I said that I would update you all once I had been to the meeting in Milton Keynes last weekend.
It was a really good day, and I feel slightly more relaxed about it all now I have met the people I am going with.
We have three main projects that we are going to do when we are In the village. We are going to build a children's playground, and renovate the kitchen and kitchen garden. As well as other general, upkeeping jobs.
The total money raised from our Open Garden the other weekend has reached £550, which is amazing! People in Milton Keynes have also been raising a lot of money and in total we have about £3000 to take out and do all the work planned!
As it has just gone midnight, it now means that I leave for Paraguay in 5 days! I have to get from Birmingham to Heathrow, then it is an 11 hour flight to Brazil, about 3 or 4 hours wait at Sao Paulo, then another flight to Asuncion in Paraguay, where we stop over night, and then a 3 or 4 hour drive to the village. So it will be a long and tiring journey, but it is going to be SO worth it!
The title of this post is one of my favorite quotes and was said by Bono - thought I would get it in there after watching U2 on the tv at Glastonbury earlier!
Hopefully I will see as many of you as possible over the next few days, but if not - have a great summer!
Hello there! This is my first ever attempt at this so...
Two weeks today, I will be at Heathrow airport waiting to get on a plane to Brazil, and then on to Paraguay. I'm excited and terrified at the same time.
Quite a few people have asked me why Paraguay, it seems quite an odd place to want to go. People have heard of people going off to volunteer in Africa or India or even Brazil, but Paraguay isn't really as popular. For me, however, there has never been anywhere else I have wanted to go. I have wanted to go for as long as I can remember, and this is the first time that everything has worked out so that I can go. My God-parents lived in Paraguay for a number of years, and I have grown up watching Operation South America (previously Project Paraguay) become what it is today. I have heard a lot of the stories and have always wanted to go and see it for myself, and do something to help.
While I am there, I will be living with a family who have adopted 19 girls, and who feed about 80 of the local school children on school days. At the moment I am not sure of what projects are in store for us while we are there. I am going to Milton Keynes on Saturday to meet the rest of the team for the first time and find all that out.
Scholarship
I study Early Childhood Studies at the University of Worcester, and in a lecture sometime in October or November I found out about a scholarship scheme that the Uni ran to enable students to take part in different things similar to what I had planned for the summer. I applied, and didn't expect to win one, but I was awarded with an £800 scholarship towards my travel costs. I had worked a lot last summer, and with my savings I had already got the money I needed so it was nice to know that I really didn't need to worry about the cost of getting there.
Because of the Scholarship, I have had an article on the uni website, in the Walsall Chronicle and two in the Express and Star.
Cake Can Change the World - Open Garden!
Last Saturday, my mum and dad put on an open garden. We had a MEGA turnout, even with the rain and not very nice weather. We had a lot of cake and scones, and dad had grown some plants to sell, as well as getting his legendary garden railway out. There was standing room only, at one point we were full inside, and under the gazebo in the garden, we even had people sitting on the stairs!
At the end of the day we had £447.97 in the pot, but over the next few days we were given even more money by people who had not managed to make it on the day. I have lost count now but we have raised over £500!
Nobody can believe it! Me and my mum were expecting at maximum of £200 on a good day (and it really wasn't a very good day weather wise)! I really want to thank anyone who has donated anything to Operation South America (if you are reading this), you really do not understand how much that money is needed and how grateful everyone involved is for it!
Well I hope there is someone out there reading this and you find it a little bit interesting. I'll update again after Saturday when I find out what the plans are for when we are out there! Then after that I will be there! In the mean time, find out more about O.S.A at www.operationsouthamerica.com
and follow me on twitter (my name on it is 'HelenMeriel'), as that is more likely to be updated as I know a bit more what I am doing with it....
Thanks for reading love Helen xx
P.S - While your at it, Check out this video made by Hillsong United and their I Heart Revolution project, I first found it a few years ago, it sums up some of the reasons why I feel like I want to do what I want to do. Its an eye opener and a reality check
