About Us

VAE started in 1979 with a group of teachers from different schools taking annual mountaineering expeditions to the French Alps. We organised and led some of the first schoolboy expeditions to Nepal and have been to Peru and many parts of Africa. In 1984 we climbed Mount Kenya, made an association with a school, and have been involved ever since. Disappointed that gap-year provision of the time did little to use the strengths of our students or really impact positively on the communities they went to, in 1994 we set up VAE Kenya.

VAE is a family-run social enterprise led by Simon CD Harris, a former housemaster and Classics graduate, and his niece, Sophie L Herring, a recent Geography graduate and former Volunteer. Our philosophy is allied to that of Outward Bound in that we believe you can learn a lot about yourself and life through helping and interacting with others.

"...it is culpable neglect not to impel young people into experiences." (Kurt Hahn)

Our aim is to improve the education of Kenyan schools and we believe that well-educated young Westerners can help achieve this. We therefore expect high standards from our Volunteers to behave as professional teachers. As a result the Kenyan appetite for VAE teachers (set apart from other organisations) outstrips our supply.

Over the years VAEs have achieved a phenomenal amount, from the simplest thing such as putting up a notice board to founding a charity that has now built eight primary schools and set up two secondary schools that are the envy of the area. We are consciously aware of all development issues such as the Millenium Development Goals and try to integrate these within our general aims.

VAE is unique in gap-year provision in that we live in and know intimately the area we serve. Volunteers thus have permanent people they can refer to, and conversely we can steer them away from some they should not know! Through this knowledge we have built up a rapport with all sectors of the community, from street children at the bottom, to the drivers of vehicles we can trust, to the competent doctor in the cleanest hospital. In return the community warns us about areas where they envisage problems.

As a result we more than comply with the requirements set out in BS8848, the British industry-standard code of practice for provision of visits, fieldwork, expeditions and adventurous activities, and we are registered in Kenya as an educational service provider.

We welcome parents and visitors, so you can see our work for yourself, and we are proud that many VAE return year after year and stay involved with their communities and those they taught.

VAE supports a great many people in Kenya, from street children to school children to a carpentry shop that works out of our premisies. They all make VAE what it is and are an integral part of the VAE family.