Hi

After much deliberation over what to call my gap year blog I have decided on ‘my online notebook’ I hope you approve! The short list included: Musings of a political activist (which I thought might give too high an expectation for my posts), Perks of a gap year and Amy Fortnam and the African Adventure (note my love of Harry Potter inspired this).

Anyway HI!

Context: On February 18th I fly to Cape Town, South Africa to spend 16 weeks volunteering at Projects Abroad Human Rights Law Firm. I will be spending Monday – Friday in their Social Justice department, helping run workshops to support 9 independent charities. During my stay I will be living with a host family and hope to find out more about them come January. Then at the end of the 16 weeks my family will reunite for a holiday travelling around South Africa. CAN’T WAIT!

Update: My gap year technically started in September, when for the first time instead of splurging on new stationary and buying new shoes for the start of a new school year, I had independence to decide how I spend my days. This was an uncomfortable adjustment for me, as many of you know I am a self-confessed control freak and depend on structure. So I have slowly but surely imposed my own structure and now spend my time doing the following: working for a family who live around the corner as a carer for their 3 children. This is a brilliantly challenging way to earn money, I really enjoy it. I also do half a day a week at Knowle Parish Church doing admin and social media communications for the Youth Team, which is quite a contrast I appreciate. Additionally I am continuing to work for SoLO the disability charity I have been involved with for the last three years.

Also I am doing some research with Christians in Politics, helping them with their Youth Engagement Project. I am part of a team of young Christians who are already active in politics and are keen to encourage others to show up and get stuck in. Also I am planning and running a 10 week enrichment programme for Alderbrook Sixth Form with my local Amnesty Group. There are 10 sessions that will take place on a Wednesday afternoon starting in January.

So I am keeping busy.

Fundraising: Thank you SO much to everyone who came to my quiz night in September, really appreciate your donations as well as your patience with a challenging set of questions! Am planning another event for early January, a drop in cake and hot chocolate afternoon, details to follow.

What’s next? (West Wing fans appreciate) Well this month I am attending 3 conferences (Christians in Politics, SHOW UP NORTH, Regional and Local Liberal Democrat AGM’s) and continuing with all the projects I mentioned earlier and counting down the days till I am walking in the sunshine rather than wrapping up against the cold.

Prayer requests: (For those of you who pray would love you to be asking for these things)

• Energy levels!
• ‘In the moment mind-set’ although it is exciting to count days I also want to appreciate all the fantastic things I am part of now, seeing this as a whole year of opportunities not just 4 months in South Africa.

Thank you for making it to the end of my very first blog post.