My son turns 18 tomorrow ( 😯 ) and whilst this is a happy occasion he’s had a rough few weeks. Unfortunately he was discharged from the army on medical grounds last week after it being all he’s wanted to do for the last few years. He may want to try again in a few years but in the meantime he wants to do something worthwhile which would allow him to travel and as he has some savings behind him he is interested in doing unpaid work for a charity in some far flung corner of the world for up to a year while he decides on his next move.
He’s already been to Namibia in his last year at school with an organisation called world challenge but I was interested to hear of others experiences.

Ta

My wife did VSO for a year in 97/98, lots of work being done in post-communist Eastern Europe at the time – she was meant to go to Albania but they started a revolution just before she was due to go, so she spent a year in Ekaterinberg on the edge of Siberia, living her dream of working with disabled kids and discovering that she preferred child protection for when she got home! :roll:.

She may be able to offer tips if required – not very exotic I know.

Hope he finds what he wants though

Cathod do good work if you cannt get into vso, they wouldn’t have me so i went independently to costa rica to work in gandoca doing tefl. A fantastic life experience that was worth every penny.

Cheers MCTD. We have looked at VSO but they seem to want people with a minimum of two years professional experience. Other than his basic military training he doesn’t really have a trade or skill at the moment.

Will look a Cathod. Red Cross is an option too…

Thats a shame about army is it something that he can overcome with time ?

He has some scar tissue in a very delicate area, the result of an injury that we think he sustained while training to get in. He’s had one lot of surgery but it seems to be taking a while to heal and seems to flare up after intense physical activity. The result is that he won’t be able to graduate from the army college by March but if he recovers in say a year or so he can join as an adult.

We’ve been out to South Africa twice with goodwill and growth for Africa (GAGA). They work with a variety of groups in kwa Zulu natal about half hour out of Pietermaritzburg. Look them up at http://www.gaga-uk.org/ then give them a ring and ask for Charlie Homer. He’s a great lad with a huge amount of experience in operating in South Africa.

Scarring in his private parts worsened by physical activity?

Might I suggest doing physical voluntary activity in a hot sweaty country is not conducive to healing your nutsack etc. If it’s teaching in a school then it’s a good idea, if it’s helping to build infrastructure in Borneo…then no.

These guys are pretty reputable by the way, they cater towards gap year students.

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Tom. He’s anticipating that it’s going to be a few months before he gets the all clear to go and do something like this. I just need to give him something positive to focus on at the moment. Cheers for the suggestions all.

she spent a year in Ekaterinberg on the edge of Siberia, living her dream of working with disabled kids and discovering that she preferred child protection for when she got home!

Did she work with, or was she at the time, a Scouse bloke?