A University of Sheffield student has launched a campaign to find one person from every country on earth living in the city, in aid of ASSIST Sheffield, a local asylum charity.
William Cutforth, a second year Biochemistry student, set up an Instagram account, @aroundtheworldsheffield,on the 1st of March. He hopes to be able to find a representative from every country in the world who lives in Sheffield, and tracks his progress every day on his account.
Around the World Sheffield has already ticked more than 25 countries off the list.
He said, “I started this because I wanted a project to do, and I wanted to be able to fundraise alongside it. Fundraising without any exercise involved is the best situation!
“I thought that this would be a great way to meet new people and get to learn a couple of things about where they’re from, and about different cultures. It’s a way for me to travel the world without actually being able to travel the world.”
Mr Cutforth’s favourite part about meeting so many new people is that he gets to learn about different cuisines from around the world. He said, “I like to ask them what they miss about their country, and 90% of the answers I get are about the food.
I get shown pictures of the food they talk about and it does look really good! Through this page, I can put things on my checklist for when this is all over, and we can travel again.”
William Cutforth
He has chosen to support ASSIST Sheffield, a local charity focused on supporting people who have been unsuccessful in their asylum applications. He believes that their message is something to remember. “It’s a reminder that there are people from around the world living in our city.
Everyone deserves to find somewhere safe, somewhere that they can live and be comfortable. ASSIST are there to help with that. Especially if they’re fleeing from hard situations as well.”
He plans to donate £10 for every 50 countries that are ticked off his map. He also encourages people to use his JustGiving link to donate to ASSIST Sheffield. He said: “I need more people to come forward. I need to get more ticks off. I would love to reach as many countries as I can, and any money donated is a bonus. If I do manage to find someone from every single country, I will donate an extra £10 and have a celebration!”