Ampleforth OAs

Nearly three years ago, in July 2009, I flew to India to embark on a 12-month exchange at Delhi University. My experiences of living in a student hostel and of travelling widely across South Asia were enough to incite a strong desire to return. However, it was the interaction with children and young people from disadvantaged communities in and around the Vishwavidyalaya area of Delhi that has given my return a real sense of purpose.

In February 2012 I will return to Asia to undertake two separate, yet related projects: first with a community-development project in rural India, and secondly at an NGO in Mongolia. After briefly overlapping with the 1^st XI cricket tour of north India, I will head west to begin a three-month voluntary placement with the Education programme of Seva Mandir – a non-profit organisation working in southern Rajasthan. Access to education is a major development challenge for poor and marginalised communities in rural India: in southern Rajasthan, one third of children aged 6-14 are out of school. I will be working for the Action Research programme, evaluating the success of past interventions and developing viable solutions to ensure education for out-of-school children and empower young people to become responsible citizens and agents for change.

Having completed my work with Seva Mandir, I hope to travel through Nepal and across China, in order to reach Ulan Bator, Mongolia, by late June. There I will be volunteering with Project Mongolia – a programme initiated and run by students from the University of Edinburgh – that works alongside the Children and Young People’s Protection and Development (CYPPD). CYPPD is a local NGO that aims to assist and support vulnerable individuals, tackling issues of homelessness, extreme poverty, child labour, exploitation and abuse, by offering good quality education as a tool to break the vicious cycle of poverty in Mongolia’s capital.

Project Mongolia has liaised closely with CYPPD to establish a month-long summer camp – Camp Tsoglog – in order to give 120 children the chance to escape the harsh realities of their daily lives, and the opportunity to learn, develop and begin to understand their rights as children and citizens. CYPPD places great emphasis on providing the opportunity to engage in positive activities, as crucial to children’s mental wellbeing and development. Therefore, whilst offering educational classes and raising awareness about critical issues, such as human trafficking, child labour, sexual exploitation and child rights, Camp Tsoglog also affords children the time to explore their creativity, through sport, music, drama and arts. CYPPD has been developing its ideas and consulting previous volunteers, to create a programme that is hugely beneficial not only to disadvantaged Mongolian children, but also to the organisation itself.

As part of Project Mongolia, I am helping to raise £9000, which will cover all the expenses of 120 children at the summer camp, as well as providing essential hygiene materials, medical supplies and educational equipment for CYPPD. CYPPD has benefitted hugely from its partnership with Project Mongolia, and any support for our fundraising effort will have an enormous impact on the lives of children and young people in Ulan Bator. Donations for this project can be made at: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/ProjectMongoliaSummerCamp.

For more information about any aspect of either of the projects that I will be involved in, please do not hesitate to contact me at: benthurman88@hotmail.com.

Your help and generosity is greatly appreciated.