Thursday, September 6, 2012

From park life to rainforests Trusted article source icon

SWAPPING the familiarity of a park in Hull with the Borneo rainforest seems a daunting mission.
The streets of Hull are a far cry from the palm oil plantations of the third largest island in the world.
But for one East Park ranger Malaysian Borneo will become home for 12 months.

Emma Shilling is travelling to Indonesia with her friend Alice Young to teach English and other subjects to children who do not have access to proper education.

The pair, both of Pearson Park, west Hull, who met at university nine years ago, are giving up their careers to fulfil a "lifelong dream".

Emma, 27, said: "I have been wanting to take park in a project in a third world country for a long time.
"The opportunity to make a real difference to children's lives is something neither me nor Alice wanted to turn down."

"I have been travelling a number of times but have never taken on a project like this before so it is really exciting. I can't wait to get started."

Alice has given up her job as a vaccine account manager at a pharmaceutical company in Hull to accompany Emma.

"I have always wanted to do something like this," said the 27-year-old.

"I don't want to look back on my life when I am older and regret missing out on a trip of a lifetime that could offer such great experience.

"The exciting thing about this trip is we will be completely immersed in a single community which is something I have never experienced."

The Leeds University graduates have been asked to take part in the project by volunteer opportunities agency Ecoteer and fly to Borneo via Kuala Lumpur on October 5.

As qualified Teaching English as a Foreign Language teachers they will be working the Borneo Child Aids Society (BCAS).

They will be living in Sabah and teaching English, maths, science, art and environmental studies to children aged 5 to 19 years old who are not entitled to government education.

Ecoteer, which works with one of the 122 BCAS Palm Oil plantation schools, have also asked Emma and Alice to expand to more sites.

They will be the first English volunteer teachers at an oil plantation near Lahad Datu and over the course of the year will be seeking more English speaking volunteers to join them.

Now, they are appealing for support from local companies to provide teaching materials.

Source: This is Hull and East riding

1 comments:

Peter Sabahan said...

memandangkan mereka sangat memerlukan sokongan dalam banyak perkara bagi melaksanakan tugas murni mereka, saya rasa eloklah kerajaan juga tampil memberikan sumbangan untuk sukarelawan ini..

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