Fancy volunteering when you graduate?

By UKJournalism

If youíre wondering what to do after you finish your course, then why not go on a voluntary placement at a foreign newspaper?

Thatís exactly what graduate Matt Hindley did when he completed his Joint Honours Journalism and English Literature degree in June 2004.

After graduating Matt went to his local STA travel and told them he wanted to do some journalism work experience abroad, and they suggested he contact the volunteer agency i-to-i, who arrange placements all over the world.

The one that grabbed Mattís attention was a three-month placement in La Paz, Bolivia, working for the free English language newspaper The Llama Express. It cost Matt around £1800 which covered travel costs, three months accommodation staying with a Bolivian family, insurance, and a small donation to help run the newspaper.

Spanish course

Before leaving for South America in September 2004, Matt went on a weekend Spanish course to help him get by when he arrived. But nothing could prepare him for the reality.

"It was a big culture shock going to La Paz", he said. "Itís the highest capital city in the world so it took me a while to get used to living so high up. The first morning after I arrived I had terrible altitude sickness.

"It was made even worse because the airline left my bags in Buenos Aires when we stopped there on the way so I had none of my stuff for a few days. So after all that I was glad that the family I stayed with were really nice and very accommodating."

The newspaper Matt worked for, The Llama Express, is distributed monthly and is left in bars and restaurants around La Paz for English-speaking travellers and ex-pats to pick up and read about things they wouldnít find in their Lonely Planet guides.

Change

Matt said: "There was a lot of change on the newspaper when I arrived. A few of the people who had been working on it left in the week I joined so I was thrown in at the deep end and had to come up with new ideas fairly quickly.

"We had strict deadlines, but I could choose what I wanted to write about in each issue so it was very flexible.

"Overall it was a fantastic experience and I would recommend it to anybody who doesnít want to go straight into a full-time journalism job straight after uni. The Llama Express is crying out for more staff and wonít survive without the funds that are generated from volunteers."

Students from the Department who are interested in doing a three-month or six-month placement working on the Llama Express in Bolivia after they graduate should contact Alan Rawlinson agrawlinson@uclan.ac.uk for more information.

More info:
Joint Honours Journalism and English >

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See also:
The Llama Express website >

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