Project Trust

"Project Trust (PT) is one of the longest established Gap Year organizations in the UK. It is based at The Hebridean Centre on the Isle of Coll off the North West coast of Scotland where prospective and returning volunteers are required to attend residential selection, training and de-briefing weeks intended for suitability, preparation and dealing with culture shock.

Project Trust was founded in 1967 as an educational charity on the Hebridean Isle of Coll in North West Scotland. Since then we have sent over 5,500 volunteers overseas. Project Trust sends about two hundred volunteers to twenty-five countries annually and is widely respected as one of the most experienced and professional gap year organisations in Britain.Our main philosophy is to provide young people with an opportunity to understand a community overseas by immersing themselves in it; living and working there for a year. All our projects are vetted for their suitability for volunteers, and none deprive local people of work. We have the expertise and the infrastructure to ensure all volunteers are given a challenging and exciting opportunity to develop themselves, and all the support available to them when they need it.

Most of our staff are based here on Coll, in a well-equipped modern office, and this is where the majority of our administration takes place. Most of the staff are Project Trust Returned Volunteers, and are desk officers, i.e. responsible for the volunteers in one or more countries in our programme. As a volunteer, you will remain in close contact with your desk officer throughout your year. In addition, we have a small office in central London, and an extensive network of overseas contacts, all working together to give unrivalled support to our volunteers.

Over five thousand volunteers have spent time abroad with Project, every one of them returning with unique and valuable experiences. What have they to say about their year?"

Jeremy Astill-Brown (Diplomatic Service) "Saved from a life of accountancy by enforced broadening of horizons. Cash poor, but experience rich. Profound effect on my outlook on life."

Dr Jeremy Bezant (Banker) "I really believe it had a dramatic effect on my life. Everything I have done since then has been from a different perspective."

Emily Adams-Dale (Political Risks Insurance Banker) "My year with Project began the process of realising that most people work differently and with different goals than to in the UK."

Alex Jacobs (Emergencies Accountant with OXFAM) "I fell into PT by accident. That accident opened my eyes to the world outside North Oxford. Now that my eyes have been opened, I have chosen to leave the city and join OXFAM."

Dr James Mair (Medical Doctor, Slough) "It changed my life completely: BEFORE: Planned to do Public Relations DURING: Ended up working with doctors in Africa AFTER: Dropped my university course three days before it started, got a bar job, went back to college part time to do chemistry and biology for a year. Got an offer from only one medical school. Talked of nothing else but my Project Trust year in the interview . . . got the qualifications . . . now got the job!"

David Young (Charity Education Officer) "It changed my life completely forever. I have never returned to being ‘normal’ - whatever that means."

Anna Wright (Communications Officer for UNICEF) "...has defined my career path ever since."

Revd Dr Jo Bailey Wells (Dean of Clare College, Cambridge) "It gave me a concern for world poverty, vision for Christian ministry and a love of working with other cultures."

Julian Todd (Contracts Manager) "It gave me the confidence of knowing how to build a mud hut...and kill chickens."

History

Founded in 1967 it has provided over 5,500 volunteer students with various Gap Year experiences. Project Trust attracts a range of school leavers mostly from the UK, but also from Ireland and the Netherlands. It sends them to over 100 projects around the globe. Projects include include Guyana, China, Japan and many across Africa.

It is a small organization that is unique in that it offers a full year overseas as compared to the more usual six months or so that students tend to take, obviously this is potentially more expensive as it denies the participants the ability to work before leaving, however, most of the projects involve some paid work so participants can live realitively cheaply once there. However Project Trust claims that volunteers do not take away from the local job market and they immerse themselves within the local community.

Projects

Japan

There are three projects available in Japan. The first is based on the Northern Island of Hokkaidō, in the town of Toyako at Lake Toya.　Two volunteers work for the local Board of Education doing a variety of jobs, including working at Elementary schools, Toya High school, the local nursery, the local hospital as well as a variety of adult evening classes. Being a slightly isolated location, it tends to require volunteers who are independent, and capable. Though Hokkaidō offers less opportunities to see more traditional Japanese culture, it has a unique feeling of its own, and the 8 or 9 months of snow offer excellent opportunities to ski or snowboard at resorts such as Niseko and Rusutsu.

The second project is based in Tokyo, working for a local Junior High School. It offers volunteers a variety of opportunities to be involved in Japanese culture.

The final project is based in Kyoto working in special monastery teaching English to monks.

External links

* [http://www.projecttrust.org.uk - Project Trust] - Project Trust's Website, containing further information on projects and how to apply.