The project
Elise and Valentina’s Live Your Dream project will take them to Hong Kong, where they will volunteer with the Sunnyside Club, an NGO supporting children with physical and intellectual disabilities. Their work will include helping at specialised schools and taking part in Sunnyside’s coastal boat outings, which give children opportunities to experience greater inclusion, independence and a sense of community.
Education is particularly important to both students. Elise has previously visited Tanzania, where she saw how a lack of resources can affect children’s access to education, while Valentina travelled to Morocco and continues to support Education For All, which helps girls from remote communities access secondary education. Both also volunteer for an hour each week with Early Years students at school. For Elise, teaching is also something she hopes to pursue in the future, following several generations of teachers in her family.
Working with Sunnyside therefore closely reflects their existing interests in education and inequality, while challenging them to work with children with needs they have not encountered before and within a very different cultural setting.
During their time in Hong Kong, Elise and Valentina will also collaborate with Branches of Hope, an organisation working with refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable communities. This connects strongly with their shared interest in human rights and activism. Both are active in Model United Nations, where they have explored issues including gender-based violence, refugee rights and the challenges faced by displaced communities.
Together, these experiences will allow Elise and Valentina to turn issues they have previously explored through school, travel and volunteering into meaningful action, while challenging themselves in an entirely new environment.
Education is particularly important to both students. Elise has previously visited Tanzania, where she saw how a lack of resources can affect children’s access to education, while Valentina travelled to Morocco and continues to support Education For All, which helps girls from remote communities access secondary education. Both also volunteer for an hour each week with Early Years students at school. For Elise, teaching is also something she hopes to pursue in the future, following several generations of teachers in her family.
Working with Sunnyside therefore closely reflects their existing interests in education and inequality, while challenging them to work with children with needs they have not encountered before and within a very different cultural setting.
During their time in Hong Kong, Elise and Valentina will also collaborate with Branches of Hope, an organisation working with refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable communities. This connects strongly with their shared interest in human rights and activism. Both are active in Model United Nations, where they have explored issues including gender-based violence, refugee rights and the challenges faced by displaced communities.
Together, these experiences will allow Elise and Valentina to turn issues they have previously explored through school, travel and volunteering into meaningful action, while challenging themselves in an entirely new environment.
the reflection
We’ve been lucky enough to work with two incredible organisations. At Branches of Hope, we learnt about the STOP and ROAD programmes, which support refugees and asylum seekers. We also spent time with Sunnyside Club, where we saw the importance of making education more accessible for people with disabilities.
We’ve learnt so much from everyone we’ve met and are so grateful to have been part of these projects.
These weeks have been full of unforgettable moments, from a cockroach infestation, to our very questionable Cantonese.
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