Student’s trip of a lifetime!
19/04/2010
Rhana is looking forward to her African adventure!
Central Sussex College student and long-time girl-guide, Rhana Nicholson, will be volunteering at a charity in South Africa this summer, after being selected as one of the one-hundred-strong group, to represent the South East.
After arranging a whole host of fundraising activities, and having received some generous donations from the local community, the seventeen-year-old, who lives in Haywards Heath, and studies at the College's Sixth Form Haywards Heath campus has successfully raised over £2,150 towards the £2,500 needed to fund the trip, and is now looking forward to jetting off to the South African province of Kwa Zulu-Natal, to undertake a two week voluntary post at local charitable trust, God's Golden Acre.
The centre, which is dedicated to caring for children who have been orphaned by HIV and AIDS-related illness and violence, aims to keep children in their community setting rather than families being forced to put children in orphanages. Whilst there, Rhana and the other Guides will be teaching English to the children aged between two and fifteen, getting involved in food drops to remote villages in the area, and assisting with the construction of a purpose-built village, which will provide a home for the poorest local families, and has become known as the 'Houses of Hope'.
Rhana was chosen to take part in the project at a regional selection day, where guides aged between 14 and 18 were put through a series of physical and mental challenges to asses their suitability for the project which is not for the faint-hearted! On being chosen, it was down to her to raise the money in order to fund her trip, which she has been doing through a variety of innovative activities and donations from the local community.
Not only has Rhana spent the last six months organising tombolas, raffles and cake-sales for fellow students at the College, she has also drummed up support from the people of Haywards Heath by carol singing, running information stalls in the town, and writing to local businesses including the Town Council and the Haywards Heath Lions Club, who both made generous donations.
In what was by far the most physically demanding part of her fundraising effort, Rhana and a friend embarked on a sponsored walk, this February, which saw them walk the entire coastline of the Isle of Wight, embarking on gruelling 27 kilometre walks every day for five consecutive days! Rhana believes that the hard work involved in fundraising will add to the overall experience, saying "This is definitely going to be a trip that changes my life, and after fundraising since November, I am very much looking forward to getting out there and working with the children. It's a fantastic opportunity, and I am very grateful to everyone who had supported me to make it possible."
2010 will see a number of events and activities taking place around the world, to mark the centenary of the girl-guide movement, which remains popular amongst girls and young women, since it's creation in 1910. To learn more about the celebrations taking part to make one hundred years of GirlGuiding, visit www.girlguiding100years.org.uk/
