There's no denying it, these bloggers are bound to make you jealous. Whether it's their guts, their energy or their tan you admire, overseas volunteers have got plenty to share with you about their remarkable work in fascinating countries. Read on to find out what you could be missing.

All | Ashley | Jonathan | James | Fiona | Emily | Dana | Selina | Lucy | Sally | Lucille

Thursday May 04, 2006

Who am I?

Hey, I'm Emily, an 18 year old student from the south coast between Portsmouth and Bognor! I'm studying for my A-levels at the moment in English litereature, Psychology, Sociology and an AS in communication. (I appologise for spellings...I'm slightly dyslexic, and not very good at concentrating on them!) At the moment I am living the typical student life at home with my mum and dad, but now I can drive I'm hardly ever home!...work, sleep, drink. It has been a good few years, but I can't wait to start following my dreams...oh thats a bit cheesey...sorry!

After my A-levels I am taking a gap year before going to Birmingham university to study african sudies with development. In my gap year I am volunteering in Tanzania for 8 months, working with youth in rural villages helping them with information about health related topics eg; HIV and AIDS, water purification etc. I'm not going into Tanzania a complete volunteer virgin as I travelled to Ghana last year to volunteer in an orphanage for 5 weeks between my AS and A-levels. It made me an adult for sure, and I absolutly loved the experience despite all the questions (moral and otherwise) it raised for me about volunteering overseas, and development as a real issue, not just in a book. It made me ask if it was really beneficial for westeners to travels to africa to volunteer with children for short periods of time, bringing our culture and values with us, becoming attatched to the children and then leaving...what did I teach them, how did I help them? its a question that I still havn't answered.

Before Tanzania I am returning to Ghana for 3-4 weeks, but more as a holiday to see old friends...its bizare how close you become with people when you are in a brand new situation, one of my best friends is someone I met over there, but I only knew her for 2 weeks!!! After Ghana in the summer I am planning to start work on fundraising for Tanzania...only £3600 to go! + part time volunteering with children in my area, after school clubs and similar,I hope it will give me confidence and experience and every little helps!

I hope that gives you a little idea of who I am, and what I'm all about.

em xxxx

Posted by Emily ( 11:10 AM )
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