My name is Robbie Kilgallon and I am 15 years old. I have been in care since the age of two. Since then I have lived in 34 different foster placements, before moving to Avocet House 2 years ago. I got to the stage where I felt there was no point unpacking my belongings any more. It’s been hard adjusting to living in a care home with other boys who have difficulties, which I sometimes find hard to deal with as I’m used to living in a family environment. I have had to learn to be more tolerant of others whilst dealing with my own personal issues through life story work.

 

I am a person that likes challenges and setting myself goals that I strive to reach and complete. I have proven from past experiences and opportunities that I always stick at things and don’t give up easily. I am always open to trying new things, I can be a strong leader but I also listen to others opinions and like to support peers. I am more than capable of looking after myself, doing my own laundry and I have excellent cooking skills. I am also very organised and like to take personal responsibility for my own possessions and equipment, I demonstrated this on our Hadrian’s Wall expedition. For this expedition I had to prepare and pack my own equipment and carry it all at times throughout the 7 day walk, this included camping and cooking equipment. This was a great experience because I love to be outside and never found myself getting bored. I enjoyed the challenge of the endurance walk, knowing I had to complete so many miles each day before setting up camp. I have been complimented by many adults at Avocet House as being polite, well mannered and with a friendly manner. I hope I am a good ambassador for Avocet House.

 

I consider myself to be very lucky with the opportunities I’ve been given at Avocet House. I have been an eager and willing participant in several residential ventures including the Hadrians Wall walk which was totally self sufficient, a Wye valley canoe expedition with car support  and a weekend bush craft fair. These type of activities are so important to me that I nominated myself to be a member on our OAA committee, which I have now been part of for the last year. I am happiest when I am doing something or have something to work towards, I totally threw myself into training for the Whole Hog Run, working up to eight mile runs 4-5 times a week. Fitness is really important to me, both gym and endurance fitness, I work hard to improve my level of fitness all the time. I consider myself to be an all round good sportsman and enjoy coaching others, especially in my area of expertise, which is cricket. I would love the opportunity to share some of my skills with new people from a different culture, I think they would love some of my slight of hand magic tricks.

 

I would really like to be part of the Hottest Classroom expedition because I think it would be a totally life changing experience.  I believe having completed such a challenge I would come back a better person, mentally stronger, with more skills and a better understanding of different cultures. I think seeing how the Maasai people live a more simple life with fewer processions could change my views and values about what is really important in life and also make me appreciate what I have rather than what I don’t have. I have also been recently studying about tectonic plates in science and the Great Rift Valley would be a great place to see an example of these geological features.

 

Lastly I think it would be a huge personal challenge for me to walk double the distance I have walked in this country and under much more challenging weather conditions.