*The total requested funding amount has been lowered to match funds raised from other projects*

About me

My name is William Barham, I have just turned 19 and have decided to do a gap year with Project Trust and have been through a rigerous selection process and thankfully given an opportunity to take part. Originally I was meant to go on this said gap year on August/December 2024 but was unable to due to my education being heavily disrupted and worrying concerns about my mothers health (she has now recovered). Due to this said disruption I am currently studying an extra A-level alongside re-taking my Geography A level as to get into a more competitive university as the grade boundaries are significantly higher, while doing this I am also working part-time to save money for university and this gap year.

About the project and what your donation will do

For my gap year, I’m going to travel to Thailand and mainly teach English, physical education, and potentially geography in deprived schools in the north for a total of 12 months. These schools are cut off from much of Thailand’s infrastructure and lack funding and the resources to manage education and their basic needs. They often rely on Project Trust for their education due to the lack of educated individuals and opportunities as succeeding in the Thai economy heavily depends on being able to speak English. In turn, this means those in rural areas are disadvantaged, poorer and lack basic care. Your donation will help Project Trust reach its goals of alleviating poverty, improving social mobility and oppertunites through education, which I am proud to be apart of. While there, I will be living like a local in these villages, meaning I will be experiencing the same level of poverty as the residents, which I believe will be challenging but rewarding as it will help me gain a better perspective on the current world.

To do this, I need to raise £7,450 to show my dedication to the project. This money is mainly used as a donation to the charity to further their cause (Eg, funding new projects) and not necessarily to fund my gap year, as it costs far more to arrange the project for the volunteer, although a small portion does contribute to health insurance etc. To do this, I am taking on a multitude of fundraising projects to help reach this goal.

Information regarding my fundraising

My main long-term fundraising project has been Running to Thailand in which I record myself running 1,648km (the length of the country) before I begin my volunteer work (8 months). After around 2 months I suffered an injury on my right knee which led me to physiotherapy (which in itself took a long time to reach) but I have been recovering and I shall be continuing the project, running 6x a week and aiming to atleast reach 1,000km before I leave as I must be more careful as not to worsen or repeat the said injury. All evidence as previously done, will be posted to the YouTube channel linked below. While also offering my photography services to my local community in the form of pet photography which has raised over £600 already.

I already have and will continue to host events and new projects to help with this fundraising. If you would like to offer a venue to host one of these events or have any inquiries, please use the contact methods below.

Any donations would be greatly appreciated to help further Project Trust's cause of helping others in poorer areas or nations to get the education they need and deserve. While I myself will obviously be grateful as this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me.

Email: runningtothailand@gmail.

Evidence is uploaded on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@RunningtoThailand