IT WILL be an unusual Christmas for one Crudwell teen, who is living 4,000 miles away from home to work on a project fighting poverty and inequality in Nepal.

William Gregory of The Street, who is part of a team of young British and Nepali volunteers working on a project funded by the International Citizen Service to improve education and welfare, will be spending Christmas away from friends and family in the hopes of improving the lives of Nepalese residents.

The eighteen-year-old said: "It feels quite strange to be away for Christmas, especially because it’s still 20 degrees over here, but I am really excited to celebrate it in Nepal. On Christmas Day we hope to cook a big meal for all the volunteers and some of our host families. We are going to have traditional Nepali and British food, and we might even have a go at some carols.

"Even though Christmas isn’t a traditional part of Nepali life, they’re keen to get involved with what we’ve got planned and it’ll be really fun to share that with them. I am having an amazing time in Nepal, our project can be challenging at times but we are starting to make a difference."

The eighteen-year-old, who travelled to the Himalayan country in November, has delivered lectures on human rights, sexual health, disaster relief response and encouraging the community to get behind action days.

"My proudest moment so far was when we held our first reading club at the local school," he said. "We had 30 children there who were all so keen to take part and we have been working with their parents to help them support their children’s education at home as well. Lots of children here will leave school early, so we are trying to raise awareness of how important education is."

A quarter of the Nepalese population live on less than $1.25 a day and millions are still recovering from the devastating earthquake that destroyed parts of the country two years ago. The work of ICS volunteers encourage locals to educate themselves and take part in enrichment projects.

To find out more about the project, visit www.volunteerics.org.