LearnAsOne

Chris Thompson is one of our Vodafone World of Difference placement winners. Meet him below and see what he will be getting up to over the next two-months.

Chris enjoying the slopes ahead of a busy period of fundraising.

Who are you?

I have been a student for a few years.  I was recently awarded a Ph.D. in Parkinson’s disease research at Cambridge University. Before embarking on a career path, I thought I should give something back. I heard about LearnAsOne and was fortunate enough to win a Vodafone World of Difference UK placement.

In my spare time, I can be found kayaking, paragliding, SCUBA diving, surfing and snowboarding. I’m a big fan of real ale too.

What will you be doing for LearnAsOne?

I am responsible for the management and coordination of WalkAsOne Volunteers, who will be organising 14km sponsored walks to raise money for classrooms, schools and teachers’ houses in Zambia. My job is to make sure all preparations are in place and then recruit and guide WalkAsOne Volunteers through the process of organising walks and deal with any problems that might arise.

Why are you helping with WalkAsOne?

I was intrigued by Saviour’s story. I thought that if I could do something to help, then I should. The money raised will go a very long way to making a tangible difference to people’s lives.

Have you ever done anything like this before?

I have organised events involving hundreds of people before and have some experience of project management. I have also worked with charities but I’ve never put all of these things together so I’m really looking forward to the challenge.

If someone wants to organise a walk what should they do?

Everything is now in place to make organising a walk and raising money really easy. We are currently recruiting WalkAsOne Volunteers. My job is to make it as simple as possible and provide all the support as you need to enable you to run a successful WalkAsOne event. If you’re ready to get involved or if you just want more information then get in touch at [email protected]

Can you share an interesting fact about yourself?

Many years ago, I was asked to be an extra in a “war film”. It was a 30 mile drive, I was pretty busy and I had no acting aspirations, so I didn’t bother. The “war film” turned out to be Saving Private Ryan. I would have made much more of an effort if I had known.

Nerys and Chris: Our two Vodafone World of Difference winners.

A few months ago I wrote a post about the Vodafone World of Difference scheme. They were offering 500 people the opportunity to undertake 2-month work placements with a charity of their choice.

Last Tuesday I received 2 emails from Vodafone telling me that 2 people had been accepted onto the scheme to work for LearnAsOne. I’ve been sworn to secrecy ever since. But Vodafone have now had their press day and I’m allowed to share the great news with you all.

So without further ado I can reveal that our two winners are Nerys Evans and Chris Thompson.

You may remember Nerys from our Zambia trip in May. She shot 9 hours of video as a self-funded volunteer. This grant gives her the chance to edit the video and share stories from the Simakakata community.

Chris will help to kick-start our 2010 WalkAsOne fundraising campaign. He’ll work closely with schools, universities, and walking groups to help them organise 14km sponsored walks which replicate Saviour’s daily journey to school. The current school is a borrowed farmhouse which the owner needs back.

Massive thanks go to Vodafone for making this possible. I can’t wait to start sharing Nerys’ video with you and see you all walking in 2010!

If you would like to organise a walk in your community please send an email to [email protected]. Thank you!

Vodafone gives you the chance to make a World of Difference

Edit: Applications have now closed and we are very pleased to announce that Nerys Evans and Chris Thompson have been selected to work with us in January and February. Thank you Vodafone!

If you would like to get involved there are plenty of volunteering opportunities available that may be of interest to you.

Have you ever dreamed of making a real difference? Well thanks to the Vodafone World of Difference scheme you may soon be able to. They are offering 500 people the opportunity to undertake 2-month paid placements with a UK charity of their choice.

The only restriction is that the placement must be based in the UK. World of Difference are willing to pay the successful applicants £2,500 for the placement after National Insurance and employers’ tax liabilities have been deducted.

At LearnAsOne there are 3 areas where we are currently looking for help. Please email jobs@learnasone if you are interested in applying for any of the roles. [Start dates in brackets]

1. WalkAsOne event co-ordinator
When we visited Zambia in May we met Saviour, a 10-year-old-orphan who has to walk 14km every day so she can attend school. She is perfectly happy to do this but there is one major problem. Her current school is an old farmhouse and the owner wants it back. The community desperately needs a new school.

We have a simple solution. WalkAsOne. A 14km sponsored walk to raise money for the new school. But why stop at one walk? We are looking for a co-ordinator who can encourage schools and universities across the world to organise their own walks in Spring 2010. And in doing so raise huge amounts of money for schools in Zambia.

The role would cover everything from approaching universities and asking them to host walks through to assisting them with marketing, PR and risk assessments.

[Jan 2010]

2. Web developer
We are currently developing our website so that every school gets it’s own web page so donors can choose which project they want to fund. The project is volunteer led and approximately 60% finished. These screenshots should give you an idea of what we have in mind.

We are looking for developers skilled in PHP, MySQL, Smarty and WordPress. Experience with Paypal would also be an advantage.

[Jan or Apr 2010]

3. Social media PR
Our next trip to Zambia will be in either March or May. We are looking for help to spread our stories, photos and videos through both social media and main stream PR. Your task will be to significantly raise the profile of LearnAsOne around the idea of donors seeing exactly where their money goes.

[Jan or Apr 2010]

There is no limit to the amount of people who can be placed at a single charity so if you have other skills that you would like to use then please get in touch too.

When does the placement take place?

There are two start dates. Either either 11 Jan 2010 or 12 April 2010.

How do I apply?

1) Read more about the scheme.
2) Email jobs@learnasone with a subject line of World of Difference and tell us how you would like to get involved. Please attached a copy of your CV too.

Edit: Applications are now closed for 2010. Thanks to everyone who applied.