I rarely use calculators in sessions but I particularly liked this calculator app that’s available for Mac users as it takes notes of the calculations you carry out.

Available on: Mac OS X
Free version: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/calcmadeeasy-free-scientific/id417404127?mt=12
Paid-for version: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/calcmadeeasy/id417402227?mt=12

My life has been changed since I spent 5 weeks in Ghana back in the summer.  So much so that I am going back for Christmas and new year with my partner and seventeen year old daughter.  I know both of them will be inspired by what they see there and the people they will meet.  It will be a great time to be there helping VWA prepare for the festive season.  There will be a christmas party to organise for the nursery children, presents to wrap as well as the usual business of the day to day work out there.  It is something I am looking forward to,  I am forsaking my birthday celebrations (it’s a big one too) and  christmas treats  so that the children out there in Ghana can have a lovely time, a small sacrifice for me but it will make a big difference to them.

In other (connected) news,  I am embarking on a learning adventure.  I miss studying and believe learning is a process that should continue throughout your life and isn’t just for the young. After completing my teaching qualification and maths specialism I wanted to something but was never sure what and didn’t want to do a degree for the sake of it, I need purpose, a reason to study.  I now have found that purpose, Africa and more specifically Ghana.  It is where I see myself in the years to come and in order to do that I really need international development learning as well as the practical experience I will gain on every trip I make there.

So in August I decided to transfer the credits from my teaching qualifications and put them towards a degree, it is an open degree but I will put a heavy emphasis on international studies.  One the degree I will be better placed  to work out in Africa and whilst I am studying I plan to visit Ghana as often as possible to gain on the ground experience of international development work with an NGO.

It is a slightly daunting prospect but also very exciting at the same time.  I have Matt Craig, the CEO of Volunteer West Africa for the inspiration to do this.  He is someone whom I admire very much and works tirelessly for what he believes in and who knows one day I might be there to help him on a more permanent basis.  Meanwhile I will do what I can to raise money and raise awareness for this charity that is in my heart and work towards my end goal.

I have just spent 5 amazing weeks in Ghana and have had some fantastic experiences.  I was the guest of www.volunteerwestafrica.org .  Some of the sights I have seen have inspired me and some have upset me but all of them have humbled me.  A lot of people in Ghana have so little and some live in terrible conditions but these people aren’t bemoaning their lot, they just get on with their daily lives no matter how difficult.

I visited several schools, schools that have so little in terms of buildings and resources but they all have one thing in common, students that want learn and do well.  The children were all happy to be at school and have the opportunity to be there as sadly so many children do not have that opportunity.  The children were happy to see us and sang for us and also performed some cultural dancing.  One of the schools we visited had classrooms with no walls and roofs with holes in so when it rained the water poured through.  Some classes have as many as 108 children in them.

Volunteer West Africa runs a nursery in its compound.  The nursery is for children from the local village, Oshieye.  Oshieye is a very poor fishing village where most of the men work as fishermen in wooden boats and the women work as fishmongers.  The children that come to the nursery are vulnerable and are often sickly due to malaria and malnourished.  At the nursery they are fed and washed and taught songs and nursery rhymes in English.  they also start to learn to read and write.  It is a very important part of the community now and is always looking for new sponsors to sponsor places at the nursery.  I sponsor a child as does my partner and my mum and dad.

‘The African Bush‘ is the name I have given to my latest venture – volunteering and teacher training in Ghana.
In June 2014 I will be visiting Ghana in West Africa for 5 weeks, with a former colleague and dear friend.  She and her son have set up a wonderful volunteer centre over there and I am going there for a few weeks.

Their charity organisation, Volunteer West Africa has 5 main project areas:

1. Prevention of child exploitation
2. Child health, hygiene, nutrition & sanitation
3. Early-years education, childcare & teaching
4. Enriching the lives of children
5. Livelihoods & vocational training

One of the main reasons I am so excited to be getting involved in this project is that the overall approach is one of sustainability and working towards enabling the community help itself to improve the lives of the local people in a holistic way and it’s something I truly believe in.

Funds for the organisation are currently raised primarily through its sister organisation here in the UK – Partner West Africa, for which I have just been accepted as a trustee. Much of my time recently has been focused on getting involved in the fundraising side of things, as well as knitting items such as bags and pencil cases for the school children there.

I intend to help in any way that I can here in the UK, whether that takes the form of raising funds or promoting awareness of the good work being done in Ghana, however it is the opportunity to visit and experience first hand the real difference that can be made when people are empowered with knowledge that truly motivates me and I am very much looking forward to helping deliver teacher training in Ghana.

Whilst it may not be possible to solve all the problems in the world I believe it is possible to help facilitate small changes in the lives of some people.  If the experience I have gained throughout my life and career will assist in some small way then I will do my best to provide this assistance.  Education is the key to achieving a better future and I am lucky to have received a good education myself (a lot of it in the last 15 years).

The paragraph below is taken from The World Community Grid website and explains their work much better than I could

“World Community Grid enables anyone with a computer, smartphone or tablet to donate their unused computing power to advance cutting-edge scientific research on topics related to health, poverty and sustainability. Through the contributions of over 650,000 individuals and 460 organizations, World Community Grid has supported 22 research projects to date, including searches for more effective treatments for cancer, HIV/AIDS and neglected tropical diseases. Other projects are looking for low-cost water filtration systems and new materials for capturing solar energy efficiently.”

