Steven's adventure (From Gazette Series)

Steven's adventure

ENTERPRISING teenager Steven Dexter, 18, from Wotton-under-Edge, will be leaving home soon.

He will not be off to university straight away, as many of his friends will, however.

His first destination is the Isle of Coll, off the west coast of Scotland, where he will be doing a week's training in teaching English as a foreign language.

The island is the home of the headquarters of Project Trust, an organisation that sends young people as volunteers to many community projects overseas.

Steven will be teaching English in a school for seven to 14-year-olds in Punta Gorda on the island of Roatan in Honduras, Central America.

Arriving in early September, he will be continuing the work started by the volunteers currently there.

Schools in Honduras run their academic years at the same time as the calendar year, from January to January.

So, Steven will hand over to new volunteers when he has completed his full gap year before the end of the school year.

During the school's summer holiday from December to February volunteers have a chance to travel and explore the area.

This might include seeing rainforests, huge waterfalls, jungle, tropical birds, crocodiles and large snakes; and meeting people from remote villages with their own cultures and languages.

The dominant language in Honduras is Spanish and Steven is looking forward to learning it.

He will be living in a house near the school, which was purpose-built for volunteers.

There is no running water in the house - Steven will have to get used to collecting water by bucket from a tank on the roof.

To take part in this venture he had to raise £3,850. He did this during the last year through activities ranging from devising quiz sheets to babysitting and running a coconut shy.

Friends and relations have also made donations of £1,100 which gained an extra £150 through gift aid.