Each year, Christian Aid recruits a new team of young volunteers to our local offices all over the country, and to teams at our HQ in London.

These volunteers spend a year with us, organising events, giving talks and co-ordinating campaigning for teenagers and students.

They also get to visit one of our partner organisations overseas, to help fuel their passion for the work that Christian Aid does, and to inform the talks they give and events they lead on.

This year's trip has just started, and our 21 'gap year' volunteers are in the Democratic Republic of Congo, split into groups visiting a range of partners including one working with street children in Kinshasa and one with farmers in Bas-Congo.

Keep in touch with what the team are getting up to by visiting their blog:    http://congolese.blogspot.com/

When they get back, each gapper will be visiting groups of sixth formers, students etc in their area, to share their experiences and talk about what they have learnt.

If you'd like a gapper to visit you and the young people you work with, contact your local Christian Aid office - contact details here.

For more information on the humanitarian crisis facing hundreds of thousands in the DRC, please visit this page of our main Christian Aid website.