Information Bulletin
22 August 2006
First Volunteers Travel to Tamil Nadu
The call for people from Shetland to volunteer to work in Tamil Nadu has resulted in Jeanette Nowak, library assistant at the Mid Yell School and Jimmy Moncrieff, General Manager of the Shetland Amenity Trust, being selected to assist the HOPE foundation in their work with a community devastated by the tsunami.
Jeanette’s focus will be working with school-teachers and children to introduce games and art into the rigid Indian curriculum. There is still a real need to introduce recreation and fun into people’s lives after the disaster. She will also be sharing her basket-making skills with the women in the vocational centre as a way of improving their English. Jeanette said
"It's a privilege to get the opportunity to do something like this and I'm looking forward to the challenge - a peerie bit scary, but very exciting."
The community is keen to promote tourism in the area, so Jimmy will be working with the community and political structures to increase their understanding of the importance of heritage and culture to tourism and undertaking an audit of the heritage and culture of the area. This project will be essential for the long-term well-being of the community. It will also provide Shetland with a greater understanding of the community to which it is now linked and provide future possibilities for exchange. Jimmy says "I am grateful for the chance to do something practical and meaningful like this and I hope I will be able to rise to this life-changing challenge."
Emma Perring, a member of the steering group said, ‘There are still lots of opportunities to get involved: others in Shetland may feel that they don’t have skills that would be useful – everyone has something to offer, so if people are interested, in any way, they should get in touch!’
This is just one area of many that is being development in an exchange between Tamil Nadu and Shetland, initiated as a result of the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.
More information about the HOPE Foundation, Tharaganbadi, and the exchange is available on the website at www.tamilnadushetlandexchange.com, by contacting Emma Perring on 01595 744537 or emailing info@tamilnadushetlandexchange.com .
Further Information
Emma Perring can be contacted on 01595 744537 or be emailing emma.perring@shetland.gov.uk.
Jeanette Nowak can be contacted on (01957) 702485 (evenings only)
Jimmy Moncrieff can be contacted on 07733 260841