On a Saturday night last November, Pam Hiroti walked home after a shift at Liquorland Wanganui and googled "voluntary work overseas".
Later that night, she applied to go to Rwanda with the Global Volunteer Network (GVN), and by Monday morning, with only $1000 to her name, she had been accepted. So began a furious sausage-sizzle fundraising campaign.
Miss Hiroti, 26, will depart for the four-week placement next Tuesday, as will another Wanganui woman, Ann Owen.
Mrs Owen wanted to do a similar thing in Mozambique, but that fell through. When a mutual friend told her about Miss Hiroti's plans, the two agreed to do the GVN programme together.
They complement each other. While Miss Hiroti worries about missing flights, Mrs Owen is more preoccupied with their destination and its association with genocide, poverty and HIV/Aids.