Those lovely gappers who previously wrote about their Tsavo experience have blessed us with another great blog about their time in Makongeni. They call themselves the Chizi Fresh Team so lets hear from them…

Our 2 weeks in Makongeni village have flown by far too quickly! We were greeted by the staff with coconut milk on arrival (a local tradition given to visitors) which was definitely a great welcoming. Makongeni is a lovely close-knit community which has been extremely welcoming to us gappers at camp! We got stuck in to the community projects straight away which included; plastering, cementing floors and painting in the local primary school, planting seeds and learning how to make jewellery with the youth group as well as helping out at Rafiki Health Centre. In total, we spent 8 days at the primary school which allowed a strong sense of achievement as we saw our work develop.

Again, like our experience in Tsavo Camp the staff here in Makongeni have played a huge part in making this experience so incredible! Julius, our brilliant chef, has been feeding us up and giving us a taste of a few local meals such as Chapati and Ugali (sima) plus a few home comforts including burgers and chips – YUM! Whinnie gave us an excellent Swahili lesson going further in depth than what we had previously learnt. Dr. W always keeps us laughing, and Combo has been an excellent leader with regards to the plastering and flooring etc in the primary school classroom.

Gladys, the camp manager, has created an environment in which we feel totally at home. When we’ve asked her about something she’s jumped on the case without a moments delay, and as a result we’ve had a tailor made unique trousers exactly to our measurements, plus we’ve had our hair braided with the colours of the Kenyan flag and next week we are also getting Henna tattoos! Last night Gladys and Whinnie came up with an excellent game which had us all laughing hysterically. In addition to the wonderful staff here, the local guys who run the youth group have been so inspiring with regards to what they have instilled within the community. It’s been great getting to know them and being able to hang out with them in the afternoons, learning about each other’s cultures. We really don’t want to leave!

After a week of hard work, we were rewarded with amazing weekends! We were taken to the most breathtakingly beautiful beaches to relax and top up our suntans. On our first weekend, we had the opportunity to go scuba-diving or snorkeling which was slightly scary at first but a fantastic experience as we saw many tropical fish! On Saturday night, Gladys took us for a night out African style to a local nightclub called Shakatak, which was such fun to let our hair down! Sunday was a chill out day at the beach and in the evening we had a ‘family barbeque’ with all the staff at the beach and watched the sunset-perfection!

Overall, the last two weeks of our trip have been unforgettable and makes going home next week even harder for us. At least we have the pictures and memories to always remind us of our once in a lifetime experience. We love Makongeni!

 A few weeks ago, we were invited to attend the Global Issues Service Summit (GISS) in Nairobi. This annual, 3 day event, encompassed practical workshops, guest speakers, discussions, community service and drama, all related to conservation and the environment, water, art as social awareness, HIV/AIDS, peace and reconciliation, grass roots solutions and the digital divide… [...]

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They may be a small group but this certainly had no impact on the fantastic time that our 5 gappers had during their stay at Camp Tsavo. As they left to move onto Camp Makongeni they shared their adventure with us….

The 5 of us volunteers arrived at Camp Tsavo at lunch time after a gusty ride from the airport on our jeep! We were introduced and welcomed by Sammy K (‘The name’s on the belt’) and given a tour around our new home.

 Our first day was spent at Sasenyi School, a 40 minute drive from Tsavo Camp. As we pulled up to the school, we were greeted by waves and ‘Jambo’s’ from the students which made us feel warmly welcomed!  We began our work digging out the foundations of a recently knocked down classroom in order to re-build a new one. Steve, our group leader, managed to keep us motivated and entertained through the blazing heat by his constant funny outbursts … Sledgeeee HAMMER! These were consistent throughout the whole fortnight which always kept us going.

The hard work was followed by a more relaxing day making elephant dung paper. We were definitely hesitant to get stuck in originally but were equally intrigued as to how it was made and found ourselves eager to try it out. We were all astounded at how resourceful the local community are and how they have the ability to make things out of nothing!

