I heard about Platform2 when my best friend applied a few months ago, he is now in India and I am going to Ghana in a few days. Unlike most of the other former editors I haven’t been on a P2 project yet and am still in the preparation phase. To be honest I don’t have a clue how to prepare, I’m getting my injections and sorting out insurance and the rest but frankly there isn’t much to do on that front as P2 sort it all out for you. I just filled in a few forms, went to an interview and got poked in the arm a few times, now I’m off to Africa!

For the last week I’ve been volunteering in the P2 office in London and have had the chance to meet a few of the people who work behind the scenes at P2 to make sure all the projects run smoothly. This was important to me because me and all the other volunteers are trusting these people to send us to the right the places to do the right things and get us back safely. Fortunately, we don’t need to worry because everyone has been brilliant and they’ve been working pretty hard over the last week.

When you get the chance to explain to people what P2 is and how easy it is to get involved they get excited and jump on to it. The problem is getting the chance to tell people. Posters, leaflets and e-mails are great BUT people have to stop to read them.

For Platform2 to succeed in helping communities in the developing world and increasing awareness in the UK it needs former and potential volunteers to go out and talk to people and inspire them to take an initial leap of faith onto the platform. While volunteering at the office I’ve worked on a bunch of projects to try and get people more involved and spread awareness, from National Platform2 day to art and design. Everything I’ve done has been trying to raise awareness of the opportunity that Platform2 represents and fortunately for me its simple stuff. To make a difference and spread the word about Platform2, all you really have to do is recommend it to people, send them messages and talk to them.

So if you’re thinking about going on Platform2… do it! There aren’t many opportunities in life to do nice things and be rewarded with 10 weeks of sunshine! But make sure you get others to do it with you.

And if you’ve already enjoyed your ten weeks don’t stop doing good things, please tell more people about it, and encourage them to go to the website and get involved.

Good luck spreading the word.

I’m off to Ghana now. 

Mohammed Afridi.