Dear Reader, January 2005 was a momentous month for the Global Volunteer Update. The subscriber base of this newsletter in English crossed 20,000 last month. More than 5,000 new subscribers have joined since February 2004 when we turned this newsletter into a monthly publication. The World Volunteer Web has also got increasing attention last year from you all. On average it received over 50,100 visits a month, which resulted in over 171,000 page views per month, a substantial growth of more than 50 per cent over 2003. We are now receiving more contributions than ever from our partners and readers all over the world. We thank you for your continuous support to the World Volunteer Web. During 2005 we will be introducing new features on the site that will allow you to browse information thematically and share it with others quickly and easily. Remember to visit the site regularly as we are updating it with new information on a daily basis and continue to send us news and resources from your country and region. Thank you, Kanti Kumar Editor, World Volunteer Web

NEWS

27 January, 2005 Volunteering can aid to improve mental health A project is underway to boost the confidence of mental health patients by setting them up with voluntary work. Organizers believe the project, Capital Volunteering, is important for keeping patients in contact with the community and stopping them getting isolated. From: Guardian Streatham   14 January, 2005 US charity overwhelmed by tsunami disaster aid Save the Children knows just what to do in case of an earthquake, a typhoon or an outbreak of cholera. But it never thought to prepare for the truly unexpected: an onslaught of money. (Subscription required) From: The New York Times   12 January, 2005 Volunteers create new HIV/AIDS prevention message Some 80 volunteers in Canada, India and South Africa have created a ground-breaking "behaviour changing" programme, "The Three Amigos," to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. The Three Amigos is a series of 20 short animated public service announcements (PSAs) designed to encourage the use of condoms to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS throughout the world. From: The Three Amigos   12 January, 2005 UNV receives US$5m from Japan for tsunami relief efforts The UN Volunteers (UNV) programme will increase its immediate and long-term support to countries devastated by the 26 December tsunamis thanks in part to a US$ 5-million contribution announced yesterday by the Government of Japan. From: UN Volunteers programme   10 January, 2005 UK ministers launch Year of the Volunteer campaign Home Secretary Charles Clarke and Chancellor Gordon Brown launched in London the Year of the Volunteer 2005, a campaign to praise the work of volunteers across the country and encourage more people to get involved. The two ministers were officially switching on a website which provides people with information on how to volunteer in their local area. From: Community Newswire   7 January, 2005 UK volunteering website named top site TimeBank, a unique website which aims to boost volunteering throughout the United Kingdom by allowing individuals to register free time online, has been named one of the top 10 websites of 2004. From: TimeBank   7 January, 2005 Health sector urged to embrace volunteers Health sector volunteering adds quality of life for both patients and healthcare professionals, according to a report published today for the Year of the Volunteer 2005. The authors of the study have challenged the health sector to embrace a volunteering culture, and called on senior managers to recognize, acknowledge and value volunteer projects more fully. From: News Scotsman   6 January, 2005 Volunteers work non-stop to prepare tsunami relief kits For people who lost everything in the devastating tsunami that roared across the Sri Lankan coast last week, the emergency relief kits being put together by the International Committee of the Red Cross cannot reach them soon enough. Legions of local volunteers, many of them students, have been helping to put the kits together, giving up their end-of-year holidays to do so. From: International Committee of the Red Cross   5 January, 2005 World Cup attracts 25,000 volunteer hopefuls Over 25,000 signed as volunteers for the 2006 World Cup before the December 31 deadline, organizers said on Wednesday. Applications came from around the world, including Canada, Argentina and Brazil, and included people with experience from the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. From: Hindustan Times

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FEATURES

14 January, 2005 Silent hero saves 250 lives in tsunami-hit Indian town Dr. Priscilla and her husband Samuel were welcoming a relaxing day off at their residence, next to the Porayar hospital in Tamil Nadu, India, when 400 patients converged on the hospital suffering from shock, broken, torn and removed limbs, and open wounds. Along with the local youth, Samuel worked all day and into the night to rescue people. Between them they saved 250 lives, and were the example that day for practical rescue efforts and selfless service. From: Tsunami – South India NGO Coordination Cell

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VIEWPOINTS

28 January, 2005 Tsunami volunteers: Too much of a good thing? In the days following the Asian tsunami, many people were surprised to hear that aid agencies were turning down volunteers' offers to help. At a time of such tremendous need, when many experts were predicting the largest volunteer effort ever, what's a volunteer to think? One issue is that relief organizations sometimes don't have the capacity to absorb large numbers of new volunteers. In addition, there's the issue of finding the right volunteers. From: NetAid

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