New Year New You

Forget the gym membership, the latest diet book or the spa break. To feel better about yourself you need to start with the inner soul. Helping people to help themselves is the theme for 2006, and if you can have a good time while you're doing it so much the better.

Gap Year for Grown Ups (www.inspiredbreaks.co.uk) organises trips all over the world from as little as 4 weeks to as long as a year, to a range of places that benefit from as much or as little time as you are able to give.
  
Volunteers can choose from such diverse projects as lion breeding in Zimbabwe, helping the blind in Ecuador, improving environmental conservation in Mongolia and working on Orang Utan research in Borneo. There are many community projects in Africa and India where volunteers are desperately needed.

The Kenya Orphan Outreach programme cannot help but touch people's lives. The programme aims to help those who are affected by HIV/AIDS, and is run under the guidance of one amazing woman who has a special place in her heart for children. Volunteers get the opportunity to help on the various AIDS education, building and agricultural projects, changing the lives of the young orphans in the surrounding areas. The programme runs for 2 - 8 weeks and costs from £699 - £1599

The Indian Himachal Pradesh Programme in the Himalayas offers volunteers a choice of three main areas: education, childcare or healthcare. Educational volunteers assist teachers in local primary schools; child-care volunteers work in local day-care facilities; health care volunteers work in local hospitals. The 8 week programme costs £1229. The programme also offers some free time to explore the area and includes a free Indian cooking and yoga lesson, a 3 day trekking excursion in the Himalayas, a 2 day excursion to Dharamsala and a day visit to Taj Mahal.

Set up in response to requests from older travellers, (sister outfit the Work and Travel Company already provide young people with hundreds of gap year options), Gap Year for Grown Ups is a specialist company offering a range of projects and trips, which can be booked separately or packaged specifically, to suit the needs and wishes of the individual aged 30 +.

 “Africa is our most popular volunteer programme so far”, said David Stitt MD for Gap Year for Grown Ups. “Our older ‘gappers' feel that they want to do something constructive with their time and to ‘give something back'. It's not all work though. “Many of those who have volunteered in Africa have also added on a safari afterwards. The chance to make a difference and enjoy it is very tempting”.  

For more information, individual case studies, photos etc please contact:

Jennette Baxter pr@baxter1.clara.net

Rachael Wood, 01892 701881, rachael@gapyearforgrownups.co.uk