Some Photographs from other years
Article - "Cow-shed among the banana trees" by Jonathan Brennan about work-camp of previous year
CODEP web-site re Uganda Work-camp
Each summer, Ely co-operates with CODEP (Cleraun Overseas Development Projects) in organising work-camps in third-world countries.
CODEP has been running aid projects since 1992, each year bringing university students and young professional people to some of the poorest parts of the developing world and giving them the opportunity to work in collaboration with rural communities. The programmes stimulate the transfer of knowledge and the provision of aid to communities in need of development, while providing European students with a unique understanding of the needs and problems of developing countries.
The projects implemented are small-scale and designed around the priorities of each local community - usually healthcare, rural development, water, and sanitation. These community-based initiatives create real prosperity without threat to the delicate fabric of the community or its environment. Unskilled participants can contribute under the eye of expert leaders (both local and Irish) and, though each project operates with modest resources, it is tailor-made to the specific requirements of each situation and hinges on the full input of the people in the community.They contribute their own expertise, ideas, and labour, ensuring a level of local participation which is decisive in guaranteeing the success of the project.
CODEP projects benefit both locals and volunteers: local people have the opportunity to develop their community and learn from people from different countries; visiting volunteers are enriched by sharing in the lives of these people, and are thereby helped to become better, more responsible, members of their own society.