Student Avril Wyke spent two months of her gap year in the Philippines, teaching and helping in an orphanage, and volunteered with a charity in South Africa for ten weeks. She tells how the experience changed her perception of life.

SEEING the smiles and gratefulness of children - who were probably wearing the only clothes they owned - challenged me to be grateful for what I have.

The slums in Manila, the capital of The Philippines, tower higher than five storeys, constructed with spare wood, tile and plastic.

Children dance barefoot and laugh along the small passages among the countless grimy packets, dirty water streams and sewage stench.

Families of sometimes eight or more cluster in petite shacks, swarmed with flies carrying disease.

Yet these beautiful people do not moan or cry, do not complain or give up - they welcome, smile and laugh.

As I walked through these "streets" I was overwhelmed by how much I have back in the UK compared to these families.

Simple "necessities" such as toilet roll and even a toilet would be considered a luxury in a place where "the toilet" is wherever you can find a bit of privacy.

Similarly, in South Africa, I discovered some of the most jubilant people I have ever met, when, despite their difficult circumstances, they are forever dancing, singing and smiling.

Some of the people who influenced me most were a group of boys between the ages of 13 and 18 -teenagers from one of the roughest schools, that even the South Africans that we were partnered with were afraid to enter.

This is a school infested with serious drug addictions, teen pregnancy and a continuous cycle of poverty.

Yet, they, without any help from anyone, formed their own choir, encouraging each other, growing in skill and confidence.

I guess for them, this choir was hope; hope that one day they would break this cycle of poverty.

When people prepare to go away to help others in what we would call poorer communities, they get ready for the harsh realities that they will witness away from home.

However, the hardest struggle for me has to be coming back to our Western culture, to what should feel like home, when people seem so ungrateful.

I now look at my life and realise how enormously blessed I am.

Sometimes it seems ridiculous that what to me is just a bit of money for some sweets is enough money to feed a starving family for a day.

I’ve been challenged to re-evaluate how I live.

I’ve seen how generous those are who have so little; people who always think about others and less about themselves.

What if we lived as a community rather than every man for himself?

We could take time in our days to bless someone else, by buying a stranger a coffee or donating to charities. How amazing would that be?

  • Avril, aged 19, from Harwood, is studying social work at the University of Lancaster.

The Bolton News:

Avril with two of the girls getting ready to going swimming in The Philippines.