Deborah Harward (UK) Significant Change Story

I applied for Global Xchange at a time when I was unsure what I wanted out of life, especially my career. I felt I was lacking purpose or direction-my limited knowledge of global issues made me vaguely aware I’d like to do something to help others but I didn’t know where to start!

Thanks to all the wonderful people I’ve met on GX, I’ve learned so much from a personal and a global perspective! The biggest learning for me is to be able to differentiate between culture, tradition, religion, faith and spirituality an area I had very little knowledge of before. I’m developing an understanding of how these issues affect the social cohesion of communities and relate to wider issues of conflict around the world, and it has motivated me to want to work for inter-faith understanding and peace.

On a personal level being able to better understand what people mean by faith has helped me to explore my own beliefs and begin to feel more spiritual awareness. I’m also much more aware of how culture affects the interpretation of these things in society and so I’m able to see the influences that I’ve grown up with and realise I have a choice about the way I want to live.

I feel more centred and confident as a person now, and definitely have more determination and direction for my life. I am more aware of how I can make a positive contribution to my community in terms of my career but also as an individual. I’m motivated to be informed about the issues affecting my country and the world in order to be able to raise awareness and participate in how they are dealt with.

I now feel like there’s so much to learn and so many interesting things to be a part of, I’m really happy to have rediscovered the sense of enthusiasm and ambition which I had lost! I’m also eternally glad for the wonderful people I’ve spent time with over these four months, my new friends and family from countries I’m going to admit I couldn’t have located on a map before this started. I feel more connected to the world now and part of a wider family of people who mean so much to me and I’ll never forget. Thank you to all who have made this special, I wish you all the very best for the future and look forward to how our lives will continue to be connected!

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Now we've been back two weeks, and I'm really enjoying telling all my family and friends what we did on the programme. I'm finding out about lots of organisations working for interaction between people of different faiths, initiatives to help young people develop their skills of reasoning, self confidence and self awareness, and projects to promote global awareness... I'm so excited to find that there is so much going on, its easy to keep up the level of enthusiasm! I'm making contact with different people, and volunteering to get training and experience within these new areas of work - its all going well so far. Hope the rest of the team are having the same good luck : ) miss you all!