When you volunteer in Gambia you travel to the “Northbank” of the Gambia River. Our projects are based in a small village called Jammeh-Kunda.
Gambia is located in the west of Africa and is the smallest country in continental Africa. The country borders the Atlantic Ocean and has a coastline of 80 km with beautiful beaches, lagoons and fishing villages.
Furthermore, Gambia consists of a narrow strip of land and is completely surrounded by the only neighboring country, Senegal, which shares a 749 km long border with Gambia . The capital Banjul is located in the west, close to the ocean. However, the largest city is Serekunda, which is also located in the west of the country.
The Gambia River provides a rich biodiversity: the country has nearly 500 different bird species, hippos, crocodiles and monkeys. The Gambia has six national parks and reserves that together cover 3.7% of the Gambian territory. In the national parks and reserves you can – with a bit of luck – also spot larger mammals, such as giraffes, lions, buffalo and large antelopes.
The delta of the Gambia River is quite swampy with a mangrove vegetation. The north of The Gambia has a parkland savannah landscape with tall grasses, large shrubs and some trees. South of the Gambia River begins the forest savannah, grassland with groups of trees. The Gambia is also a particularly flat country, with the highest points not exceeding 50 meters above sea level.
Jammeh Kunda is a small village with a population of 700 . It is around 1.5 hour drive and ferry from the capital Banjul.
All projects below take place within the same community. This means that the projects in The Gambia are ideal for volunteers who want to perform volunteer work in group, consisting of people with a different background.
When you apply, you can choose which project you prefer. All tasks are within the same community. We hope that you will be flexible in order to achieve the general development goal of our operations in Gambia. We try to take your wishes into account, but in Gambia everything can suddenly change, so we might ask you to change your focus.
Please note that the descriptions below are only meant to be a broad overview of the work. Remember, volunteers work where circumstances can change suddenly. Flexible, open minded and fast switching are crucial features of a good volunteer in Gambia. It is the role of each volunteer to adapt to the project and not the other way around.
We expect volunteers to contribute where necessary, even if that means being involved in activities that they did not expect. Being able to adapt is challenging, but it also makes volunteering abroad so special.
The village has a village development committee and a school committee.
What do volunteers do?
Minimum: 2 weeks
Schedule: official classes take place from 9 to 1 (Mon-Thu) and Friday from 9-11. Other school / education activities can be planned in the afternoon or evening in consultation with the local team.
Requirements
What do volunteers do?
Minimum: 2 weeks
Schedule: There is no set schedule, you perform your tasks in consultation with the local team and the mentor of the project.
Requirements
What do volunteers do?
Minimum: 2 weeks
Schedule: There is no set schedule, you perform your tasks in consultation with the local team and the mentor of the project.
Requirements
What do volunteers do?
Minimum: 2 weeks
Schedule: There is no set schedule, you perform your tasks in consultation with the local team and the mentor of the project.
Requirements
What do volunteers do?
Proposing and introducing other and / or new methods, taking into account climate adaptation concerning:
Minimum: 2 weeks
Schedule: There is no set schedule, you perform your tasks in consultation with the local team and the mentor of the project.
Requirements
The third teacher in our school. Larum is also married.
Miss Fatou is a brave lady. As a single woman with a daughter, she also took a foster daughter, besides this she is also active in the school garden.
Teacher Ebrima is married in 2018 and has one child. Ebrima is also the driving force behind the school garden and the local football team. Ebrima is also responsible for all construction tasks.
As village headman he is responsible for the community kitchen at the school and the food for the students. Alkalo is also father of Ebrima.
Besides being the local handmy man, Ensa loves to take care of our volunteers at night time.
Staying withing our projects in The Gambia is definitely something for the more adventurous volunteers. There is no luxury whatsoever, or at lease not to what you are used to. However, this gives you the opportunity to immerse in the daily life of the local people. You will stay in a room at the school, the school is only 100 meters from the village.
A maximum of 4 volunteers can stay at the same time, meaning you share the space with a maximum 3 other volunteers. The room has fans. The
only luxury the school has are 4 solar panels on batteries, these are
sufficient for the light, fans, fridge and a few sockets.
