Fundraising

Starting in July, I will be spending 3 months working as a volunteer for Shelter Associates through an EWB placement. A natural question is: How is this placement funded? The answer is that EWB covers most of the cost with their bursaries scheme, but the volunteer has to contribute as well. In my case, I have to raise £600 towards the work I am doing in India.

So, I am asking all my friends and family to help contribute to this project. First I thought I'd let you know a little more about what Shelter Associates does. Shelter Associates is a non-governmental organisation that works with the urban poor on slum rehabilitation projects. Their mission statement is to bridge the gap between the slums and the local government. My project will involve developing more effective ways of using google earth and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to analyse slums. Shelter then uses this information to report to the local government to help with urban planning and development, with the aim of make the living situation better for some of the poorest people in India.

If you would like to contribute to this project, then please let me know (maxine.voneye@ewb-uk.org). Donations of any amount would be greatly appreciated; every little bit helps.

17 days and back from pre-departure training

This week I had an EWB pre-departure training course. It was at Ringsfield Hall. It's a pretty cool house, and they have lots of animals in the garden including a peacock that walked around everywhere and made a lot of noise. It was a little bit hard to sit through all the talks at the course because I was stressed about finishing my PhD; the little voice in my head kept saying that I really should be working. But it was really great to meet all the other people involved with EWB and all the others going on placements this year. They are such a great group of people who really care about making this world a better place. I'm especially looking forward to meeting up with the other people who are going to India, while we are over there!

30 days to India and moving to Bath

So from today I have 30 days till I go to India. Saying that I'm starting to get worried about getting my PhD done in time is an understatement, cause I've been worried for a long time. I've pretty much been worried about if I'm ever going to finish since shortly after I started. So really the fact that the end is (hopefully) in sight is an improvement. Trying to stay optimistic...

Also today Euan and I are moving to Bath, or at least starting to. He got the keys yesterday, I rented a van this morning, and now we've packed up and are on our way. The place is unfurnished, so we are starting by collecting furniture and putting it in to the flat. Then in a few weeks we'll move in the rest of our stuff. We have our flat in Cambridge till 6 July; I want to stay there as long as possible to work, work, work.

You Better Belize It!

So, it's not India yet, but I just got back from an amazing holiday in Belize! My friend Hilary (from Colorado) and I go on vacation together every year. We missed last year (2008), but went in 2007 (Iceland), 2006 (Cambridge, Toulon), 2005 (Bath, London, Dublin) and 2004 (Fiji, Australia). So this year we decided that we wanted a beach holiday, and that we were bringing our boyfriends (Euan and Paul).

We got the idea of going to Belize from Erin, with whom I lived in my first year in Cambridge. Belize is just south of Mexico, on the Caribbean side. They have the second largest barrier reed system in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. We stayed for 10 days in San Pedro (from the Madonna song La Isla Bonita) on the island of Ambergris Caye. Actually, we stayed at the Cloisters, which is about a 30min walk north of town. We had a two bedroom beach front unit with a kitchen and cable tv and wireless internet and our own personal beach cause we were the only ones there! That's the advantage of travelling in the off-season.

So this is what we spent our time doing:

• Most of our days were spent hanging out at the hotel, exploring the wildlife (crabs, fish, birds) on our beach, and cooling off in the pool;


• Walking into San Pedro town at the hottest time of day is not recommended (we did this a number of times before we learned our lesson);


• We ate out about once a day (Fido's was my favourite), and usually had breakfast and lunch in the hotel. They don't have much fresh food at the stores, mostly long-life stuff like cans and pasta, so we ate things like spaghetti or mac and cheese. We did get a lot of fresh fruit (watermelon, bananas, pineapple) from the stalls on the street though;


• We watched the NBA Western Conference Finals - Go Nuggets! Too bad they lost 4 games to 2 against the Lakers;


• We felt the earthquake in Honduras early on Thursday morning. I guess they had another, smaller one today too;


• One day we took the water taxi to Caye Caulker, the next island over, and went snorkelling on the reef. We saw loads of fish and corals, and got to swim with the stingrays!
  
  


• Then we went on a day trip to Lamanai, one of the many Mayan ruins in Belize. This one was occupied from about 1500BC to 1500AD, so about 3000 years! On the way we saw loads of wildlife like crocodiles, manatees, dolphins, spider monkeys and howler monkeys;
  
  


• We went on a fishing trip off our island one day. By 'we' I mean that Hilary and Paul went fishing (Paul caught 4 fish - 1 snapper and 3 barracudas!), then they came back to pick us up. Our guide cooked the fish for us for lunch, and then we went snorkelling at Mexico Rocks in the afternoon.

Then Euan, Hilary and Paul left me in Belize City for two days alone (again, not recommended). Belize is a really poor country (the guide book says that 1/3 of the people live in poverty), and this is really obvious in Belize City once you leave the more touristy islands. It's not un-safe, just not what we're used to, and there's not much to do in town all alone. So, what I did with my two days alone was:

• I went to the Belize Zoo. All the animals there were orphaned, injured, given from other zoos, born there or confiscated because they were being kept illegally as pets. All are animals local to Belize and none could have survived if they were let back into the wild, so it's a great opportunity to see them up close. I took the bus there, which was cool cause all the buses there are old school buses from the US;
  
  


• I went Cave Tubing and I was the only one on the tour! The owner admitted that he can't make a profit off every tour, an he does the job because he loves it, so he took me even though he lost money. It was funny cause his whole family came along too. They didn't do the tubing part - they just swam in the river;


• I went to the casino. Just for an hour or so to play some jackpot party (mine and my mom's favourite game).

The night before I left, my host at Freddie's Guest House gave me 3 mangoes from the tree in her backyard and they were so yummy! Then I flew back to London via Houston. It's sunny and warm here today. Not as nice as Belize, but a nice welcome back. You can see some of my photos on facebook.