Hello from Guyana!

I'm here! We arrived in Guyana on Saturday morning at about 4am after more than 24hours of travelling and two delayed planes. We're currently staying in Georgetown, the capital city, with our rep and her family who have been kind enough to open their house to us.

We went to the zoo the other day where we saw a whole range of animals - it was completely different from a British zoo. There was a manatee who we could only see the nose of, poking out the water.
I've been woken up by both dogs and cats since I've been here, the dogs next door barking and the family cat walking into our room and meowing in our faces - not really a bad alarm clock.

It's nice here in Georgetown, but I can't wait to get down to my project!

I will have internet for the next few days, so will try to keep people updated as much as I can before I have no contact.

Training!

Between the 5th and the 9th of July I was back up on the Isle of Coll for my training for Project Trust with my partner, everyone else going to Guyana, and the group going to Ghana too. It was a wonderful week I met the most amazing people who I can't wait to spend a year with, I also found out more about my project - such as the fact that I will be sleeping in a hammock for a year! Training really helped give me a more indepth knowledge about things that might happen over the next 12 months and what to do, it was also great to get to know everyone I will be involved with - my desk officer, my partner, and the rest of the country group. It just made me 100x more excited to go! (And maybe a little bit more nervous as I'm starting to see it as a reality!).

It was great to see a couple of people from my selection again, one who's going to Guyana and one who is going to Ghana. It was great to talk about what we had been up to since September with fundraising and everything.  I can't believe that I've actually finished fundraising! I've raised all £5,600! Thank you to everyone who helped along the way, it means so much!!!

I also know my leaving date, and as I'm only just writing about training now, its less than 2 weeks away! Friday the 15th August! This means that at the moment I'm sorting out the last of my injections, starting on malaria tablets and making sure I've got everything I need (which hopefully I will have).

I've already been up north and said goodbye to some relatives, but will be seeing many friends in the next week or so and having to say goodbye to them - it's quite strange to do so as it doesn't seem like I'm really going yet...

This is the Guyana lot (there are 27 of us!) plus desk officer Chris in the middle :)

Leaving

So yesterday was my last day of college, and it made me think about leaving. The two years of college went so fast, I feel like I only just started there, and it has made me realise that in about 3 months I will be leaving home and going to live somewhere completely new and different.
I am so excited about going away, but will still miss everyone from home, so I have got a little book in which people can write messages and I can stick photos in to take with me to have a small bit of home with me. I had it at college with me and people wrote the loveliest of things.
It won't be long until I'm heading to Guyana, so I look forward to spending the time I have left in England before I go with friends and family.

I can't believe I'm leaving soon, but I'm sure in a years time I'll feel much the same about leaving Guyana.

I'm very close to my total, not far to go now, so if anyone would like to donate here's my page:
uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CatherineEdwards2

A little bit of information

Recently Project Trust have been finalising everybody's placing, matching partners and choosing projects. In the last couple of days they have been emailing out details of where we are going!

Today I got my email, and I have been placed in Guyana (I know that seems kinda obvious, but there was a chance that it could have been Ghana, as you get given more than one country when selected, as a just in case). Most people in their emails got details of their projects, however I have been placed in a new project which means I don't know the fine details at the moment.

However, I did get a lot of information on Guyana, such as all the injections I'm going to have to get (scary...), and the type of things to bring with me. I also got told that I should be flying out at late August 2014, and returning early to mid August 2015, and more details about training. :D

This makes things a bit more real for me, I'm going to live abroad for a year in about 3 and a half months...!

What a brilliant night!

We had our Ceilidh last night, and it was such an amazing evening! Everyone was dancing and having fun!

I have quite a few thank yous to dish out :)
- Thank you to everyone who came, and danced, bought food, drink and raffle tickets - you made the night!
- Thank you to The Coach House Company who played amazing music, and especially to Colin who's calling was absolutely fantastic! Check out their facebook page:
www.facebook.com/TheCoachHouseCompany
- Thank you to everyone who donated a raffle prize: Louis Farouk, Godfreys, Whites Greengrocers, To Be Established, Organica Pizza, Kobkun Thai Therapy, Seasons and Blossoms, Blackstock Kitchen, La Fromagerie, Diverse Hair, Blighty Coffee, Cinnamon Village and Miss Pem as well as from some very kind friends and family.
- Thank you to everyone who helped us out on the night, from setting up to folding up raffle tickets and everything inbetween!
- Thank you to Will and the Unity Unitarian Church for the use of the hall and facilities!
- Thank you to mine and Corinna's parents who helped us make this happen, making sure we had everything, inviting friends and colleagues, and just being brilliant!
- And last, but by absolutely no means least, thank you Corinna for planning this whole thing with me, and for making it happen together, it's been great fun!

I really hope I haven't forgotten anything/anyone - if so I'm sorry, thank you too!

And now for the total of what we raised on the night, we've spend the day collecting and counting the money and taking away costs, and our grand total is........... £826.35!!!!!!!!
We actually can't believe how much we made, we are just so grateful to everyone who has supported us!

This puts me very close to my total, I've got over £5000, so hopefully I will be there soon.
Thank you all again!

Ceilidh!

Our Ceilidh is on Friday 25th April from 7-10 pm at the Unity Unitarian Church, 277A Upper Street, Islington, N1 2TZ
Tickets are £10, and £8 for under 16s.
To book tickets email us at catherineandcorinnaceilidh@gmail.com
There will be cakes and refreshments, and live music from the Coach House Ceilidh Band! There will be a raffle, with prizes from local businesses.
Invite all of your friends!

Also, I've reached £4,000! Just a little more to go now :D

Save the date!

We have a date for the Ceilidh! It's the 25th of April 2014, it will be at the Unity Unitarian Church in Islington, with the Coach House Company as our band!

More details to come soon, put pencil it in and be ready to buy tickets.

We're very excited, and hope you are too :D

Trusts!

So after sending out some letters to trusts about a week ago, today I recieved a reply from a trust with a cheque for £200! That's amazing! They also included a lovely personal letter which was really nice to read :)

I'm currently sitting in my room addressing envelopes to more trusts, so hopefully soon I'll have more good news!

At the moment me and my friend who is going to Namibia with Project Trust are trying to organise a ceilidh in our local area as a fundraising event. After being told by our previous headteacher we couldn't hold it at our secondary school,  we are off to look at prospective venues and talk to people about what we're planning to do. Hopefully they'll soon be news on that as we are really excited to get it on the way.

After receiving the cheque from the trust, my total is now just over £1700!

I'm going away THIS YEAR!

So it's 2014 now, Happy New Year!
This means that its this year that I'm going away! That's kinda scary...

I've sent off some letters to trusts, had to buy a lot of stamps - they cost quite a bit..
Hopefully I'll have some replies :)

I also had my leaflets printed and they look great! They'll be out at any fundraising events I do.

I made about £90 selling homemade christmas cards and scarves and bags, which was quite impressive as there was hardly anybody at the craft fair I was at.

I have also had a few more donations, including for doing tutoring and odd jobs. So hopefully my total is rising nicely. I'll have an update of my total soon :)