JOA reveals opportunities to volunteer overseas in 2025

Friday, 6 September 2024 09:30

Jersey Overseas Aid is launching its 2025 volunteering opportunities - inviting islanders to join projects in Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Zambia.

The JOA is looking for passionate people to help provide humanitarian assistance to people in poverty.

Past volunteers will be talking about their experiences at the Royal Yacht on Tuesday (10 September) from 5.45pm.

Islanders will also hear from Eliza Sthapit, National Director for Habitat for Humanity International Nepal about the solidarity and global connectedness that responsible volunteering projects deliver.

This year, for the first time, JOA assigned a team of volunteers to work with Habitat for Humanity in Malawi on their renowned Global Village project and those volunteers have recently returned to Jersey.

The 14 islanders spent a week in Magombo Village, TA, Chitukula, working on a house-building programme that aims to improve the lives of 6,200 people.

JOA’s Programme Associate, Richard Crane, was one of them and says it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience:

"While the impact on the beneficiaries was visible, this experience's profound effect on me and my personal development was beyond anything I could have anticipated."

Emily Smith also volunteered in Malawi. She told Channel 103 she would highly recommend joining a JOA project:

"You work alongside the local community. You learn different skills. You learn about their culture.

"Not only are we able to bring something to the county we volunteer in, but you are able to bring so much back to Jersey in terms of what you have learnt from them."

Projects are open to all over 18s. Tickets are free and can be booked at Eventbrite.