My Trip to India!!

As part of my ambassador role, I get to go out to India!! I will get to see how World Vision is going to use this year's fundraising money to help communities in Jaipur (also known as the pink city), which is in India.

I was originally meant to be going to India on the 30 November, flying to Mumbai and then getting an internal flight to Delhi, however 2 days before we were due to fly out, the unfortunate incidence in Mumbai happened so we had to postpone the trip.

We then decided to re-arrange the trip for the following week, flying to Delhi first and transfer there to go to Jaipur. A few days before we were due to fly out, there were news reports that Delhi airport was being heavily guarded and terrorist threats had been made against the airport, therefore World Vision decided to postpone the trip until further notice.

When this happended, I was really upset as I began to think I would never get to go, but now the trip has been re-arranged for this Sunday, 18 January and I cannot wait. I was nervous when the bombings in Mumbai took place however I am now more determined than ever to visit India, as I feel that not only can i help such a good cause, but I can come back to England and bring awareness about the work that World Vision is doing.

Keep your eyes peeled for my blogs from India

Eleanor xx

I am extremely excited about the trip but also scared as I don't know what to expect. I am prepared for unpleasant sights but I am determined that this will only strengthen the campaign by putting myself in these surroundings. Hopefully this will also have an effect on the teenage audience as they will see the reality of some people's lives and so will feel compelled to support the campaign.

To prepare myself for the trip, I am researching into the World Vision Campaign to gain a full understanding of what this charity offers, therefor strenghening the campaign. I am prepared for a very tight schedule when visiting the Pink City and would of course like to see the city itself. However I am concentrating on helping the people out there and doing all that I can.

Photo shoot to launch the World Vision 24 Hour Famine

In November 2008, I did a photo shoot to help launch this year's World Vision 24 Hour Famine campaign. I did the shoot with a number of role models involved in this campaign, one of which was Georgia Groome, whom I worked with on the film Angus Thongs & Perfect Snogging last year. It was fantastic to work with Georgia again! Other celebrities that attended the shoot and who are also supporting the World Vision 24 Hour Famine are previous ambassadors Fearne Cotton and Atomic Kitten Liz McClarnon.

As we are being sponsored to give up something important to us over the 13-15 February, we did a photo shoot with the items we are giving up! Our favorite things were put into a clear box, therefore we got to play around with this and do some fun, creative poses with the box. As you can see from the picture on the left, I chose to give up horse riding, something I do everything weekend and something which is very important to me.

Liz McClarnon chose to give up food, therefore you can see from these shots all of the food that was put into the box.

Being a Radio DJ, Fearne Cotton decided to give up her radio for a day......

.....and Georgia is not only giving up food, but she's giving up her home comforts by spending the night outdoors!!

As well as the shoot, we also took part in media interviews, therefore you can how well the images turned out from the interview that ran in Shout magazine below:




I really enjoyed the shoot as not only was it great seeing Georgia again, it was great meeting both Fearne and Liz as they are definitely my role models because of all the work they have done for charity.

I am so excited to be taking over from last year's ambassador Fearne Cotton - it was amazing meeting her and just talking through her experiences that she had whilst out in India last year with World Vision. She gave me some really good advice to help me prepare for my trip!

Being chosen as the new ambassador!

When I was asked to be the ambassador for 2008/09 World Vision 24 Hour Famine back in September 2008, I was completely amazed that I had been picked to lead such a powerful campaign! I was so excited as I have always wanted to help children and people in 3rd World Countries who don't have the luxuries that have become so common in our everyday lives.

I took on the role as the campaign aims to reach out to teenagers, to inform them about how youths the same age as us lead a completely different life to the one that we lead here and being a teenager myself, I'm sure I can make an impact. I see this as my chance to make a difference.

The year ahead will most certainly be challenging as I will be coming face to face with sights that I probably could never imagine, such as the extreme poverty and the fact that girls my age are working as sex workers and don't have the same options and choices that I do. I am very much looking forward to the trip to India as it is a once in a life time opportunity that will be both amazing and shocking.