Jordan Ferguson's Gap Year Grant report 2018

Report to the Roughley Trust

My year of volunteering with Project Trust has finally reached the end and what a year it has been.

I have been working with Outward Bound South Africa (OBSA) as support staff for the whole year. OBSA has its main base in Sedgefield on the Garden Route in Western Cape but it has many other bases across the country.

I was involved with a wide range of duties such as water support, setting up high rope activities, assisting with rock climbing and abseiling setups, gear safety checks, maintenance and cleaning. My role became similar to a course instructor in the sense that I managed the different groups of participants and structured games with them. Over the year I gained two qualifications with certificates, eg level 3 first aid and I gained training in all outward bound activities and equipment such as rock climbing set ups, kayak rolls, canoeing and much more.

I have had countless opportunities to meet new people, with frequent travelling around to the different bases and holding courses always with a different range of participants. This greatly benefitted my personal confidence and people skills. I have met and made friends with people from all backgrounds and age groups. Throughout the whole year, people responded happily and everyone always had smiles on their faces and positivity was shown to everyone.

A year seems like a massive amount of time to commit at age 18. But this extended period of allowed me to immerse myself in an amazingly diverse and beautiful country as well as to discover new cultures, and I was able to dive in head first with inquisitiveness and excitement.

In the beginning I wasn’t able to recognise any personal growth or differences in myself. But in the final few months I started noticing how I was viewing topics from alternative perspectives and experiencing changes in my ideals and norms. I believe I have grown significantly over this year and have become so much more independent. I now take the initiative and strive for greatness in everything I do.

I met amazing people from different backgrounds, which has improved my empathy and sympathy skills, as well as improving my understanding of people. No one will fully understand certain of these experiences unless they were there with me,

This year has benefitted me in ways I thought were impossible. I have grown so much more than I thought I could and I want to thank the Roughley Trust for helping to give me this opportunity.

Jordan Ferguson September 2018