AWF Volunteering

Today I went to a lecture that I signed up for about volunteering in Tenerife, Africa or Bolivia.
When I signed up to the lecture, I thought i'd just go along and see what it was all about - To say i'd been. However, when I got there and started listening to what people are doing out there already. Now I am seriously considering going.


The lecture discussed what kinds of projects we would undertake, me being a Graphic Design student, there would be opportunities to work on live projects that would be reproduced and used in other campaigns. For example, a project about designing a campaign to advertise Tenerife's Whale Watching Company as Carbon Neutral. This would then try to persuade other countries to change the way they are working. Designing campaigns impacts the tourists immediately and makes them think about being carbon neutral. The project also carries out research into the Whale and Dolphin population, in the past, the research has been useful in providing reasons how an incident in the world has affected the animals. For example, when the US warfare were testing, it stopped the population of Beach Whales visiting Tenerife - this has an impact on tourists to the local area.


I think the best part about this project (a part from the hot weather) is the fact that we can actually do any work we want. Design our own projects and work on them with guidance for them to be produced for people to see.


The other optional country is Bolivia, my parents would definitely not let me go to Africa but the opportunities there seem amazing. At the moment, they are building a Creative Centre for children in a village so that children can learn about creating music, art and computers. The people volunteering would be able to teach the children which would be an amazing experience as living in the UK it is so hard to get experience with working with children. Plus, in Africa the children are so enthusiastic about learning which would make the experience feel more rewarding. Not only would it make them happy about themselves, it would further their education making the futures better.


This experience would be an amazing opportunity, and would definitely make me a better person as well as enhancing my CV. It would be a good experience that I could use to my advantage in the future, referring to it when considering new designs or concepts. I think that if I went to Africa and did the experience there, I would appreciate things that I have more - It would change me as a person more.


Tenerife would be just as good though, just got to explore the options and see if I can afford the whole experience. The project team want someone positive with new and interesting ideas - We will see!