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Hey guys!
Okay so one week was a slight exaggeration but I'm leaving for China very soon! Since I don't have much to say about my year considering it hasn't started yet, I thought I would take this time to tell you guys all about what Project Trust is.
"Project Trust is the oldest educational charity specialising in overseas volunteering placements for school-leavers. Since 1967 we have been organising long term voluntary placements in Africa, Asia and the Americas for young people aged 17-19."
In September 2013 I applied to PT to volunteer for a year overseas before going to university. After my application got accepted I had to travel to the isle of Coll (which is a plane, a train, a bus and a ferry journey away from me!) for the 4 day selection course which is basically one big interview. It's no ordinary interview though! As well as one formal and one informal interview with the PT staff, we also had to: prepare a lesson and teach the other volunteers, live with a host family, integrate into the community and dig potato fields! Although the week was challenging and intense, it was also one of the best weeks and I'm so glad I found Project Trust.
A few weeks later I received an acceptance letter from the charity with my first choice being teaching in China, my second Maylasia and my third South Africa. I was absolutely over the moon that I had been accepted (after my dad had pretended I hadn't been accepted and made me cry at school) and prepared to face the huge challenge of raising £5,600 which was absolutely terrifying!
Fundraising wasn't quite as hard as I first expected. My school were really supportive as I was the first student to do Project Trust. My first fundraiser was a Christmas bake sale which raised my first £200! My head teacher also helped me organise a non school uniform day of which all of the proceeds went to PT and this raised a huge £1,014 kicking off my fundraising nicely.After this, I designed a leaflet all about what I was doing, printed 250 off and sent them to as many trust funds I could find that I was eligible to apply for. At first, I receieved constant negative replies from trust funds but then I slowly began to receive cheques of £100, £200 etc. I also held various other fundraisers and by the time I returned to the isle of Coll for my training course I was £1000 off my target.
Training is also a 4 day course where you learn all about your country, your project and most importantly you get to meet the other volunteers going to the same country as you, especially your partner who you will be living/teaching with. I headed up to the isle of Coll not long after my exams at the end of June. Training was equally an excellent week and I couldn't ask for a better partner than Emma! Luckily Emma is organised, unlike me. On the first day of training, I got called into the PT office as my dad had rung me about something 'important' instantly making me think I was in trouble... a cheque had arrived in the post for me for £4.000 towards my fundraising! I genuinely thought this was a joke considering my dad's sense of humour. Turns out it wasn't a joke and it meant that I had more than completed my fundraising which was probably the best way to start off the week of training.
Anyway, my experiences with Project Trust so far have been absolutely brilliant and I can't wait to go to China with all the other volunteers on the 20th August! Apologies for the poor quality of my blog writing but I'm sure it will improve during my year away so please read my other posts!
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