My name is Stella Tsouknidas, I’m 22 and I live in rumney. I’m currently unemployed but I volunteer with the SAFE foundation 3 days a week, it has to be said I look forward to going into the office and seeing the safe girls!

My life changed completely once I met the SAFE foundation staff members Lucy and Hannah.

Before Africa I would spend most my time getting high with my friends either out on the streets or in our houses, that isn’t what the life of a 22 year old should be like, especially when I have dreams.

I left school with no GCSE’s so finding a job or going to college was basically my only options. I hated school with a passion, I just couldn’t wait to leave. I went to three different high schools and hated them all. The last school I attended I had a great group of friends who made my school days worthwhile. I was a little brat in school, I got kicked out half way through my last year for arguing with my head teacher. I had a part time job but once I got kicked out of school I went into full time work in a bakery and I loved every minute of it. I really enjoyed working there and I was sad when it closed downL. I used to have arguments with my mother and I moved out for a while with a woman I didn’t really know that well. All I did was sit in and get high on my days off work and stay in with her and loads of boys from the area. It isn’t the life I wish I had led, if I could go back and change the way I used to be I would, but I can’t. All I can do is learn from my mistakes and make the best out of it.  I went to college for a year and did hairdressing but after the first year it felt just like high school I was so bored and we hardly ever learnt anything new but the same things over and over again and I felt like I was wasting my time, so I left. At least I left with my NVQ Level 1 in hairdressing.

AFRICA!!!!!

It started in December when I saw an advertisement in the local postcode book. I wasn’t too sure about it at first but I gave it some thought and when the interview date came I found myself walking to the centre with butterflies in my stomach. Once I got there I was welcomed by Hannah who was so cheerful and happy, which made my butterflies calm down a bit. Then I was introduced to Lucy who signed me in and took a photo of me for the interview. I didn’t know anyone there so I felt a bit weird. We got started. They told us about Sierra Leone and what we would be doing there if we got chosen to go. We had one-to-one interviews with each member of staff there which was a little scary, but I thought “just be myself and it will be fine” Once I started talking my butterflies turned to excitement. After the interview process I said goodbye to everyone. Once I got home I was there for about an hour then my phone stared to ring. I answered and it was Hannah “you’re going to Africa!” OMG I was so shocked I didn’t know what to say, I was speechless.

I sat down for a minute to take it all in and then it hit me.. I’m going to Sierra Leone!! ME! I never thought something like this would ever happen to me but I was sooooooo excited it was unreal I told my mum then we called everyone in the family. They were so pleased for me, congratulating me, telling me what an amazing experience I was going to have and how life changing it was going to be. I was shocked for the whole day I didn’t sleep much either. My family members were so supportive of me but my friends not so much, they all thought I was crazy going to Africa saying “it’s a war zone you’re stupid if you go out there” or “I can’t believe you’re going”. I started to get fed up of explaining to people that it’s not a war zone and if it was they wouldn’t be taking us. But I was so excited that I thought if they can’t be supportive I’ll do it without them.

We had 6 weeks of training prior to the trip. We would all meet up and learn about the things we were going to be teaching in Africa. Nutrition, HIV/AIDS and life skills, Which was taught to us by the amazing Lucy. Every Friday I was greeted by Hannah at the door with a big squeezy hug followed by Lucy and it made being there so much better because I still didn’t know anyone. I still felt a bit weird around everyone but Hannah and Lucy’s hugs always made it a little bit better... who knew that after those 6 weeks of training and just 2 weeks in Africa that we would feel like a family. It’s crazy how everything’s all changed in such a small amount of time.

BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS

When we landed in the airport and I stood off the plane I was hit by the heat, it was getting dark and still the sun was blazing. After what seemed like hours and hours of waiting outside the airport our transport finally came. 16 people, loads of suitcases and bags and all we had was a small mini bus and a car. We had to squish us all in the mini bus with the bags and filled the car with the bags as well.  We were all sat on top of each other for the whole journey. It was such a shocking drive. I don’t think we were all ready for what was about to happen... the driving was INSANE! The roads were like one giant pothole! It was crazy how they drove around at night trying to avoid other vehicles. It was pretty dangerous and a little frightening aswell, I soon got used to it though. We had to get a ferry to Freetown. We cued up outside and we all got out of the minibus so the smokers could have a fag and so we could stretch our legs. We were bombarded with the locals trying to sell us things and just standing there looking at us like we were aliens or something. It was strange. When we were on the ferry we all sat down on the floor waiting and we were all so silent. I was thinking about what to expect and I started to get a bit homesick, I started to miss everyone back home but then we all started talking to each other and it made me feel better.

The drive to our lodge was long and seemed to take ages. It was so hot in the mini bus with everyone piled on each other and only a few windows open. We pulled up into our lodge that looked like apartment buildings, we went to our rooms to get settled (which were better than what any of us expected) I shared mine with Chantelle aka Chanty warrior, Rae aka rabies, Sam, Lucy evo and Sophie. It was such a laugh. We had a lovely view from our room unlike everybody else (they were all stuck on the bottom floor). We also had a view of the little kids that lived right outside the lodge in a small shelter. We woke up every morning with the one boy playing in some sand that was left on the side of the building. Our apartment consisted of 3 bedrooms, a shower room and a small kitchen area with a table for us to eat our food. The staff there were amazing. Our chef Mr. marsh was awesome, I loved his food he was such a good cook although breakfast wasn’t the best meal of the day I think we ALL looked forward to our meal when we came home from school. Then there was smart A ‘the guy that brought us our food every day’, he was such a hard worker, he worked just so he could give money to his mum for rent for her and his brothers and sisters, meanwhile he lives in a room where he could just about fit in he has nothing there it was so sad when he was telling us about his life and how hard he works just to support his family, he was only young. When I think about it the smallest room in my house I could still fit a bed and a wardrobe in, it was a big culture shock.

The school we taught in was a 2 hour drive away, the first day was the worst because we didn’t know what to expect. When we got there we all got out of the cars and we were suddenly surrounded by all these kids who were trying to grab any part of us that they could they were all so happy to see us. It was just like what you see in the papers or on the news when you see a celebrity go to Africa, it was incredibly overwhelming but amazing. I just couldn’t stop smiling the whole time. We started walking to the school and we were just all looking around at each other and we all had a massive group of kids surrounding each of us. It was so different to experience. Some of us got attached to a few of the kids me, chanty, Lucy evo and Lucy dicko all got attached to the same kid, Mohammed. He was just a toddler and he was such a cutie we all loved him. We also got attached to one of the kids we were teaching from day one he was there, talking to us making friends with each of us telling us about his life, Ibrahim Y Sesay he was such an amazing kid who had dreams. I think a few of us have still kept in touch by writing letters to him he is such an amazing kid! It was a privilege to have met him! All of them.  It was so hard when we had to say goodbye, I held back my tears so I didn’t cry in front of them but there were so many people begging us to take them back to the UK with us. It was so hard and heart breaking. I wanted to bring them all with me or stay there with them, it was a sad moment for everyone.

It was such a rollercoaster with all the things I had experienced that not a lot of people could even imagine. There was so much beauty in Sierra Leone but there was also so much pain and suffering. It was just so hard to take it all in. They are all such happy people and they suffer so much but they expect so little, yet here in the UK we have high expectations, if we don’t work we have benefits to help us, if we’re homeless we have hostels and shelters we have good hospitals and doctors. We have it good here, so to see what we did in S.L was such a shock.

It’s something that I will never forget. It will stick with me forever it’s what has kept me here with the SAFE foundation. I have always wanted to do something like this but never thought I’d get the opportunity and now that I have and I’ve experienced it I don’t want to stop. I want to keep doing this, I want to help people all around the world. It was such an amazing feeling doing what we did.

