A TEENAGE girl from Stanhope is in the process of raising funds for the annual school trip to Nepal.
Melody Davison, a pupil at Wolsingham School, is planning the trip that will take place in July next year and must raise £2000 towards the costs. The school does this every year, offering students the opportunity to experience teaching in schools in Nepal.
During the trip, they will visit Hindu and Buddhist Temples and enjoy elephant safaris. Melody and other students will leave after completing their GCSEs on July 8th next year and stay for two weeks. They will arrive in Kathmandu where a visit is planned to the world famous Swayambhunath Buddhist Monkey Temple and Pashupatinah Hindu Temple.
They will work in the Shubhakamana Academy, teaching informal conversational English to Nepali schoolchildren. There will also be a visit to an Eco project as well as to a National Park for an Elephant & Rhino Safari, staying in a Jungle Safari lodge.
It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for teenagers to experience teaching poor children in Nepal before they begin the next chapter of their education, moving on to Sixth Forms. Melody has a place already at Durham Sixth Form Centre where her parents, Celia and Andy, first met more than 40 years ago!
Celia has experience herself of teaching English abroad when more than twenty years ago, she visited Albanian schools on four Christian missions. “Melody is following in my footsteps,” she said. “And we are very proud of her for taking up this challenge.”
Melody, who has a twin sister, Harmony, hopes to study English Literature and Language and RE at A level with her sights set on Oxford University. She has never travelled abroad before but has experienced Scotland as part of a UK competition to design/build an underwater robot – Wolsingham school came first out of all the English schools competing but came second in the final to a Scottish school.
The girls are 15 years old and as their birthdays are in July, their 16th will be first time they have spent it apart because, of course, Melody will be in Nepal and Harmony in Stanhope! But they will be reunited in time to start their A Levels in Durham where Harmony will be studying Art and Photography.
Melody is fundraising for the Nepal trip herself with a Just giving page and she is selling handmade items that she has crocheted/crafted herself. Her mother, Celia, is also selling handmade cards, which are available at Bradley Burn Café, Wolsingham and on Ebay as well as handmade personalised gifts to add to the fund.
To donate to Melody’s page, go to : https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/celia-davison
