CRED Foundation

THE ZONE is an opportunity to:

• Travel overseas with other children, young people and adults from the UK
• Work with some of the poorest, yet happiest children on earth
• Have your views on life shaken and stirred
• Raise sponsorship for an international project that is not only serving local people but also run by them!

You’ll be part of a team delivering a playscheme / activity week for one of the Cred Foundation’s international partner projects. You can expect to work hard, have a lot of fun, and use your skills within the team to make it all happen.
 

What will THE ZONE typically involve?

The programme is designed to ensure just one week of missed study or work - where day 1 is a Friday afternoon/evening and day 10 is a Sunday.

There is no limit to the fun, ideas and creativity that go into making THE ZONE totally amazing, because each individual team generates the ideas, collects the equipment, and makes it happen for themselves!
 

Just to get you thinking though, in the past we have done things like:

• Parachute games
• Play-dough
• Fun with food
• Puppet making and puppet shows
• Singing and dancing
• Balloon decorating
• Football tournaments
• Banner making
• Sensory games

What will it mean for me?

If you join THE ZONE, this is what Cred will provide:

• A superb team of adults and young people to work with. This team will usually be 16-22 people.
• An initial team meeting to meet others going on the trip and the chance for you and family members to ask questions.
• A training weekend for the whole team, looking at things like cross-cultural communication and special needs work.
• All flights, local transfers, meals, accommodation and travel insurance.

This is what you will need to do:

• Raise your own support for the trip
• Raise sponsorship in aid of Cred’s work with overseas partner organisations - we will give you loads of ideas as to how to do this and if you are part of a group coming with your school we will talk with the school about how to maximise this.
• Get your own jabs from your local medical centre. For legal reasons we cannot advise which jabs to get and which not to get, but your doctor will be able to tell you.
• Visa. If you are applying on your own, you will need to apply for your own visa. This is not too tricky - an Ethiopian visitors visa application is just one A4 page and costs £12-18, depending on length of trip. If you are coming with a group, we will work with your school/college to apply for these together.

What have others said about it?

Some quotes from young people who have been in THE ZONE:

"We had to say goodbye to the children after an outstanding show. We were all in tears and the children couldn’t understand why - it was them though, it was all about them and the fact that we may not see some of them again. One little girl came up to me - I had met her on my first day. My heart broke as the reality sank in: I had to leave her. I gave her my T shirt and my necklace and told her that next year I will come back and be with her again. And I will."

 
"I have seen these kids who have so little, show a quality of life and happiness that I have never seen in people back home."

 
"It was fantastic to see our group of school-children respond like they did. We are so proud of them and believe that this trip has made a significant impact on future choices they will make. Cred worked with us to make sure that we were able to be responsive to parental concerns as well as to enable the children to bring along many of their own skills. Cred staff managed the whole process really well, and we are keen to repeat this again next year!"

Contact us

If you’d like to get involved or would like more information, please contact James Sharp from Cred on paul.sanderson@cred.org.uk or ring 07802 565987.