For our R.R (rest and recuperation) days we would take the jeep to Voi which was roughly an hours drive from camp. We were able go to the local supermarkets, internet café, restaurants, souvenir shops and a swimming pool at Galaxy Hotel. On our first R.R, we visited a Massai village nearby to be shown around the tribes’ homes (bomas) and way of living. It was so surreal to see the difference between their culture and ours, especially when they began their tribal chants and dances in their brightly coloured garments and makeshift sandals. Furthermore, the extreme lengths the males go through to show their right of passage – burning circular marks onto their skin and removing their two bottom teeth at the age of five,not forgetting being circumcised without pain relief! OUCH!! They taught us how to make fire out of rubbing sticks together on top of elephant dung and grass, as well as teaching us about their Lion hunting tradition, whereby they show the slaughtered Lion’s tooth to the parents of the intended wife they want to marry in order to prove their worthiness.

Going to visit the Imani women’s group was definitely one of the most powerful and inspiring experiences of our lives. We were told by Mama Mercy how ‘Imani’ meant faith, which is most definitely an appropriate name to give to such a humble group of women. This group was started by Mama Mercy originally due to the growing rate of HIV/AIDS within the community. She began to provide these jobs which meant a sustainable income for women who otherwise would have fewer opportunities to be able to support themselves and their family. It empowers women to be self sufficient and has also stood up for girls with the controversial tradition of arranged marriage in young teen girls. We were all led by the women to plant seeds in their field which will allow them to sell the crops in three years time.

A 5.30 am start to the day awaited us in order to get to Tsavo East national park on time for our SAFARI! Thanks to Steve’s excellent observation skills, we were able to see; Twiga, Ndovu, Pundamilia, Mbuni, Duma – (Giraffes, Elephants, Zebras, Ostriches, Cheetahs and many more).

Highlight of our day = Monkey snatching one of the volunteers sandwiches at the picnic park!

The heaven’s opened as we sat in the open jeep on our long journey home. Despite it being fun at first it was a shock to be so drenched after such a hot day but luckily the staff at Tsavo took care of this and had teas and coffees laid out for our arrival back home. This became a common occurrence and they consisted to exceed our expectations of hospitality and made us feel more at home than ever.

Climbing Mt Kasigau was a challenge we weren’t expecting! A four and a half hour trek up the mountain was topped off by a 500 metre vertical stretch to the peak. An overwhelming amount of exercise sent us all to sleep at the top of the mountain when we were suddenly awoken by our guides warning us of the torrential rain to come! This led to a humorous slide down to the bottom and we were SO happy and proud of ourselves to finally reach the end of the challenge.

Throughout our stay, we spent a few more days at Sasenyi School plastering classroom walls and planting trees that will be used for health purposes for the students within the school. We became more and more familiar with their way of working and it was a breath of fresh air to see such happy students that were more than eager to help out … they showed us how it was done. We felt so privileged to be surrounded by such good natured people and loved the opportunity to talk to them (and practise our Swahili).

Above all of the amazing experiences we have had over the last two weeks, the best thing about camp Tsavo is the extremely friendly, accommodating, funny, welcoming, happy and supportive family of staff that work here alongside us. They have truly made our trip unforgettable and we couldn’t have asked for a better way to start our trip to Kenya! Although we are excited for the next adventures at our new camp, we will be so upset to leave our Tsavo family behind!

WE LOVE CAMP TSAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dubai International Academy’s (DIA) trip of Tanzania!

From the sand dunes of sunny United Arab Emirates to the muddy foothills of rainy Kilimanjaro.

I have never witnessed a group so excited about rain like DIA. We have been hosting many School expeditions over the years and one almost expects them to ask “where is the sun” when they arrive and the skies are grey. Well, it all came clear that this lot do not experience much rain, if at all any. It was great to see them celebrating with a little rain dance.

Immediately after exchanging pleasantries and the group had settled in, we took them on a familiarization tour of Mbokomu village and the school that they’ d be working at.
As the Swahili saying goes “Be a good host to your visitor on their first day, the next day give them a hoe to plough”. And so we did. Honeymoon was over, the Team was taken to Kiboriloni School to literally get their hands, shorts, t-shirts and faces dirty. They painted and drew murals on two classrooms in two days. With the short trips, students realize that they have very little time on projects and have targets to meet so what they tend to do is work their socks off on every activity that is thrown their way.

