Nepalese adventure for LSS student

Most students can only dream of getting the opportunity to travel to a foreign country and really making a difference. For one lucky Liverpool Screen School student that dream is a reality.

Shinear Ashes, 24, a level 3 English Literature Electronic Creative Technology (ELECT) student, has set off to Nepal as part of a 10-week volunteering programme, Platform2.

Platform2 is a global volunteering scheme for 18 to 25-year-olds who wouldn't otherwise be able to visit a developing country and get involved with global issues of justice and poverty.

Shinear said: “I cannot believe I’m in Nepal teaching kids English and helping build a school. Although five hours of sawing through steel bars the other day was a bit of a joke, I’m still loving every minute of it.

“As I’m missing the first semester of my last year, I have been set an assignment where I have to develop a live web-based ‘open submission’, in which media submitted online feeds into the content of the website. I will have to engage an audience to both participate and contribute to the site, allowing my initial idea to grow and develop into an ongoing and constant media stream.”

JMU lecturer Ian Bradley said: “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for Shinear, and it actually ties in with her coursework. It really lends itself to the project she wants to take on. University is all about going out and taking your knowledge and putting it to work, and Shinear gets to do that now.”

Another student who has taken part in the volunteering scheme is second year Media Professional Studies student Jenny McNicholas, who travelled to India.

“Not only did I get to travel and gain cultural experiences, I also got to teach the most amazing children I have ever met and still I think about them and miss them every day. I made some amazing friends and I also experienced a different part of the world which I’m now really passionate to change,” said Jenny.

Shinear will be in Nepal for a total of 10 weeks, returning just in time for Christmas on December 22nd. To keep up with her, read her blog on http://shinear.ning.com/ or http://shinear.blog.co.uk/