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Volunteering in Kenya
Name: Orly Sela
Name: Orly Sela
Name of organization / place I volunteered: Bishop Hannington Children's Home, named after the man who gave the initial donation to build the place.
Location: 12 km south to Nakuru, Kenya.
Type of Activity: First and most important: devote attention to the children. It means playing with them, singing, dancing, teaching them to read and write, cleaning and cooking together. Besides, helping take care of the place, such as look for donations, deal with bureaucracy and so on.
Year I volunteered: 2005
Duration: We volunteered for 3 weeks, and came back later for another week.
Specialty needed: Nothing more than good will and kindness are needed here, and therefore anyone who loves children will be welcomed in the place. People with specific knowledge such as doctors, nurses, teachers etc. are always needed.
Recommendations: The children are amazing and they need a lot of love and care. They will be grateful for any idea that you’ll have and cooperate with any activity that you’ll do. The people who hold the place are lovely and kind and they would appreciate any kind of help you can offer.
Room & Board: The volunteers stay in their own room, in a house 3 km from the orphanage, together with a nice lady that lives there, in a real “Kenyan spirit”. The place is big and friendly and the costs are small (about 1$ per day). It is a short drive to the children, and it is close to Nakuru town (a few minutes drive) for shopping, internet etc.
Contact the place:
Thomas (Tom) Mbiogo: haningtonke@yahoo.com (He answers under the name of: moses ruto)
For more information and details you are welcome to contact:
Orly – orlyafr@yahoo.com, Mobile: 050-7558760
Rony – rony_atid@yahoo.com, Mobile: 052-3666353
MY STORY
I traveled Kenya together with Rony for about a month, looking for a wildlife volunteering opportunity, not thinking for a second about the option of volunteering with kids… unlike Rony who was looking for that kind of opportunity. And one day after arriving to Nakuru, she met someone on the street who introduced her to Tom, the man who runs Bishop Hannington. I only came with her to see the place… but I couldn't leave!
Unlike many other children's homes (orphanages) around Africa, this place has no outside help – we were the first and only volunteers that ever arrived there and Tom – the owner – runs all day around to look for donations: food donation, medicines, petrol for the car, clothing and equipment for school and so on. He doesn't always succeed and then the children have to manage with what they got…
When we arrived there, all the 20 children (aged 3-18) were there during their school vocation. We played with them a lot, took them to a picnic, taught them a bit English and math, built a small library from a book donation Tom managed to arrange, and helped around. Two weeks after we arrived most of the children went back to boarding-schools and we stayed with some of the kids who goes to daily school and with the sick ones. During this time we mainly helped Tom around the day, but in between we still had time to be with the children.
The place is a small fenced area with no power supply or running water, which contains two small huts – dormitories - for the boys and for the girls a small dinning room and a kitchen. The kids have nothing!!! Sometimes they don't have water to shower, or food. The medicines are not always available, and before the school begins they never know if they will have the money to go, and in case they will - they still need the uniforms and school equipment.
The children in this place only live to survive the day… but nevertheless – they are always happy with what they got and never complain for the things they miss. So even though they have nothing, this is a happy and lively place.
When I went to Africa, my major interest was wildlife and while traveling there I've been to few national parks and seen a lot of wildlife and breathed plenty of nature. But my strongest memory is Bishop Hannington Children's Home! This is the most amazing experience I took with me from my time in Africa, and this place will stay with me forever!
So if you think you belong to these children too, you will be very handful and welcome.
(written by Orly Sela)
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