Finally, it's beginning!

Hello there! This is my first blog in hopefully a series of online diaries about my gap year. I am off to Malawi in January 2013 for six months to work at a community placement in a rural village along Lake Malawi. Malawi is known as 'The Warm Heart of Africa' but unfortunately it still suffers as an impoverished third world country. My host organisation Lattitude Global Volunteering (www.lattitude.org.uk) calls it 'the most challenging of all of our placements'. Bring it on! I will be working with the homeless, elderly, sick and disabled. I hope also to have some environmental work thrown in there too to satisfy the treehugger inside me...well, she's blatantly obvious! I cannot wait. Everything has been building up to this! All of the stress and strain of the leaving cert (the word 'study' still makes my heart jump) was all worth it now that I have my college place secured for 2013 (Primary Education in NUI Maynooth) and I'm finally going to make my dream of volunteering abroad a reality.

   I don't know whether I'm doing this whole blog thing late or not, with less than four months to go but better late than never. So I've been preparing for Malawi like a mad thing in relation to visas, insurance, supplies, travel shots, garda vetting and much more....it wears you out! Gap years are much bigger in the UK than in Ireland so it seems they have it a little easier with getting all of this stuff ready but sure, it's a challenge! I'll need to get used to those. Getting things done is much harder than I thought it would be. I mean, I never expected my doctor to look at me like I had two heads when I told him I was off to Malawi. What's the big surprise!?? You'd think some people thought Africa was a different planet, the way they go on!

   It's strange, lately everyone has been saying how brave I am, how dedicated I must be, how I'm so mature. Honestly, I don't get it. All I've ever wanted to do was to take a gap year and volunteer abroad. Now that it's happening I'm just going with it, not really thinking about what kind of person it makes me. I guess you never really understand your own personality, you just...have it. It is only fourteen weeks away, so I guess it's only really hitting those around me, and myself, where I will be and why. It's all these thoughts which fill up the last remaining space in my already too cluttered head as I get ready to embark on this adventure. It will be difficult, it will be challenging but I've never seen it any other way. I want it that way. I want a reality check. A step outside my comfort zone. A slap in the face about what is going on in our world today, really. Helping people who have never had the opportunities I have been lucky enough to have would be nice too!  So when people tell me how wonderful a thing I'm doing, I'm taken aback. It never crossed my mind to do this for recognition, for praise. I'm doing this to bring at least one smile, one ounce of relief, one less pressure to those I will be working, living and sharing with. That's my goal. If, by the end of July 2013 I feel I have achieved this, then I'll be a happy lady! I mean, isn't it our duty to help out? After the luck I've experienced in life, I know that I owe back.

   In regards to fund-raising my only one has been my eighteenth birthday party, which was in June, where I got every guest to donate a fiver on arrival. I wanted the donation to be my present but of course my amazing, unmatched friends went and got me a Lady Gaga ticket for September 15th (6 days ago now....one of the most incredible nights of my life. A memory I will never forget!). Holidays and fund-raising for my local venture scout troop took up most of my time between then and the end of August but I painted and wallpapered the family home, which my Mom paid me for so that was my deposit due in August covered! I'm working full time now, organising fund-raisers through to Christmas and really getting into it all! All of my friends and family have been so supportive and kind, I just know I will get there. My next fund-raiser is a waxing legs party on Saturday 29th (thank you to my hairy male friends for this painful one!) and a wine & cheese evening in October. Not to mention all of the corporate sponsorship letters I have sent out which will hopefully result in success. There are many more to come. Another three months of my events to come, taking yo moneey <3 (I have a t shirt and a bazillion posters now! WOO!)

    I just know the majority of my friends and especially my brother will think I'm a right sap writing this but I want to speak the truth, yo! Plus if I'm going to manage out there without all of you I want to at least be able to share my experiences with you as much as possible, and with the greatest amount of honesty. Plus keeping a blog from now through to the end will help my Mom. She's the one who is finding this the hardest to come to terms with at the mo! I am the baby! Also it'll be a place to talk about fund-raisers, give mention to donations I get and discuss issues that come up.

   At the beginning I was put down a bit for my choice to volunteer abroad with college fees, the recession and financial issues all playing on people's minds. It all made sense, how could it not? It was difficult though, when it seemed that no one understood why or how. I think that now people are coming to realise that I really am very passionate about this and that I am determined to get there through hard work, patience and determination. I'd just like to say thank you real quick to everyone who has advised, helped and supported me thus far, especially my parents and close friends. I would never have been able to make decisions, meet deadlines and face facts if it weren't for you guys. Also to the awesome people at Lattitude for answering questions, sending me endless information packs and for having these projects in the first place!

  Thanks for reading :) xoxox