Volunteer work @ the Mucem

 A summer at the Mucem

Hi Charlie, 

So I wanted to tell you about some of my summer (we're almost in summer again so you could say that I am a bit late...)

Last summer (This was a first in Marseille), we (about eight girls from our class) got involved with the International Circle od the Friends Of The Mucem for volunteer work in English.  I should probably start by explaining who  the Friends are. It's a society supporting the museum by carrying its missions mainly to boost the museum's profile  on various scales.  

The internship consisted in helping at the Friends' counter in the reception  area of the Mucem. The goal was to get tourist or locals to get a membership to enjoy preferential rates and exclusive events. But the role of the hostess is also to welcome anyone coming to us and answer his\her questions in the best way possible. 

So that was in theory what we had to do. Here's what my personal experience was like:

I went about 4 or 5 times with Mathilde or Yasmine, each time we stayed for 2 hours. We had a supervisor if we may call her that. Her name was Roseline, she was extremely kind and receptive to us. The thing is, we weren't very busy as we had a very restricted number of visitors. 

Overall, we did get to chat in English even if we weren'talways feeling extremely useful at the moment. We did get to keep company to our nice supervisor who was kind enough to let us visit some of the exhibits we hadn't seen. Mrs. C said that this volunteering in Englsih experience is available again  with extra missions for this summer 
 I would recommend you doing it because you get to decide how much time you want to invest in this and I personally think that you will be left with a good first (or not) experience. 

Inès 

Chain of Hope

CHAIN OF HOPE

I have had the opportunity to discover during a two weeks internship the inside of a huge NGO called Chain of Hope!

Since 1996, the charity founded by Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub has been working with leading cardiac referral centres in the UK and Europe to treat children from war-torn and developing countries who would otherwise find it almost impossible to receive the treatment they need.

The long term aim of Chain of Hope is to establish locally sustainable cardiac services in countries where the facilities do not exist.

The first means to achieve this goal is conducting , teaching and training missions at the cardiac units that the charity supports around the world in countries such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Uganda and Jamaica. These missions have two aims:

to treat children suffering from life-threatening heart diseases and to provide onsite expertise and teaching for local cardiac teams. Chain of Hope also sponsors the training of key clinicians and runs nursing training programs, as well as developing infrastructure and helping providing vital medical equipment.

While the primary objective is underway, the charity also runs a Child Referral Program, bringing children to leading cardiac centers worldwide for emergency, life-saving cardiac treatment.

 It was great to give a hand during those two weeks and to realize that it is not that complicated to help !

Why you should volunteer at l'UNICEF

UNICEF is an acronym for United nations international children's emergency fund.

There are UNICEF National Committees in 36 industrialised countries worldwide, each established as an independent local non-governmental organization. Serving as the public face and dedicated voice of UNICEF, the National Committees raise funds from the private sector, promote children’s rights, and secure worldwide visibility for children threatened by poverty, disasters, armed conflict, abuse and exploitation.

I am a part of the program "Club Unicef jeune" in Marseille, it is all about education and solidarity.

Basically we have to raise fund, go to a lot of Unicef events, keep stands and teach people about Children's Rights.

It is a really good way to meet alot of people and do a good action.

If you want to become a volunteer don't hesitate to contact me and I will give you all the infos.

- Eléa