A short summary of your project

I have received an unconditional offer for a place on the MA Human Rights at University College London. I am absolutely thrilled to have been accepted for this programme – I want to work in advocacy and gaining a prestigious Taught Masters at UCL would be key to a career pathway in this field but after hearing that I was not successful in receiving a bursary, I will not be able to afford to embark on the programme.

I want to study Human Rights because I dream of working for a humanitarian NGO. I have long held the belief that being able to help someone in need is exactly the same as being obligated to. We, in the west, live in such privilege; this privilege has come from the desecration of the lives of others. My thoughts and career ambitions were targeted to the humanitarian sector when I volunteered with Help Refugees in Calais.

This Masters degree is the key for me to achieve this, yet, it is something I am as of yet unable to afford.

My story

I was home educated from the age of 10, returning to conventional education at the age of 16 when I took a couple of A Levels, an AS level and a couple BTEC courses in Creative Media. At the age of 19 I was diagnosed with depression and general anxiety disorder after a mental breakdown, and shortly after received the news that I had been accepted into Kings College London to do a BA in Liberal Arts, which was at the time a new and prestigious degree at the University.  I could barely leave my room at the time, but this offer provided somewhat of a catalyst for me and I vowed to go to London and make the most of every opportunity that would come my way.

I developed a real passion for higher education at KCL, and later helped represent the Liberal Arts programme in Student Conferences across Europe and the UK. Although the three years at KCL proved incredibly challenging – academically and personally, I graduated from King’s College London last year,  attaining a 2:1 degree in Liberal Arts, majoring in English. Since then, despite hundreds of job applications, I was unable to acquire a position in London that paid a living wage. I decided to spend the year productively and have been blogging personally and professionally for the Huffington Post on mental health, society, the refugee crisis and gender issues as well as writing content for Lifehack , and other sites.  As mentioned above, I have recently spent some time volunteering with Help Refugees in Calais, working as part of a response team in a warehouse, sorting donations and helping to construct facilities, and recently I returned to Calais and volunteered with the Refugee Community Kitchen.

I consider myself a creative person. I have recently developed a strong interest in photography, and have always written pieces of poetry and prose for fun and self enrichment. In 2012 I wrote a 92,000 word science fiction novel, and at KCL I wrote a full length stage play and was proud to have a piece published in the Time Higher Education Magazine last year on mental health provision at university (which was published with my name redacted).

I feel it also might be pertinent to add that I have gone to great lengths to overcome long term anxiety and depression issues, including walking 500 miles of the Camino de Santiago in 30 days in 2015, solo.  I like to think this reflects my determination and drive.

WHY I NEED Crowdfunding

Like many would-be students, I come from a family of limited means. Although they are supportive of my ambitions, they do not have the finances to help me pay for my MA or subsidise my living costs.

I have applied for the PG student loan which is £10280, which, with tuition fees costing £12570, doesn’t even cover the cost of the course. I need to raise the remainder of the fees - £2,290  - plus the cost of my first six months of rent whilst in London which I anticipate being 6 months @ £500 = £3000 . So the total minimum I need = £5290. I would ideally need £10,000 to cover the rest of my rent, bills and books and some living costs, but for anything that is pledged above the minimum, I will donate 50% to Help Refugees.

I applied for a needs-based bursary but, as you can imagine, there were many applications and I was unsuccessful. This is my last ditch attempt at getting to UCL to achieve the next step of my dream of working in the field of Human Rights. Please help me realise my goal.

Rewards

I aim to carry on working as a freelance writer while studying which should cover some of  my living costs ( I live very cheaply – borne out of necessity!). I am offering copywriting and blogging as rewards.