Week 1

Hey all, I am still not entirely sure how to use this website, but here I am trying. So my volunteering program for summer 2013 is quite diverse; I am planing to volunteer at Education USA, SOS Children's Village, and at International SOS Hospital (and perhaps more, if chances come up). The reason I am doing so is that I could not meet the hour requirement if I volunteered only at one place - in the summers, there is less work load, thus less work for volunteers in the fields I am working in. Let me briefly describe each. Education USA is an organization that deals with different educational programs and activities to improve students' knowledge of English language; it is funded by the US State Deprt. and they have a number of events that I help them with - conversation clubs, movie nights, and info sessions on the studying abroad. SOS Children's Village is one of the largest children's welfare organizations and they help/reach out to the poor and disadvantaged community all across Azerbaijan. I help with Play BUS which is part of the SOS Children's Village; they drive to different schools, orphanages, villages...to help local kids with education, physical activities, and play games! The International SOS Hospital in Baku, is one of many such hospitals around the world. Here I am a non-payed volunteer and I help with non-medical aspects of treating patients, such as helping with filling out forms in English, helping with directions, and customer service jobs. -Aykhan