Our school adventures present unique opportunities for schools to immerse themselves in another culture. These overseas school trips combine volunteer work in rural communities with life-changing adventure travel. Each trip is around one month in length and includes two weeks of volunteer work with a community-based project and a combination of physical challenges and epic safaris.
The logistics for each trip are provided by our partner Adventure Alternative, a fully licensed and award-winning travel tour operator. The volunteer work is arranged with our local staff on the ground in-country, so participants will always work on something that is relevant and meets community needs.
Trips can follow our proposed structure, or we can work with you to create a tailor-made trip of varying lengths. Organize the school adventure of a lifetime for your students with Moving Mountains and Adventure Alternative.
Here is a short clip about one of our school expeditions in Africa, nicknamed "Africamp"
Benefit of School Adventures for Students
The overseas school trips organized by Moving Mountains and Adventure Alternative present a unique opportunity to have a life-changing experience in some of the most beautiful places on earth. Immerse yourself in local culture while cultivating a deeper understanding of what it means to be a global citizen.
All of our trips are created with the core values of Moving Mountains at their heart: empowerment and equality. On one of our trips, students will not only experience volunteer work in a rural community but learn about global equality and cross-cultural communication.
When possible, we partner participants with local peers, opening the door for intercultural exchange and personal development for both parties. Young students may be surprised how much they can learn from a Kenyan or Nepali peer.
Volunteer work in Kenya, Tanzania, or Nepal can teach a young person about hardship, personal responsibility, and encourage them to grow and broaden their horizons. On these trips, participants will be encouraged to consider different cultural points of view and ways of living.
Beyond the volunteer work, the adventure travel portion of this school expedition will challenge students physically and mentally. Some things can only be realized from summiting a mountain or witnessing a pride of lions in the wild.
These trips are an educational opportunity of a lifetime for students and educators alike. Contact us today for a quote or to begin constructing one of our school adventures.
Benefits for the Local Community
The benefits of these trips are not only for the students and educators who embark on the journey. We specifically design these trips with the local committees and people in-country. This ensures that the volunteer work and economic impact of the trip have the greatest benefit for the communities on the ground.
Moving Mountains has been working in Kenya and Nepal for over twenty years, implementing long-term, results-oriented development programs that are driven by the needs of the community. We work directly with local authorities and communities to design each of our programs. Today, many of our staff on the ground came through Moving Mountains programs in the 90’s and 00’s.
These volunteer trips provide many different benefits to the local communities. Young people in the community get an opportunity to interact with their peers from around the globe, broadening their horizons and giving them new perspectives on what is possible in their lives.
At the project level, volunteers help speed up the pace of our projects, helping us to provide services much more quickly. This, in turn, allows our staff on the ground to focus on helping a greater number of people in the community.
We work hard to ensure that our volunteer trips are never exploitative of our local communities. Volunteers do not displace local workers, and we don’t exploit local children. Instead, we create experiences that are mutually beneficial, both socially and economically.
Fundraising Goals for Moving Mountains School Adventures
The cost of any trip with Moving Mountains and Adventure Alternative includes a minimum fundraising requirement. This sum is incredibly important to the work of Moving Mountains and also helps us to ensure that your volunteer experience has a long-term benefit to our communities.
Though volunteers may only work for two weeks on a single school building, the fundraising goal allows Moving Mountains to turn that building into an entire school compound, providing education for an entire community. This is just one example of the many ways that Moving Mountains works on long-term sustainable development goals.
We strive to be open and forthcoming about how we use the funds that you raise. If you have more questions about this, please visit our annual reports, or feel free to contact us.
These trips are the chance of a lifetime for young students to gain new perspectives on life and truly experience first-hand what it means to be a global citizen. Curious to learn more? Read about each of our individual trips below.