What does Quest Overseas do?
Quest Overseas organises unique team adventures into the depths of Africa or South America, Our Project teams consist of project work or an expedition, or a little of both, while our Expedition teams are shorter adventures including a specific event or series of challenges.
Who are we?
We are made up of a small team of staff based on the sunny south Coast of Brighton. We run Quest Overseas and our charity,Quest4Change together with a number of past participants who provide short term support in our office, during their holidays from university – It’s a lot of fun! We pride ourselves on giving our participants the most worthwhile and exhilarating experience possible overseas, in a manner that upholds standards of excellence in ethical volunteering, responsible travel and sustainable development.
Quest Overseas has been around for over 20 years, taking its first team out to South America in 1996. Over the years, Quest Overseas has developed key partnerships with a very select handful of grassroots charities and local providers who make up our global Quest family. As an organisation, we have never wanted to expand much beyond this, as the personal touch is very important to us. It also means our projects are well managed and looked after. Here in the UK office, we are all very passionate about our projects and expeditions, and that’s because we know them first hand as we have all spent time there either as volunteers or leaders.
We don’t like to blow our own trumpet, and thanks to the positive feedback from our past-students, we seldom have to. Quest Overseas has some great reviews online – check out Volunteer Forever & Go Overseas. We attend Fairs, but we rarely spend money on expensive advertising. Actually most of our participants (roughly 50%) hear of us by word of mouth, from relatives and friends, etc. Many others find us online, when searching for ethical and responsible volunteer and travel opportunities.
Why do we do it?
Quite simply because we love it! We love sharing our projects and adventures with enthusiastic people who are up for the challenge. And we love getting young people interested in development and ethical travel. In fact, with every team that comes home after their Quest Overseas, we see another part of the jigsaw puzzle fall into place – a school kitchen here, an extra classroom there, a new enclosure or a completed sand dam, etc. As the work comes together with each team making their massive contribution, over years, we see huge changes in the communities we work with and this fills us with inspiration and the drive to keep going.