Although most of the volunteering undertaken by KUSU Volunteers is during term time everything doesn’t just stop as soon as the last exam is finished. As well as community volunteers who continue through the summer and one-off opportunities there can also be the chance to get involved with special summer projects. This summer Refugee Action Kingston who support refugee and asylum seeker families to settle into life in the UK ran a summer youth project. One of the volunteers on that project Sarah reports back on her time with RAK…
I volunteered with RAK over the summer for a week, with the 11-16 year old group and just had the best time! The kids were shy at first, sticking together with their friends that they already knew, but by the end of the week they were all chatting away and having a great time. The format was the same on most of the days - English "lessons" in the morning, which were just fun ways of speaking and practising a grammar point followed by an activity in the afternoon.
This was always different - one afternoon we took the kids ten-pin bowling, another to the Science Museum, we also went sketching down by the river and took them all on a trip to the cinema. I think its a great project, the kids seem to thoroughly enjoy it and were even talking about coming back next year. Its a way for them to have fun, get out of the house, build their confidence, for some of them to practice their English and just to spend time with one another and the volunteers. I also feel like a got a lot out of it. A great way to give some time over the summer if you're thinking about getting involved in volunteer project.
