My gap year helping Thai orphanages

HELPING some of the poorest communities in the world will come at a personal cost for an East Riding teenager.

Beverley High School sixth former Hannah Jabobsen is delaying going to university to spend a year volunteering in Thailand.

The 17-year-old's decision to go ahead with her gap year trip means she will face increased university tuition fees, with charges due to treble in 2012.

This will leave Hannah with a personal debt of some �27,000 at graduation.

But the determined teenager, who is also raising �4,950 to fund her trip, is undaunted by the financial cost.

She said: "I think I will gain so much from the year. You can't put a price on experience and I won't get another chance to do this while I am this age, it's so important that I do it now."

Hannah has been selected by educational charity Project Trust to become a volunteer in Thailand for 12 months from August.

She will be teaching disadvantaged children, working in a refuge and helping in orphanages in north east Thailand.

Hannah, from Walkington, said: "Thailand is often misrepresented in the media as simply a tourist destination but you only need to look a little deeper to find there are significant problems.

"My project will be based in rural areas which suffer great poverty, particularly in the north-east of Thailand where I will probably work in Nakhon Phanom."

The A-level student was among a small group chosen from hundreds of hopefuls after a challenging five-day selection course on the remote Hebridean island of Coll.

She has already raised almost �2,000 towards the cost of her trip from challenges including a coast-to-coast bike ride.

Hannah's family are immensely proud of her ambitions and achievements.

Her father, strategy planning manager William Jacobsen, said: "She is incredibly determined. She is doing all this fund raising and planning in her spare time whilst also completing her final year of A-levels.

"This really is a once in a lifetime opportunity because the project is only open to 17 to 19-year-olds.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the cost of the trip can email Hannah at h.jacobsen@hotmail.co.uk

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503342/s/13a3fda4/l/0L0Sthisishullandeastriding0O0Cnews0Cgap0Eyear0Ehelping0EThai0Eorphanages0Carticle0E33757790Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

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