The Leap - Kenya Team Placement

A sample of letter received from gap year volunteer Leapers on the Kenya Team Placement.

Katy Nottingham

Hi Guy,

Things here are wonderful - I would never have expected my gap year to be as beautiful, fulfilling and action packed as it is! The work is incredibly satisfying, and having spent all weekend down at the beach, I really can’t complain about the scenery!

All the volunteers on the trip iare getting on so well, its like we have been friends a long time, and it doesn’t seem that there will be many problems on the horizon! Sarah, Hugh and Wes are great, and the house we are at - what a selling point!!
Thanks for the email - I will try my best to keep in touch!

Sorry again for today!

Katy

Michael Barrat

Hey Guy, sorry I haven't e-mailed but I either don't have time when I get on the computer or I do have time but the Internet is desperately slow! Thanks for checking up on us though and for keeping my parents informed. Everything about this gap year placement is great, the elephant sanctuary was amazing, we got to see the elephants being relocated and placed in the trucks, but I missed them relocating 6 elephants at once because I went with the sign building group, we are all gutted!

Camping was different but fun, just a bit annoying it gets dark so early, but what can you do! The accommodation in Diani is much better than I expected at all and is very comfortable, but I'm enjoying while it lasts before we go up country. The food is great and there is lots of it, I'm just having cravings for fresh milk all the time! We definitely have lots to do and am enjoying how flexible it can be because I want to fit everything in and there just aren’t enough weeks. The volunteer group is really cool and a very diverse mix; we all seem to be getting on well with no difficulties. There is so much more to say but I can never remember it when sitting in front of a Computer!

Michael

Barbara Haverhals

THANK YOU so much for everything. I had the most fantastic gap year, and wish I could have stayed longer! You are doing a brilliant job, and the volunteer projects are all fantastic! I'm also still eating far too much since I stretched my stomach so much with the delicious food you have over there! Have been complaining to my mum that she needs to up her game in that department! haha

I hope that the next group had as much fun as we did - Jess, Nicki and I are all still very much in touch - and also still in touch with the irish boys too !!! The girls are enjoying uni, and Nicki will will be in Kenya again this Easter. Am very jealous of her!

Anyway, Thank you again so so much for everything, and I'm so sorry for saying it so ridiculously late!
love Babz

Stuart Burgoine

Yes I am extremely happy and having a wonderful gap year so far and the living conditions are much much more than I expected, we are living as kings!! The swimming pool is awesome and a welcome cooler-downer, the location is excellent, the staff are brilliant and the beds are comfortable. Couldn't
ask for anything else.

Yes my expectations are being matched and some of the worries I had about coming here are not even an issue. The heat is fine and easily bearable, drinking water is readily available, don’t think I have been bitten once so that’s good and I always feel safe here, even at night.

To be honest I haven’t had any problems that have needed dealing with so I cant really comment on care and support but I can say that whenever I have a question about anything, either Sarah or Wesley will know the answer, so that’s great.

Yes the volunteer project work has been as I imagined. The school was every bit as poor and challenging as I imagined it to be but good fun, the children are so well behaved and some are rather clever! The physical tasks are hard work but really enjoyable, it feels good to be doing something concrete and something that will have a lasting memory.

The Elephant Sanctuary was not what I imagined it to be at all. I thought they would house elephants and actually attend to them and care for them. It wasn’t like but I wasn’t disappointed, just surprised I suppose. I had a really good time there, the location was beautiful and the volunteer project work was interesting and varied. We were lucky enough to see six elephant captures and the KWS took us with them in their vehicles so we saw everything. That was a real highlight. I have really enjoyed all of the gap year projects I have been involved with and I actually look forward to doing them. There is certainly enough to do as well as we are not confined to the same project all week, we can chop and change if we like so there’s more than enough to do.

Cheers Stu

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