In August I will be travelling with 11 other 6th form students to Gunjur in The Gambia to do a range of projects with the Wiltshire-based charity, Thriving Through Venture.

There are three aspects to our visit: Two aspects are comparing life in Marlborough and Gunjur: Storytelling - interviewing the local community both in Marlborough and Gunjur; Photography - comparing lives through portrait photography. The third aspect is a business project looking at the possibility of exporting the mangoes that are in abundance in that area of West Africa.

Thriving Through Venture itself has three distinct objectives: To provide volunteer programmes for young people; To conduct formal academic research that informs ways of improving the lives of young people; To roll out the programme model to other UK communities, using the link between them and their linked international communities. More information about TTV can be found at http://ttventure.org/.​

We are the first group to be involved in this exciting opportunity, and will hopefully be involved as ambassadors in future years.

My main focus is in the photography project in which we will compare the lives of people in Marlborough and Gunjur and the way in which they live their lifestyles. We’ll be doing this through photographs, more specifically portraits. Along with our mentor, local photographer, Hilary Stock, we have photographed many different occupations here around Marlborough from midwives to shoemakers, and will do the same in The Gambia. We hope to have an exhibition later this year!

We will also be visiting and creating links between primary schools in Marlborough and Gunjur.

The Mango Business Project will involve us researching, with the support of an International Development student and Tesco, the barriers to developing a national and international mango industry, based in Gunjur. The outcome of our work will be the production of a feasibility study to be presented to potential investors in this mango business. We will also be working with the Fairtrade Foundation to integrate their practices into our plan.

This trip will be a life-changing experience. I will be doing many amazing things, building bridges between our communities, meeting new people and I am also allowed to take a guitar to make music with the local people!

I need to fundraise £1000 to enable this trip to happen. I would appreciate any support you can give me.