutual learning, sharing, giving and experiencing great change in the process.
For more information visit www.unitingworld.org.au/participate/experience
Photo : Elizabeth Mullan with staff and students of Smokey Mountain II school in the Philippines. Photo courtesy of UnitingWorld
