Stella Elda’s Gap Year Project

Hello! I'm Stella Elda, 23 years old from Indonesia. I will be taking a gap year from my professional works and activities in 2018 and go to Africa and Europe to volunteer.

If you know me, then you'll know that one of my dreams is to build a social foundation which focuses on taking care, developing and educating children, young adults and women. But because I still have zero experience on managing and operating a foundation, I decided to join International Volunteer HQ (IVHQ) programs in Kenya, Greece and Portugal to learn how it's done and to go to the field working with actual children, youth and women there while taking a break (career gap).

I will be joining 2 programs in Kenya which are; Childcare & Women's Education and in Greece I will be joining the Food Outreach program, lastly Youth Support program in Portugal.

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For the Childcare program, I will be working with children at the childcare centers in Kenya which can host between 15 and 100 children at any one time. Due to the high incidences of illness and poverty in Kenya, the centers are always busy and there is a high demand for volunteer assistance. I will help out with the day-to-day operations of a range of pre-schools, baby day care centers and children’s homes, some of which house and foster abandoned and orphaned children.

For the Women's Education program, I will work closely with centers which support women affected by HIV/AIDS in providing counseling, guidance, and sometimes childcare. The primary aim of this project is to empower the women through income-generating projects, education and skills training.

More info: https://www.volunteerhq.org/volunteer-in-kenya/

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For the Food Outreach program, I will help by providing assistance to a local ‘Social Kitchen’ which feeds more than 700 people each day. The kitchen prepares the meals each morning and then distributes them to various churches and community centres for people to collect. The people who need this initiative supports come from various backgrounds including the elderly, ill and those living in poverty who are unable to prepare or afford regular nutritional meals.I'm super excited for this one because I could make use of my love of baking and cooking and years of experience in the food industry for a greater purpose.

More info: https://www.volunteerhq.org/volunteer-in-greece/

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For the Youth Support program, I will help by assisting with homework, teaching English, computer training, helping with craft and art, and assisting with any other work that needs to be done at the organization. There is also the opportunity on this project to work with underprivileged and teenage mothers who volunteers assist by teaching English or by taking care of their babies while they are studying or working. Many of the youth in this project who are mainly vary in age from 11 to 18 years come from underprivileged backgrounds and a key role for me and other volunteers is to simply spend time with them, being a positive role model and having an interest in them and their future as this is something that many of them have never experienced before.

More info: https://www.volunteerhq.org/volunteer-in-portugal/

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My gap year plan will start on May 2018 and lasts for 6 months and if before I depart I succesfully raised more than the original target, then I will use that extra donation to support projects of my initiative during my trip.

As for the $7,500, it will be used to cover:

Registration fee + Program fees + Flights

(3 countries x $299) + [$1,379 (Kenya) + $1,255 (Portugal) + $1,640 (Greece)] + $2,400 (approximately)

Click here to find out where the registration and program fees are alocated.

And I will be using my personal savings to cover the other costs such as visas, vaccination, insurance, in-country transportations, personal expenses, and many other things. In total I will need around $10,000 - $12,000 and my ready funds per January to cover that total cost is $3,000, that is why I still need your help.

I am therefore reaching out to my friends, family and followers to help me fundraise and make it to the kids, youth & women in Africa & Europe this coming May.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can donate a few dollars & rupiah to this fund :)

Much love,

Stella Elda ❤️

P.S.

Go check IVHQ out on their Instagram and Facebook, it's an amazing organization that manages over thousands of volunteers each year! All photos are taken from their facebook page.

If you wish to donate in Rupiah offline via Bank Transfer, you can send your donation to:

Bank Central Asia

swift code : CENAIDJA

account # : 8680042951

Account name : Stella Eldayanti Priyanto

and let me know via email [email protected].