The Recruitment Stage
The first stage of the project was an interview process, to select 16 young people to be part of the commonwealth youth project. Having seen one too many episodes of programmes such as The X Factor, I think we were all expecting a terrifying audition procedure, but in fact it was all fun and very relaxed, if a little nerve-racking.
First we chatted as a group, and were asked what actions we’d take if certain disastrous situations arose whilst we were in charge on a trip to Ghana. Although the most obvious response at the time was probably, “I don’t know! Panic and cry?”, the 16 of us that got through into the ominous sounding “Stage 2”, presumably gave vaguely sensible answers.
Next we wrote, under timed conditions, about the impact that going on the trip would have on us and our communities. Finally, all that practise we did at school for speed exam-writing paid off! Lastly was an interview with the youth leaders and mentors. I found the idea of being interviewed and judged so traumatic, that, like many victims of ordeals, I seem to have blocked out all memories of the incident and the only questions I can remember being asked are the first one ‘If you were a biscuit what type would you be?’ and the last ‘What would you do if you were offered a stew made of cat?’ However, I’m sure whatever questions we were asked were very interesting, and that we all answered them well and honestly.