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It’s Newsletter Time! Yes, it has taken us 7 months since the last one, but we wanted to wait and give you one whopping letter all about our trips that ran from June to November 😊 So as the children in Kenya would say “Sit back, relax & enjoy”!!

Digging for the new toilets at Melon Missions current site. Supporting the local builders. Help preparing the New Melon Mission School site for the next phase of buildingSkill Sharing between the trainee teachers in our group and the teachers based at the schools sharing different teaching strategies and ideas. Supporting the builders at Silver Bells complete the new staff block. Just the roof left to finish. (We shall leave that to the professionals!!) The amazing volume of donations brought out by the group ensured every child received clothing, shoes, resources, and toiletries. And we can’t forget the unbelievable music video they put together!! To be found on our home page at www.ytauk.co.uk

June was the month students from Winchester, Reading, FXU, Coventry, & Bishops Grosseteste touched down in Kenya for two weeks of volunteering and adventure, lead by our intrepid leaders, Gus, Josh and Issie. We absolutely love having university students on our trips they are always enthusiastic and passionate about making a difference. The students brought a range of skills to the schools. Here are their top five highlights:

As well as the hard work the groups put in at the schools, they had some time to enjoy the culture and wildlife. Look how close this group got to a white rhino at Lake Nakuru!This group was our biggest group of students to date and they were awesome!!

June 2018

July 2018Our leader Gus and volunteer Summer stayed on in Kenya and welcomed Emma Phipps and Victoria Davey. Emma is a trustee of our partner charity Younite Foundation; Victoria was visiting Kenya on her second trip and is heavily involved in fundraising for the school (with a little help from her daughter Isabella!!).

Emma and Victoria spent a week at Melon Mission and Silver Bells. They used this week to see how their fundraising had been used to benefit the children and teachers at both schools.

Emma & Victoria departed and an another amazing group arrived lead by Carla and Robyn. This group had barely touched down before they were busy making a difference. Every year Carla raises funds which she uses whilst she is in Kenya. This certainly keeps all her groups extremely busy!! The list could go on but here are the top 10 highlights from Carla and Robyn’s group

Both schools have handcrafted medical cabinets...BOTH are fully stocked,A total of 285 pairs of shoes were handed outKitchens at both schools received new equipment (ladles, knives, chopping boards) & all-important metal plates & cups.The scouts at Melon Mission each have an official Kenya scout association necker, and 10 out of the 40 scouts have full uniform.The staff at Silverbells now have a healthcare card in place funded by our medical fund.Classes in both schools wrote and performed plays, enjoyed dressing up as well as lessons in the core subjects, building volcanoes (which then duly erupted) & learning through play scientific concepts. Each school enjoyed a summer fete styled afternoon; introducing new activities such as apple bobbing, the flour & hidden sweet game, alongside circus skills, hoopla & others.At Melon Mission's new school, we had the great honour of breaking the ground for the bathroom block...& demolishing existing groundwork & beginning to dig the foundations!At Silverbells they purchased the windows & door for the new administration building, once fitted the exterior walls & fixtures were all painted.Follow up visits at hospital, treating of ringworm & refresher first aid training also took place.

All that in just two weeks. Unbelievable effort from all involved. Whilst all our trips to Kenya are predominantly about volunteering and supporting the schools, we do make sure all groups have down time. Relaxing in the afternoons at a local hotel, visiting famous sites such as Mengai Crater and of course Safari!!

Unfortunately, football didn’t come home this year but after a month of volunteering Summer & Gus did!! They had lots of different people join them throughout the 4 weeks and had some time as just a duo. They have been involved in a number of different projects from helping build new toilets at Melon, clearing land at the new Melon School Site, leading lots of creative activities and fun games for the children as well as giving out lots of donations.

Summer also used this trip to help her with a research project she is working on as part of her university course and once complete it will hugely benefit the schools. 😊 Gus as always lead the way and looked after our big group of volunteers and supported all other volunteers that joined them across the month.

They also involved themselves in lots of creative activities, gave out fruit to all the children, and provided lots of donations of clothes, toiletries and learning resources for the children and teachers. Both the group in June and Emma and Victoria all contributed towards taking children from Melon Mission for a fun day with swimming and yummy food.

Can anyone tell that these 3 are teachers!!? So well planned, what a great way of sharing ideas & skills with the schools. This is what it is all about.

