I foolishly thought it would be an easy way to earn some pocket money in the run-up to Christmas. The British government were looking for readers to sift applications for their Chevening Scholarships. As I had spent many hundreds of mind-numbingly boring hours reading Chinese IELTS essays I was perfectly qualified for this job.
I wasn’t sure whether they would give me the Far East or East Africa papers. I was sure though, that they would give me papers from a country of which I had some knowledge. But no. I got 598 applications from Somalia and Somaliland. Of course I know where Somalia is but I had to educate myself about Somaliland.
As I started to read the submissions there were recurring themes of female genital mutilation (Ouch), war crimes, sexual abuse, gender violence, poverty, flood and famine. I read over and over about the hard life of the applicants, how they grew up in a refugee camps, were orphaned due to the civil war and how they have struggled to survive,
I started by reading all applications in detail but after a few weeks, I started glossing over the background stories of misery and desperation and focussed on the hopes for the future.
The season of goodwill is upon us. In Europe everyone is filling their larders with more food from across the world, than the family can possible get through. It’s a strange time of year to be reading of the horrors that people just up the road (so to speak) on a daily basis.
I don’t think I will volunteer for this job next year.