The Trip Cost is payable to Madventurer to cover all your support costs such as your airport transfer, food, accommodation (including your first night in the capital if you arrive at night) and daily transport from your accommodation to your Project site if required.

The Charity Donation is made to the MAD (Make A Difference) Foundation - Reg UK Charity No 1111805 - to cover all the Charity's support costs such as Project Materials and to aid community development, education and health. This may be raised by creating a fundraising page via the website Virgin Money Giving if you are a UK resident.

We work alongside NGO's such as Acts of Mercy, a fantastic organisation that is building a training centre and housing for young widows. The vision for this residential program is to rehabilitate, educate and empower younger widows who come from an underprivileged background. The added advantages include education for their children, medical facilities and easy access to the vocational training facilities offered by Acts of Mercy.Most widows’ struggle with self-worth issues after the death of the husband, mainly due of the social stigma forced on them by the family and community. Their instinctive adaptability to fight for survival and to take charge of their children is stifled with dogmatic rules by village head men and they slowly fold into lives of debt, forced dependency and obligation. The widows will be given activities and personality improvement skills to help them take charge of their lives. Skills training and personality improvement training will help the widows to find a job readily or even start a business of their own. This independent status usually also helps them find good life-partners and they eventually re-marry.We are also involved in an English medium school near the village which provides education to the poorest of the poor children. With English as the medium of instruction, the children will stand a better chance of pursuing higher education and eventually enter the global job market.

Building

The core of each Madventurer project is the building work in the village. This is the most tangible contribution that a Mad projects makes to the community and forms a focus for the group.

The key to all mad building projects is the partnership between our team and the local community. Aside from the funding, the presence of your team of Venturers can be a great motivator to your new friends in the village as it demonstrates the importance of hard work, showing what can be achieved, even regardless of sex. Initially it can take time for villagers to get used to the idea that Venturers are prepared to work hard - especially girls - and actually want to help with manual labour, so you may find locals trying to do all the work for you. Once you explain that you genuinely want them to teach you the basic skills (e.g. how to mix cement or lay bricks), the partnership will develop, and everyone can get stuck in and work together.

There is a range of building activities that you will be able to get involved in. Those less keen on heavy building work usually take up the lighter, but equally important, work such as painting or plastering.

Teaching

 You'll find a teaching pack designed to help you make the most of your teaching. Aside from the help in the pack, your crew will support you in-country and you will find that your teaching skills develop with each class. The enthusiasm, praise, time and attention that you give individuals can help to increase the confidence they have in themselves and in their abilities. Creative teaching lessons are a great idea as they make learning fun and much more interesting for the pupils!

At what level you get involved in teaching is up to you. Your crew leader will talk to you more about this in your briefing session and if you want to teach, you will be introduced to the Principle of the school during the first week of your project to discuss the schools needs and then be fitted into a timetable for the duration of the project. English is the subject that the school principles are most keen for you to teach and you will be provided with information about their English curriculum. It is possible to take classes in pairs or you can teach classes on your own if you are confident and want to do this. Venturers will often teach English, but there can be opportunities to teach other subjects after school such as dance, drama or sport!
Varied and fun teaching methods give children rewarding lessons where they can learn to think creatively and develop their own confidence and skills. The importance of praise, recognition and appraisal are so important when considering the development of an individual.