World Youth Millenium Awards

World Youth Millenium Awards

by Laura

With the support of the Colin Graham Challenge fund I was able to take part in the Prince's Trust and VSO, World Youth Millennium Awards. The programme throws together a diverse team of 17-25 year olds from across the UK to take part in a cross-cultural exchange. Each UK participant is partnered with a counterpart from the exchange country. As counterpart pairs, participants live with local host families and volunteer in community placements for three months in a community in the UK and for three months in the exchange country.

Our team was based near the City of Derry in Northern Ireland and then in the central region in Ghana, West Africa. My counterpart was Michael, a 22 year old male who was skilled with computers, enjoyed football and loved US rap music!

Together we worked in a day care centre for adults with learning disabilities. For both of us it was a challenge to learn how to interact with people whose moods changed quickly and who required constant support in activities. I feel that this experience has enlightened my attitude to people with learning disabilities, and I have a huge respect for their carers. As a team we were involved in educating the UK community about Africa and more specifically Ghana. For the Ghanaians, this was a chance to share their culture through music, artefacts and dance. This global education aspect of the programme was particularly important as we reached people in the wider community who may not have thought about Africa previously.

In Ghana we worked on a rural Salvation Army clinic, where we were involved with the community outreach team, to provide epileptics with medication and to offer consultation and rehabilitation to physically disabled people. At first it was difficult to see how we could be of practical benefit without formal qualifications or medical knowledge. However, it became apparent that our efforts were best focused on raising the profile of the work of the clinic and also to challenge attitudes towards disabled people. I am particularly proud of organising a forum on disability in conjunction with the Ghana Education Board with the aim of encouraging teachers to tackle such issues.

Participating in the programme was a challenge, particularly learning to work with a range of personalities, however I recognise the confidence and skills that I have built upon. My eyes have been opened to issues surrounding development and globalisation and I hope to continue raising awareness of these here in the UK.