There are many reasons why I decided to volunteer with Prisoners Abroad.

I have always had a strong interest in human rights, and commitment to the idea that everyone should be treated with respect and dignity, regardless of any circumstances. Whilst at university I volunteered for many causes, including with offender charities, and decided that I wanted to use the skills I got from my languages degree to build a career in the charity sector. When I saw a vacancy at Prisoners Abroad—a human rights and welfare charity operating all over the world—it seemed like the perfect chance for me to help support those often overlooked by society.

As an intern with the fundraising team, I have had the opportunity to work on one of Prisoners Abroad’s biggest tasks: raising £1.8 million per year to make our services possible.  I’ve worked on a wide variety of fundraising activities: writing, research, database management and more, and learned a lot about the organisation and the needs of its service users. All of this has been great experience and I hope a stepping-stone to future opportunities. 

The Prisoners Abroad team is small but mighty—everyone here is personally invested in every case, and I am constantly impressed by the impact of their work and the generosity of their supporters.

You can judge a society by how it treats its prisoners, and unfortunately ours often prefers to forget that offenders and their loved ones are vulnerable too. At Prisoners Abroad, however, you can be sure that no prisoner is forgotten.