Live in Tanzania on a Volunteering & Adventure Travel Gap Year

My AV experience in Tanzania was a life-changing one and has had a huge influence in where I am today and how I got here.

The crazy and wonderful experiences of travelling through, some of the most beautiful landscapes the world has to offer, making new lifetime friends (AVs and Tanzanians), swimming the beautiful Indian Ocean, safariing in the likes of the Maasai Mara and climbing Kilimanjaro were all adventure that will live with me forever.

It is hard to believe that AV can give you an opportunity to do something even more special than all of those adventures put together… but it does. Living amongst a local Maasai community in the foothills of Mount Kili and being given the trust and responsibility to teach their wonderful children (aged 8-9f or me) is just that. The emotions, the sounds, the laughter, the bonds, and the chaos were the biggest adventure of all. I think of my pupils often, and cannot thank AV enough for giving me this opportunity.

AV provided a week long training bootcamp at the start to prepare us (Swahili classes were… interesting) and were close by if called upon (not that we needed it). Not only this, but they helped us to invest in the schools in which we worked (i.e. building a new classroom, buying supplies, painting walls). I couldn’t recommend the company more if you want this incredible experience to take with you through life.

Last year, I quit my corporate job in the UK in search of a new adventure and now find myself working for a technology start up in Toronto. I doubt I would have had the confidence to make such a life-changing decision if I hadn’t taken the amazing opportunity given to me by AV.

I absolutely loved my time with AV on the teaching programme in Tanzania in 2010.
AV were really helpful beforehand with lots of fundraising ideas and information before I left for Tanzania and they answered all the questions my parents had too.
Our group was split between 4 schools around Arusha and Moshi. I lived with 3 other girls in a house in our school grounds, we had very sporadic water and no electricity but we quickly grew to love our new home. All the teachers at the school were really interested in us and the kids loved us, we taught classes of roughly 100 kids in pairs, which was mayhem to begin with but the kids loved it and by the end of the program we could really see their English improving. We also introduced a sports afternoon every week which they really loved as they didn't have the equipment for any activities usually.
The AV rep was always available over the phone if we ever needed her for any advice, she also visited us at the school to see how we were settling in and we always felt really safe there as everyone in the village knew us.
All of our group met up every weekend to do other activities round either of our towns. Our free travel was amazing, we chose to climb Kilimanjaro and go to Zanzibar during half term, we used Kilimanjaro to raise money for our school and had loads of new tables made (the old ones sometimes collapsed mid lesson with 5 kids perched on them!) and painted several classrooms to brighten things up.
After our teaching placement finished we all went to Uganda for white water rafting and then we went onto Kenya to travel and AV had organised the Masai Mara safari at the end of the time for us which was amazing.
I would really recommend AV, everything felt so organised and we always had help or advice whenever we needed it. The whole experience was incredible.
You will also make friends for life on this kind of placement, 3 of our school group still sponsor a little girl who was 3 years old at the time of our placement, a granddaughter of one of the teachers. We sponsor her to go to a private English speaking school so we still have close links with everyone at Ilkidinga and regular updates about life there.

I can't recommend AV enough - they were great from start to finish, providing pre-departure support which exceeded expectation (and assured my parents of my safety) and in-country support. The AV rep in Tanzania was Lynette, and she was excellent - always at the end of the phone if you needed help or advice, and we met up with her several times during the trip. Saying that, we were given plenty of independence in our respective schools and could travel during the placement and afterwards in free travel as we pleased.

School: I stayed on the school premises with three other girls. Whilst the accommodation was very basic, including a lack of electricity and sporadic running water, it meant that we really bonded as a team in those early days and we soon adapted to our way of life. We had great fun trying to make a cake without an oven! We taught in pairs, and again this was a challenge to start with, but we soon got the hang of it and had great fun teaching the kids English, and occasionally art and singing. It was a bit manic with 100 kids but such an experience! We also took sports classes every Tuesday and Thursday which was great fun. The other teachers were brilliant and really helped us out, especially Dainess and Godwin who became our really good friends as they were also our neighbours. We now have a long standing relationship with the school and the area as we sponsor a little girl through school. We never would have had that opportunity had it not been for AV.

Free travel: We had a two week half term which was amazing. In it we climbed Kilimanjaro which was an incredible experience, even if like me you hate trekking! We then went and recovered on the paradisiacal Zanzibar where you can learn to dive, laze on a white sand beach with a really cheap cocktail or go to a beach party at night. After the placement was over, we all went travelling together as we'd really bonded as a group. We started in Uganda where we went white water rafting and bungee jumping, before heading to Kenya up the coast and then on a safari in the Masai Mara. AV is really unique in the sense that you all start together and end together so you really get to know each other and to this day we are all really good friends and meet up at least once a month. It's also unique in that it combines a long volunteering placement so you can actually make a sustainable difference rather than a short visit and the opportunity to travel afterwards, with the support of the company. I really don't think there's a better organisation out there offering what AV does.

Had an amazing time in Tanzania with a group of 17 fellow travellers for just under 6 months. I lived with two girls and one other boy in a 10 by 10 metre house in Arusha, it was small, but after the first week it really felt like home! Had an amazing time, loved teaching the kids English and Geography and also helped out with IT when asked. The teachers were incredibly nice and very welcoming. We had a great time socialising in Tanzania and Moshi at weekends as well as 1 or 2 safaris on a couple of weekends.

Climbed Kilimanjaro, (Highly suggest doing that) was a great experience, Had a great time in zanzibar as well as in Uganda and Kenya!