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Dan's profile

• Age: 19
• Gender: Male
• Home: Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
• Zodiac: Capricorn
• At Fuzzy Travel since: December, 2007

About me

My name is Dan, and let's clear this up now...I am 6'4" tall (though feel free to be the 124,587th person to ask my height in person if you so wish...) Until June I was at Emmanuel College in Gateshead preparing for my A Levels, which are now, happily, all done with! I am currently taking a gap year before I go to uni to study medicine. At the moment I'm working full time at the QE hospital in Gateshead, trying my hand at nearly every job that's going, but learning lots and having a great time! Outside of my ambition to become a doctor, my big passion is music, and underpinning everything I do is my faith in God. I'm really excited that God has given me this opportunity to spend 6 months serving Him in the world Church, doing what I love. Read on...

About my trip

Although I'm not going out for another couple of months, the process for me actually started about a year ago, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about what's been going on so far that has led to this amazing opportunity for me...

For a long time now I have felt a pull towards spending some time volunteering in the world Church, and this was really the main reason for me taking a gap year before going to uni. I know that I would probably have been, in some ways, more useful if I'd waited to respond to this calling until after I had my medical degree, but I felt very definitely that God was saying to grasp the opportunity now, as basically, I haven't got a clue what my situation will be in 6 years once I finally graduate!

The programme which I'm going out with is called the Experience Exchange Programme (so called because it is hoped that in volunteering abroad, people will both pass on their experience and expertise and also learn new things from the culture in which they are working). It is run jointly by USPG, which is one of the Anglican Church Mission Agencies, and the Methodist Church, and it offers volunteers from Britain and Ireland an opportunity to spend between six months and a year experiencing a different culture and sharing in the life of the church overseas.

It was over a year ago that I initially enquired about the Experience Exchange Programme (EEP). The first step was to attend an Exploration Weekend which took place back in February in Birmingham. This was effectively a two night retreat with around 10 other people of all different ages and backgrounds all considering whether some time spend working in the Church abroad was the right thing for them. There was lots of time for self examination, Bible study, meditation, prayer and worship, alongside hearing the experiences of past EEP volunteers and discussing the next steps for us. The focus was completely on discerning what God's will was for each of us there, which felt so right to me.

I was all the more encouraged after this weekend and put in my full application form, which included lots of information about me - my hobbies and interests along with any ideas or requests I might have for a potential placement overseas. (Placements can be almost anywhere in the world.)

Following this, I went for a full day of interviews in London in May. The number of places on the programme is not limited, so the interview is for both parties to finally decide whether EEP was right for me, and whether I was right for EEP.

My church, St Margaret's Scotswood, financially supports two hospitals in Southern Malawi through USPG, so my request, which I discussed with them at interview, was to go to volunteer in these hospitals in Malawi - very appropriate for a future medic, and what seemed to me to be a great opportunity to make the established link between my church and Malawi a much more personal one. I was told that a placement in Malawi would be very possible for me, but they did have another potential project in mind for me.

I heard the very next day that I had been accepted onto the programme but that rather than going to Malawi, they asked me to consider a project doing music and youthwork through the Anglican church in Mauritius. It transpired that the Experience Exchange Programme had had a request from Mauritius for someone who could do music and youthwork and could speak French. Knowing that music plays such a big part in my life, that I help to run my church youth group, and that I studied French to A level, along with my sciences, I guess they at USPG figured that I fitted the bill!

Now, I know that everyone jokes that it's a cushty alternative going to Mauritius, but I found it a big challenge at first, for two main reasons. The first was that really I wanted to work in healthcare and this was a music project, and secondly and perhaps more profoundly, my image of my time abroad had been spoilt a bit - I'd had this image of spending 6 months experiencing first hand the extreme poverty in the world and helping those who are typically viewed as the "most needy" in the world, which of course, Malawi would have been. Yes, Mauritius has its problems, but no one would argue that poverty is on the agenda in anything like as big a way as it is in Malawi. First and foremost in the minds of those in the UK is Mauritius, the 5 star honeymoon destination! I was told by USPG that, although they were asking me to consider Mauritius, if I didn't feel comfortable with this, then they would quite happily explore other options with me, including Malawi.

However, both the EEP programme and I put God very much at the very centre of all these plans, and when all is said and done, I concluded that who was I to say "no" to Mauritius, when them requesting that I go there seemed to be such a clear message that God's plans for me lie there - in effect, I felt I needed a deeper reason than simply "I don't really fancy it" to turn down Mauritius, and I didn't have that reason.

Fortunately, over time God has given me a real feeling of peace about going to Mauritius. It will be great to have the opportunity to improve my French speaking, and now I really feel that it will be great to have the opportunity to really enjoy doing the music which I love before I get stuck into a lifetime which will be dominated by medicine! They have also introduced some medical experience into my placement too, so it's a good compromise! Perhaps most importantly, I have learned a really important lesson - that there is still good work to be done for God even in places where there isn't absolute poverty. At the end of the day, there is a certain glamour about going to a place like Malawi - do you know what I mean? God's plans for me are different, clear, and exciting, and I can't wait to experience what He has in store for me!

Visited countries

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom. (11 countries, 5%)