Wigan student fund-raises for volunteering trip to Africa

Jared Bouch from Ashton-in-Makerfield will be volunteering with Vocational Impact to travel to the West African state for eight weeks at the beginning of next year.

Here the 22-year-old will support the community of Senya Beraku: a coastal town in the central region of Ghana.

Jared aims to bring what he has learnt during his time at Edge Hill University studying sports and exercise science to help build a number of important community projects.

Having focused on sports psychology towards the end of his degree, Jared will place particular emphasis on mental health services while out there.

He said: “Being involved with an organisation such as Vocational Impact has always been an inspiration of mine, it was just about finding the right one.

“Not only will I be able to help vulnerable children and make them more aware, but also there’s a level of personal growth and experience that I can learn from too.”

The project focuses on a wide variety of aspects including mentoring, child development, sports, education and activities, with a particular focus being placed on mental health services.

A subject that still has a stigma surrounding it in Ghana, with just 1.4 per cent of the health budget allocated to mental health support.

The money raised for the project will aim to close the gap through conflict resolution skills, sexual boundaries, consequence practice and play therapy for victims.

Jared said: “From the first phone call Vocational Impact gave me thorough details, the first week there will be spent doing hands on training.

"They also ensure that you have knowledge on HIV/Aids and the affect that child abuse has. It’s important to understand that every child that we’ll work with is different due to their past experiences.”

With the trip costing in total an excess of £3,000 Jared is fund-raising to help pay for his flights, course and the necessary vaccines and visa.

Jared will be doing a number of challenges in the build up to his trip, including rowing 100,000m in the month of September, averaging more than 3,000m a day.

Donations to Jared’s fund-raiser can be made here