Our days off

On our days off we went to two different beaches, a market, a chimpanzee sanctuary and we even went to a festival. All I can say is... AWESOME! Where do I start, the festival our last day in Sierra Leone it was just amazing that’s all I can say it was the best festival ever. Lucy and Hannah even opened up the festival by singing some of their songs! We danced our booty’s off, we even learnt a dance move from a man who had spotted us dancing and he came up and started dancing with Chanty Warrior it was so funny. The beaches, again ‘amazing’...  Especially number 2 river, it was such a beautiful place - It was like paradise! We were the only people on the beach, and it was just beautiful. My eyes had never seen such a beautiful place that wasn’t on the tele or in a magazine, it was amazing!

Lumley beach was only a 10-15 min walk from our lodge, it wasn’t as beautiful as the other beach but it was still beautiful (if that makes sense). The water was amazing the sunset was amazing it was just overall an amazing experience!

The chimpanzee sanctuary was also an amazing experience they were so cute I really wanted to hold one. Our guide was hilarious he made noises just like them it was insane, so funny to witness that.

After Sierra Leone

Since coming home from Sierra Leone, I have stayed with the SAFE foundation, I do part time volunteering 3 days a week and I consider us here a family. We have been through so much and have grown together so quick it’s amazing. We’re a little SAFE family and I wouldn’t change it for the world. They have changed my life completely and for the better. If it wasn’t for them my life would probably be the same as it was before. But things have turned around, I look forward to all the good I can do in the future and I will help where I can.

It’s been 4 months since S.L and I’m now planning on going to India to do more volunteering! ‘Another chance of an amazing experience that I won’t ever forget’.

My life has changed completely I don’t take things for granted any more I appreciate everything I have, every healthy moment I live the choices I make, the opportunities I have, I’m so grateful that I had the chance to experience something so amazing. I can’t thank the SAFE foundation and communities first enough for what they have done for me, I just wish everyone had the opportunity to do what we did it would make the world such a better place to live.

We gave them knowledge to help them with their life and future we helped them realise that their dreams are, not just dreams... they can be made a reality!

I am an 18 year old and I’m from Llanrumney, Cardiff.

< this was a typical day of the week for me before realising what I was doing to myself.

I have been volunteering for The SAFE Foundation for four months since they took me away on a voluntary trip to Sierra Leone in Africa and that’s where the magic happened and my life officially started!

Life before SAFE

Growing up I was far from an angel, I got into a lot of trouble with the police, I was constantly getting kicked out of school for all sorts of stupid things from fighting and arguing with teachers to smoking and smashing things up.

