Quest Overseas - Gap Year Travel

Over the next few weeks I will be bringing you a short guide to photography.  This week we look at what camera you should buy?

BBC Wildlife has put out a sneak preview of two of the shortlisted images for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009. The full set of nearly 100 winners will be displayed at the Natural History Museum in London from 23rd October 2009.

Check out what the 2009 teams got up to in Malawi!

Having just returned from Uganda and Kenya I found myself at times lost for words at people's bravery and strength in the face of adversity.  This a blog entry about one of the issues I encountered, Aids in Africa.  As you read this Aids is taking lives in Sub-Saharan Africa, like a plague it is taking parents, children and with it hope.  So far over 17 million have died.  At least 25 million will follow.  What became apparent was that people in some areas even with the increased levels of education and awareness are becoming increasing complacent about it and in many areas Aids is once again on the rise.  This is of course not the case in all areas, there is much effort going in to counter this but more needs to be done but what? 

Fundraising for your Gap Year may seem like a daunting task, however there are many avenues of potential funding you can explore to help you raise the money you need. These range from organising a crazy sponsored event to writing to charitable and grant making trusts. Just remember, most people are going to be unwilling to support you to party on the beach for a few months, however if you are doing something worthwhile with your time you should have many options available to you.

Work out how much you need to raise, when you need to raise it by and organise your time accordingly. Setting aside time to really plan your fundraising efforts will ultimately lead to them being more succesful. Make sure that everybody is aware of what you are doing, friends, family and even local newspapers and radio. The more people who know about what you are doing, the more likely it that you will find people willing to help you out and the more money you will be able to raise.

Have a read through our Top Tips for Gap Year Fundraising to get started in the right direction.

Good luck!