Community Volunteering & Cultural Immersion on the Kenya Coast

As an 18-year-old sixth form student, I chanced to hear about AV at a gap fair put on by my college. Not particularly knowing where I wanted to travel, only that travel I would, I started talking to Andrew and an ex-student / AV volunteer about their 5 week summer projects in Africa. About 4 months later I boarded Kenya Airways flight KQ0101 bound for Nairobi, from where a connecting flight would take us on to Mombasa. It is impossible to summarise all the fantastic memories and shared experiences of the trip, which ranged from seeing a wild leopard cub at Shimba Hills Game Reserve and later sailing a traditional Kenyan dhow to singlehandedly teaching classes of forty primary school children and seeing the renovation of a dilapidated classroom to completion. I made some great friends on the trip too, some of whom came from as far afield as the Netherlands and China, and I think it’s fair to say that they were all just as sorry as I was when our project eventually came to an end and we had to go our separate ways. In short, I can’t recommend AV highly enough. The UK office is clearly very well run and always on hand to assist in any way it can, and their representative on the ground in Africa, Charles, who was with us for the duration of the project always made us feel completely at ease and looked after despite being in such foreign land as Kenya. You couldn’t find a better gap year company than AV if you tried!

My AV experience was absolutely life changing for me. Through my volunteer group, I met people that remain my best friends (and one of them my future husband!) even today (eight years on). The Kenyan people were hugely welcoming and really opened my eyes to a different way of living and looking at life.

The school I was at (Lessos Elementary) was basic but not the most basic, which enabled us to have at least some teaching equipment (i.e. a few textbooks for the kids to share etc). The kids were AMAZING!! I was thrown in the deep-end a bit, with teaching English, Maths, French, P.E. and some drama/dance/artsy subjects but the kids help you through and they're just so eager to learn anything you have to share with them.

I lived with two other British girls and we all got on amazingly! We lived in this very cute little bungalow, which had no running water or electricity but it was very much our "home"! It made the whole experience more fun and realistic to how the locals live..! We taught together and then at the weekends we'd meet up with the other 20 or so volunteers and travelled around West Kenya together. One of the best weekends we had was getting a coach to Uganda, where we all bunked out in dorms and went bungee jumping and white-water rafting.

The free time at the end of the programme enabled us to see the coast and Nairobi - both of which are vastly different to the Rift Valley. We even managed to go on two safaris and visit the idyllic Zanzibar in Tanzania.

I can honestly say that those six months were the best six months I've lived to date - every day was fun, different and challenging and the people (both the Kenyans and the volunteers) really made it for me!

This coming January 2015 will be 10 years since I went on AV to Kericho in Kenya and it feels like it was only a couple of years ago - mainly because I think of my experiences there and my friends so often! Friends that I will have for life and see as often as I can - often a year or more will have gone by between seeing each other but we fall back into friendship like we were never apart because we share a unique experience and bond together, and know each other inside out. One thing we share was that all our friends and family for years after we returned complained that we never stopped banging on about Kenya and how amazing it was!

When I was 17 I wasn't having a good time at school, I even considered moving to a new school for my last year of A Levels. Then my mum suggested that maybe I would like to take a gap year before Uni and do something adventurous on my own and I immediately thought, yeah that sounds like a good idea I totally want to do that! Once I was accepted onto the Kenya 2005 programme I had something to build towards and that got me through my school year. The AV team are so friendly and send you lots of info about fundraising ideas and get you fully prepared for your trip.

The orientation days were really helpful, not just in getting orientated in terms of the country, teaching and general info, but it's also the most important bonding time with the other AVs and is great fun before you pair off and go to your schools. I met my 5 best friends during that period as well, but got on with just about everyone - there was a real mixed bag of people. I lived on the Kericho tea plantation teaching at Marinyn Primary - the placement was fantastic, the teachers and kids lovely and just so absolutely delighted to have you there! The more you put into your placement the more you will get out of it. It's all about getting to know your kids, get involved in and start up after school activities and bringing them fun things that they just don't have the resources/facilities for in imaginative ways. And they'll love you for it! But even better, you'll love doing it and you WILL cry the day that you have to leave your school. With the money which you donate to your school by either buying or doing something, Laura and I painted pictures in all of the classrooms which the kids just loved and I really hope they're still there!

