Borneo Bound

In the 1960s, before the term ‘gap year’ had been coined, a British organisation named Voluntary Service Overseas sent youngsters fresh from school to the far flung corners of the world. Many of these ended up teaching students their own age or even older. ‘Borneo Bound’ is the account of one of those volunteers plucked from a terraced house in Liverpool and sent, via Raffles Hotel in Singapore, to a small town in Borneo. Here, at the tender age of eighteen, he was put in charge of a hostel, taught in the nearby primary school and ran a Scout troop. His story is a unique insight into the rapidly disappearing colonial era and maps his development into a confident and mature young man. Often amusing and sometimes poignant the account introduces the reader to the fascinating inhabitants of the town and the various pupils and teachers in the school. This book is a must-read for all prospective young travellers and their parents as it shows the joys and pitfalls that a volunteer can encounter when far away from the comforts of home.