The Authors
Colin Salisbury
The GVN Ripple
Colin Salisbury, Founder and President of Global Volunteer Network (GVN), is the visionary behind what has become one of the most widely recognized international volunteer service organisations in the world. In 2002, working out of a room at his parent’s house, Colin placed 240 international volunteers in communities in need. In 2008, with a staff of nearly 20, Colin and his team placed almost 2000 volunteers in 20 countries. However, the real journey began in Papua New Guinea in 1988 with the simple act of tossing a stone into Lake Kutubu and making a ripple in the water. Colin was 18 years old.
Ripple 1: Kenya
Rocky Turner – Undies for Africa
Rocky Turner never imagined she would board a plane armed with over 1,300 pairs of underwear. But she always knew her heart would one day lead her to Africa.
Ripple 2 :El Salvador
Maggie McCombs – Las Madres (The Mothers)
Maggie McCombs is the first person to admit her intentions were not saintly when she sought out the GVN orphanage program. In fact she didn’t really even want to go to El Salvador, her first choice was Kenya. But at the time it was the furthest that her money would take her from a crumbling life in the United States. This twist of fate changed Maggie’s life forever.
Ripple 3: Be The Change, New Zealand
Nadine McNeil - Out of the Corner of my Eye
In June 2008, Nadine McNeil completed a three year UNICEF assignment in Indonesia where millions of lives were lost and entire villages displaced in the 2004 tsunami. A month later, Nadine participated in GVN’s Be The Change Program, which taught her that learning is a never-ending process and ‘the more we learn the less we know.’
Ripple 4: Tanzania
Hannah Ford - Lay Down Your Heart
This is the story of a crumbling building in the old town of Bagamoyo, Tanzania. More so, it is about the artists who bring this place to life, create something from nothing and live to learn. Hannah Ford entered their world as a teacher but walked away a student, complete with fresh eyes and an inspired vision. What Hannah learnt was far beyond anything she’d ever been taught at university. Her students showed her a life of simplicity where time is irrelevant, humanity is paramount and a sense of community is second nature.
Ripple 5: Ghana
Rosie Hughs – Dirty Laundry
Rosie Hughes didn’t want a laundry lady. But when she arrived at the Liberian refugee camp in Ghana, pinned on the wall of her guesthouse was a piece of paper with Laundry Schedule printed at the top. She found her name next to Jackie, laundry lady number four, on Wednesdays. Rosie was to pay her 30,000 cedis (three dollars) to wash her clothes each week.
Ripple 6: Uganda
Erin Cassidy - Connecting Families Across the World
Erin Cassidy was married to Paul for two years when she became pregnant with their first child. Three months later, they discovered Paul had bowel cancer. As Erin gave life to her son, she watched her husband die. Only five months after Josh entered the world, Paul left it. Erin was alone with her infant and Paul's seven-year-old daughter. The world, it seemed, would never spin in the same direction again.
Ripple 7: Ghana
Adam Burford – A Little Knowledge Can Be Dangerous
The Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana was set up in 1990 to house 5000 Liberians looking for a safe haven from the perils of civil war. However when Adam Burford volunteered in 2006, he found the camp’s population had ballooned to over 40,000.Adam says that while he has no doubt Buduburam provides a better life than the one the Liberian people escaped from, it is by no means acceptable. Yet what he found there was nothing short of inspiring.
Ripple 8: Nepal, Vietnam, El Salvador
Christianna Savino - It Only Takes One
What if you were born without a family? Not knowing what your name is, how old you are or when you were born? Christianna Savino was an orphaned infant from South Korea who had many unanswered questions growing up, however it wasn’t until she became a volunteer and spent time with children in orphanages around the world that she learnt the important and meaningful aspects of life.
Ripple 9: Nepal
David Heinz – Namaste
It was Christmas day, 2003 when David Heinz boarded a plane at New York’s JFK airport. Little did he know that the trip he was about to make would dramatically change his life. David was on his way to volunteer his services to a small village school in need of repair somewhere in the mountainous hills of Nepal.
