My name is Ben Young and in the summer 2019 I am a travelling to Ecuador with a group of other students from Tarporley High to do four weeks of charity work. The trip has been organised by the school and the charity Camps International.

During our stay in Ecuador we will assist in various projects to improve the lives of local people and improve environment. The work includes building schools, pathways, the provision of fresh water supplies working in remote amazon communities as well as environmental work on beaches. We are all giving our time free and in addition have agreed to raise funds for flights, accommodation, food and the building materials needed to complete the various projects we will be working on. To enable us to complete this work we have each agreed to raise over £4200. To do this we have all been involved in a variety of fund-raising initiatives such as sponsored events, car washing, gardening, working in local businesses etc.

To raise some of this money I am walking the Sandstone Trail. It is 55km long running from Frodsham in the north of Cheshire to Whitchurch in Shropshire and I intend to complete it in one day. I am due to start at 7am on Saturday 25 May 2019 and any contribution, no matter how small, you would be willing to make would be greatly appreciated.

We will be travelling to the Amazon River Basin, where we will experience first-hand the wide-ranging issues facing this country and its inhabitants and get involved in the refurbishment of a local community school. Whilst there we will have no mains electricity and only have the use of a locally provided generator for just eight hours a day. There is no phone reception and we will live in wooden huts with a cold-water supply only. I will be working on the catering facilities at the school. Currently the food for the children is prepared and eaten in a school classroom, which is unhygienic and a fire hazard. We will be building a new kitchen and an area where the children can eat in safety.

Whilst in the Amazon rainforest I will also work on an ethnobotanical garden and tree nursery for the community. This will then be used for reforestation and the preservation of cultural medicinal knowledge. I will work on the construction of the nursery, collect and harvest seeds, plant trees and conduct general maintenance work. I will then work on environmental projects on the beaches of Ecuador.