Neal is from sunny Yarm in the North East of England. This small town is known by a surprisingly large number of people, drawn to it by the buzzing nightlife and perhaps desperate to escape from all those grim cities up north! Neal went to Butts Lane Primary school in Egglescliffe and then onto Egglescliffe secondary school. He was an active member of the school orchestra and they even played in the Royal Albert Hall. When he was in the venture scouts, he participated in a project to build a medical centre in Kenya.
Neal's mum, Margot works in Stockton-on-Tees in adult education. His dad, Mike recently took early retirement and spends his time building a house on the outskirts of Yarm! Neal has two sisters, Liz and Helen. Liz (the oldest) lives in NW England near Chorley and taught Geography at a secondary school until recently. She is now on maternity leave and is due any day now! She is married to Jim who is also a Geography teacher. Helen lives in London village with her partner Dave. She works in economic development for a local council, he likes Apple Macs.
Neal can't quite decide what he wants to be when he grows up. After a BEng degree in Electronics with Music he took the obvious next step of completing a PhD in Plasma Physics, both at Glasgow Uni. After this he went back to electronics to work for a company that designs switch-mode power supplies. He did this for a year and a half before leaving to come here to Ethiopia with VSO.
Neal managed to keep up his interest in music by joining a band called CI State. This band is a sure hit in Auchtermuchty and other happening towns in Fife. One of the highlights was when they played at T in the Park on the unsigned bands stage. Their performance warranted a memorable debate on the T in the Park website for weeks!
He also likes to spend his spare time jumping. Either up and down on a trampoline - or off podiums in student unions with less success. He is also known to throw balls and clubs around now and again and is currently attempting to introduce juggling to Ethiopia.
Jenny was born in Kent but it wasn't long before her wanderlust told her that it was time to move on. Her first experience as an ex-pat was just outside Paris at the tender age of four where she mainly worked on trying to ride her bike through the gardens at Versailles. On moving to Helston, Cornwall she attended St Michael's Primary School, where the brie wasn't a patch on that in her previous school. Then it was onto Helston Comp, where she honed her liking for the famous (and largely mis-represented) Cornish pasty.
Jenny's mother Julie is ideally placed for keeping us stocked with all kinds of goodies from her job in the post office. Her dad Ed just retired from a large UK ex-public telecommunications corporation and keeps himself very busy with things like the Rotary Club shelter box campaign. Lil' sis Lizzi works at the BBC, we have a very active 'We Hate Jenny Club', you can enquire about membership with the club secretary.
Jenny's next move was to the other end of the country and the University of Glasgow. Here her studies in biology led to a Bachelors degree in Immunology and a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology. You want to know about pneumolysin, you ask Jenny. During this time Jenny also became involved in communicating science, to school kids and well, anyone who'll listen really. A stint at the Beatson Cancer Research Institute followed Jenny's PhD work. She was working towards developing an assay with which to determine the mechanism of action of a new drug. Then up to departing for Ethiopia she was doing different bits of work at the University, some teaching, some administration.
Jenny also likes jumping and since she brought it up, I'd like to point out that I'm not the only one with scars that point to the past need for surgery round about the knee / lower leg region... Keeping fit guides some of Jenny's spare time, with particular interest in running and swimming. She also likes a night on the tiles in good company.
We are in Awassa, Ethiopia working as VSO volunteers for two years. For more information about this, look at our placement description.