In the bathroom there is a shower and sink, there is no hot water but that is no problem in Gambia.
There is a western toilet 100 meters away from the bedroom. At the end of 2019 there will be a toilet next to the bathroom.
Only luncesh during the school days are provided. Other meals are the responsibility of the volunteer. The cooking utensils, gas rings and gas are available. It is always fun to cook your own meals at your own pace in the evening.
You can buy the vegetables from our local people (seasonal).More is available at the markets in the neighboring villages. The local team managers will be happy to go shopping with or for you.
There is a small shop in the village where you can buy basic items such as paste & rice. At 10 km you have a bigger shop with more items. If you want a real supermarket you need to drive to the ferry stop, there is a supermarket at the North Bank so you do not need to cross the border.
There are few activities to do in Jammeh Kunda. It is the perfect moment if you want to empathize with the daily life of the local population. For example, you can go fishing, make trips to the nearby villages, discover the local nature, spot birds, etc.
However, Gambia is not a large country, making everything easy to reach. You can go back to the South bank during the weekends to visit the tourist attractions, the capital Banjul is only 75 km (about 2 hours). A trip to Senegal (border crossing at 75 km) is also worth considering. If you go to the capital during the weekend, you also can stock up on various products that you will not find in Jammeh Kunda or the nearby villages.
What Gambia is best known for, are the beaches. Ideal to rest during the weekends in one of the beach villages.
The River Gambia National Park (also known as Baboon Island), a complex of five Islands (total area 585 ha.), was established in 1978. All islands are quite flat and possess mainly gallery forest with some open swampy or savannah areas.
The park is situated in Central River Division (CRD) about 300 km by road from Banjul. It forms one of the last refuges for the very threatened hippopotamus within The Gambia. Since 1979 a Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project has been conducted on the Islands, and there are currently about fifty Chimpansees living on 3 of the larger islands.
The population is steadily increasing through births. In addition to reintroducing an indigenous species to the country, the existence of the project in the River Gambia National Park has assisted in protecting the forest and its resources from over exploitation.
The Department of Parks and Wildlife Management and the CRP work hand in and for the protection of the park and its environs.
Volunteering abroad does cost money and it is not our intention that the community you are going to help has to pay for this. If there was enough money to bear these costs, we would rather spend them on a local employees who understand the local culture and daily customs.
If you want to learn more about our transparent system, take a look at our transparency page.
These costs, which you pay on site, are related to your stay in Gambia such as your accommodation and meals. By paying locally, you are also sure that your contribution will end in Gambia and will not stay behind at various “stations”. The cost for one week is 70 EURO.
What is included?
Probably there are other expenses that you have to keep in mind. Below a brief summary of the most common possible costs:
any projects require a continuity of volunteers to create impact and we want to ensure sufficient inflow of volunteers to keep every project viable. Unfortunately volunteer recruitment comes with a costs such as marketing. The fundraising done by the organizations in our alliance are exclusively used for development projects in the countries mentioned on this website.
The alliance fee serves to bear the costs of the alliance’s platform. We ask every participant a one-time alliance fee of € 130. This is a one-time contribution which you pay after being accepted for your first volunteer placement. After payment of this contribution you can do unlimited voluntary work in any project in the future (if there is availability and you meet the set requirements for that project).
As a member, we always inform you as soon as new projects are added in our alliance.
What is your alliance fee used for?
You can read more at our transparency page.
We will not let you leave without a thorough preparation. We have a detailed system, so you can sleep on both ears and leave with peace of mind. Once you have been accepted and everything has been put in order, you can count on the guidance of our experts.
As soon as you applied and you are accepted to volunteer we start with your preparation. You can already read a lot on this website, besides this we also prepare you through other channels. Once in the field you also can rely on our local team.
Volunteering abroad will have an impact on you but also on the local community. We think it’s very important, that you as a volunteer are aware about what to expect. So you can start prepared with your volunteering experience.
When you are accepted as a volunteer and you confirmed from your side, you will receive the access codes for our secured volunteer page. At this page you can read all information which is important for your preparation, Such as information about your project, accommodation, how to apply for your visa, a packing list, a complete chapter about cultural differences and much more …
You will be assigned a mentor who you can contact for any help or needed advice. Our mentors are members of our alliance and have years of experience in the projects we support. This system ensures that you receive good guidance from VAA.
