My Trip to Tanzania, July 2016

Just got back from an amazing 5 week trip to Tanzania and already dying to go back! The pre-departure support was so useful, the handbook has literally everything you need to know in it and PMGY replied to all of my millions of emails with questions so quickly. The in country support is also great, from the airport pick up and the town tour to solving any problems that we had- Jodie and her team are absolutely great and will do anything to help! In terms of the in country team you are made to feel more like a friend than a customer which is so lovely and really helps you to settle in! I did the teaching project which I absolutely loved, they do throw you in at the deep end so be prepared for leading a class on your own straight away but you soon get used to it! I absolutely fell in love with my class and I wish I could have brought every single one home with me! We helped with teaching English, Phonics and Maths as well as playing with the kids at break time. We also had some freedom to do our own thing, for example on the last day we did a whole school paper aeroplane competition which was so much fun! I cried so much when we had to leave the school on our last day and then one of my favourite kids from my class (I know you're not supposed to have favourites but...) was sitting on my lap and started wiping away my tears with her dress and said Nakupenda teacher Katherine (which means I love you) which just made me even more tearful but it was the cutest thing in the whole world and I will never forget that moment! The volunteer house in Arusha is also fab, you stay with volunteers from a few different companies which is so nice as there is always lots of people to meet! I met so many amazing people in the volunteer house which totally made the trip and I really hope we can all stay in contact. Whilst we were out there a Café/bar attached to the house opened which was great as we spent a lot of evenings around there drinking cocktails and chatting around the fire. We also had some amazing weekends, from Safari in the seregeti to swimming in natural hotsprings and visiting a Maasai village there is so much to do!
My advice to future volunteers would be just throw yourself into everything, both in terms of the project and socially. The project will love it if you come witih your own ideas sometimes rather than just beig told what to do. Also do as much as you can in the evenings and weekends, there are always people doing things and you might as well make the most of all the opportunities whilst you are out there. For example every Tuesday we went to a free movie night at a place called Via Via, its just nice to get out and to get some free popcorn!
I've had the best time ever and I really feel like it's made me more confident to go to Univeristy and given me the travel bug in a major way as well as givng me a renewed appreciation of life in England.
Thank you SO MUCH Plan My Gao Year! To anyone that is considering using PMGY, 100% go for it! They are such an amazing company and I can't wait to hopefully go away with them again!