To celebrate Quest4Change's five years in operation as a charity, we offered everyone the chance to apply for a bursary, worth £1000, towards the costs of a summer project with Quest Overseas.
We had an amazing response, which made it very difficult indeed both to make the shortlist and then the final decision. But in the end we got there, with our bursary award going to...
Shiron managed to demonstrate a real passion and love for his chosen project, Villa Maria Children's Project in Peru, and given a great deal of thought to the impact of such an experience, not only for himself, but for the communities he would be working with. We also wanted to find people who would go on having a positive impact long after the summer, by spreading the word about their experience, and also by broadening their own involvement in community development at home.
And here in his own words...
We had an amazing response, which made it very difficult indeed both to make the shortlist and then the final decision. But in the end we got there, with our bursary award going to...
Shiron Rajendran!!
Shiron managed to demonstrate a real passion and love for his chosen project, Villa Maria Children's Project in Peru, and given a great deal of thought to the impact of such an experience, not only for himself, but for the communities he would be working with. We also wanted to find people who would go on having a positive impact long after the summer, by spreading the word about their experience, and also by broadening their own involvement in community development at home.
And here in his own words...
"Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. So let me set the scene; the kind people over at Quest were offering a travel bursary of a £1000 towards one of their trips and immediately I was drawn into their Peru building project. Also this would also provide an optimum opportunity to practice my Spanish whilst making a direct impact on the lives of the impoverished Peruvian families. So I was invited to an interview, and then was short listed to the last four.
At this point I was rather surprised that I had got this far, considering I was the younger applicant. But nevertheless Simon from Quest4Change had a phone interview with me regarding the trip and the reasons behind me choosing such a trip. There were many a reasons but I feel the primary reason that I chose Quest was because unlike the majority of other international projects, Quest does not just storm into a country and attempt to fix all the problems in the process patronising and providing false hope to the people.
To the question: imagine you are standing outside Villa Maria, and you open your eyes, how would you feel? At this point, my phone went dead and I had to scavenge to phone to borrow, my luck. Well my response, apart from the overwhelming heat and humidity of Peru, the congregations of shacks which occupy the hills representative of the poverty-stricken conditions which these Peruvian families are subject to through no fault of their own.
So onto some brief details about the project: over the duration of our stay alongside Quest and other volunteers we shall be building wooden house and sanitation systems to replace the plastic shacks that currently accommodate the Peruvian families. Alongside this we will be entertaining the children with I'm told 50 a-side football games and acting out plays.
I cannot wait to live this fantastical summer experience, and would like to thank everyone in advance, especially Quest4Change for believing in and supporting me. I will be writing a blog when and where I can during the trip, with many photos.
In the meantime continue spreading the word and donating at https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/shironrajendran
Thanks, Shiron!"
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