94 days to Africa

It is 94 days until I go on my big adventure. For every little thing that I do leading up to my departure it feels more and more real. From sending away Visas, to booking appointments for vaccinations (ouch)and for buying my first proper backpack! I don't think anyone has ever been this excited about getting a new backpack as me. But it is not only buying a backpack for me, it is a step on the way for doing something I have been dreaming about a long time.

When I was younger I really wanted to volunteer, but it was so expensive and I never really got around to look into it properly. It was not until the beginning of this year that it popped into my mind again. Stuart and I were planning on going to America to work at a summercamp, Stuart got in but I didn't. I got quite disappointed but after a few days I realised that I could still go off and do something, something I had always wanted to do, volunteer work. Some off my collegues had travelled with STA before and recomended it to me, so I stepped into their office on George Street and started planning. First I needed to decide where in the world I wanted to go, and to decide that is pretty freaking hard since there is so many interesting and beautiful places to go. But I had always had Africa in mind so for me to decide my destination wasn't as hard as you would expect it to be.

It took a little while to get everything right with the program, due to them having to cancel the program I first wanted to do they offered me another one, which sounded even better. 

The program I will be doing is the East Africa Kenya and Tanzania. Since I had no idea what projects I wanted to work with this one is perfect, it is called "Do it all". I will work with wildlife/marine conservation and community and environment projects, I am eager to learn and to be a part of making the world a better place for everyone so I really can't wait! Reading about where the projects are located I can only imagine how stunning the scenary will be.

"Projects are located in the Taru Desert near Tsavo National Parks, around the foothills of the amazinf Kilimanjaro and a gorgeous beach camp on the Indian Ocean coastline of Tanzania."

I have saved up a lot to do this and some people ask me "So you are going to go to Africa to work for free?", "So you pay a lot of money to do this?". And for those two questions I will answer yes and yes. Volunteer work means "To do charitable or helpful work with no pay". People might wonder why it is so expensive to volunteer work and that is because it cost to run a project, you provide for the materials and training needed. There is also a cost to host volunteers, including accomodation, meals, staff to administer your activities and staff to run the programmes. 

The projects are a non-profit organisation that need financial support to keep going, so with the fee you are paying you are also donating money. And what better reward is there than to actually go there and work with the project that you have donated the money to?

I am planning to write more about everything leading up to my journey. Being in Africa I know I will have very limited access to internet, so I will go oldschool and keep a journal. I will try my best to post something on my blogg every once in a while so I can let you come along on my journey in Africa.

Much Love, Elin