THE CLOCK is ticking for Lauren Simmons.
The young Barbadian is trying to raise enough funds so she can lend her services to Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and work on developing an educational system in Cambodia.
Before she can leave for Cambodia, where she plans to volunteer with the independent international development organisation, the 23-year-old has until today to raise $2 400.
Since launching the cause on the online platform Just Giving, she has raised about $1 800 and she has asked people willing to give their support at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lauren-simmons.
She said that figure was just ten per cent of the total cost of the three-month trip to the Southeast Asian territory, as the VSO had already covered the insurance, accommodation and would provide food, but she said it was one of the VSO’s requirement.
“The reason they asked me to raise ten per cent is because they don’t want to send people who are not committed to the cause, so this is their way of finding out how willing you are to put yourself out there, but they have paid for everything else,” she said.
She was speaking recently at Rascals (formerly Weisers on the Bay) at Brandons Beach where she organised a mini concert as part of her fund raising activities. (Below, Singer Jody Smith (centre) accompanied by Chadd Ifill (left) and Russell Padmore and of the band 2 Mile Hill performing at Lauren Simmon’s fund raiser last week.)
The concert featured performances from artistes Jody Smith, Tabitha and Sonny Meraki who was backed by Chadd Ifill and Russell Padmore of the band 2 Mile Hill.
In an effort to raise more funds she said both Ifill and Padmore would be auctioning off three, one-hour lessons as well as a Reiki treatment.
The 24-year-old’s latest pursuit comes after she met a bump in the road while pursuing a Masters in International Event Management, but she decided not to let the disappointment defeat her.
“While in England I was pursuing a Masters and things weren’t working out how I expected them to work out so I started to get upset. I saw two people who were on the road and I said to myself ‘Lauren you have a roof over your head, you have food to eat and you’re here being upset because you didn’t get to do your Masters’ and I thought ‘well you need to look for somewhere or somebody to help and I actually did,’” she said.
Simmons said she was inspired to travel to Cambodia to help develop their educational system.
“When I saw what happened in Cambodia with the civil unrest in the 70s, their lack of roads, the lack of schools all the infrastructure that we take for granted … and the fact that we can go to school when we turn four years old, they don’t have that and it broke my heart,” she said.
According to VSO website, since 1958 they have been bringing people together to share skills, build capabilities, promote international understanding and change lives to make the world a fairer place. (TG)