Melksham woman heads to Rwanda for tearfund

A MELKSHAM woman is heading to Rwanda, East Africa, next month with volunteering organisation ICS and humanitarian charity Tearfund.

Sarah Gale of Granville Road, is going on a volunteering placement in September  to Rwanda’s capital city Kigali, a site of the 1994 genocide.

The Tearfund charity aim to combat poverty around the world, and adapt their work to the needs of individual communities. Sarah expects to be helping with education, teaching English, improving sanitation and water facilities, and promoting sustainable agricultural skills.

Sarah, 21, graduated from Aberystwyth University in Wales this year, with a degree in zoology. She heard about the Tearfund project from a friend.

Sarah said, “I’ve always wanted to help people. We have so many things that we take for granted here, and I feel uncomfortable living so easily. I could have gotten a job here and come home every night to a cooked meal and the TV, but  that’s not what I want. I  was drawn to what Tearfund do because they are forward-thinking. They don’t swoop in like superheroes and fix everything, but instead give local people the skills to help themselves.”

Aside from fundraising  with  her university’s Methodist society, this will be the first charity work Sarah has undertaken. In addition to the training and team-building, her preparation has involved immunisations, fundraising, and trying her hand at the local language, Kinyarwanda.

“I’m really excited to explore the local culture,” she said. “I’m a little worried I won’t be able to help as much as I’d like to, but hopefully I will be useful and can learn from the people there.”

Sarah’s mum Jackie said, “I’m really glad that she’s going, it’ll be great for her to experience another culture. These organisations are faith in action; it opens your eyes to how much more important attitudes are than possessions. It will be an excellent use of her time.”

Sarah has had to contribute £800 to the cost of the trip, which she raised from various fundraising activities around Melksham and would like to give special thanks to Candy Jax, Wetherspoon’s and Waitrose for their help.

ICS, the International Citizen Service, is a UK government-funded development programme that brings together 18-25-year-olds from all backgrounds to fight poverty in overseas and UK communities.

Tearfund is a Christian humanitarian organisation that works in poor areas around the world.

To find out more or donate to Sarah’s cause, go to www.justgiving.com/Sarah-Gale-ICS/