Get the most from your gap year

Mark: “Much of our work is done in Madagascar, where we help the poorest communities to develop in sustainable ways, increasing local access to health care and education. A core priority is to conserve the delicate ecosystems of Madagascar through facilitating viable alternatives to deforestation. We’re helping locals to conserve 70km of coastline, which is home to countless endangered endemic species.”

 

Mark: “Enthusiastic volunteers can join our lemur conservation project in Madagascar, over either four or eight weeks. We’ll be aiming to gather information on endangered lemur species for international captive breeding programmes. Also, our Pioneer Madagascar 10-week expedition offers the chance for volunteers to help tackle poverty and environmental damage in the south-west of the island. There’s such a need for help. Madagascar is one of the poorest places on Earth.”

 

Mark: “In the rural villages of south-east Madagascar we've implemented an extensive programme to construct wells and pharmacies in communities that had little or no access to water or medicine. Statistics show that 1 in 10 children on the island die as a result of easily preventable diseases caused by unclean drinking water. A health awareness and education programme and a mobile doctor are now operating in 26 villages.
 
“Azafady has built over 50 wells and 20 pharmacies, as well as hundreds of latrines. This programme is covering only a fraction of the needs of local communities, though, and requires hands on help through our Pioneer scheme.

 

Mark: “Successful applicants are expected to pay for their flight, visa and insurance from their own funds.  Typically this will add up to around £1100. On top of this volunteers need to raise a donation of at least £2000 and Azafady has specialist staff and resources to help people reach and often exceed this target.

 

Mark: “ We have an office in London with two members of staff and a team of 90 people in Madagascar. Our office in Fort Dauphin is run by trained, English-speaking staff and we experienced project leaders on hand to act as mentors. All accommodation and storage is secure.”

 

Mark: “It varies hugely. Our minimum age is 18 and the oldest person we’ve sent out is 74. We tend to attract the slightly more intrepid 18-year-olds who have a really solid idea of where they’re going, rather than the ones who just want to go off and get drunk.”

 

Mark: “Research is the key – you can’t just go by the first page of a website. Ask to see the accounts. If you’re going to give three months of your life and a couple of grand to an organisation it’s well worth spending an hour to make sure they’re kosher. If you hear about an organisation in lots of places, and they’ve got glossy adverts, brochures and flash websites, the chances are they’ve spent a fortune trying to find you. “I wish that people would be more discerning and not just go for the big names. People end up attracted to the bright lights and unfortunately the organisations that really do need the help are struggling.”