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We believe that travel can change lives! Travelling can change you as a person and, if done responsibly, can have a profound affect on the people that you meet and the places that you visit. We want as many people as possible to experience the heart and soul of another culture in the way that we have, and in doing so, help them to make a positive and lasting impact on our world.
Africa may be the cradle of civilization but it is facing one of humanity’s biggest crises. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has caused devastation across the continent. This local project in Mombassa works with some of the almost 1 million Kenyan children who have been orphaned or abandoned due to the disease. Most people who visit Kenya make tracks to the national parks and the safari jeeps but this project is here to introduce you to Kenya’s real star attractions. When you travel and volunteer in Kenya you will work alongside local people and get to know the people and communities you help ultimately making a significant difference to the lives of people you meet and helping to mitigate the effects of acute poverty and the consequences of the AIDS epidemic.
What makes us different is that we don't run overseas projects. Instead we work in partnership with projects that have already been established in communities and supply them with what they need the most - helping hands. It is through this constant stream of committed volunteers that the projects can manage to improve people’s lives. On this project you’ll play a part in rehabilitating children living in great hardships and you’ll leave knowing you have made a big difference as well as a bunch of new friends.
You’ll stay in either a locally owned volunteer house or homestay ensuring that you directly support the local community while you’re there. You’ll also be supported by your local in-country coordinator; who with their team are best placed to understand the specific economic, social and developmental needs of Mombassa.
On average half of your placement fee is distributed in-country for the services included with your placement (i.e. Local support, Food, Transport & Accommodation) meaning that the local communities are directly benefiting from your travels to their country. The remaining funds are required to cover the administration costs associated with sourcing, training, marketing and coordinating your travel experience.
We do not give a financial contribution to this or any of our projects as we believe that money is rarely the answer to complicated development issues; if it was, the poverty problems in the world would be getting better! Short-term aid relief can cause aid-reliance and financial instability and the corruption seen in many developing countries means the guarantee of your money going to the heart of the cause is massively reduced. From our experience (and by learning from our mistakes) projects benefit far greater more from a sustainable framework to ensure they develop rather than short-term financial aid relief.
If money is paid directly to projects then they may become dependent on that income. If that country or project becomes unpopular, or through restrictions in the opportunity to travel to that country, the money dries up and they are no longer able to continue with their work. Supplying projects with enthusiastic volunteers creates a constant supply of helpful hands and as they are not reliant on an income can continue without the assistance of the volunteer travellers, although significantly slower in achieving their goals.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
