YOUR CHANGE WILL MAKE A CHANGE

Since I left school I’ve always been into travelling and have been lucky enough to do a fair bit of Europe by myself with friends over the last few years.

However something that has always been a dream for me is to not just travel but to help others whilst doing so, by emerging myself in new cultures and new experiences. I have always wanted to experience being in different countries with no ‘1st world problems’ and submerge myself into other ways of living.

Plan My Gap Year is an award-winning volunteer travel organisation, offering life-changing experiences across 17 countries. With the help of plan my gap year I will be traveling across south America from Costa rica to Ecuador and my final stop will be Peru. I will be on the childcare programme so I’ll be helping the next generation learn English, clean their clothes, sing songs and adopt a positive hopeful outlook to life. The children I’ll be working with are aged between 1-13 years old. In Ecuador 200,000 are orphaned due to abandonment, neglect, death and alcoholism, there is also high levels of abuse in south America, this is really what motivates me to go, not just for the views and the laughs but to see the real problems people face in other parts of the world and try and help leave a positive influential mark on the next generation.

In Peru things will be a little different because I’ll actually be living with a host family and really embracing their culture, eating their foods and learning the language. Although Peru has high tourism rates many children are subject to troubling home environments due to low income, addiction, violence and neglect. Most children don’t go to school and become street beggars around tourist attractions to try raise money for their families. I could be working with children who have physical and mental conditions in children centres set up by the government to try and give them a better shot at life!

It would be deeply appreciated for my family and friends to join me on this journey, to fundraise and make a difference wherever possible. Some of these proceedings will go towards the programme fees and the rest will be used on the children to buy things like, books, toys, and clothes!

Through this I hope to create awareness among people I know so that they too can contribute to someone’s life, one step at a time.

Bella xx