On the 5 days of Training, Project Trust gave to me...

I returned from Coll last night, and have more to say from a mere 5 days than is probably sensible for a blog post. Put simply, it was a truly incredible week. We all learnt so much, and had such a great time, sharing our hopes and ideas. Particularly after such a longperiod of uncertainty, it was so exciting to be finding out about potential projects, and to really have my future with Project Trust so close and so current. Huge thanks go to the wonderful, wonderful staff at PT for their constant enthusiasm, patience and support throughout the week.

Below are some photos, inclunding one with my partner Caitlin, who will be coming to Namibia with me. As may be evident, it was also a busy week of socialising with the other Particip8 volunteers, all of whom I very fond. It featured late-night carol singing (hence the title), comedy onesies and a great final evening of celebration. They are truly exceptional people, and I wish every single one of them all the very best on their journies.

Did I mention I had a brilliant time?

Change of Plan

Time has flown since I last updated my blog, but an entire change of country is a fairly important event in my gap year plans. After lots of waiting, I have finally received news that the new projects in Rwanda will not be going ahead this year. Starting a new country programme means going right back to Square 1; before they can even start thinking about which volunteers can go to which placements, Project Trust need to get hold of some fairly basic but crucial bits of paper giving official recognition of PT and their work as charitable. Unfortunately, bureaucracy was not on our side, and despite the best efforts of the Overseas team over the last year, the Rwanda programme has not been successful in enough time for this year's volunteers.
Instead, I will be going to one of two primary schools in Namibia, in south-western Africa. The country representative will be going out to visit both schools that have requested volunteers, and we are fairly confident that at least one of them will be a success. I'm really looking forward to it, and Namibia seems like a fascinating country. I can't wait to find out more about my project and partner on Training next week. I'm sure there will be much more to follow on my return.

How To Look Good...As A PT Volunteer

Despite the time lapse between posts, plans and preparation for my gap year remain a work in progress.I have a part-time job keeping me comfortably busy until January's departure, and am otherwise currently focusing on the rather more painful prerequisites - the travel vaccinations. There are many horror stories to be heard about the price of the things, and there seems to be an awful lot of going backwards and forwards between websites, surgeries and pharmacists, but vaccinations are now underway and only one private prescription means that it has -so far, fingers crossed! - cost £130. The photo belongs to the back of the new PT hoodies for this year; designed by the winner of a competition, the globe in the centre has all of the countries that they work in written around the edge. Plus, it's perfect for walking to those early morning vaccination appointments in...

Honey, I Shrunk The Kids...

Since PT have told me that the projects carry at least elements of teaching, I decided to spend my last full week of term back in primary school. I certainly have memories of my own time primary school, most of which are exceptionally fond; the only trouble is, the now important things like times tables and spelling tests were then, at age 8, deemed too boring to be worth remembering in any kind of detail. Thus, our deputy head was very helpful, and organised a fantastic programme with a variety of teachers and classes. From counting with Prep 1, minibeast topics with Prep 3 and writing stories with Prep 6, I came away with some great ideas and had a fantastic time. Even if I didn't really fit properly on these tiny chairs. At all.

The End of the Beginning

My time as a school pupil is rapidly coming to an end; with no more real work to do, no more early starts and no more unusual May sunshine, thoughts frequently turn to the gap year. With a Bulkeley- Evans scholarship and some generous donations from friends and family, I have reached the £4,500 target and am due to finalise sending it all to Project Trust in the coming days. I will be helping some Glasgow PT volunteers with a bag pack in July, and have some inevitable loose ends to tie, but the beginning of the end of the PT gap year is on one very promising horizon.

Dusangire Karyohe! : Cheers!

Exams have started - whilst blogging has fallen off the radar a bit, fundraising certainly hasn't. Friends and family have continued to be very supportive of the project, and recent sponsorship has seen my fundraising total edge ever closer to the target. To raise some of this money, we have been hosting some Rwandan-themed dinners for groups of family friends and our neighbours. On the menu were some snacks inspired by Rwandan ingredients, like sweet potato and cornmeal, and some more authentic main courses, such as beef and plantain stew, kachumbari (a tomato and onion salad) and isombe (greens cooked with peanut butter - sounds odd, but tastes rather nice). Photos below are from Friday's event: me doing my best Nigella impression with the isombe, and at the table with friends.

Happy Feet

Forget dancing penguins - my feet are the happiest feet around. I have swapped the hiking boots in the Highlands for my slippers at home, and we have finished the West Highland Way. Since my last post, we finished the stretch from Bridge of Orchy to Fort William over two days, in more kinds of weather than I thought were possible. Our fifth stop was Kinlochleven, equating to a dreadfully steep descent into the town in Wednesday evening, and an equally awful ascent for our last morning. My greatest challenge, however, was one knee that had given up before I did. As a result, my walk developed a bit of a waddle and Dad resorted to calling me Pingu. That said, I wasn't the only silly-looking Mortimer on the way: Dad was sporting antique waterproof trousers from 1977, Mum was determined to wear a Legoland rain poncho whenever possible, and an exasperated James was like a walking Tiso advert at the front. Perhaps the most dysfunctional expedition team ever, but one that seem to have managed 97 miles and raise nearly £2000 in the process. Happy feet indeed.

These boots were made for walking

Despite the apparent wonders of modern technology, this is the first time in 4 days I have managed to find Internet signal. My family and I are currently walking the West Highland Way to raise money for Project Trust and my project in Rwanda. We're over half way at about 95km, and I would be lying if I said that the whole journey has been a disaster. Day 1's walk to Drymen was perfectly manageable, and Day 2's trek to Rowardennan was pleasant enough. What should have been a reasonable distance yesterday to Inverarnan was somewhat disrupted by the disastrous combination of dreadful terrain and the Scottish weather, but today's 30km walk in a variety of weather has been made significantly better by the purchase of waterproof socks! We all have stiff legs and struggle to walk normally after dinner every night. The lesson there is simply to stay sitting in the pub!  

There's a first time for everything...

After getting into a monumental fankle with the whole thing, it would appear that I am now the proud/confused owner of a blog. The title is based on a favourite novel, "My Family and Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell, telling the story of his beloved childhood in Corfu with his wacky family and even wackier menagerie of animals. It captures the sentiment of a proper year's travelling (none of this chundering in Burm-aaah nonsense), and I'm hoping that this forms the basis for my gap year next year. 


In January, I am off to Rwanda to become a teacher for 8 months, with a fantastic gap year organisation called Project Trust. They have been working across Africa, Asia, South and Central America since 1967, sending volunteers to an enormous range of charitable projects after leaving school. It's the first year they have sent their volunteers to Rwanda. It's a massive responsibility, and one that can seem a bit daunting at times, but it's also a huge honour and an amazing opportunity that I am really looking forward to. This blog is designed to chart my fundraising, and my time working in Rwanda. Or at least, that's what it's supposed to do.....