|
Project Age Limit
The participants on this programme may be of a broad age range. Maximum is decided on the potential participants health.
Project Requirements
Volunteers who have a medical qualification or those who wish to study medicine will be placed in a hospital. Those without a medical focus will spend more time working within the orphanages.
The Medical Hospital
This particular placement is for volunteers who have a medical qualification or are putting the programme towards their medical studies.
You will be working in a large public hospital that offers medical care to the community as a whole, whether they can afford it or not. It gets a lot of patients so help for volunteers is invaluable, as it gives doctors the chance to spend more time tending to the needs of patients. Volunteers will interact with and organise patients and arrange them into relevant queues.
The hospital has a specialist eye unit, allowing volunteers to observe and learn from the experienced doctors and specialists as they perform surgery. You will also be able to observe the goings on in the maternity ward and the also orthopaedics and provided assistance to the staff where necessary e.g. you might be able to help weigh babies. The hospital also runs an outreach programme that involves the health professionals and the volunteers heading out into rural areas to give much needed medical care to the rural communities who have no access to health care facilities.
The Local Orphanages
Due to the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Kenya, there are currently over one million orphans in the country, so orphanages and homes are seriously under resourced, lacking staff and stretched to the limit, which can be seen by the fact that only 5% of the one million get any kind of support. This is somewhere where you can really do some good – you will be helping several different orphanages with children who range in age from 4 to 10 years old. They have all been seriously affected by HIV/AIDS, illness, poverty and abuse.
All project volunteers will be able to work at the orphanages in the afternoons. But those who are not medically focused can spend some mornings at another orphanage, where you can spend quality time with the children and assist with general tasks and maintenance. All these children really want and need is some love and attention – many of them are developmentally behind for their age, so some extra attention from you will do a lot to promote it.
The Slums Clinic and Community Support in Nairobi
Every year hundreds of Kenyan’s die because of water-borne diseases and illnesses related to HIV/AIDS. The slum areas especially suffer immensely from unemployment, poor housing and poor drainage – 85% of the deaths occur in these areas. The heavily populated Kenyan slums are essentially shantytowns and are constructed from sheets of iron, torn boxes and bits of wood. These bits and pieces make a single room that will house an entire family. The increase in infant mortality reflects the squalid conditions in which these people live. It has also lead to a decline in maternal health and a huge number of HIV/AIDS related complications.
To provide health care solutions for the people who live in the slums (all 61,950 of them) a clinic was founded on the outskirts. The clinic provides many services to the whole community, for example, family health, maternal/child health, curative health care and also provides health training and raises awareness of HIV/AIDS. The clinic is in great need of volunteers to assist in the clinic with administration duties, which will be of great help to the doctor and nurses. You can also get involved with home-based care, for the patients who cannot get to the clinic.
There are also further options for volunteers that may include visiting the schools of the surrounding area to help out the teachers, working in orphanages and getting involved in the feeding programme. All the work involved with the slums is really important, challenging and not for the faint-hearted. Much help is also needed to help clear the drainage system, which is the main reason for the great number of waterborne diseases and malaria.
This is a great way to make a huge impact on the quality of life of a whole community and could also be the first steps towards encouraging them to look after their own environment. This is the kind of project work that you will never forget.
Project Support
Throughout your time in Africa you will be guided and supported by experienced field workers and coordinators. They will always be on hand to give you any advice that you need as well as to answer any questions you have throughout your time on the project. In addition, you will also be given the 24 hour emergency contact number so that you are able to contact a member of the UK office staff at any time should you need to.
Project Orientation
When you arrive into Nairobi you will be briefed on your orientation programme. You will also receive a very detailed welcome pack, which will contain all the important information you will need whilst you are in Kenya. You will have an orientation of the area in which you will be staying as well as the areas in which you will be volunteering. Over your first few days there, you will visit the project sites and will be introduced to all the relevant project/volunteer coordinators that you will be working alongside.
You will also receive important and relevant information about the common diseases and illnesses that are prevalent in the area that you are likely to come into contact with. We would like to make sure that you have a thorough understanding of all aspects of the programme before you begin your project work.
Accommodation and Meals
Accommodation on the project is a two-bedroom cottage that you will be sharing with other volunteers – a maximum of four people per bedroom. One cottage has a lounge area with satellite TV, making for a great place for all volunteers to relax and socialise. Well secured, the accommodation also has phone and Internet facilities for your convenience. The area surrounding the area is strongly Christian, so no alcohol is allowed on the premise, but there is a lovely little restaurant close by where you can go for a drink in the evenings.
A cook will provide your meals for you (all three a day) and there will be a laundry and house keeping service on a regular basis. Your breakfast will be things such as cereal/ porridge, toast, tea/coffee on a help yourself basis. Lunch will either be packed for on the project, provided at your accommodation or a local lunch at the placement. The cook will provide dinners, so you can expect a lovely cooked meal in the evenings.
|
