Volunteering, Development and Global Awareness Presentation, Emissions Free...

Hello People and thank you Patrick for the original post here is my plan in more detail. Still looking if there is a bike and trailer floating about the back of a shed... Cheers! d'Arcy.

Proposal for Global Awareness Presentations and Bicycle Ride 10/02/2009

An educational and fun presentation, emission free!

~ We are all key global citizens today and for the future. I’d like to share my unique experiences of volunteering, teaching and travelling from around the world by riding my bicycle in New Zealand to increase global, volunteering and environmental awareness through my pictures, stories, presentation and quiz.

Dear Friendly Cycling People!

THE PLAN

I plan to put my eight years of unique volunteering, teaching and travelling experiences into an interactive and learning presentation for schools and communities while riding a bicycle around the South Island of New Zealand from February to April this year.

My major goals for this trip are to:

 Increase global awareness through sharing my privileged and life-changing experiences from around the globe, particularly those in developing countries

 Share with others the valuable lessons and ideals the ‘western world’ can learn from the lifestyles and way of living in developing countries

 Encourage and promote volunteering either, overseas independently or with an organisation, or locally in peoples’ own local communities

 Increase environmental awareness travelling by bicycle to do my presentations, plus discover the beauty New Zealand for the first time

 Raise donations for the HIV & AIDS orphanage where I was volunteering in Ethiopia

THE PAST

I’m a registered teacher in South Australia. Shortly after completing my first teaching position at Oak Valley Aboriginal School in December 2000, I left to go overseas. Since then I have travelled around the world for eight years and had the great fortune to volunteer, teach and travel in over 48 countries.

Two and a half years ago I did a similar ride of 2000km around my home state of South Australia. It was a highly successful trip where I presented about global awareness, what we can learn from developing countries and how we can help through volunteering and in development. I also raised donations for volunteering projects I set up when I was in South America.

In January of this year I returned from a year of volunteering in Ethiopia with Australian Volunteers International (AVI) and the British Volunteer Services Organisation (VSO). I would now like to put these most recent broadening and life-changing experiences into learning and awareness experiences for others.

I’ve done other presentations in many countries, including Canada and the Arctic Circle, Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan & Mongolia) and from Mexico to Argentina in Latin America.

People often say to me I should write a book about my teaching and travels over the past decade but I’m a creative teacher and I love education (plus my spelling is horrible). The interactive presentation with quizzes is my ‘book’ and method for sharing my experiences.

THE PARTICULARS

For my initial trip I plan to cycle from Christchurch over Arthur’s Pass to Greymouth, down the west coast to Wanaka, then to Queenstown and Cromwell. From there I will look at completing the loop via Dunedin and Timaru back to Christchurch, however I’m willing to ride anywhere in New Zealand wherever there is interest. I plan to ride from February to April visiting schools and communities presenting: a slideshow, interactive games and quizzes on the developing countries where I volunteered and travelled.

Just like most of my volunteering abroad, the trip targets rural public school students and communities who don’t always have the same opportunities as people in the city. The gathering of donations for the orphanage will primarily be done by putting on quiz and slideshow events for the public in each community in the evening.

The presentations and quizzes usually last around one and a half hours or can be tailored to any of the places I’ve been or for any length of time. The presentations only require a few photocopies of a worksheet and a computer data projector, if available, which schools usually have or a DVD player. I usually present to groups of 30 – 80 students from similar year levels.

I’m completely self-sufficient in the four essentials (food, water, shelter and health) with my tent, cooking stove, water bottle and a good bill of health!

THE POSITIVES

I’m pleased to offer an exciting opportunity for people to be a part of an educational presentation and to try and inspire thinking on compassion, volunteering, social society, the environment and travel, as I was privileged to have while volunteering, teaching and travelling around the world in poor, remote and Indigenous communities.

One of my passions is the environment and I’ve seen the best and worst of it around the globe. My presentation will have an environmental focus and one of discovery → seeing what is over the next hill. This is why I will be riding, plus it adds a unique approach to what I want to share, and maybe the experience will stay with the audience a little longer.

My last cycling trip was highly successful with a lot of positive feedback and discussions about global awareness, what we can learn from developing countries and how we can help by volunteering and in development. I also raised donations for volunteering projects I established in South America so those communities now have more human and material resources.

THE PLEA

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated and it will go towards sharing experiences so people are a little more aware of the globe we share. I haven’t received any income since Dec 2007 as I have been volunteering and I plan to use my savings to live modestly on this trip.

If possible I’m specifically looking for assistance with:
 A bicycle and bicycle touring equipment especially a bicycle trailer or panniers
 Please contact me if you know of any gear that can be discounted, borrowed or rented.

My ride is completely self-funded like most of my travels in foreign countries. The Education Department isn’t able to help me financially, so I am looking for sponsorship, grants or support to help me a little along the way. It would be a great opportunity to promote your organisation and to encourage volunteering, development, travel, adventure & the environment.

Please contact me so we can further discuss information like my schedule, content and logistics.

Many Thanks,

d'Arcy Lunn → email: lunny06@yahoo.com.au blog: http://au.blog.360.yahoo.com/lunny06