My Oasis: Penny Stradling
Penny Stradling first came to Oasis for a six month gap year in India. 11 years later, she leads the community development work at the Beersheba project, in Eastern Uganda. Here she talks about her journey with Oasis.
My first experience with Oasis was in Bangalore, India, where I worked in a special needs school. It was a challenging but amazing experience that changed my outlook on life. I returned to the UK and after university, began looking at colleges where I could study youth work.
Oasis stood out because the course combined classroom study with a part-time youth work placement. And as it was Oasis, I could focus on working in places where young people were most disadvantaged. The two years were challenging, but great preparation for my time as a youth worker.
I’m now based in Mbale, with Oasis Uganda where I oversee a variety of community projects. We work in a slum community on the edge of the town where poverty levels are high and people struggle with a real lack of opportunities to improve their lives.
Our adult literacy class has made great progress in its first few months. Many students have had very little or no schooling. This means finding a job, understanding important documents or even being able to read signposts is impossible for many people.
A lot of adults used to sign their name using a thumb print and an ink pad which they found very humiliating. Watching them write their names for the first time is probably one of the best experiences of my life because you can see them starting to believe that their future may be different to their past.
We also teach health and social studies. I am frequently shocked by how little is known about basic health. One of our students recently thanked us for teaching him to wash his hands before eating as it might explain why his family kept getting sick. It’s such a simple thing but with huge implications for the whole family.
There are so many ways to get involved with Oasis. The variety of projects, professional skills needed and flexibility that Oasis offers means there are opportunities for everyone. If you’re thinking of volunteering with Oasis for the first or second time, I would say 'do it'!
For more information about volunteering with Oasis, visit www.oasisuk.org/volunteering.