OXAB always welcomes people interested in helping us either by volunteering for one of our visits to the Balkans, or by helping us with our fundraising activities. If you want to receive regular updates of our activities in Oxford, and our plans for projects and trips in the future, please email us at info@oxab.org.uk, and we will put you on our mailing list.
Summer and Easter aid trips
If you are interested in going on a trip, please note that recruitment for Easter trips now takes place in michaelmas (autumn) term with training sessions in the hilary (winter/spring) term before departure and recruitment for Summer trips takes place in hilary term with the training sessions in the Trinity (summer) term before departure. The meetings are usually on Sunday evenings at 7pm (see the news section for the latest information on these). The trips take the form of groups of three to five volunteer students travelling to the Balkans, to visit orphanages, street kids’ centres or youth centres which OXAB has contacts with in the area. The meetings allow group members to get to know each other and to plan for their time in the country, in addition to providing information about the countries you’ll be visiting, and giving you an opportunity to ask questions. We would therefore prefer people applying to go out to the Balkans to be in Oxford during the term prior to the trip.
OXAB welcomes volunteers from all of the colleges and Oxford Brookes. You don’t need any previous experience of aid trips, since we will provide contacts in the place you intend to visit, and do our best to make sure you have all the information you need. The trips are relatively cheap compared with most other aid trips, but you will need to finance your own flights and accommodation. It is also a good idea to raise money to buy aid for your trip, although in the case of the Balkans it is advisable not to buy too much in advance since it is far cheaper to buy it there.
We believe that it’s a fantastic way to spend a summer, combining exploring the Balkans with doing some fun and rewarding work with children. Read more about past trips on the website (in the Bosnia and Bulgaria sections, Serbia section coming soon) to get an idea of the opportunities on offer - the places we visit are wide-ranging in the challenges they present, from homes for disabled children in Bulgaria to centres for refugee children in Bosnia. The other brilliant thing about OXAB is that it’s so flexible, in that you can choose any 2-4 week period during your easter or summer vacation, so long as we can find at least two more people wanting to do the same. Since we had over 100 volunteers last year, this should not usually be a problem.
If you’re interested, just come along to one of our Sunday evening meetings, or email us at info@oxab.org.uk. There’s also an online step-by-step guide to arranging a trip with OXAB here, which gives more information on the application process. We would usually expect the majority of applications to be accepted. Since OXAB’s main role in the trips is in providing assistance to volunteers, contacts and support rather than direct organisation, the numbers of students involved each year can be quite large.
Finance, fundraising and projects
Financial donations can be arranged via our Treasurer, Emmanuel Sheppard, and you should also contact this address if you would be interested in helping the committee fundraise for our projects in the Balkans.
If you are involved in charity work in the Balkans, or work with disadvantaged children, and you think that we can help you (or you can help us!) please contact one of our Liaison Officers, who keep contact between OXAB and other groups - Joanna Flint (bulgaria@oxab.org.uk) for Bulgaria, Markus Goransson (bosnia@oxab.org.uk) for Bosnia and our Serbia Liaison (serbia@oxab.org.uk) for Serbia.
For any other enquires, we can be contacted at info@oxab.org.uk
Last updated: February 25th, 2008