Ubaka U Rwanda (Ubaka) is one of our incredible partner charities based in Rwanda. Ubaka provides much-needed shelter, education and guidance for young people in Kigali who have been have been orphaned, abandoned or mistreated. Rebecca Usabyamahoro co-founded the charity with her husband Evode in 2008. A street child himself, Evode started the initiative 5 […]
Naturally, giving something back is important to us. So the team at Quest Overseas HQ has put together a short list of some of our favourite Christmas gifts that keep on giving… perfect for the ethically-minded gift giver or receiver! Gandy’s London- Burgundy Bali Authentic Voyager Backpack Gandy’s London is an inspirational company that works […]
Week 7 Team Update Our South America Autumn Exped team kick-started their expedition phase by tackling icy vertical drops on Huayna Potosi and mountain biking down one of the most dangerous roads in the world, Bolivia’s infamous Yungas North Road, or ‘El Camino de la Muerte’ (The Death Road) to locals. Check out their week in photos: […]
Big cats, forest fires, ghosts and ghouls! Week 5: Firefighting When we left our Autumn Exped team last they were helping to fight forest fires caused by slash and burn agriculture, in the Bolivian jungle. Unfortunately because of the extremely dry weather they’ve been having, as soon as the sun rose embers would catch and […]
Where else in the world do people celebrate their dearly departed by making effigies of them out of bread – Bolivia is one of a kind in so many ways! Throughout Latin American culture you can find examples of cultural fusion, between indigenous traditions and the Spanish influence which arrived from the 15th and 16th […]
South America does not have the best reputation when it comes to catering to special dietary needs. When the national culinary specialities and street food essentially all contain meat, cheese and eggs, is it possible to live, healthily, in this magnificent continent as a vegan? Here are top 5 tips from 2016 volunteer superstar, Josefin […]
Our Autumn Exped team have hit the 1 month mark! We couldn’t be prouder of all their hard work this last week, volunteering at Inti Wara Yassi’s wildlife sanctuary, Park Ambue Ari. It definitely hasn’t been easy for them! The team have been helping to construct a management cage for rescued puma Leo and helping […]
Following on from an eventful first week of their South American Expedition, the team had a busy couple of weeks in Sucre filled with language lessons, water slides, sports, BBQ’s, museums and exploring Bolivia’s stunning Salar de Uyuni … so much so that their blog update fell by the wayside! But despite their busyness and […]
Its been a week of Spanish, Sucre, cerveza and salsa (among many other activities!) for our South American Exped as they settle into language lessons and the South American way of life, big thanks to team member Ed de Winton for sharing his account of the their first week in Bolivia! Arriving After arrival into Bolivia Matty […]
In recent years there have been many examples highlighted in the press, of short term volunteering placements providing little or no support for the projects they claim to be helping. “Voluntourism” is a growing trend, and sadly much of it badly managed. This does not mean however that all short term volunteer placements are bad […]