I did DofE when I was around 14 and I am so glad I did. I decided to make a group of 4 people and I didn’t know the other 3 at all. Now, thanks to DofE, one of those people are my best friend. My volunteering gave me a lot of experience, which if I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t be getting the jobs I do now. DofE is challenging, but I would love to do it all over again. Sharing all our equipment between 4 of us was very difficult, especially as I have joint problems. These joint problems nearly forced me to give up, but without me, my group wouldn’t be able to carry on. It gave me a chance to prove to myself that I am determined and I’m not a quitter. When I was struggling, my group supported me by taking over some responsibilities and even other groups helped as they saw I couldn’t move.
We may have got lost for over 4 hours, but it was an incredible experience that I would do all over again.