Skip to main content
Lasting change through volunteering

Search form

Menu Search

Deborah Torr

Different photos from VSO volunteers over the past 60 years

60 years of volunteering

To mark our 60th birthday, VSO has dug out the old photo albums, inviting you on a trip back in time to hear from six VSO volunteers on the memories that endure across the decades.  
Alpha Kamara's house was destroyed during the 2017 mudslide.

The family that lost everything in Sierra Leone’s mudslide

A mudslide and severe flooding shook Sierra Leone to its core last August, leaving thousands homeless. Alpha Kamara, one of those affected, shares his story.

Never again: Sierra Leone’s devastating mudslide

A mudslide and severe flooding struck Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, last August, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless. While the rest of the world has moved on, Sierra Leoneans are still trying to recover. One year on, how can we prevent such a tragedy from happening again?
aerial view of the pamunda island, Zanzibar

Struggles in paradise: Do the world’s poorest actually benefit from tourism?

Around the world, tourism is on the rise, but local people often don’t see the benefit. Our work in Zanzibar is a great example of how simple changes could make a world of difference to farmers trying to earn a living.
Brown Niyonsaba is signing to explain her work educating young deaf people on sexual and reproductive health issues

The deaf volunteer struggling for health equality

Around the world, people with disabilities face additional barriers to getting quality healthcare. Niyonsaba Brown, 31, is a young deaf woman volunteering to change this in her native Rwanda.
At Gulu Hospital, here looking after a baby, nurse Gerieke is desperately trying to save babies’ lives.

A matter of life and death for one nurse in Uganda

Gerieke Zandberg, a paediatric nurse from the Netherlands, is working to save babies’ lives at Gulu Hospital in Uganda.
Pakistani couple at wedding, close-up of them holding hands

This Pakistan shelter is helping women escape violence and rebuild their lives

In Pakistan, nearly one in three married women aged 15-49 reports experiencing physical violence at the hands of their husbands. Panah shelter in Karachi, Pakistan, is offering hope to these women facing domestic abuse, giving not just refuge but rehabilitation.
A police vehicle stops in a neighbourhood in Karachi, Pakistan

Meet Karachi’s first female police superintendent

We all know we've got a long way to go on the road to gender equality. But millions of creative, sharp and determined women refuse to wait around for that day – they're taking action now.
Dusty street in Gulu, Uganda

10 snapshots into life as a volunteer doctor in Uganda

Hi, I’m Dr Lierka Rodriguez. I am a volunteer obstetrician and gynaecologist working in rural Uganda. Here are some of my favourite moments of my time as a volunteer.
Dusty street in Gulu, Uganda

10 snapshots into life as a volunteer doctor in Uganda

Hi, I’m Dr Lierka Rodriguez. I am a volunteer obstetrician and gynaecologist working in rural Uganda. Here are some of my favourite moments of my time as a volunteer.

Pages