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Food and Accommodation - Africa and Asia Venture

Food and Accommodation

Photograph of a traditional AV house - Gap Year Projects & Volunteering Opportunities in TanzaniaAV houses with fellow volunteers

You will live in designated AV houses with fellow volunteers, either within the school grounds or nearby. An important part of the AV experience is living in local accommodation, shopping at markets, being invited to fellow teachers’ houses as well as entertaining the staff and fellow AVs. Depending on the school and size of house you may be living with between two -six AVs. Other AVs from your group will be in schools nearby, clustered around Arusha and Machame and there will often be a chance to meet up.  Arusha is one of Tanzania’s most developed and fastest growing towns at the base of Mount Meru. It is the gateway to Serengeti, Lake Manyara, Tarangire and Arusha National Parks. Machame is a small village about 20 kilometres from Moshi in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro and one of the starting points for trekking the mountain. Both towns have access to internet cafés and banks for exchanging currency.

Photograph of cooking area in the AV accommodation - - Gap Year Projects & Volunteering Opportunities in TanzaniaThe house will probably have a bedroom(s), a communal/cooking area and somewhere to wash. Electricity is intermittent at best, you may not have running water or flushing lavatories. Instead there will be an outside pit latrine or ‘long drop’. You will need to collect water from a local source using jerry cans, or buckets, just like everyone else. You will quickly get into a routine of sterilising the water by boiling it. Whatever house you get, you will grow to love it and soon feel very much at home!

We encourage independence and so you won’t have someone cooking and looking after you – it’s a chance to step up and take responsibility for yourself. You will be given a daily food allowance and will be expected to shop at and cook for yourself. This is the best way of getting to know people, being involved in the community and gaining an understanding of living there – you are not a bystander watching from afar.

The AV representative is never far away and there whenever needed. They can be contacted by phone 24/7 and will visit you during your project.

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