25 year old Lockerbie lad Sam Maxwell and his girlfriend of 3 years Ferne Lambert-Gorwyn first met back in school the Dumfries and Galloway town when they were in their teens. They both soon realised they had a mutual passion for travel and have since been on many adventures around the world together.
Sam currently works in a Forestry Mill which he will be giving up while pursuing a dream to make an impact in this world by heading to Nepal volunteering for three months this November.
In a recent interview Sam told DGWGO “I have always wanted to make a difference to the lives of people who need it and I take a lot of inspiration from people that I’ve met whilst travelling who have done similar things but especially from Ferne who spent a year volunteering in Chile in 2011 working with people with disabilities.
After visiting the project with her years later I quickly understood why it makes her so happy. Ferne and myself will be volunteering in Nepal for three months this November through an International Citizen Service (ICS) which is a development program which focuses on bringing young people from around the world together to try and make a difference in some of the poorest communities in the world. ICS is funded by the government and led by an organisation called VSO which focuses on sending 18-25 year olds overseas to bring about positive change worldwide.
As I have recently turned 25 I thought this would be the perfect timing and opportunity to do this. I will be living in a region of Nepal called Baglung working with young women and children who have been subject to violence at least once in their life as well as working with a partner organisation who focus on bringing clean water, sanitation health and education to the local areas. Ferne has spent most of her adult life working with people with disabilities and currently enjoying her job with Turning Point Scotland will be volunteering 6 hours away from myself in the district of Lamjung working in an education programme which focuses on increasing school enrolment, retention and participation of children who are marginalized from the educational system – especially vulnerable girls, children with disabilities and Dalit children.
Before we leave overseas to our placements we have the exciting challenge to raise £800 each which will go towards the work of VSO and their ICS partners. The money raised will go towards enabling the overall costs of ICS, ensuring they can continue sending youth volunteers to the developing world. We will be working closely with our local communities on organising fundraising events, fun activities for children and discussing in detail on how we can make a difference. Ferne and I will be walking Ben Nevis on the 2nd of September and are hosting a coffee morning in Lockerbie Town Hall on the 9th of September from 9am-12.30pm. Please come down and join us for some coffee and cake as we would love to tell you all about our exciting journey ahead!”
Sam Also said “If anyone would like to donate to an amazing cause we would be extremely grateful as any donation no matter how small is very much appreciated! For more information and updates on our journey head over to our JustGiving pages;
http://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sammaxwell
http://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/elizabeth-ferne-lambert-gorwyn
