Today’s blog is about an event that gets to the heart of what Friends of Londiani and so many other Irish development aid groups are about. It’s the Irish Aid Volunteering Fair, it’s just over a week away, and we’d love you to be part of it.

On Saturday the 11th of October 2014, The Printworks, Dublin Castle, will be hosting the Fair. Drop in any time from 11am to 4pm and you can meet 26 volunteer sending agencies, find out about volunteering options in a variety of developing countries, and hear about what volunteering overseas is really like from people who have experienced it.

And Friends of Londiani will of course be there. In fact not only will our Harambee 2015 volunteer projects be launched in conjunction with the Volunteer Fair but at 1.30 Margaret Stanley – who was in Kenya on the July Harambee this year – will be taking part in a panel discussion called Volunteering: A Proud Irish Tradition – Experiences of Returned Volunteers.

The Minister of State for Development, Trade Promotion and North-South Co-operation, Seán Sherlock, who will be launching the event, will also be taking part in this panel so it should be a lively hour’s conversation!

If you’re near Dublin and interested in volunteering (or just in finding out more about what Ireland and the irish have done and are doing in development aid), this is your big chance to meet many of the major players in volunteering in one place.

You can check out (and pass on) the twitter hashtags #IAFair14 and #VolOps.

We – and many other volunteer sending agencies keeping up a proud Irish tradition – are looking forward to seeing you.