Experience:
Organisation:
Name: Joe
Hometown: Bury St Edmunds
Destination: Uganda and Kenya
Project type: Construction, Community and Conservation
Organisation: Africa and Asia Venture
What were your impressions of your destination?
Uganda was an amazing country, and one I hope to return to. The people are for the most part friendly and very laid-back, not yet touched by mass tourism. Of course they will still be opportunistic, but this is to be expected as like most other African countries it is very poor, and we are very rich. Some stunning scenery and wildlife can also be expected in the right places. I was less fond of Kenya, though perhaps my experience was marred in the aftermath of the political violence earlier this year. It has a greater influence from the West and is much more touristy, so you can expect to be hassled and taken advantage of by many of the locals unless you appear a seasoned traveller. However there is more cultural heritage to be seen, particularly on the Muslim coast, and the wildlife and landscapes are of course among the world's best.
Was the work interesting and challenging?
We first did 2 months 'conservation and community' in Uganda. We were originally going to do conservation in Kenya, but because of the violence we were unable to travel there. It was expected that in Uganda the conservation wouldn't be as good, but it was abysmal. I'm sure we actually harmed the environment more than we helped it, made to capture insects and frogs in killing jars for no apparent reason, planting elephant grass where it shouldn't be, and leaving bug traps all over the place (which we took upon ourselves to try and collect without supervision). We did plant many tree saplings, but reports from previous years indicated they would just die or be cut down by locals when we left.
Having said that, the community part of our work was very good. We almost finished a classroom (to be completed by other volunteers), built an extra long drop and a urinal at a school, and painted all the classrooms. Some people also did a little teaching. 2 months in, AV realised that we had had enough with the conservation. They decided to send us to do community work on the Kenyan coast, which was in a beautiful area called Shimoni. We took a dhow every morning across to Wasini Island, to work on a huge water pit. Unfortunately professional builders were already working on it, so we didn't feel quite as welcome just getting in the way. There were 15 of us though, so I'm sure the work went a little quicker. The school was also much better off than the one in Uganda, so there wasn't the same sort of satisfaction involved. The best thing about this AV scheme was the oppurtunity for 3 weeks free travel. You are let loose in East Africa, with an alleged safety net, but to be honest I can't see what they'd be able to do in a lot of the locations we visited. Two of us travelled through Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zanzibar. It was the best time of my life, and we saw some amazing things- particularly when tracking Mountain Gorillas.
What was your accommodation like? Did you feel comfortable and welcome at all times?
In Uganda the accomodation was great. We had our own compound on the banks of the Nile, usually used by rafters, which was fenced and had dorms, a living area, kitchen and showers. There was of course no electricity, running water, or flushing toilets, but this just made the experience. Was a lot of fun. In Kenya we were in a small house, sleeping on mattresses on the floor. We had electricity half way through, and supposedly better sanitation, but it was incredibly cramped and uncomfortable. The mattresses had never been washed, and had years worth of volunteer sweat on them, smelling rancid. Would trade electricity for relatively cleaner bedding any day.
Were you happy with the organisation and the staff that were responsible for you during your stay?
AV is great for making you feel welcome and preparing you for the trip. They also maintain a very professional veneer throughout, though we had a chance to see the nasty underworkings of the company and disputes to do with money. We did not always know where our money was going, or feel local employees were being treated fairly.
Do you feel that you got value for money on the project?
Very overpriced, and we know for a fact there was surplus money from the community/conservation work.
Would you recommend the project to others?
No
