Working With Children

working with children in KenyaKenya has orphanages which house HIV/AIDS orphans, many of whom are themselves HIV positive. Other children in the orphanages were simply abandoned. Our programs are located in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and several smaller towns. Due to the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, orphans are often neglected in Africa.

The orphans you will come into contact with during your placement have been extremely disadvantaged by their circumstances and will have endured a great deal of hardship - much of it holding back their development. The children in our Kenyan orphanage projects have never experienced loving, caring and stable relationships.

As an orphanage volunteer in Kenya you will be supplying much-needed attention, compassion, hope, encouragement, support and love to vulnerable children. As a result, you will be helping the children to become empowered to face the challenges of their life, poverty and possible exploitation. Voluntary work in a Kenyan orphanage is very fulfilling.

Teaching

Volunteers on the teaching program help with the teaching of different subjects in Kenyan elementary and high schools. This may include mathematics, science, geography, social sciences, history, business education, English, art and music. Volunteer teachers in Kenya are not required to have teaching experience. Our volunteers work in schools with students who have harsh economic backgrounds and with orphans.

Please note that the dates of Kenyan school holidays are in April and August and from mid-November until early-January. During these periods volunteers can participate in the holiday programs.

IDP Refugee Program

After the results from the 2007 election, riots ensued throughout many parts of Kenya leaving over 600,000 families to flee from their homes in fear of their lives. Once the violence ended, too afraid to return to their homes, hundreds of thousands of civilians sought refuge on barren land, in tiny tents donated by the UN. These people are better referred to as Internally Displaced People (IDP).

The IDP Program in Kenya is located about an hour outside of Nairobi where about 600 families reside. Within the IDP camps themselves, there are many ongoing projects, all intended to better the lives of the IDP’s through sustainable education, employment and financial opportunities. Volunteers have the chance to teach at the newly constructed primary school, run a child or adult workshops for the IDPs, take part in the conservation and construction projects, lead a medical clinic, or even create your own project to assist the sustainability of these camps. The possibilities really are endless when it comes to the difference you can make amongst the IDPs to create for them sustainable living opportunities.

Linx - reuniting families

The Linx program identifies street children who have been displaced and disconnected from their families and aims to reunite them. This work often involves counselling children to establish where they have come from and what caused them to leave home. The work sees volunteers travel to the previous homes of the children, meeting their family and assessing whether the environment is suitable for the child's return. Depending on the outcome the case management team may reunite the family or find an alternative which includes providing sustainable living, work and/or educational opportunities.

Linx also works to link internally displaced people with family members they may have lost contact with during the 2007 post elections crisis. Most people fear to go back to where they were living prior to the violence that erupted at that time. The Linx program concentrates on reconnecting these families.

Volunteers are involved in all aspects of this work, such as administration, helping to assess each child and their needs, and preparing reports on the findings. Volunteers are also involved in the field work, which involves conducting interviews, immersing themselves into the child's environment and travelling to the areas where family members live. Trace is an ideal project for short-term volunteers.

HIV/AIDS Program

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa is unusual in its scope and magnitude. Health workers in Kenya are under great pressure, given the unprecedented surge in the number of HIV/AIDS patients. A volunteer who elects to take on a placement with HIV/AIDS is taking part in the efforts to mount an effective response in meeting the needs of target communities.

The HIV/AIDS volunteer in Kenya service includes homecare visits to the slums with the purpose of delivering vital supplies of food, medicine, as well as providing basic medical care. HIV/AIDS volunteers help reduce the spread of HIV by raising awareness and promoting access to medical care. They also foster compassion in the community for people living with HIV/AIDS as well as giving emotional support. Volunteers in Kenya participate in schemes to educate and counsel the community, schools and individuals. Also as a volunteer in Kenya, in this program, you will visit HIV/AIDS clinics and help meet the needs of children orphaned by the disease.

Medical and Health Placements

Working in the area of health, the responsibilities given to volunteers in Kenya will depend on their medical qualifications. Qualified doctors and nurses will take on full-time treatment of various diseases. Medical students, however, work under the supervision of qualified medical personnel. The health fields covered include maternal health, mental health, surgery, laboratories, counseling and testing. Those volunteers in Kenya without medical training help with the packing of drugs or perhaps with painting and building maintenance. Among the locations for volunteer medical placements are clinics in the slums of Nairobi and hospitals in other parts of the country.

Teaching amongst the Maasai Tribes

There is a chronic shortage of teachers in the Maasai community schools and volunteers do not require a qualification, although some prior experience is always welcome. School holiday periods fall in April, August and December. During this time volunteer teachers may be able to participate in another placement, take a break and do some travelling or volunteer to offer vacation-time tutorials to senior students preparing for exams.

Medical Placements in Maasailand

The remoteness of the territories where Maasai communities are found means that medical expertise, supplies and training have always been in short supply. Volunteer medical professionals and students are urgently needed. They will be actively involved in helping run local health clinics, with an emphasis on counselling and testing for HIV/Aids. This extends to delivering education programs in the community on HIV prevention and home visits.

It is essential that medical volunteers present copies of their qualifications when met on arrival in Kenya.

Community Development in Maasailand

What makes the Maasai people exceptional is that they have succeeded to a great degree in conserving the way of life they inherited from their ancestors, despite pressures to abandon their own culture and way of life. The Maasai Community Development project aims to help amalgamate the modern world’s demands with the continuation of the Maasai way of life, and Community Development volunteers are urgently needed.

Volunteers get to take part in a variety of ways: By holding seminars with groups on the topics of environmental issues and the future for local wildlife, planting trees, holding basic business skills classes, teaching managerial skills and help with Maasai Village projects.