King's School students volunteer at NFO

Fourteen students from The King's School in Peterborough, England, are currently in Takeo volunteering with New Futures Organisation.

King's School, founded in 1541, is one of Britain's oldest and most prestigious educational institutions. The school has a great reputation for involvement in the wider community, and we are delighted to welcome its students to Takeo.

Currently, the volunteers are felling trees and preparing the wood to construct a play-house in the garden for some of the younger girls who live at the NFO orphanage.

We're looking forward to seeing both the volunteers and our young people benefit from working together, exchanging ideas and learning from one another and forming friendships as the visit continues. Check back later in the week for further updates on the students' visit, along with some photographs!

Update 22/07/2010 - Several photographs of the volunteers hard at work (and play!) are now available here.

An excellent blog post by NFO volunteer Doni Warner about his experiences in Takeo -

"When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home"

Yesterday was an absolute heart breaker. I went down to the orphanage after breakfast to see what the kids had on their agenda.  They were eating breakfast when I got there but I declined the invitation to eat with them because I had just had breakfast at the volunteer center.  It is a unique thing to watch them.  They all have their bowls of rice and when they're done eating they take their dishes straight to the kitchen, wash them, and put them away (from the seven year olds to the nineteen year olds).  Every time they walk past me they grab my hand for a split second and say "HallO Doni, how are you today?" and then continue into the kitchen to do their chores.

To read Doni Warner's full post at TravelPod.Com, click here