And in all fairness I wasn’t much better at home. Arguments with my mother turned into a regular routine of stress and worry, I felt that I didn’t belong anywhere. I moved around from different family members houses but it always ended up the same as it started “my fault”. My bond with my father stopped for a very long time due to matters I would rather not write about, but it had a massive impact on my behaviour. I went through a phase of being even worse than I already was. The fighting got worse, I was constantly under the influence of drugs and alcohol, the anger came out in all sorts of forms and no matter how hard I tried to stop it nothing ever changed. For a few years I was set on joining the army until my hopes were crushed when they refused me due to my anger problems. I didn’t really have anything to fall back onto, no back-up plan, no second choice. Most of my teachers hated me, with a passion which is totally understandable because looking back I was hardly someone you’d think could have a heart, or have emotions. But maybe if they would have given me the chance to just explain then things could have been better. At the beginning of my final year in High School the school had finally given up on all hope and kicked me out, but my teachers gave me the opportunity to go back and sit my GCSEs. I’m quite an intelligent girl and for the first few years of high school i was predicted amazing grades, but when I got kicked out most of the teachers told me I would fail. I wanted to prove them wrong and I knew that if I set my mind to it I could do it. So that’s what I did I set my mind on it and stayed in constantly revising. I came out with 5 GCSEs, first aid qualifications and my ASDAN BRONZE AWARD, which shocked many people, including myself. While my exams were on the horizon I moved into an all girls hostel which wasn’t too bad at first but then I got kicked out the month after I lost my great-grandmother as I never went there for two weeks. My head was all over the place, we were so close and when I lost her it was like losing a limb. Having to go from seeing someone every single day of your life to knowing you’re never going to see that person again. I went through a pretty bad time and lost all motivation, I didn’t want to be alive if she couldn’t watch me succeed what was the point? I tried to take my life by overdosing on a stupid amount of tablets which I am not even sure I feel comfortable talking about but it happened. I am still not over it to this day but I have since learnt how to control my feelings and it’s healthy to be upset sometimes because nobody can be strong all the time. I started getting better emotionally so I started to look for a job and WOW the amount of jobs I applied for was ridiculous but every employer was looking for people who already had ‘proper’ qualifications, not a school leaver with 5 GCSEs. It got to the point where I just gave up on looking. Until one day one of the PCSOs Samantha Johnson told me about these interviews for a trip to Africa. Me? Africa? Don’t be so stupid things like that don’t happen to people like me. But I went to the interview, with nerves almost as big as the butterflies going crazy in my stomach and a few hours later “BAM”.. A phone-call.. “Chanty, you’re coming to Africa” I was left speechless, it all felt like one big dream and I was waiting to get awoken.

Madness In Africa

We had six weeks of training prior to the trip, which helped loads! Not just for experience but also for knowledge, I learnt a lot about the issues that are going on all over the world right now. Every single day until the day we were actually leaving I prepared myself for the worst, I told myself it was all a joke and I wasn’t going to Africa really it was all going to be a joke. I was so nervous, my suitcases were packed three weeks before we even went!

The night before I couldn’t sleep and then we had to wait all day and night because the coach wasn’t coming until midnight, I couldn’t stop shaking, couldn’t stop speaking, I must have smoked at least 40 fags that day, I really didn’t know what to do with myself.

We finally got on the plane and being stuck in between TWO Lucy’s that are both scared of flying? Lucy Dicko was squeezing my hand until my veins were popping out and on the other side Lucy Evo was telling me we were going to die.. I could see it being a long journey! We had a few stops during the journey to Freetown which made it seem even longer but when we finally arrived all of the travelling was worth it, I stepped off the plane and felt like I had just stood on a blazing fire the heat was beyond!  There were people everywhere and all I could hear was “Porto, Porto” (means white person in Creole). But the Africans were absolutely amazing, they were answering all of the questions we had the same as we answered there’s.

The Lodge we were staying in was much better than I had been expecting, but I just couldn’t get to grips with the things we had already seen, we had only been in the country an hour and on the car journey to the lodge I saw some crazy things.. Children walking round with no shoes on, people fighting casually in the streets and the roads are unexplainable people were driving like they were in a rally every two minutes I would find myself covering my face because I thought we were going to crash! The workers at the lodge were great, like an addition to our little family. They were very serious about their work and I couldn’t believe how hard they were working for such little money. Smart A one of the guys that worked there was working just to pay for his mothers rent so that she would have a stable home for herself and her other children yet Mr Smart A had to spend the rest of his wages on a room where he slept, it was so small that he just about fitted in there himself. The lifestyle of most of the people in the country was a culture shock, I didn’t think I was going to last. The only thing keeping me going was the smiles on their faces and the appreciation they had for us trying to help their community. Especially in the school where we were teaching some of the stories that the children were telling us were horrific, it was so emotional. I have a little brother who’s Nine, Jaden and an Eleven year old sister, Macy. And the children we were teaching were around their age I couldn’t stop thinking about them. What if one of them went through this day to day? What if one of them got sexually assaulted regularly? IT WOULDN’T HAPPEN! But in Africa the children had to go on with that as if it was normal because they didn’t know any different it was devastating.

Everyday was a different adventure. I learnt something new every five minutes, I saw something horrific every single minute. But the most amazing thing that every new person I met owned was.. a smile! Everyone was smiling, they were so happy to see us. They all live in the deep end of poverty but are the most happiest people I have ever met. The culture was brilliant! The children even had me dancing, lets just say I deleted the videos! But the atmosphere was great, Even though I was an emotional wreck they made me happy, my smile was glued to my face. I just wanted to squeeze everyone of them, they were so cute and funny! I started to get bonds with everyone but I got really attached to two of them. Mo-hammed who was the cutest little toddler I have ever met in my whole entire life, he was always clung to me, making me laugh, if he wasn’t sat on my lap he was sat on my shoulders we were constantly together and also Ibrahim Y Sesay who turned 14 while we were out there, I could write a book about how amazing that boy was, he had dreams, real dreams. He supported his father as he can’t really walk too far due to an illness, he lost his mother at a very young age but is so strong minded, I was inspired the moment I met him. He has a sensitive side but honestly what a character he was constantly joking around with us and teaching us new things. I was dreading the day I had to say goodbye to these beauties.

Every night after a long day we had a De-brief and spoke about our thoughts and emotions, which was a good thing to do because the days were quite intense so it was nice to get some emotion out.

We also had downtime which was absolutely amazing because we went to a few different places, the landscapes were epic! The views looked like professionally made paintings. We went to a festival which was wicked, we danced our little toes off all night. I celebrated my 18th birthday out in Africa, which made me hold this adventure even closer to my heart. But it did make me realise how much I was starting to miss people. I started to see the small things I had always taken for granted, they had always been right in front of me but I never really seemed to pay enough attention to how important they were.

I wake up everyday with the ability to live life. I wake up everyday with eyes to see the beautiful things I have. I wake up with ears to hear the words of my friends and family. I wake up with the ability to walk and run. I wake up with working arms to hold things close to me. I wake up with a voice, to get my opinion across and be heard. I wake up with rights. I have clean running water. I have clothes on my back and shoes on my feet. I wake up to food, love, beauty and life.

How did I ever have the right to complain about my life? I didn’t. It’s time to get real. I knew from that point on I was going to make a difference no matter how hard I have to work at it!

I could sit here forever and a day writing about my first adventure but I have plenty more to come. Saying goodbye, one of the hardest days of my life. Everybody was crying, begging us to take them back to the UK with us. If only it was that simple I wished.

How is it possible for this to be happening all over the world, and people are just going on like nothings happening. People need to open their eyes and see the bigger picture. Nobody deserves to live like that, no running water to clean their babies, struggling to pay for food to feed their family.

We got it way too easy, I promised myself the day that I left Africa that I would never complain about my life ever again!

Afterlife

Since returning from Sierra Leone my life has turned itself around. I am volunteering for the SAFE foundation, I’m doing this because I want to make a difference and because this charity changed my life completely. This trip was all about opportunities and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to join them. I met amazing and inspirational people who will be a part of me now and forever.

I feel better in myself, I feel like I have another chance at ‘living’ and now I know the true meaning of that word I know this time around things will be a million times better and I will appreciate so much more than I used to. There’s so many things I want to do and nothing is impossible.. If you want something you have to chase it until you have it. Don’t ever give up because that proves you never wanted it in the first place. My life has transformed from ‘nothing’ to ’something’ and everybody can make a difference if they really want to. I know I will fulfill my ambitions and I’m going to make my Nana proud of me.. what’s your motivation?

Check out the link below for Wales Online who awarded Lucy with their Bouquet of the Week recognising all her efforts. Well done Lucy and Thanks Wales Online

Bouquet for angel who is keeping us SAFE!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-16683434

Our Address:

Williams house, Columbus walk, off Brigantine Place,

Cardiff, CF10 4BY.

02920 020684/85

Thanks for your support! the kids will really appreciate it!