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Our placements are designed to immerse you in a different culture, living and working with local people. There’s plenty to gain personally from this challenge – a sense of achievement, broader horizons and some wonderful memories. But we make sure that local people benefit too.
Meeting local needs - The whole placement is geared towards helping the local community. Our representative, who lives in the area, works closely with the project staff to ensure that volunteers make a real contribution. All the projects aim to improve the lives of children or adults and help them out of poverty. In addition our volunteers contribute to the local economy, living in rented accommodation and shopping in the town. We also donate money to local projects in response to their needs.
Cultural sensitivity - We emphasise the importance of showing respect for local people and their customs. Our pre-departure course includes a special session entitled ‘Responsible Tourism’ where we discuss cultural differences and sensitivities, as well as advising volunteers on appropriate conduct. Volunteers are given a Nyanga language course and briefed on what is considered polite in terms of eating, greeting and dressing. The length of the visit means that a real bond can be made with local people, as well as an understanding of their way of life.
Environment - Our company is an environmentally responsible one that operates recycling and reusing of waste products. We also offset carbon emissions in our office (gas, electricity, business mileage) and encourage all participants to offset their flight emissions via a carbon offset scheme run in conjunction with Tree Aid.
We invite every traveler who books a vacation via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the vacations they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same vacation can have different views!
