Packing List

So here is an insight to all the supplies I'm packing for my very first trip to Burkina Faso!

From clothing to presents, and toiletries to medication; hope this gives you an idea of what were taking out there for maybe future volunteers and travelers!

Bearing in mind, I have these items multiple times for my journey across 3 months, and have insurance for my own electronics and expensive equipment.

Any questions, feel free to ask!

First steps

So, only a matter of weeks from the end of January I was to complete a few steps to start off my volunteering at home before my project overseas. I had to fundraise a least £800. It was very hard at first, getting time off work, committing all my free time to the activities that I had planned. 

I think everyone has a guilty pleasure for cakes, cookies and desserts altogether! Muffins however, were something i wanted to bake for a long time, so now was my chance...

Chocolate chip muffins

 with chocolate ganache surprise in the center

Blueberry muffins topped with oaty cinnamon streusel 

Sugar free apricot muffins with oaty streusel

So these took an amazing hit in Doncaster, with friends, work, families, family’s workplaces and also all my grandparents with sugar free and vegan specialties baked if requested! They also kept selling for weeks, more requests each day, so I then parcelled them all up with a thank you tag to each customer :)

I also did some bucket fundraising at Iceland supermarkets and in a few pubs around Doncaster Town Centre whilst the races were on! Raised about £100 altogether through that with the help of my boyfriend to come round with me haha. Put on a car boot with the help of my dad also, sold a lot of junk from my younger years and also promoted the charity with my fundraising bucket! 

As weeks were speeding up and my deadline was fast approaching, I started to talk to a few friends at Cask Corner Dive Bar, a favourite bar of mine and is quite famous in my hometown! They offered to help as much as they could and accepted my offer to put on an all-day fundraising gig! 

The outcome was incredible!! So happy with everyone who took part, awesome people that anyone would be glad to meet here. Julie Buckley, the owner is an amazing woman and helped out so much as a friend, can't thank everyone enough, but to remind them all of their hard work, they helped me to raise: £392.00!! Here are some photos of the event, taken by my lovely friend, Alison Prioult:

Please bear in mind, all my fundraising donations do not directly pay for my placement, flights, visas or vaccinations. It all contributes to the ICS programme so that thousands of young people like me from the UK and overseas can volunteer on projects in the developing world and fight poverty.

International Service; Tigoung Nonma

Just beginning of this March was my pre-departure training for my charity project with International Service. All team members had to attend from all over the UK and meet each other for the first time in York! It was very exciting to meet everyone and also nerve racking for me as I'm quite a shy person. None of us knew our exact placements in Burkina Faso as of yet, so the tension was pretty high at first, in a single room, all 26 of us were in. Where we were then grouped with our official team members on placement and presented with documents explaining more about our project.

I am pleased to announce I will be volunteering in Burkina Faso, in the city of Ouagadougou with our project partner called Tigoung Nonma, a cooperative of physically disabled artisans.  The artisans use natural materials along with a wide variety of recycled products. They work to limit the damage to their environment and thus contribute to the fight against climate change. 

10% of the population who have a physical disability is due to the vast majority of people who contracted Polio disease, which can leave sufferers paralysed in some ways. All disabled people are faced with barriers of employment and equal opportunities such as education, accessibility and discrimination.

Project outcomes:

Our short term aims include:

• Help provide economic independence
• Promote rights of people with a disability
• Increase Tigoung Nonma sales
• Promote their products more locally and online
• Improve and teach English and IT skills

Their Long term outcomes include:

• Their income is increased and structure expanded
• Existing partnerships are nourished and continue to develop
• They become more independent

I hope this unravels some of your 'thousand questions' to what I will be doing out there more specifically. I can't tell you how privileged I am to be chosen on this ICS charity scheme and what it will do to me as a person experiencing change, culture, development and accomplishment. 

I do realise the work will be very hard and challenging and it won't be anything like home, but y'know, this isn't a holiday. These disabled people are among the most vulnerable and marginalised people in the world. They have less access to education, to health, to economy, to a job and to decision making.