WHERE DO BUCHTER GIRLS COME FROM?

Have you ever wondered where your Buchter Girls come from? Why, once a year two or three fresh faced volunteers land on Luderitz’s doorstep? And no we’re not dropped off by a stalk….

“The Buchter Girls” as we are known this year or “The Buchter Volunteers” as we are all known in general are sent annually by an educational charity called Project Trust and have been coming to Luderitz since 1987. Project Trust is a Scottish based charity and sends school leavers all over the world to work on community based projects, usually in schools, community centres or hospitals.
To get a place with Project Trust volunteers undergo a selection process followed by a year of fundraising and a week of training all on the Isle of Coll, a small Hebridean island off the coast of Oban in Scotland.

So how did this years Buchter Girls get a place with Project Trust and how did we wind up in Luderitz?
At the knobbly kneed age of just-turned-16, one chilly English morning, I travelled from rainy Wiltshire in Southern England for 17 hours on the train to Oban. Closely followed by a 3 hour ferry journey to the equally rainy Isle of Coll – A windy island with more sheep than people. 4 days passed of interviews, essays, presentation and outdoor activities such as digging potato lazy beds ( I felt particularly well prepared for a year in Luderitz following the latter task…!) The course was concluded with a Ceilidh – a traditional Scottish dance. Then of course followed the 3 hour ferry ride and 17 hour train journey home for a nail biting three day wait. A wait to find out if my potato digging had been adept enough to cinch me a place with Project Trust. It would seem my potatoes were well enough cultivated and I was accepted with a place to work in China for 12 months starting in August. Before going abroad each volunteer must fundraise a daunting £4950 for the charity- the equivalent of about $51000 Namibian Dollars. And so followed a year of writing hundreds of letters to Trust Funds, organising fundraising events and taking part in mad sponsored activities all highly necessary to reach the final sum.

It was not until May last year that I found out I would not in fact be going to China in August but sunny Africa instead – Luderitz to be precise. Here in Luderitz volunteers have been running the Buchter News since 1987 today we also work at Brightstart Montessori school and The Valombola crèche in Area 7(see p 7 to read about recent renovations). We also have the opportunity to work on Secondary Projects, Jess has been working with the ECVC and recently organised a beach clean up or the OVC’s (see p9) and I have been teaching Grade 12 History once a week at the High School.

So there we go, that’s our tale, that’s where Buchter Girls come from. From Coll to Luderitz, and all it took was a 17 hour train journey, a 3 hour Ferry ride, a selection course a training course and $51,000 of fundraising! All for a year in Luderitz – worth every penny.
Emily Keen•