FORMER Shebbear College student Benjamin Welby from Hatherleigh has just returned from a four month placement in Kenya as a voluntary teacher in a small village.

Ben used this opportunity as part of his gap year before going to university.

He said the last four months spent living in Kenya had been hard, but an experience that has taught him so much about life and himself.

?I can now look ahead to the rest of my life with a confidence that no matter how low I get, I should be able to pull through it,? he said.

?When we arrived in Kenya we were all whisked off to Lake Naivasha where we stayed for about four nights in nice little bandas (Kenyan huts).

?We had showers, flushing toilets and food was provided, plus we were all together in a group. Life wasn?t that hard, it felt like a school trip. Things quickly changed? he said.

?We set off from Lake Naivasha to be dropped at, or near, our schools.

?Our first day, solo, hadn?t really gone that well up to this point. It could only bet better or so we thought.

?We quickly got down to coping with the fact we weren?t living in Western decadence but were actually in a developing country and it was not supposed to be a holiday.?

Ben said teaching also proved hard to come by in these first few weeks. The school was in chaos, as a result of two things. Firstly, the initiative of free primary school education for all children, which had been implemented by the new NARC government, was placing a huge strain on the teaching resources.

Secondly, those teaching resources themselves were being stretched to the limit by having to deal with losing teachers to staff transfers that were taking teachers from rural schools and sending them to the urban areas to cope with the heightened demand.

?Over the next few weeks we didn?t have many lessons and those we did have were mostly PI which was rather difficult to teach without much in the way of equipment. They usually degenerated into football matches using balls that we had brought,? said Ben.

Whilst they were not doing much in the way of teaching this period provided the opportunity to get to know the community and the teachers, as well as giving free time to just experience Kenya.

?I began to call Kabartonjo a town but it was far from it,? said Ben.

He said it was distinguishable from most Kenyan settlements by the fact there were some permanent concrete and cement structures along its main road ? there was nothing else to it. Its amenities included two supermarkets, two video shows (which broke every copyright law ever devised), innumerable pool tables, a host of little cafes (that the Cannons call hotels), countless small dukes (shops) selling everything up to and including the kitchen sink and a room where you could, for a fee, watch satellite television (which was good for the football and BBCNews24 during the war).

Ben said the thing that stood out about Kabartonjo was the people.

?Whenever we went into town to do some shopping, have a meal or watch a film we were accosted by numerous people all shouting ?Wazungu, habari?? (which means ?white man, how are you?? and slapping our hands in welcome.?

By the end of the term he was teaching 19 lessons a week covering maths, GHC (which stands for geography, history and civics), Christian religious education and business education.

The pupils were children of standards six and seven which equates to final year of primary and first of secondary in British schools.

?It was hard, and sometimes I thought that I spent 35 minutes talking to myself for all the impact it seemed to have, long division in particular was a difficult concept to get across.

?However, I hope that any impact I had on their education was not detrimental and if nothing else, they got to hear about, even if they couldn?t associate with it, how we live.?

Ben said Africa Venture as a scheme was ?fantastic?.

He said at the early stage of term when they didn?t have many lessons they rang up the office in Nairobi and within an hour, plans had been made to move the volunteer teachers to a new school nearby if necessary.

?This is its strength,? said Ben. ?There is a support team on hand 24/7. But at the same time you are given four months in which you can survive independently save for the half termly visit ? very important because we were given our second instalment of money! ? and the week?s organised safari.?

Consequently, he said the vast majority of volunteer teachers all ended the scheme with a far greater degree of maturity, self-confidence and strength of character than they began with.

?It was certainly true for me!?

After term ended, Ben had a fantastic three weeks being a tourist.

?Fifteen of us went to the Masai Mara where we saw a vast array of animals.

?I spent a week at a gorgeous all-inclusive hotel by the Indian Ocean and then rounded the four months off with a really character building safari.?