Lessons to learn

While summer is vacation time for many, others are utilising the opportunity offered by the lean and hot holiday months to serve the community and earn valuable work experience.

Fifteen enterprising youngsters from the US and China are currently in Bahrain working with their counterparts in the kingdom on three projects involving teaching English to orphans, educating youngsters on sustainability and women empowerment.

They are here under the umbrella of AIESEC, one of the largest international student driven organisations present in 107 countries worldwide.

While some of the volunteers are continuing their undergraduate studies, others are graduates enrolled into Master's programmes or will be looking for full-time employment on their return.

Sophie Bousset, 21, from California, who is looking after the group's public relations, said that the volunteers had to apply through their local office. She added: "It was like applying for a job as some of us had to go through interviews before getting selected. There were many jobs in teaching English in the Middle East especially in Oman but 'Project Teach' was the only one that had a significant community service component here.

"To be able to teach English to underprivileged students and not just for a company was one of the big motivating factors."

Her colleague Devin Grant-Keane, 20, from New York, added: "It has been an amazing experience. One of the major reasons we all came here was to experience a new culture, meet new people, hear a new language ... everything.

"It was going to be a little nerve wracking coming to a new place but AIESEC Bahrain has done an amazing job. We also went out to tour the country and visited places like the Tree of Life and Bahrain International Circuit.

"What drew me here was the project ... the very unique experience of teaching English to a bunch of impressionable kids was irresistible. At the same time we are also getting a bit of marketing experience and also being trained. It is all this that I will be taking back to the US along with an appreciation of a different culture that almost none of us have ever experienced."

The Teach English volunteers also interned with Berlitz and got a brief training on teaching adults.

It is the first time that AIESEC Bahrain has organised a programme on women empowerment. The youngsters are trying to reach young women in the high schools and universities and organise interesting workshops and seminars in English on different topics such as nutrition and safety.

Layla Salah, who is leading on the project, said: "We have roped in women speakers who are teachers and entrepreneurs who will inspire the young women participants with stories of the struggles they had to face to reach where they are today.

"We understand the issues that women face here and we are planning a conference that revolves around women finding their place in society."

One of the volunteers Alli Coritx, 21, from Arizona, is also hoping to launch a survey with women in the villages to understand the different areas in which AIESEC can be of help to them in the future.

The last project on the youngsters' agenda is sustainability and a group has been working with an event management company and a consultancy firm on the island.

They are also organising a workshop on recycling where the message is not about dropping trash into different boxes but trying to reuse waste.

Michael Korn, 20, from Arizona, said: "Recycling workshops is not a new topic. It is not just about dropping things in boxes but to try and reuse them for making different things. We are having some experts demonstrate different ways of using plastic bottles. We will also be working on a trash audit with participants and showing them what things can be saved or recycled."

Others who are here on this mission are Sheila Vedala, 20, from Georgia, Eric Cusick, 24, from Missouri, Nathan Anderson, 19, from Virginia, Stephanie Phan, 21, from California, Chelsea Copennaver, 20, from Seattle, Elizabeth Zerr, 24, from Missouri, Nicole Karpurk, 21, Samuel Philbrick, 20, Saja Al Jabiri, 22, and Krista McNaughton, 19, all from Arizona and Qingting Zheng, 24, from Beijing, China. Project leaders from Bahrain are Layla Salah, 20, Nouf Al Hermi, 23, and Areej Abdullatif Mohammed, 22.

For more on AIESEC log on to www.aiesec.org