Ripple 10: Tanzania
Gwen Jones – Kiwimbi (Ripples)
If you stood on the beach in Tanzania and cast a rock into the ocean, do you think that the ripple created from that single rock could cross the Indian Ocean and eventually meet the land-mass of Australia? Gwen Jones will tell you exactly how it can.
Ripple 11: Ghana
Chrissy Pruden – Life on a Refugee Camp
Chrissy Pruden sent this colorful email to her friends and family following her volunteer placement in Ghana back in August 2004. Chrissy’s humour, wit, compassion and spirit immediately caught our attention and GVN could not resist sharing this with you! Enjoy.
Ripple 12 : Romania
Kirk Olsen - Getting Attached
When Kirk Olsen stepped off of the bus in the small town of Galati in Romania, it was like stepping back in time. There were horse-drawn carts moseying down the road. People walked to a well several times a day to fetch water in buckets. The shops were few and tiny.
Ripple 13: Ghana
Michelle Gourley - Pocket Money and Pens
She blinks. Humidity surrounds her, seeping into her pores, causing her clothes to stick to her damp skin. The smells and sounds of Africa heighten her senses, alerting her to the unfamiliar that is everywhere. There’s a lot to take in. She takes a deep breath of hot air and steps into the orange dust that coats everyone and everything. Bebu is a tiny village in Ghana and it is where Michelle Gourley is posted for the next two months.
Ripple 14: Kenya
Libby Wann – Kil-a-man-jaro!
Fresh from leading the 2008 Mt Kilimanjaro Fundraising Trek, which raised over NZ $40,000 for the Africa Children’s fund, Libby Wann sent a riveting email to her family and friends about her life changing experience on the ‘roof-top of Africa’ that will have you on the edge of your seat!
Ripple 15: Kenya
Emilie Stevens - A Human Connection
Emilie met Kevin during her first week volunteering at a medical clinic in Kenya. She says he was quiet and unassuming. However on that day a friendship was born that grew over time and gave two people from opposite ends of the world the strength to heal and change each other’s lives forever.
Ripple 16 :Nepal
Jason Timm - You are Going Where, to do What?
Jason Timm is the first to confess he used to be one of ‘those’ people who would sit at home and watch tragic stories of human suffering roll across CNN or NBC and think to himself “That’s too bad, those poor people. But what can I possibly do?” Well, Jason got tired of the lines he was feeding himself and decided to take action.
Ripple 17: India, Ethiopia
Mandy Morell – The More
Mandy Morell has traveled through Ethiopia and India, and in 2008 spent a month volunteering in Kolkata. Mandy is a committed humanitarian and says "The reason I travel is to volunteer; not to climb mountains or lay on a beach (although I love these things and try to do them as much as possible). I make volunteering the point of the trip because of the more”.
Ripple 18: Peru
Ana Dodson – One Heart at a Time
We got to know and love Ana Dodson when she was 13 and volunteered in the GVN Foundation office. Ana worked on GVN's Stop Child Poverty advocacy campaign and later went on to be the Youth Ambassador for the campaign. This young gun certainly has the 'it' factor and there is no doubt she will change the world. In fact, she already is - one heart at a time, through her own non-profit, Peruvian Hearts.
Ripple 19: Ghana
Carlee Keeler – It all Begins With a Feeling
Children are bombarded with visual stimulation every day - video games, cartoons and music videos. However Carlee Keeler thinks this is one of the best ways to reach them. Following her volunteer placement in Ghana, West Africa, Carlee went on to become a teacher and is now showing her students what is truly important in this world. She teaches children as young as six years old about world issues and says that volunteering truly changed her life, and is now changing the lives of the children she teaches.
Ripple 20: Eat So They Can, Shanghai
Shelley Brag – Action Inspires Change
Shelly Bragg signed up to host an Eat So They Can fundraising dinner and then casually put it in the back of her mind and continued with life as usual. However, little did she know that this small action, this small pebble that was dropped into the water, would be a source of inspiration for so many and create ripples of difference around the world.