Global Xchange

Earlier this year 18 young people had a profound impact on the lives of people throughout Caithness in Scotland. They were participants in Global Xchange, a six-month, team-based exchange programme, which gives young people from different countries an opportunity to volunteer and live together and make a practical contribution to community development projects. Here we find out how four of them helped a fledgling charity find its feet.

Background
Caithness is a land of open, rolling farmland situated in the north east of Scotland and is home to the most northerly point on the British mainland, John O’Groats. An isolated area, Caithness is hundreds of miles from the nearest big cities and universities so there are limited training opportunities and there are issues of social exclusion and unemployment.

Starting from scratch
One organisation looking to tackle some of these issues is HEAART (Health, Environment, Arts, Activity, Resources and Training), which was established earlier this year to offer opportunities to adults with learning difficulties.

HEAART occupies the former site of the Wellington Centre, a local authority service that used to offer respite care and therapy for adults with disabilities. When this service was closed down in 2006 it became clear that there was no other facility where these adults could socialise and learn.

A group of committed individuals approached the council to ask if they could use the old building for another kind of facility. The answer was yes and in January over 70 people, including previous clients of the Wellington Centre, councilors, carers and local residents, came together to brainstorm how the new centre would look. And the idea of HEAART was born; a social business that is run by and for adults with disabilities.

Profits from enterprise such as organic farming and craft making will be ploughed back into the business, enabling it to grow more.

Volunteers doing the groundwork
HEAART formally opened for business in June, but for two months beforehand four Global Xchange volunteers played a crucial part in preparations.

James Blackburn and Nthinko Mhango and Marc Wallace and Patricia Sangaya having been helping support worker Steve Merritt organise the gardens around the centre so they are a flourishing allotment that will resource other activity.

Steve explains: “One of the first things we are doing is developing the health and environment components of HEAART, and to do that we want to encourage the people of Caithness to think about their eating habits and the carbon footprint of their diet. We are growing our own vegetables to ensure those who will help run HEAART have access to a healthy diet and to resource our onsite café which we hope will become a regular lunch spot for local businesses and residents. Eventually we will also run a vegetable box scheme.”

Impact
But just two months before opening the garden was a mess of weeds, overgrown grass and rubbish. Steve says: “If it weren’t for the Global Xchange volunteers we would not be ready to open at the end of June. I would still be digging the soil over and tidying up the garden. As it is we had our first crop in just seven weeks.”

And there were benefits over and above the gardening: “Everyone in Caithness has loved having the volunteers around and they’ve been in the paper every single week. That’s really helped raise the profile of HEAART!”

Impact

  • The work of Global Xchange volunteers meant a new charity was able to open for business on time
  • Four volunteers cleared the allotment areas and produced the first harvest within seven weeks
  • These crops will be used in HEAART’s organic café, all profits of which will go back into developing the center