Best experience yet

How do you sum up an experience like the one AV offered? You just can't. The experience I received was one that will stay with me for the rest of my life (which I know is cliche but it's true!). The organisation of the whole program from start to finish was brilliant; with both my parents and I not having to worry about my safety at all. The scheme ensured that I gained the most out of my experience including really involving me in the community that we were based in for the majority of the time.

The main advantage of a scheme with AV is the perfect balance between volunteer work and free travelling. Primarily you are there to really immerse yourself in the community/culture in which you are based for volunteering, and this in itself offers many advantages that you would not gain from simply free-travel alone.Visiting the schools every day and seeing their beaming faces (and hearing chanting of your names!) and seeing their real appreciation of what you were doing for them was truly amazing. And when you were not helping out in the community in various ways, there was plenty of time to take trips out to go and explore the area like visiting tigers, swimming in lakes and visiting local towns.

Having the free travel time at the end of the experience also allowed you to experience and amazing safari and a surf school before embarking on your own adventures (with help from the scheme with planning if needed!). Wherever you were, you always knew you could call on someone locally if you needed.

Overall the experience brought with it strong friendships, new experiences and a feeling of doing something worthwhile for people who really appreciated it. I wouldn't have spent my GAP year any differently. Only wish I could do it all again!