Your safety is very important to us. We only allow volunteers to travel to areas that are politically stable. If this is not the case, the project will not proceed. Every member of the alliance keeps a close eye on the security recommendations. Of course, we can also rely on the local employees of the projects. They live and work there themselves and know the area very well.
Gambia has two seasons and has a subtropical climate. The dry season runs from mid-October to mid-June. March, April and May are sun-drenched months, with an average of over 10 hours of sunshine per day. During the dry season there is often a northeast wind – the harmattan – that brings sand from the Sahara and covers the land with a layer of dust. The temperature can rise to 40 ° C in the dry season, due to that heat sometimes whirlwinds or tonkolong arise.
The rainy season lasts from around the end of May to mid-October, with the most rain falling in July, August and September. Mostly there are showers during the night and in the morning, but this is certainly not the case every day. The highest humidity, up to 95%, is measured in August. In the dry season, on the other hand, the humidity can drop to just 25%.
Every project has at least one permanent employee. This employee organizes your project and your stay together with the participating organization of our alliance. During your stay you can always connect with them; they are available for advice and practical information, but you can also count on them in case of an emergency.
You will be picked by our representative after the ferry crossing at the North Bank, you receive all details, phone numbers, after acceptance and confirmation from your side.
It is advisable to book a hotel in Banjul for 1 or 2 nights, so there is time to “acclimatize”, do some shopping and make any arrangements.
If desired, our “representative” on the South bank can be called in (also for other journeys and practical arrangements, (eg. exchange of money, telephone / mobile card, shopping, to the ferry, etc.).
In the past we had problems with sharing our operations address therefore we deliberately not share this information in advance. The organizations within our alliance take their duties seriously, our projects are not tourist attractions and we do not want uninvited guests to disturb our operations. Moreover, it is very disturbing for the local employees of our alliance but also for other volunteers if someone suddenly appears at the projects to take a look.
We are not doctors and we do not know your personal & medical background. That is why we advise everyone to make an appointment with your doctor or travel vaccination center before traveling to your destination. You can always take a look at the website of the WHO for the latest situation in Laos.
Every organization within our alliance has an emergency procedure and you also receive all emergency telephone numbers once accepted as a volunteer. You will find all this information on your personal project page, you will receive the code as soon as you are accepted as a volunteer and you completed your application.
The Gambia allows entry into its territory to foreign travelers having a passport (except for Belgian citizen who only need their ID card).
For those who are not exempt from, a visa. This visa can be obtained from the diplomatic representation of the place of residence of the volunteer. You get permission to enter the territory for 90 days. Extensions are possible by a “visa run” to nearby Senegal.
You can find the latest information about visas and exempt countries via this link
There is no typical day or script to follow – every day will be different and full of surprises. That is the beauty, but also challenge, of international volunteering. We expect you to understand this and be flexible, open and proactive at all times.
The projects run Monday through Saturday and Sunday are usually free days. Depending on your project, you will work some combination of different hours during.
There are always new initiatives being launched and other volunteers looking for a helping hand. The projects are very dynamic and responsive to the community’s needs, and we encourage you to be flexible and willing to help wherever there is need. It is very likely that you will have the opportunity to work across multiple projects. Remember, the more you put into your experience, the more you will get out of it.
Our team speaks English. Bear in mind that the population with whom you may come into contact outside of your work does not always speak English.
All organizations active in the alliance take their work very seriously. From general preparations to details that you never imagined that they exist, but that are important to give you a safe, comfortable and meaningful experience. We invest a lot of time in preparing, following up and implementing our preparation materials, but also our projects on site. We hope that you, for your part, commit yourself 100% during your volunteer work and this is done in a respectful way for us, but even more so for the local community you are going to help.
Daily behavior when you volunteer in Gambia
Our team members are already active for years in development aid so you can rely on years of experience.
We do not believe in voluntourism. Volunteers are not tourists. Volunteers expect to serve, tourists expect to be served.
Create a network of people and organizations to have a positive impact on disadvantaged communities.
Registered as a non-profit organization with a clear financial structure.
