Adventure Alternative

Gap Year Projects - Kenya

Application procedure

Adventure Alternative currently offers places for around 20 people to go on a teaching placement in Kenya per year. This means we have to be selective about who we choose to go on a placement. It is vital you understand that we are not interested in simply filling places or trying to get a quota for the year. That is not our ethos at all.

We want the right people to go on our placements so there is an element of competition in the application. This is a big step in your Life and there is simply no point in making it too easy, so that at the end there is little or no satisfaction in having really challenged yourself. And we do not want our Gap placements to become just another hurdle to jump in the race to fill your cv. Of course it will be good for future careers but we also want to think of the people you will be visiting and working with and the impact you will have on those street kids.

If you feel that our placement is for you then talk to us first, ask lots of questions, get a feel for us (just as much as we will get a feel for you), understand our priorities and objectives and help us appreciate yours. We need to achieve a high level of trust and that starts now. Talk to your parents, get them to call us, this is not just an adventure for you, it is the beginning of a period of concern and often worry for them! We want to make sure that everyone is happy and the best way to do that is to communicate.

You will then have to fill in the application form which is available on this website as a download. The form is not designed to catch you out, or trip you up, and nor is it designed for people to try and write. Don’t send any money now. Just fill in the form and send it in and we will contact you by phone.

We are looking for people who have patience and an open outlook, positive characters who will be able to control a classroom of children in a rural part of Kenya. People who will appreciate different cultures and live within it without causing offence. And someone who has the potential for living independatly, for looking after their own house, their budget, food and cooking, school programme and a social calendar which can be anything from having endless cups of tea with local families to representing the school as a member of staff.

We need people who have a genuine interest in child welfare but who also can fit in with a very sociable society, who can live with other westerners and share the chores of running your own house. People with humour and patience and a gentle outlook on life, rather than someone aggressive. Someone who has a loud voice and can keep a classroom attentive, with nothing but a stick of chalk !

And finally people who are self-motivated and disciplined. The best gap year applicants are those who understand that within the framework we provide – the house, the staff, the school, the whole thing about living in Kenya – it is only as good as the initiative and the sense of fun and purpose that you put into it.

These kids are really needy. They need good people to teach them not just how to read or write but to teach them about things like hope and ambition and morals and good citizenship. We know about corruption in Africa. We also know that to change it requires a change at grassroots level, with the children who are the future. That is your role in going on an Adventure Alternative Gap Trip. You are changing the future of these kids.