A Smile gap year is an opportunity for you to see the world,
visit other countries, learn new skills and help others. Perhaps you are about
to go to university or have just finished. Or perhaps you have been working and
want to change your focus. Wherever you are on your journey, a gap year with
Smile could be just what you’re looking for. You will need lots of energy,
creativity and a willingness to smile along the way!
Our desire is to see young people
step out of their comfort zone and help make a difference to people in some of
the world’s poorest communities. You obviously have a desire to help others too
– hence your interest – you want to spend some time learning and living in a new
and challenging environment, and you have a time frame and budget in mind. Here
are a few things to consider:
Where would you like to go?
Smile offers you opportunities
in Africa, Asia and Europe, working in some of the world’s poorest
communities.
What do you
want to do?
Smile offers you choices of
working with children, AIDS orphans, street children, young people, the poor
and disadvantaged, or “getting your hands dirty” with manual work.
How long do
you want to go for?
Smile offers you a choice of
staying for 3, 5, 7, 9 or 12 months.
How much do
you have to spend?
Smile’s flexibility enables you
to choose according to your budget.
Anyone over the age of 18,
if going overseas. For UK placements the minimum age is 16 years.
Applicants must be committed Christians who are involved in a local
church. You must also be a UK citizen resident in the UK.
Clive Doubleday with gappers
Pete and Jess in Kosova – Uganda – Sri Lanka
Our gap year programmes
vary in price depending on your choice of country. However, included in
your gap year cost is a week’s accommodation and training at Otford
Manor in Kent (which includes a day at Carroty Wood Outward Bound
Centre), outward and return flights, airport taxes, airport transfers,
travel within the country connected with the project, insurance,
accommodation, food, contribution towards the project itself and
administrative costs.
Training week
at Otford Manor and Carroty Wood in Kent
You will need to complete an
application form and obtain references. You can email us at
gapyear@smileinternational.org
or you may call the office on 01689 870932 and we will be happy to send
the form to you. Full information on how to apply may be found on the back
pages of the brochure.
We hope you will find a programme to suit you and that you will want to join
Smile for the experience of a lifetime! Please contact Richard Westbrook at the Smile office on
01689 883322 or
gapyear@smileinternational.org to discuss your requirements or request a
brochure and application forms (also available to download below).
Naomi has completed a gap
year with Smile in Kosova and has been teaching English language to many
young Kosovans, as well as caring for the many widows that still exist
in Kosova today. With the summer temperatures soaring to 35 degrees
plus, this has meant that the widows' wells have all dried up. Naomi,
21, who is a member of Sidcup Baptist Church, took 10 gallons of water
twice a day up to the remote mountain village where one of the widows
and her 10 children live. Naomi said she has really enjoyed her year in
Kosova and has made many friends. She has been really challenged by the
extent of the poverty that still exists nine years after the Balkan
conflict.
Clive Doubleday, Chief Executive of Smile International, said “In this
age many young people get such bad press, it is great therefore to see
local young people sacrificially giving of their time and energy in
improving the lives of those less fortunate around the world.”
A Gap Year to Remember!
God’s Perfect Timing by Nathan Blackburn
"I initially applied for a
5-month gap year with Smile International but during the training week,
I really felt I should be going for longer. However, I had exhausted all
of my possible means of income and was unsure how I would fund another 2
months. So I prayed about it. When I got home, there was a cheque
waiting for me from Christ Church, Chislehurst, Kent, for the exact
amount I needed. Little did I know what was to happen on my gap year!
It was only in those last two months that the relationship between
Hannah and me grew stronger – and I don't think that any of this would
have happened if I’d have gone home after 5 months! It still amazes me
to think about that and continues to remind me how good God is, and how
perfect His timing is!
Without our Smile Gap Year
in Uganda and the experiences we shared during it, Hannah and I wouldn’t
be where we are now – we would have probably never met! But God is good.
His ways are perfect and He is using Smile for many great things in many
countries – besides bringing us together! I think that our time away
didn’t just bring us together in marriage, but it gave us both a passion
for God’s mission field which we fully intend to use in the future!"
GAP YEAR BROCHURE DOWNLOADS
The literature and forms below are also available from the Smile office.
