Reed Specialist Recruitments Middle East Associate Director Maria Brown

Reed Specialist Recruitments Middle East Associate Director Maria Brown has ventured further afield into Africa and demonstrates her humanitarian side as she supports one of Reed's charities "Ethiopiaid".
In February 2009, Reed staffed were asked if they would be interested in taking part in the 2009 Ethiopia Team Challenge. December 2008 saw the successes of the first Ethiopiaid Team Challenge and after last year's group rated the experience as amazing, rewarding and memorable Maria decided this was something she wanted to be part of.
A large part of the Team Challenge is teaching English and Maria will be undertaking a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course prior to going to Ethiopia so she can work in the schools with the team and help the young children.
Maria was asked what would she like to gain from the week in Ethiopia? and what does she feel she can bring to the Ethiopia team challenge? Maria said " after thinking about the challenge I realised so much of my time is dedicated to personal and professional development and having recently spent the past 24 months working in some of the more affluent countries in the world I want to give something back and by working with Ethiopiaid I hope to be able to do that and experience a truly humbling challenge. I am a warm loving dedicated person who can offer support, motivation and guidance. I have coached and mentored children in sports and adults throughout their career and feel the skills I have combined with my passion for wanting to work with Ethiopiaid will be a great asset. This will be a wonderful experience I just cannot wait to start the journey"
In advance of Maria's visit to Ethiopia she held an online auction to raise money for the 20 projects that are currently being supported. Over the course of 7 days Maria's online auction generated a considerable amount of interest as there were some very exciting items to be had including weekend stays in the Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi, One to One Abu Dhabi, Doha Seef Best Westin, Le Tremoille Paris, a weeks stay in Portugal, meal vouchers, ski passes for ski Dubai, tickets for Wild Wadi, Aquaventure, Caracal and Keane in concerts, a hot air balloon flight, desert safari and a swim with Dolphins just to name a few. The two items that generated the most interest were 2 matching his and hers watches from the UAE's Platinum sponsor Tiffany presented by Damas Jewellers. In total Maria's auction generated over 41,000AED, this is a wonderful start to her fundraising which will continue throughout the year.