After Graduating in 2008, like many fellow graduates, Lucy Nightingale from Manchester University struggled to find employment and with graduate unemployment rates hitting all time highs, Lucy dreamed of escaping the UK to leave the doom and gloom behind. The idea of idly travelling the globe, hopping from beach to beach did sound tempting, but Lucy feared it would not make her employment situation any better when she inevitably returned. After researching opportunities abroad, volunteer teaching seemed ideal, as it offered her the opportunity to experience another culture and at the same gain experience and skills.

Before I begin writing about my experiences volunteering in Sri Lanka, I thought I would give a little background to my involvement with these projects. 

Since volunteering in 2005, in Sri Lanka, I have been planning my return trip. So with University out of the way, I got back in touch the society I volunteered with for 6 months. They were happy to hear that I was interested in coming back to teach English and volunteer at the orphanages. I slowly learnt that there enthusiasm for my return was partly because they had not received as much volunteer help for the past few years and in the past 8 months they have had no one come to continue previous volunteers work.