Hello. First of all, thanks for coming to my page - I know there are a great deal of them about. My name is James Dolton, and I'm 21 and living in Reading. I recently graduated from the University of Birmingham and applied for ICS (the International Citizenship Service) during the summer, a charity which provides three-month long volunteering placements overseas for 18-25 year olds. I was directed to Voluntary Service Overseas. VSO is a charity who have been sending volunteers abroad for over 40 years to engage in work concerning education, healthcare and training for people living in areas of high poverty. As part of the ICS scheme, VSO hope to send 7000 18-25 year olds abroad each year. 

After an assessment day, I was accepted onto their ICS programme and have now been matched to a placement, so I will be volunteering in Cebu City in the Philippines from the 8th of January 2015 for three months. The theme of the project is 'Disability - Deaf Inclusion and Awareness' and this is the fourth project of it's kind. I will be living with a host family, teaching and working amongst a community of deaf people who find accessing even the most basic of resources to be extremely difficult. This is largely due to a lack of understanding of their disability, something VSO hopes to change through outreach work as well as support. 

Each place on ICS (flights, VISAs etc) is funded by the government, who provide 90% of VSO's funding, but they also require fundraising from volunteers to ensure they can continue their work in the future;This money will not go on my own trip or expenses. I am arranging fundraising events including a performance including a performance in Birmingham on the 21st of October (https://www.facebook.com/events/722335247816393 for further information), but any additional donations of support anyone wanted to provide would be fantastic. If you could even inch me closer to my target, I would be immensely grateful.

Through ICS, VSO offer a fantastic opportunity for young people to work abroad and experience another culture, as well as giving real, tangible benefits to the under-privileged communities that their volunteers work in. I hope to support VSO so they can continue this and many other projects which help many people in poverty around the world.