School Groups looking to volunteer abroad in Africa
More and more schools are taking students abroad to experience volunteering projects and learning about a new culture and if you’re thinking about Africa, The Gambia is the perfect place to do this.
Only a 6 hour flight away, The Gambia is ranked one of the safest countries, not only in West Africa but all of Africa. People are generally friendly and hospitable. See article.
The professional and qualified team at The Gunjur Project has over the past 12 years successfully facilitated many school groups.
The work starts before the school group arrives and we will support the school obtain the authorisation to travel by sharing
- Provider standards
- Risk assessments
- Public liability insurance certificate
- Code of conduct
- Child protection policy
- Food safety certificates
- Health and safety standards
- Emergency planning document
- Team leader handbook
- Kit list
With a UK country coordinator we can facilitate presentations to the school and parents so there is an opportunity for questions and answers.
We will work with you to identify the kind of projects you’d like to work on. This could be peer education, physical work, sport, environmental or conservation work, or even a mixture of these. Our local knowledge combined with the skills you know you bring will mean you can develop an itinerary to suit your school group. We also build in activities such as compound cooking, juice making workshops, djembe drumming workshops and much more.
As well as a busy day time timetable we ensure that with visiting school groups there is a comprehensive timetable for evenings including de brief sessions, drumming, entertainment, quizzes and Gambians games night.
Teachers can feel comfortable that all activities are carefully risk assessed and a trained professional team is available 24 hours a day to support and guide, all there to help make the task of leading a trip like this as smooth as possible. Your trip will be fully catered for from the planning time prior to the trip, arriving at the airport and saying good bye after a wonderful life changing experience. We will be with you every step of the way.
‘Dear Jo and Jenny,
On behalf of the twenty five pupils and four staff who visited you in February, I’d like to thank you for enabling us to have an amazing experience of life in The Gambia. I think it fair to say that every one of us gained something during the week and came home as better people. Your preparation, organisation and attention to detail were second to none.
I particularly liked the way you checked, and double checked, to make sure that we were happy with the suggestions you made. Equally, your flexibility whilst we were with you was appreciated. Nothing was too much trouble; I appreciated the fact that on many occasions you were prepared to go the “extra mile”. One of the biggest issues on trips abroad with young people is food. Again, you ensured that there was a wide choice, which was well-cooked and extremely tasty. Many of the pupils commented on how much they enjoyed the food you offered them; that is an enormous compliment. You managed to ensure that the week not only fulfilled our educational purpose but also enabled all of us to have a holiday.
Your passion for the area and support for the local community clearly came over. I would recommend you without any hesitation whatsoever. You have ensured that your visitors can see the real Africa with knowledgeable, experienced and caring staff. Once again, thank you very much. I am convinced we will return to allow more pupils to have the Gunjur experience.
With every good wish, Yours sincerely,
Nick McGee Assistant Headteacher – Wade Deacon High School – Senior Leadership Team’
Another Amazing School Trip to Gambia
“This is our second stay at The Gunjur Project Lodge. We took a group of 39 secondary school children and 5 staff from the UK.
Yet again the staff at the lodge were truly amazing. Our excursions and activities were well organised and provided the pupils with a great insight to Gambian culture.
Rooms were always clean and perfectly laid out for our large group.
Food was fantastic, there was a great variety to choose from to make sure that we never went hungry.
All of the staff made our stay a truly memorable and life changing experience.”
See you next year!
