As of August 2015 I will be setting off to spend 12 months working voluntarily in a Peruvian orphanage as part of Project Trust.

Project Trust (PT) is an educational charity (no. SC025668) that annually sends around 300 17-19 year olds to voluntary projects in Africa, Asia or South America to work for either 8 or 12 months. PT aims to educate young people about their position in the world; encourage them to become active global citizens and to allow them to help the developing world in a safe and accessible manner.

I was selected this summer with Peru, Honduras and Chile as my three country choices. However, it is very unlikely that my second or third choice is where I will be sent, and for fundraising purposes I have to talk about my first choice, Peru. All projects in Peru are based in orphanages so are social care projects. My work there will involve some English teaching, music and arts teaching, cooking, cleaning, the setting up of extra curricular activities and secondary projects, help with their school work and the role of 'big sister' and friend to all the children there. I also hope to make a massive improvement to my knowledge of Spanish and to pick up some of the local language, Quechua.

As you can imagine the cost of 12 months abroad is not cheap, so it is asked that each volunteer raises £5,900. This money will allow PT to send me overseas with adequate support and to keep the charity running. PT is a non-profitable charity so relies heavily on donations.

Any donation you feel you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Find me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/avagornellpt

Project Trust: www.projecttrust.org.uk