Community Volunteering & Cultural Immersion on the Kenya Coast

My time in Kenya was amazing, I couldn't recommend it more. The school I was with was so welcoming and kind, and charles, who worked for AV, was unbelievably kind to us. I made friends with people in the village and had an amazing time. After a few weeks we became confident to go out and spend our evenings with the local people or go places with them at the weekend. I was invited to teachers houses for dinner and to visit them on weekends. AV did everything they possibly could have to make my experience so enjoyable and charles was always there when we needed him but never made it feel like he was just there to watch over us. All in all it was an amazing time and I would do it again in a heartbeat and recommend to anyone. So so much fun.

My son has just returned from 4 months in Kenya with AV. He has had an amazing time and loved every minute. He has fully involved himself in village life and made many friends and memories that will stay with him forever. The accomodation was basic but in a compound with a family who became friends as well as hosts.I never felt worried about safety as the people were very welcoming friendly and pleased to see them. They managed to cook together quite easily visiting the local market each day and also being invited to teachers and locals house to eat. The school he worked in were welcoming and supportive and by the end he was teaching almost a full time table ( and dont worry if they have no traching experience as they helped him in) The school were very grateful to have him there and part of the money he paid
To AV went towards new gates and a wal. Iin fact if you ask him his favourite part of the whole trip it was being in school every day. From start to finish I felt he was supported by the staff at AV without taking away any independence. Their staff member Charles who worked in Kenya became a friend to the group and organised a doctors visit when tonsillitis hit and helped the group sort their onward free travel( even inviting them to his family home in Mount Kenya ).
My main concern was the free travel month but Charles guided them as to where and where not to travel and they had an amazing time in Zanzibar Tanzania and on safari. I cannot recommend the whole experience highly enough and it was worth every penny we raised. AV have far exceeded my expectations and i would have no hesitation in using the company again. Thank you

My experience in Kenya has changed me in many ways. It was an incredibly humbling experience, it brought me back to the pure joy of connecting with people with zero material possession or status and it made me aware of how truly blessed I am to live in the United States. I loved the people I met on this trip, the amazing sites, activities and cultures I immersed myself in and the feeling of making a difference in those less fortunate than I. I would go back in a heartbeat if I could - I miss the country very much and all of the wonderful people I have met.

I participated in this Africa Asia Ventures trip in the summer of 2016, and it was honestly one of the most impactful and incredible things I have done so far in my life!

The AV team was so helpful and kind, ensuring we were safe and were fully organised for the trip, and once out there the representatives were friendly and so easy to get on with. I didn't know anyone prior to the trip, but a few good friends whilst there. The best thing about AV is you see first hand where your money goes, and how it directly benefits people. I was pushed out of my comfort zone in the best way possible, and in the process I learned so much about myself.

I could not recommend this programme more enthusiastically; I encourage all to take a look at it and consider going on the adventure of a life time!

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.