TWO local men are swapping Okehampton for Ghana for the next three months but the town will benefit on their return when they use their experiences to set up a youth project at home.
Stuart Lord, who is manager of OCRA (Okehampton Community Recreation Association) and Ricky Dillon, 19, are among the 130 participants on an expedition to Ghana with the Raleigh International Millennium Awards scheme for Devon and Cornwall.
Ricky is one of the 18 to 25-year-old venturers and Stuart is going as a leader and photographer.
This ground-breaking scheme has involved an 18-month programme of training, personal development and project management skill. Millennium Award winners will be developing their skills through a series of sustainable community and environmental projects in Ghana.
Throughout the programme, the venturers receive one-to-one coaching and guidance to focus towards improving their employability, career prospects and make a greater contribution to their community.
Projects in Ghana include building schools, supporting surgical eye expeditions to recruit patients in need of cataract operations, assisting National Park wardens with eco-tourism work and building infrastructure to support it.
Once they return, the venturers and leaders will use their experiences to set up and complete projects to benefit their home communities.
Past schemes have developed youth cafes, renovated a community centre, worked with deaf children and used positive peer education with young homeless adolescents, among others.
Stuart Lord, 37, who will be involved in the adventure activities stage of the scheme as a trek leader, said it was a great opportunity to experience something new and OCRA had been very kind in giving him the time off to act as a volunteer.
'This sort of thing helps you to learn about yourself and I will also find out about organising other people in a really remote setting,' he said.
Both men have raised £595 towards the work of Raleigh International and they also have to dedicate 100 hours of their time to projects in their home area.
Both Stuart and Ricky, who are currently in talks with Raleigh over setting up a sporting project in Okehampton, have praised the generosity of local people who helped them achieve their goal.
Ricky, who will be leaving his job in Somerfield to take up the challenge in two weeks time, said he had always wanted to travel and get involved in aid work and this had given him the opportunity he had been waiting for.
'I am getting pretty excited about it now — I think it will really open my eyes to different things,' he said. 'It will probably be a life changing experience for me.'
Stuart's replacement whilst he is in Ghana is Ruth Thorne from Okehampton, a leisure manager with a background in community sport.