The whole thing is an adventure from start to end, working out how to get into the town, where and how to shop and going travelling about the country on weekends and in the free travel period. You'll want to make the most of every opportunity. I can't pretend that there aren't scary times and some hard times but that's why you signed up right, to have an adventure and to test yourself! And my experiences (of all types) in Kenya literally set me up for life, and my best friends would all say the same of themselves. The most amazing experience I will NEVER forget because it shaped who I am today. I went to Kenya an un-confident teenager and I came back full of confidence, experiences and the knowledge that I can always do something if I put my mind to it. When you're 18 none of us think about our CVs, our future careers and what we'll have to say for ourselves when we graduate and have those first 'real' job interviews. But man was I glad that when that time came I have an experience like AV to put on my CV and to talk about - and people are always so impressed. It shows them that you're a get up and go person, that you like and can overcome a challenge and that you didn't just spend a year out travelling so you could lie on a beach.

I actually feel quite emotional writing this nearly 10 years on - I wouldn't be who I am today without AV! I'm a confident, strong and successful person who knows her own mind and looks for adventure and challenge as often as I can. In the years after Kenya I used to promote AV at my old school by giving talks and also represented them at a UCAS fair (a university exhibition fair) which was fantastic - I got to rave about my fantastic experience for 2 whole days to people who were interested! In the ten years since I've always said that EVERYONE should take a gap year before uni and do something similar to AV - you'll be a totally different and more ready individual to go to uni afterwards. I always wish some of the people I've known could have had my experience that could have helped them in their lives! And I ALWAYS suggest that teenagers of people I know look at AV and consider a year out doing something worthwhile - as you can tell by the length of my review it was the best and most significant thing I've ever done in my life. I think it goes to show as well that one of the girls from my group loved AV so much that she joined the company and worked for them for a long while, while the dad of one of my best best friends from Kenya is now a company representative in the north of England. If you're lucky enough to become an AV, it will touch your life forever, and I'm so glad to have been a part of it.

This is a superb programme which gives young people a very valuable insight into a fascinating continent. My time in Kenya has stayed with me and allowed me to look at the world in a more rounded manner than just from a Western European perspective.

Teaching in Kenya was totally amazing I found it to be a highly joyful experience. I think the only thing that was difficult was that I knew that AV is a for-profit organisation. Although profit is not a bad thing, I felt like If I had just gone to Kenya by myself and volunteered at a school and given the school say 500 pounds I could have done an enormous amount of good. However, it is very unlikely that I would have as an 21 year old gone to Kenya without support. As a young person this is an excellent trip, support is always available. However, what would probably be a more beneficial piece of advice for anyone who wants to be a teacher. Train to be a teacher, do that. This will more than likely be of far better use to the world. However, if you are looking for an adventure and you've got loads of cash. Why not splash it on this.

I tought maths, geography & HIV/AIDS awareness in a secondary boarding school near a small town. I also coached the school basketball team, helped with the PE department and made the mistake of forgetting I was in the land of long distance supremacy when I agreed to do some road running...

The teaching side of a trip with AV set me up brilliantly for university, building confidence in standing in front of a room to present and taking me out of my comfort zone. I've actually now found myself in the teaching profession, something I would never have predicted before embarking on AV!! (I even break out the Swahilli now n then!)

Outside of the classroom the opportunities to travel and explore the country was brilliant, explore rain forests, hot springs, rural towns and fellow AV's schools on the weekends and holidays. In free travel I saw Nairobi, climbed Mt Kenya, took the overnight train to Mombassa where you eat your breakfast whilst travelling through a national park with wildlife visible as you eat, explored Mombassa, up and down the coast staying at wonderful beach towns and ultimately a two centre safari with the rest of the AV group.

Was such a great experience that (gulp) 12 years later I still talk fondly of my time there and would wholeheartedly recommend AV to anyone looking to embark on project based travel, a wonderful experience!

I had the best time and will always remember the trip. It truly was the rolls royce of gap year projects - fantastic and worthile work with friendly and deserving people, a brilliant support network, an unbelievably beautiful country, plenty of fun, drinks, partying, gossipping and so much laughter. Brilliant opportunity to explore this magnificent country. Plenty of exercise as well (long walks, white water rafting, safaris, climbing mount kenya!) I felt safe and well looked after at all times. I also met my husband, a fellow AV-er, out there as well! Thank you AV!

I have so many amazing memories of my one in Kenya. Av were amazing. They actually care a lot about each person and made great effort to pair you with someone you would get on with. My av partner and I are still great friends and 4 of them
Came to my wedding in 2011. I loved Kenya and the programme was great, we went away every weekend as a group and had such fun. Would and have recommended them to a number of friends. Do it!