Members of our team will be waiting for you at the airport no matter what time your flight arrives.
Since the journey will be long and tiring, we will give you enough time to rest and start a new day refreshed and ready for new challenges.
One of the coordinators will show you around (exchange office, local and international shop, SIM card arrangement, closest beach and more) and give you some basic information on organising transport, lunch, leisure activities and trips. You would settle your accommodation costs and let us know your decisions regarding lunch, transportation and other activities.
Your work will take place in Brufut - approximately 30 minutes drive from the main tourist areas.
You will be accompanied for the first day of volunteer work to get familiar with the way to school, meet the teachers and kids and arrange in which level of nursery you will be working.
This will also be a great chance to see how to travel to school with local transport if you decide on this option.
Kids are the World Nursery School is located in Brufut, a village about half an hour from the main tourism area. Most children in the town do not have an opportunity for regular schooling but always desire new knowledge. Activities you will carry out are storytelling, sports, outdoor games, playing on instruments, singing, learning about letters, numbers and basics of the English language, and any other learning activity that can be done with the equipment and materials available in the centre. You should use your resourcefulness, adaptability and originality to design and form new activities you plan to perform with children aged between 4 and 7. Most of these children do not have anybody in their home environment that would have time or sufficient knowledge to teach them (e.g. English language), so your help would be highly appreciated.
The working days are from Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 1 pm, which means afternoons and weekends are free for you to decide whether you want to attend any suggested activities or excursions or just plan your free time yourself.
There are many things to do and see in The Gambia; braiding your hair, visiting a local market, taking drumming or dancing classes, kayaking, swimming, fishing, going to church, cooking with a family, and visiting the craft market being just a few of them. Weekends are perfect for exploring the country. With our selection of responsible trips and tours, you will discover the southern, northern or inner parts of The Gambia. And could even travel to Senegal.
Accommodation after the volunteering experience can be arranged for an additional cost.
We will arrange transport to drop you off at the airport.
The optimal period is three weeks, but the volunteering experience should not go for less than one week. It takes time to adjust to the school and children and way of work. You can stay for as long as you want, provided there is the availability of the room. If a week-long experience is too much, you can also join us for a day.
This trip is suitable for families with kids older than 5 years. We have very positive experiences with families coming for this type of travel. The kids were the ones who enjoyed the most.
The volunteering experience in school can be quite exhaustive, depending on the energy you are willing to put in. You will, however have enough time to recover your strength.
With the heritage of making a change in The Gambia for the past 12 years, Volunteer Trails is the creation of a new vision that will improve the quality of lives of Gambians in a sustainable and self-sufficient way.
We are the voice for responsible volunteering and eco-, rural- and community-based travel in The Gambia.
Everyone involved in our projects is fairly paid and encouraged. Hand in hand with communities, we create job opportunities as we don’t believe that (just) giving is beneficial to the people and their future. Our mission is to minimize or completely remove dependency on instant cash donations. Instead, we believe there must be an exchange of services and/or products for earnings.
Education, exchange, sharing, accepting and making an impact is our mission. And we invite like-minded people to join us.
We do believe it's time for another adventure. Don't spend all of your time in The Gambia in one place. Go out and explore! There are so many beautiful experiences waiting for you. Let us help you pick one - and take care of all the rest.
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