Global Routes Gap Year Program in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda
Spend your gap year volunteering in East Africa! Explore Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania for the complete East Africa gap year experience!
Students arrive into Nairobi, Kenya and head off through the Rift Valley on a week-long orientation. As you climb Mt. Longonot, walk through Hell's Gate National Park, and do a safari in Lake Nakuru National Park, you have ample opportunity to get to know your group and leader before heading into the service portion of the program. For the next three weeks, volunteers live in homestays in a village outside of Kakamega, a city in western Kenya, and participate in a construction-based project that has been selected by the host community. After a final celebration, your group ventures into Uganda where your adventures include a white-water rafting trip, a safari in Murchison Falls National Park, and the chance to track chimpanzees in Budongo Forest Reserve. Your group also meets with local non-profits to learn about the incredible work being done to support economic self-sufficiency and health care in Uganda.
The group then travels to Tanzania for a second community service experience. Here you will spend the next five weeks working in a school in pairs and living individually with a local family for an incredible immersion experience. The program ends on the island of Zanzibar where your group will explore Stone Town, snorkel off the coast, and relax on the white-sand beaches of this famous spice isle.
Visit the Global Routes website for more information!
Highlights:
- Explore the diverse nations of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda over a span of 12 weeks.
- Spend time roaming through the Masaai markets of Kenya and exploring the Rift Valley!
- Visit National Park in Kenya and Uganda, and relax on the sandy white beaches of Zanzibar!
Reviews
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Overall I had an incredible time with Global Routes. The villages were both safe and welcoming and both homestay families were chosen with care. During the homestays we lived just like the families meaning that we took bucket showers and ate a lot of ugali. We were prepared for whatever we met next, whether it was speaking Swahili or teaching in the villages. Our leader was fantastic and always ready to listen and help with whatever concern we had. We were constantly moving from place to place so there was never a dull moment. As a group, we spent time reflecting and I really felt like I grew as an individual and plan on doing a lot more travelling. If you want a truly unique African experience and want to know what it really feels like to live in a rural village, this trip is for you.
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Further Info
About Global Routes
Global Routes is a non-governmental organization committed to strengthening our global community through voluntary work overseas. To this end, we design programs for high school, gap year and college students, that bring people with different world views together through community service projects and teaching.
Visit the Global Routes website to learn more!
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"Adventure is a path. Real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white."
- Mark Jenkins
The Global Routes Summer TIP program was by far the best and most inspirational experience in my life thus far. Kenya alone is such an amazing, unique, and welcoming country but partnered with the awesome and helpful staff at Global Routes, it quickly became a life changing experience.
The villages and schools were so welcoming and even if things were difficult at times, I truly feel that these "rough patches" are some of the memories and lessons that I will cherish and carry with me forever. In my home, school and village there is a real and authentic sense of community that is impossible not to fall in love with. I found myself excited to wake up each morning, which almost never happens. The faculty and students were so kind and accepting that it made it extremely difficult to leave.
Our fearless leader Geno guided us but more importantly she allowed us to make our own decisions and learn from our mistakes. She kept us positive and really made me think about the world and the role that I play in it. Geno treated each of us as individuals and equals, which was extremely refreshing and somewhat unexpected. Despite the fact that I haven't seen her or my fellow interns since departing Kenya, I know that if I ever needed anything, whether it be a place to stay or just simple cup of tea, I could definitely count on them to be there for me just as I would be there for them.
I think that Global Routes is an amazing program because it allows every intern to go in to their programs with their own goals. This freedom is what I believe creates an environment for individual growth as well as growth as a group.
I would definitely recommend this program to anyone and everyone. I can't even fully put into words the love and appreciation that I have for all those who made my time in Kenya possible. That is how utterly amazing this program is.