I have been contributing to this project since October 2012.  You don’t need to do anything other than download the software and choose the specific piece of research you want your computer to work on.  As your computer contributes its power you get awarded virtual badges in recognition of your contributions. So how does it work? Well it downloads a unit of work automatically, processes it over a couple of hours and then uploads the results, before downloading the next piece of work.

I don’t even notice the software running in the background and it has no impact on me using my computer at all, though you can further tweak the settings to decide when you want to let it run and even specify special applications that when running will prevent the spare CPU power from being used.

I have connected my World Community Grid account to my Twitter account so I can see on a regular basis exactly what my computer has contributed.  Below are a couple of examples from my twitter feed today:

I donated 13 days of cpu time to WCG during the past week 

I earned 2419677 points (#45933) and 4632 results (#23390) by donating over 1 year (#67699) of cpu time to WCG

It’s completely free to sign up to and become a member of and without any extra effort you’re contributing to some vital work.

Note that the World Community Grid is actually a Coporate Citizenship project by IBM that uses the Berkley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) client to manage the work units, and is one of many science projects that you can subscribe to via the BOINC software. Others include the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and the factorisation of large integers , so there’s probably something for everyone!

Available BOINC projects are here: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php

BOINC software is available for download from here: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php

Macmillan Cancer Support is a charity close to my heart as it offers so much support to those affected by cancer, both those who have this terrible disease and those caring for them.  I started supporting them when my friend was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and was given a lot of support from Macmillan, as was her husband.  Unfortunately my friend was one of the unlucky ones and lost her fight with cancer.

I try to support Macmillan’s work in the small ways that I am able such as donating the money I would spend on Christmas cards to them and selling raffle tickets occasionally. As 1 in 3 of us  will get cancer it is important that we do what we can to aid organisations that offer invaluable support to sufferers and their families.

Below I have copied some text from their website to illustrate what they can offer.

‘We are a source of support, helping with all the things that people affected by cancer want and need. It’s not only patients who live with cancer, we also help carers, families and communities. We guide people through the system, supporting them every step of the way. We fund nurses and other specialist health care professionals andbuild cancer care centres. But we give so much more than medical help.

People need practical support at home, so we provide anything from some precious time off for a carer, to a lift to hospital. People need emotional support, so we listen, advise and share information through our cancer support specialists, website and trained professionals. People need financial help to cope with the extra costs cancer can bring, so we give benefits advice, and grants for anything from heating bills to travel costs. Together we listen, we learn, we act to help people live with cancer.’

This is a brain training app which has a variety of games to help build your skills in various areas of your brain.  I like the fact it is free to play but that play is restricted unless you pay to upgrade.

The app is visually attractive and the games are varied enough to keep your interest.  The training that counts towards your BPI (Brain Performance Indicator) takes very little time and each day consists of a combination of 3 different games.  You can play extra games if you wish but only those three for that day, the others remain locked. You can set an alarm on the app so you remember to play everyday.  The beauty of this app is that it doesn’t take very long to complete the day’s activity so it isn’t a chore.

The downside to not paying for the upgraded version is that you get your BPI (Brain Performance Index) score but it doesn’t let you compare yourself to other people who also use the app so the number is a little meaningless other than it you want it get better and thus means you  are improving.  It breaks your BPI down further into various areas and how you perform in each one, these are; Speed, Memory, Attention, Flexibility and Problem Solving.

You have your own scoreboard and the aim is to better your score each day but one assumes that you can only improve up to a certain point as the games are either time bound or a certain amount of time.  There are different levels with each game so the better you get the harder it gets, again one assumes within certain boundaries.

All in all a good app for keeping your brain active and fun to use.

Available on: iOS – iPad and iPhone

Free version (offers in-app purchases / paid upgrade): https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lumosity-mobile/id577232024?mt=8

St Mungo’s is a charity that I have only recently become aware of. It is a charity that embraces a holistic approach to helping the homeless. They offer everything from accommodation to courses that help people retrain and enable them to go back into the job market.

I live in Bath which is a city with quite a high number of homeless people, which in this day and age in a first world country is quite shocking. All around me is affluence, grand houses and posh shops and amongst that is a large number of people that have next to nothing. It is a very visual thing, you see the homeless in and around town day and night. I am very fortunate that I have a warm home to live in so try and do my bit for others who do not. I also try and support one of the Big Issue sellers whenever I can, he is out in all winds and weathers selling his magazine.

I first heard of St Mungo’s when I got involved with World Zombie Day which has an event in London but has events all over the world in October. Essentially everyone gets dressed up as zombies and goes for a shamble around the centre of London. I raised £120 last year and hope to raise more this year. It was a really fun way to spend the day and there are activities for after the walk.

I also plonk St Mungo’s using www.ploink.co.uk this is a micro donation site where you can donate small amounts of money by using virtual piggybanks. It is a great site for those people who can’t afford a regular donation but would like to send a little as and when they can. There are many different charities that you can donate to depending on your inclination.  For me it is St Mungo’s, a dog rescue charity and a cancer charity.