As I commence packing up my belongings before jetting out I am having a number of reality-check moments where my ‘old-world thinking’ is colliding with the trip I am about to embark on with one particular example that I can’t help but reflect upon.

In order to ensure my bleached blonde hair retains it’s brightness I use a purple shampoo once a week (L’Oreal Pro Voke for those stumbling on this post for beauty tips!) and I was genuinely contemplating how many bottles I would need to take incase I struggle to purchase replacements on my travels.

As I was I considering this, an email popped up in my inbox from a school in Uganda I will be volunteering popped up giving me some background on some of the particular challenges they face.

One particular issue is that they have a number of 13-15 year old boys who they bring in to the school from the streets to try to support them and give them a basic education with the hope of them obtaining an apprenticeship in order to gain employment.

They do not have the resources or teachers to teach these kids separately so they end up in a class with 3-5 year olds which is their educational level which unsurprisingly leaves the boys feeling embarrassed which leads a number of them dropping out.

As well as the tragedy of missed opportunities this also leaves them vulnerable to being t

argeted by local drug gangs who exploit their poverty by recruiting them as drug runners, an occupation which more often than not leaves them dead within a few years.

Given this it is imperative to find ways to keep these boys in the education system that does not involve additional resources which they simply do not have.

I was then in the farcical situation where on my phone I was reading this heartbreaking email whilst on my laptop researching the availability of purple shampoo in southern Africa – a juxtapositionment that completely stopped me in my tracks – a combination at laughing at the absurdity of the situation and genuine disgust at worrying about such triviality.

As I pack my backpack and realise how little I actually need for 18 months it’s impossible not to reflect on how many things I own that I neither need nor even use but just own because I can.

I try not to be too pious about these things as I am acutely aware it is only through reaching a certain level in this materialistic society that I have the savings to be able to undertake this trip but even so it is impossible not to reflect on what really matters in the world.