How this started and a brief overview in prepartion.

  

How this all started a brief overview in preparation.

This journey all started in a city in the North East of England in Newcastle upon Tyne.

I was at work one evening with the Male Action Project (MAP) doing some Outreach, engaging with our client group.

At the time I was sat chilling in the back of the van when one of our Managers (Laura) was speaking about her recent travels to Australia & Hong Kong. As she was talking my mind was wandering, so I just sat back and listened to this in detail. She soon had my complete attention.

Shortly afterwards I was asked if this was something that I would consider applying for and an email was duly sent.

Upon clicking onto www.wcmt.org.uk this blew me away. I proceeded to read all the information on the website. Very early on when first filling the application in I knew what I wanted to do when applying for this Fellowship. The area I wanted to look at was homelessness, substance misuse, sex work and to see how work in this field in another country mirrors or is different to our own work.

I completed the application with support from my manager, from the beginning there was a lot of work involved. During the months to follow I went through different selection processes and was invited to attend an interview in London, January 2013.

On the day of the interview the weather report said there was storms all around England and I was unsure if I would even get there by train. At this point a bit of snow was not going to stop me!!!.....I was focused on what I had to do and would have walked there if need be. This year a total of 1,161 applied and a total of 125 travelling fellowships were awarded. The category I applied for and was successful in was Medical & Health.

When I received the letter it was very emotional as I've never experienced anything on this level before, on top of all the hours of hard work that had gone into this, it was a very overwhelming moment.

Since January of this year I've been working hard to confirm all the projects, this has been done by emailing constantly back and forth to the projects I have identified in Australia.

The level of support I've had has been second to none from my managers and The Cyrenians   www.thecyrenians.org plus www.wcmt.org This is still ongoing and I cannot thank Laura enough for planting the seed.

At this point I've three weeks before I go, the flight tickets have arrived.

 At times I can feel quite anxious about the thought of this.

However today I am sitting back and enjoying the moment.

   

                                                                   Matty Bower