Dee Cano, award-winning learning and development consultant and co-founder of Hope 108, tells us about her journey so far:
"Three of my passions in life are people, travel and learning and I'm most happy when all three are combined!
My first ever holiday job, while studying, was as a coach courier, guiding groups of tourists from London to Italy or Spain. These 20-hour non-stop trips taught me resilience and how to be consistently positive.
When I taught English in Europe, I learnt organisational skills, how to present effectively and how to speak Spanish, which is definitely easier than learning Dzongkha.
Heading up a learning and development team at Europcar UK was about leading with enthusiasm and constantly striving to provide the best quality learning for 5,000 staff.
As a consultant, I love the variety of executive or frontline coaching sessions and designing culture-change programmes throughout the UK, Europe and Australia.
I'd wanted to visit Bhutan for years and finally made it in 2016. Nothing prepared me for the impact it had on my life.
I thought I'd go once - instead I've been every year since.
On that first trip, we asked to visit a remote school. We arrived at night to basic facilities to drop off a case of stationery, books and pens. We were invited to return the next day for assembly where we met children and teachers and made a speech, promising to return. We paid for the school to be painted and a path to be made and, the following year, presented pens and cerificates to the children who showed most improvement in English and Dzongkha. This still did not seem enough, because we wanted to create something more sustainable that others could benefit from.
We wanted to give hope to 108 underpriviliged children from remote, rural communities to complete school and have the best chance of further education - and so Hope 108 was created.
How wonderful it would be if any of the Hope 108 children achieve scholarships to study abroad or become teachers themselves!
It has been such a pleasure to meet the principals and teachers who are now friends, as well as children sponsored by Hope 108, each year in Bhutan. To see and hear from them directly how they have grown in confidence academically as well as out of school is both rewarding and inspiring.
As The Dalai Lama once said, 'It's not enough to be compassionate, you must act.'
So a big 'thank you' to the dedicated teaching staff in Bhutan and our wonderful sponsors from all over the world for making it possible, and understanding that giving is definitely the best way to feel joy ourselves.
I really hope you will join us at Hope 108."
