In this week’s blog post, we caught up with Hannah, a volunteer who first travelled with us in 2022 to Kenya and then Zanzibar the following year. Her two trips with us sparked a passion for international development and inspired her to pursue this in her studies at university. Read on to hear about the impact volunteering in Africa had on her.
“In 2022, a 10-day volunteering trip reshaped my goals and future career path. Alongside 20 other students, I travelled to Kenya with African Adventures (in collaboration with Beyond This), where I volunteered in a primary school, immersed myself in local culture, and made life-long memories.
I was 17 at the time, just finishing my first year of A-levels and unsure what I wanted to do at university. During my time at Ungana Academy in Nakuru, I worked with children aged 5 to 13 — from playing games with the new sports kit our group had donated, to teaching lessons such as religious studies to the older students. Every moment was both humbling and inspiring.
In June 2023, I spent two weeks in Zanzibar volunteering at a rural school that had never hosted volunteers before. Returning with African Adventures, it felt incredibly special to be the first group welcomed there. We immersed ourselves in teaching creative lessons, repainting classrooms, decorating the nursery with murals, and filling each day with sports and dancing. This experience confirmed my passion for working with NGOs in Africa, particularly in the education field.
Across both trips, home visits with students were especially eye-opening. They showed me just how valuable school is — not only as a place of learning, but also of safety, stability, and hope.
Now, as I begin my third year studying BA Global Development at the University of East Anglia, I’m grateful these experiences sparked my journey. They continue to shape my ambitions — to work with NGOs in Africa and contribute to meaningful change in education.”
If you are interested in organising a group volunteer trip to give others the same experience Hannah had, visit our trip planner.
