Thanks for a fantastic time out here, fingers crossed I can get back out soon!

(Africamper)

home SiteMap Contact

Adventure Alternatives

The Expedition, Trek, Safari and Gap company. Professional, ethical adventure holidays around the world

Call us Today on 02870831258

Responsibility and Liability while Volunteering

This is an important document to read; it describes the relationship between the company and the charity and the nature of our responsibility to you during your stay in Kenya.

Company and Charity Relationship

Moving Mountains Trust is a registered charity in the UK (Northern Ireland) and administered by 6 Trustees. Three of those Trustees are also employees of Adventure Alternative and they work voluntarily for the Trust as part of their work remit with the company. Moving Mountains Kenya is an international NGO (non-governmental organisation) registered and based in Nairobi. It is a separate organisation to the Trust in the UK but it is linked by written agreement to be the operational arm of the Trusts' programmes in Kenya. It is managed by Rose Gathirimu and Kelly Kioko who were all once beneficiaries of the charity. All agreements over projects, sponsorships and funding in Kenya are made jointly between the Trustees of the Trust in UK and the NGO in Kenya.

Adventure Alternative is an expedition and adventure travel company based in Northern Ireland which offers its resources and staff and money to facilitate many of the Moving Mountains projects, as well as covering the costs of the overheads for the Trust. In this way we can easily ensure that all charitable donations go to the beneficiaries and we have almost no maintenance costs to speak of.

Africampers is a registered Safari Tour company, based in Nairobi, which is
part of the Adventure Alternative group of companies. It is also run by Kelly Kioko and provides the operational logistics for all the company's trips, safaris and Gap trips in East Africa.

To summarise - 2 charities and 2 companies, all interlinked by employees who are also Trustees. The companies support the charities. Both Adventure Alternative and Moving Mountains was founded by Gavin Bate and the two employees of the UK company who are also MM Trustees are Chris Little and Andrew MacDonald.

Who is responsible for you? Who has liability for you?

You have agreed to partake in project work for Moving Mountains, a generous gift of your time and skills and energy to help us achieve our charitable aims and for that the Trustees are most grateful. However it is important to understand the issue of responsibility and liability which may or may not affect your decision to go on a trip like this.

Moving Mountains has a public liability insurance policy but it does not cover work of 'volunteers' in a foreign country doing work like building projects where the health and safety regulations are noticeably lower than in the West. This means that if you have an accident in Kenya on one of the Moving Mountains projects, and you decided to sue the charity or its Trustees for lack of proper advice or information or for negligence then the charity would not be covered under its public liability policy for such a claim, if it was successful.

Adventure Alternative does have a public liability policy which covers its operations in Kenya or indeed in any country where it runs expeditions, treks or safaris. Therefore a claim made against the company would fall within the policy remit. In going to Kenya to help with Moving Mountains, you are actually having your logistics handled by Adventure Alternative and Africampers. This means that effectively Adventure Alternative and Africampers are responsible for your safety and security and providing accommodation, transport and activities. This means that we require you to become a 'client' of Adventure Alternative in order that our paperwork indicates our responsibility towards you. This will mean filling in an application form.

The trip to Kenya is unusual in some respects. It will be in often basic surroundings, possibly doing building or renovation projects which will be inherently more dangerous than their equivalent in the UK or the West. Building standards are lower, techniques often very different and basic, and regulations are simply not there. We ask that you consider carefully your role in all of this. It will require three commitments, one on our part and two on yours.

1. We will endeavour to give you as much information as possible so you do
   not go to Kenya ignorant of standards and facilities and likely issues that may develop. We will provide good, experienced staff to advise you accordingly of the best way to handle situations and projects. We will use all our resources and experience and staff to protect your welfare and safety, on the understanding that accidents sometimes do happen, and situations in a place like Kenya are dealt with very differently and it is very difficult to offer 'western' responses. We will inform you of our risk assessment and contingency plans in case of accidents or issues, plus details of our network of staff, both Kenyan and western.
2. You should take the advice of our staff, and not engage in potentially dangerous activities which could be injurious to your health or welfare. This will require an increased level of common sense, self-preservation and integrity. We do not, for example, recommend climbing African scaffolding, but laying bricks and putting in floors would probably be fine. It will be a matter of proper consideration and common sense. We are not demanding anything from you that may be dangerous and we ask that if you ever feel unsure then please just walk away. There is absolutely no obligation on your part to do anything you are not happy with doing, and we would rather you walk away from something rather than engage in something you feel uncomfortable or unhappy with.
3. You should take out your own comprehensive personal holiday insurance to cover you for all the usual medical, repatriation, loss of baggage and cancellation issues. Do talk with us if you want to make sure that your policy covers you for the various activities you will be doing. There is nothing you will be doing that would be regarded as a hazardous activity in legal terms. Take your policy with you and make sure that a copy is left with one of our staff, along with details of your next of kin.

We do not want your trip to become an issue of insurance but unfortunately we live in a world of litigation and arguments over liabilities. We are open in saying that doing voluntary work in a remote place in east Africa carries with it a degree of uncertainty and possible accidents, which can of course happen any time in any place. We are proud that in all our years of working in Africa or anywhere we have never had a single case of a claim being brought against us and we have never had a single accident with any of our volunteers. We attribute this to careful preparation, good staffing and leadership and common sense on the part of everybody. We do ask that you consider the whole environment in which you will be living and working. This is not a disclaimer for our duty of care to you, simply an appeal for moderation and reasonable attitudes on all sides. Communication will be the key to this so please do contact us any time to ask questions, even if they might appear silly.