Volunteer work is something I have a great desire to do usein the skills and knowledge of my chosen profession, Occupational Therapy. I am fundraising for a 5 month trip starting this 23rd November 2017 where I will be going to Malawi and Papua New Guinea. In many countries therapy services are viewed as a luxury or an unnecessary service with many people living with debilitating conditions because of this. I believe they are very important for the quality of peoples lives in whatever culture or country you live.

The first 4 months of my trip will be in Malawi on the outskirts of Blantyre, supporting a new charity called Maisha Outreach Therapy Organisation (MOTO) where I will be working with a partner organisation called Umunthu Foundation. I am going to be a 'pioneer' for MOTO over those months; building relationships with local communities and health/social care services to start finding out where there are gaps in care provision, understanding the impact of illness, disability and being a carer in Malawi. There may also be the chance of going into a prison and psychiatric hospital to assess how the role of OT can be used to enhance peoples lives in these setting. The list is endless of what I may get up to. There will be a lot of reports and case studies to write up which will be contributing to a bigger future project, providing financial donors of MOTO with more information and starting to figure out what demographic MOTO will be focusing on as a charity. *A new addition to what I will be doing is spending a couple days a week at Sandi Rehabilitation Centre for Children. Sandis website . So where is Malawi?

For my final month I will be heading to Papua New Guinea (PNG), which is where I grew up. Originally I was going to just visit but it has actually worked out that there is a paediatric OT from the UK giving her time for a couple of months to do children's developmental and autism assessments. I will be helping her out while I am there and will also be great experience for me as I have never had the chance to work with children as an OT. So where is PNG?

I am ever so excited and not going to lie , a little nervous. Whatever money is raised will contribute to wards some of the very big practical aspects of this trip as it is all self funded. Lots of people have asked how they can help and this is one of the biggest things to make it happen, anything raised will be a huge help. A brief break down of where the money will be used over the 5 months: approx £2000 for accommodation, £2000 for all my flights (not an easy route), £500 towards general living/ internal travel costs and then anything left over will go towards MOTO and the work that I will be doing.

No matter what amount of money is raised 30% of the total will go towards MOTO and to the activities that I will be doing in relation to that work.

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Here are some links you may want to look at:

What is an Occupational Therapist

MOTO website

MOTO facebook page

Info about Umunthu Foundation

Sandi Rehab Centre for Children