Ending our Kenyan Summer of success, we had our first ever group from a performing arts school ‘Rising Aspirations’ lead by our YTA leader Kimberley. This group had two of our youngest volunteers ever! As you can imagine they sang & danced their way through the week at Melon Mission 😊 We are grateful that Kathy the principal of the school ran this trip; Kathy and her students embraced the whole experience. The group taught & lead several workshops, formed an incredible bond with the staff & children, introduced a brand-new musical instrument to the children, helped paint the front of the school, planted trees at the new school site & gave out lots of donations.Then to top off an amazing week they went on a well-deserved Safari & visit to Thompson Falls. We had an incredible summer in Kenya!

September 2018

September was the launch of our NEW trips to Vietnam! A jam packed two weeks travelling from the North to the South of the country. It was Epic! We went to the following places Hanoi ✔ Sapa ✔ Halong Bay✔ Hoi Ann✔ Mekong Delta✔ Ho Chi Minh & Saigon✔

We had such a lovely group to share our first ever trip with; Fiona even brought along her parents and sister to share the experience. With many of the group being experienced YTA travellers and a few newbies it was the perfect mix, and everyone got on well and had a blast on their holibobs! (Thanks to Abbie for the new take on the word ‘Holiday’) Jack who was on his first ever trip with YTA gave us some lovely feedback from his experience.

Keeping the momentum running over the summer we were very happy to welcome back Sophie and Molly who joined us in Kenya two years ago and their friend Emily.

August 2018

They held a talent competition which included a variety of acts: singing, dancing, skipping, catwalk walk modelling, poetry, drama, football skills. Everyone got a sticker for taking part, runners up we’re covered in stickers and they gave out medals to the best acts.They had a “jungle party”- where they made animal masks and paraded around the playground and played jungle themed games.An under the sea day where they made fishes with the little ones.The girls brought geography into the classroom and brought an “exploding volcano kit” and taught the children about volcanos.They also had time to visit the new site, where they cleared and created a pathway and carried multiple bits of timber to clear the courtyard ready for further work!They ended the week with handing out donations that they brought with them- every child got two pencils and the older ones got 4 ready for their exams, along with pencils every child could choose an additional item that they wanted ranging from skipping ropes to playdough!

November 2018Moving back to Kenya now for the final trip of the year and this one was particularly special. Throughout the last few months one of our volunteers Sophie and Younite Foundation have raised funds to send Gladys from Silverbells to teacher training college. To watch the video of us breaking this amazing news to Gladys click on the link here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty64gkOGUwU&t=7s Just four volunteers on this trip but that didn’t stop us doing as much as we possibly could.

Although it was only a week, the support that was provided will continue to make a difference long in to the future…A huge Thank You to Mick and Liz from Sandymount Construction Ltd and Megan who joined us on her second visit to Kenya. Asante Sana, Namaste, cảm ơn bạn to everyone who joined us on

our trips in 2018. You truly are making a difference. Bring on 2019 😊

"Vietnam for me was without a doubt, a life changing experience. There was never a dull moment and I can’t believe how much we managed to do in 2 weeks. From navigating through the teeming streets of Hanoi, discovering the natural beauty of Sapa, cruising through the stunning Ha long Bay and weaving in and out of the flocks of mopeds at Ho Chi Minh City. Each day was different and for someone who is a bit unsure of travelling, I can’t believe how easy YTA made it. Whether you’re a veteran traveller looking for your next adventure, or a novice like myself looking for something different – YTA will guarantee a safe and enjoyable journey. See you in India 😉"

"He’s behind you” – Yes, Cinderella was the theme with both Silverbells and Melon Mission doing their versions of the pantomime!Arts & crafts galore with mask making for the younger children.Children from Melon responded to letters sent to them from schools in the UK.Christmas themed activities…. It’s never too early!We squeezed in plenty of donations. Hundreds of socks courtesy of Robert Le Kyng School.X3 Classrooms at the new Melon School cleared and ready for plastering, A wood box built, and all left over wood chopped. Re-organisation of a store room to make work a little easier for the builders.Painting of the new Silverbells Office Block.And after all that we still had time to fit in a Safari and a visit to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust!

Two weeks we will never forget. Our next group to embark on this adventure are going in April 2019. We are now also taking bookings for our two-week trip in September 2019 so if this sounds like your kind of thing get in touch. We want to say a big thank you to this group for making our first ever trip so memorable and a huge success.