(Picture: Mandy McCormick in Ghana with some of the pupils of the school in Ghana where she volunteered.)
A South-Lanarkshire girl has spoken about how grateful she is to have been able to complete a trip to Africa where she did volunteer work.
Thanks to sponsorship from NVT Group, Mandy McCormick (aged 17) was able to join 21 of her classmates on the journey to Ghana, which was organised by Uddingston Grammar School and volunteer travel company, African Adventures. The purpose of the company is to provide educational experiences for people living in the UK, by giving them the opportunity to volunteer at its partner projects in developing areas of Ghana, Kenya and Zanzibar. In turn, this volunteer work provides crucial developmental support for African communities. African Adventures has a charitable arm, African Adventures Foundation, which enables the projects to further develop and grow.
As part of Mandy’s African Adventure, she was able to give lessons at a local school, took part in the school’s sports day with 400 children and even helped to make the building blocks of a new IT suite for the school.
NVT Group was also able to donate some T-Shirts, which Mandy happily transported to the school and, which you can see, the pupils were happy to try on for these great photographs.
“It was such an incredible experience,” said Mandy on her return. “Our group travelled to a small fishing village called Woe, which is in the Volta region of Ghana. We were able to take lots of supplies and donations with us, all of which were gratefully received. During the trip we got to teach in the classroom, which was challenging but also lots of fun. It was also great to help with the building of the new computer centre.”
Stephen Park Brown, Managing Director of NVT Group said: “It’s been our uttermost pleasure to support Mandy so that she could get involved in such a worthwhile trip. It’s very fitting that Mandy got to be involved in making the very bricks which will form the foundations for a new technology suite at the village school.”
Mandy added: “I would like to thank the people at NVT Group for their very generous sponsorship which allowed me to have this experience of a lifetime. I would recommend doing this kind of trip to anyone. I have learned so much and I will have memories to treasure forever.”
