My name is Naomi (but most people call me Nim) and I am 18, fresh out of sixth form and ready to see the world! At least I think I am. A long time ago I decided I wanted to go on a gap year after college, no matter what. I always wanted to travel, to experience different cultures, to adventure into the unknown. So This year I applied to BMS Action Teams.
I travelled from Littlehampton to Birmingham for a Contact weekend where applicants would be interviewed, tested and scrutinised in order to decide whether everyone would work and serve well abroad. We were given a list of 5 countries to choose from and rate 1 to 5, 1 being the country we wanted to go to most. Mine were as follows: 1 - Peru, 2 - Uganda, 3 - The Middle East, 4 - Lebenon and 5 - India.
So months later I found myself training with BMS for four weeks preparing to go out to work in the slums of Calcutta. In India. Fortunately I have begun to grow fond of the idea of living in India and am toying with the possibility that I was wrong all along and India is, in fact, the perfect place for me to go.
Min-y-don is a name all action teamers should fear. An 'activity' camp in Whales where the primary aim is to beat down the teams, helplessly led into the clutches of the docile-looking countryside, and to break them apart. The idea being; if you can't cope in Whales, how on earth will you cope in India? Fair enough I suppose, but all the same we came back battered and bruised, worn down and out but triumphant as our team was now stronger than ever.
Now I face the next 6 months with Harriet, Ellen and Josh. All wonderful people, there's no denying. But the temperatures are high, the bugs are buzzing and as of Monday, the work begins!
I travelled from Littlehampton to Birmingham for a Contact weekend where applicants would be interviewed, tested and scrutinised in order to decide whether everyone would work and serve well abroad. We were given a list of 5 countries to choose from and rate 1 to 5, 1 being the country we wanted to go to most. Mine were as follows: 1 - Peru, 2 - Uganda, 3 - The Middle East, 4 - Lebenon and 5 - India.
So months later I found myself training with BMS for four weeks preparing to go out to work in the slums of Calcutta. In India. Fortunately I have begun to grow fond of the idea of living in India and am toying with the possibility that I was wrong all along and India is, in fact, the perfect place for me to go.
Min-y-don is a name all action teamers should fear. An 'activity' camp in Whales where the primary aim is to beat down the teams, helplessly led into the clutches of the docile-looking countryside, and to break them apart. The idea being; if you can't cope in Whales, how on earth will you cope in India? Fair enough I suppose, but all the same we came back battered and bruised, worn down and out but triumphant as our team was now stronger than ever.
Now I face the next 6 months with Harriet, Ellen and Josh. All wonderful people, there's no denying. But the temperatures are high, the bugs are buzzing and as of Monday, the work begins!
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