"If we want to see real peace in this world, we should start educating children”- Mahatma Ghandi. Over the past few years, my interest in travelling has increased greatly and learning about different cultures has now become a slight addiction. A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to visit the Wema Centre, Mombasa. After seeing children who have very little, it shocked and disgusted me how we take education for granted. Since then, I’ve made it my mission to help young people who are less fortunate than myself and offer them the gift of education. Since Africa, It’s always been a dream to visit India.

Last year, I was put in touch with a charity called Basti Ram, who run residentials in the beautiful north Indian state Rajasthan, where volunteers teach children with poor education English and basic maths. After disciplined saving and fundraising, this summer I travelled to India alone, met my host family and other volunteers and worked with the street children of India. Every day, we first visited a tribal school, where I had my own class of 4-8 year olds. We then travelled to a boy’s orphanage in the afternoon. In the evenings, we would spend hours working on our lesson planning, trying to make our classes both interesting and educational.

On weekends, we were given the opportunity to explore India. I spent my weekend visiting Agra, after a 13 hour sleeper train journey, where I saw the Taj Mahal!

The project gave me the opportunity to experience a culture a world away from my own, to broaden my horizons and to develop personally.

I was able to try different foods, learn about a different culture and also help children who had so little. The experience has proven to be the most incredible adventure and stands as the best fortnight of my life. After being made Deputy Head Girl, with my forte being Charity, I encourage everybody to take part in this incredible journey. 

DofE participant