The challenge to support kids in Peru to create any form of media was taken up by some LSFM student volunteers. Amy-Louise Knowles, Harry Marshall, Holly McGratten, Joanne Newton, Yve Odell, Ellie Plummer, Katie Sharpe and Matt Snellin managed to raise a massive £20,000+ for an overseas opportunity. Now in June they are seeing projects their fundraising went to support – and to get creative in South America!
Joanne Newton blogged on Day One and Two: “Where do I start? After a 26 hour travel consisting of buses, planes, more planes and more buses, we finally arrived in Cusco … I was so excited to be somewhere so different and new, to be pushed outside of my comfort zone.”
Challenges Abroad UK, support the FutureSense Foundation charity’s work, offer student placements. The Peruvian challenge was ‘help teach media literacy to disadvantaged youth and give them the platform to express themselves while exploring all the beauty Peru has to offer’. University of Lincoln College of Arts Deputy Head Dr Sarah Barrow said: The students did so well to raise around £2.5k each towards the costs and a donation to the charity. LSFM offered £150 bursary to each student. The first batch of photos appeared from the LSFM student team’s charity media adventure with kids in the Andes.
For more pictures, you can see the team’s Instagram page and also Matt Snellin’s photography page.
Emma Tyson, Student Engagement Manager at Challenges Abroad UK, explained the background on the student challenge trip to Peru: A team of nine students have been fundraising for the FutureSense Foundation throughout the year, raising a grand total of £20,499.00! Following this, the team are now visiting the projects in Peru that their fundraising has supported, where they are running a media club at Chichubamba School in the Sacred Valley. After three weeks on project, some of them will also be trekking the Salkantay trail to Machu Picchu to round off this fantastic challenge. For more information, the full itinerary is on our website: www.challengesabroad.co.uk/package/media-literacy-challenge-peru
Challenges Abroad UK summed up the goal for the student team in Peru is ‘to support the students to produce a tangible piece of media. This could be a short video, photography display, advertisement, interviews, etc.‘ Watch this space for our student updates on Peru 17. In the meantime, here is Joanne Newton’s post about fundraising tips, tricks and ideas: http://www.challengesabroad.co.uk/where-to-start.