And so the adventures begin! I've set up this blog just in case anyone wants to hear that I'm alive and staying safe (we hope). But as I will be away for weeks at a time and won't always have access to a computer, it means I can let you all know how much fun I'm having while you're all stuck missing me loads.

As of 18th September I shall be jetting off to India with VSO, which is stop number 1. I shall be there for 3 months. The first couple of weeks I'll be staying in Delhi, getting a feel for the country, meeting the 'in country volunteers' (volunteers from India) and having our 'in country orientation' and bits of training they couldn't do back here in the UK. Then I'll be off to Jharkhand (don't worry I hadn't heard of it either) which is where I'll be living and working for the remainding time of the trip. In Jharkhand I will have a home counter part and a working counter part. These are two Indian volunteers that I will have been matched with to spend the majority of my time with. The home counter part, I will live with and will stay with them in our host home - the host home is an Indian family who are part of the scheme who house us, feed us and basically be a surrogate family for us. The working counter part will be a partner who will be with me when completing the volunteer placement. So fingers crossed I am matched with someone friendly, or it may be a long 3 months....

I recently found out that the volunteer scheme in Jharkhand is Reach India, which is excellent because it gives me chance to bring out my feminist side. It aims to educate women and promote equality for disadvantaged women. It covers different areas, such as sexual health, education and livelihood.

Here is the link for their website if you want a bit more detail about possible projects I may be completing:

http://www.reach-india.net/

And here is the link for VSO:

http://www.vso.org.uk/

Preparation for the trip has been exciting but also a little stressful. I completed my Indian Visa application the day before yesterday which I thought was going really well...then I made the treacherous mistake of pressing the 'back button' and lost everything that I had filled out. So I had to start all over again. This blog is another part of my preparation and I have also set up Skype, plus bought some headphones and a microphone because I don't think the computers will be quite up to scratch. (josie.gallop is my Skype name). Have also been busy fundraising my £800 target (http://www.justgiving.com/Josian-Gallop if you fancy leaving a few pennies) and trawling carboots and charity shops for light, but cover-your-shoulders-and-most-of-your-legs clothes. I'm getting there! :D

(This is a nice pic of some of my fundraising)

 

 

Anyway, I just thought i'd give my first blog post a go so it didn't look so empty. My next post will probably be written from my first destination so be sure to check up on here every now and again if you fancy seeing what I'm up to (: