Hi, thank you for visiting my fundraising page. At the end of September I'm going to be going to Sylhet, in North-West Bangladesh, working for an NGO called Ethnic Community Development Organisation (ECDO). The name says it all really, and I'll be a Programme Officer working on their indigenous community rights scheme, and also working on their organisational development. Half of my time will be spent on fieldwork, and the other half building up our external communications, international fundraising, research development, and tea-drinking.

I'll be there for 13 months, and from what I gather it's going to be hot, wet, 30 minutes rickshaw to the office (still better than the Tube), and for the mosquitos I'll be a walking Continental buffet. I'll also be making the supreme sacrifice of not being in London to witness Tottenham win the treble. Think about that.

However, this is something that I've always wanted to do and I'm really looking forward to. I get to learn Bangla (I also HAVE to learn Bangla). Do amazing work. Meet new people, explore a new way of living, and really have an opportunity to 'share skills and change lives'. Cheesy but true. I believe it's the right thing for me to do, and the right time to do it.

I'm working on behalf of the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) (i.e. I don't get paid for this). They've organised this for me, so in return I've got to raise them a bit of wonga. Any donation you make doesn't go to me, but  to the VSO directly,  towards recruiting, training and sending volunteers to work in Development. This costs VSO approximately £15,000 per volunteer, per year. Here's the appeal bit:

A fiver could get you - one over-priced glass of wine and some nuts or help support a VSO volunteer management specialist living and working in Papua New Guinea for a day.

A tenner could get you - a trip to the cinema or help provide a month's supply of anti-malaria tablets to keep a VSO volunteer healthy and working in Uganda.

£25 quid could get you - a hangover or provide the equipment to help a VSO volunteer set up an income-generating project in Malawi, with the proceeds going towards improving the welfare of the local community.

You know the situation, if you're able to give some serious money then you can create some serious good stuff. So anything you're able to do is an amazing, and very generous contribution.

So please sponsor me! It's easy, totally secure, and if you tick the box VSO can claim back Gift-Aid of 28% extra, so your 20 quid becomes 25-odd for the VSO. At no extra cost to you! Bargainous.

If you'd like to get in touch with me, please do, at tsowula@hotmail.com

Many thanks for your support. Genuinely.

Tim