My name is Tom Walker and I am currently a volunteer with the amazing charity The Turing Trust. I have been volunteering with the Trust since May 2014 and my time will cease in August 2014.

Over the past few months I have been involved with fantastic projects to help the needy youth across the whole of Ghana. The projects I have been involved with include:

The donating of computers to the whole of Ghana which meant travelling 7 hours to the north of Ghana to the most remote and needy schools and offering the Trust’s help. To see the emotions on the teachers and students faces as we were setting up the computers in their schools is something I will treasure forever, and always remember the emotions I felt during this time. The simple fact in knowing you are helping the needy is in itself an absolutely overwhelming experience and something to soak up.

Other projects have included teaching students about CV’s and job applications – something we take for granted in westernised cultures because it comes natural to us to create a CV. But for the needy students in Ghana this is not the case and I personally want to help transfer my knowledge so students can get the best start in life when they leave school!

I have also been involved with the Turing Trusts wonderful student sponsorship scheme, which funds the fees of students during their time at school. This experience was very tough and emotional to sit there and read students’ pleas for help when back in westernised cultures people don’t even think about how their fees are paid for as it is something you don’t need to worry about. This experience was not only emotionally tough but it was physically challenging also to really find out who deserves the sponsorship over other students who all deserve sponsorship but the charity can’t afford to fund all students in Ghana.

So far my time volunteering with the Turing Trust has been one of the most amazing and rewarding experiences of my life so far. The feeling I get when helping the needy is something you can’t explain and it needs to be experienced to believe. I am confident that up until my departure date in August 2014 my time volunteering with the Turing Trust can only get better and become more rewarding.