Mourant's 2005 Swaziland Challenge team named

08/02/2005

Mourant’s second Swaziland Challenge project has been chosen and the team of eight has been formed.

In 2003 a group from professional services firm Mourant teamed up with charity Hands Around The World to help build a school room in Siteki, Swaziland.

This, the second Mourant Swaziland Challenge, is again being run by Mourant in conjunction with Hands Around The World. The 2005 team will work on building a room at St Amideus School.

St Amideus has 320 pupils and nine teachers and lies on the mountain slopes in a remote part of northern Swaziland in a town called Pigg’s Peak.

The group represent Mourant’s Jersey, Guernsey and Croydon offices. They are team leader Carolyn Bye, who works in Mourant Equity Compensation Solutions Jersey, Sean Murphy from Mourant International Finance Administration Guernsey, Mourant Equity Compensation Solutions business analyst Ian Wilson from Croydon, Mourant du Feu & Jeune’s Debbie Le Sueur, a legal secretary in Jersey, Simon Lester from Mourant Private Wealth in Jersey and Peter Egan who works in Mourant International Finance Administration Jersey’s client accounting team.

Applications were also invited from partners of Mourant employees. The Mourant team members will be joined by Carolyn’s partner Steph Tierney-Elliott, who works for Jersey Telecom, and Charlotte Wright, the partner of last year’s team member Sean Clare and who works for Townends estate agents in London. The team is also being joined by Jersey builder Pat Walker.

Journalist Kate Adie is the Patron of Hands Around The World, a charity dedicated to tackling the problems of the poorest countries of the world by offering practical help to relieve suffering.

Nicola Davies, Mourant’s chief executive, commented, "Hands Around The World’s aim is to enable communities of people in developing countries, as well as volunteers, to learn and develop through their projects. The charity’s focus on enabling fits well with Mourant’s own and we hope it will be a challenging but rewarding experience for our team."

The charity’s director, Dr David Steiner, added "We are delighted that Mourant is continuing its long-term support with Hands Around The World. The volunteers have all been through a selection process and their dedication and commitment is apparent. We are looking forward to some months of preparation and then a very exciting, and worthwhile, trip."

For a number of years Mourant has run a staff bursary scheme, whereby individuals are allowed the time, and financial assistance, to enable them to participate in a variety of different projects. Mourant was looking for an alternative method of giving Mourant employees the opportunity to do something worthwhile, in which more people could be involved.

Mourant will fund the building materials costs and the overseas flights for the volunteers, but they will need to raise some funds of their own funds for personal expenses. The group will undergo training to prepare them for the trip.

Carolyn Bye, who was deputy leader of last year’s project, jumped at the chance to be team leader this year. ’I feel excited, daunted, impatient and inspired,’ she said. ’The biggest challenge will probably be the fund-raising!’

Carolyn’s partner, Steph Tierney-Elliott, applied for the project after being heavily involved in the fund raising last time. ’Last year I was really keen to go but was unable to because I wasn’t part of Mourant, but with this year’s project being opened up to employees’ partners I felt that it was too good an opportunity to miss.’

Simon Lester was inspired by the stories that came back from the team who completed the first project. Also anticipating the fund-raising challenge, Simon said he was looking forward to experiencing a life completely different from his own; ’or maybe not – who knows!’

Ian Wilson says he is looking forward to learning how to build, while Peter Egan is looking forward to learning some Siswati (the national language).

’I applied for the project so I could make a personal contribution rather than putting a quid in a box and never actually seeing where that money went,’ said Sean Murphy.

Charlotte Wright knew of the project through her partner Sean Clare, who was part of the first team. She said: ’It will be a great learning experience, in the cultural and practical sense. I’m sure I will return much wiser! I’m excited about meeting people and learning about their culture and hopefully helping them achieve a better way of life by providing them with a place to be educated.’

Debbie LeSueur said a project like Mourant’s Swaziland Challenge is something she had always wanted to do. ’I love the thought of living in another culture while at the same time making a difference and doing something beneficial for others. Now I’ve been selected I feel so excited and nervous, but can’t wait to get out there and get started.’