Best time/money spent of my life!

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!