We changed the pace and engaged them in a typical Chagga (local tribe) cultural tour. The tour included helping a local lady with her daily chores such as; tending to her goats, fetching  water from the stream, and farming. Basically the students get to experience a day to day life of the locals. The tour is not considered complete unless everyone is wrapped in kanga’s (sarongs) and put in the mama’s smoky little kitchen to prepare lunch for themselves. Nothing could stop them from their cookery lesson, they were brave enough to stick around the kitchen despite smoke from burning firewood causing tears and sweat dripping from their eyes and faces!  Once in the village, you are considered one of them and you are expected to do what local people do including having your food while seated on a mat and using your hands to eat.

As we still had a bit of time left on our schedule, we  organized a football match with a group of local boys. Although the locals are used to playing all boys teams, they did not mind playing a mixed school and it was awesome to see boys and girls sharing the same playing field, which is a rarity in these parts of the world.

The day that needed everyone to be well prepared was here. The Kidia waterfall trek. It had rained through out the night and morning so the Team woke up thinking they had got away with it. You should have seen their faces when I announced to them that the trek was still on. Whilst we waited it off, they enjoyed a trip into town and spoiled themselves with Pizza’s at Indoitaliano restaurant followed by a supermarket run to get a few goodies before heading off to Kidia. In the meantime, the staff, and especially the local guide, were doing some Chagga rituals to the gods so that they could blow away the grey cloud that was hanging  over Moshi town. All the prayers and traditional chants worked. By the time the students had finished munching on their Pizza’s, the skies had cleared up and the sun was shinning.

The adventure ensued. The team had to take it slow and easy as the ground was still a bit wet and slippery and the trek was steep. With the help of the local guides, the entire Team managed to get down to the falls. Such an achievement and great feeling for the students as it was both fun and a challenge as some of them used their bottoms to climb down and the heavy rains made the waterfalls drop with such force. It was not just the trek down to the falls that took their breath away but the gauges, little farms, the beautiful, plentiful flora and fauna, greenery and the ever friendly locals who smiled and waved at the students whilst going about their daily chores.

   
The next day the group left bright and early to go to Tarangire National park for their safari. They saw loads of wildlife and enjoyed the game drives in their entirety.

On their return to camp, we had prepared a barbecue dinner for everyone as their last meal in Camp Tanzania. The group appreciated it very much as it was a great way to end their expedition. After dinner, the speeches ensued and we had a chance to ask the volunteers to sum up their entire trip in just one word. This is what they had to say;

It was great to see all the activities that we’d organized completed and the students and Teachers taking on all the tasks with a positive attitude and enthusiasm.

We were honored to host you and thank you for a great effort!

Sports Coaching Volunteer Project

A group of 24 students from Bournemouth University are traveling with us to Kenya in August 2013 on our Sports Development Expedition (SDX) and yet their Expedition has already started. As part of all our sports coaching volunteer projects volunteers undergo several training sessions to enable them to deliver a higher standard of coaching.

Bournemouth University……on a weekend…..in the snow

Barry Squires is leading this expedition to Kenya and has led it for us in the past with great success. The volunteers on the SDX trip will be involved in improving the sporting facilities at the local schools as well as coaching sports in the afternoons to large groups of eager young people. This expedition is received with great anticipation at Camp Kenya, where students from the local schools have been benefiting from the coaching skills of the SDX groups for the past seven years.

Some of the girls during a problem solving challenge

The Bournemouth University students got their expedition underway this snowy weekend with two days of team building, coaching sessions, problem solving and socialising.  By doing this months in advance the group is better able to plan the coaching sessions for the expedition, knowing who can do what, and finding good working partnerships within the group.

The group does some netball coaching as the sport is becoming more and more popular with girls in Kenya.

We are lucky that this group boasts a range of skills and qualifications, including coaching experience in: football, rugby, tennis, hockey, badminton, swimming, rounders, netball, athletics and gymnastics. There are even some keen dancers! With this wealth of sporting talent, the volunteers in this team will be able to introduce new sports to the students in Kenya as well as reinforce skills and abilities in sports that the young people are already playing.

The group enjoyed a range of activities facilitated by Barry including a short lesson in Swahili

The group are already well prepared, having all booked their flights and assigning roles of responsibility within the team. They now have a Fundraising secretary, Kit secretary, PR person and (perhaps) the most important role, Social secretary. From here on the group will be working together to finalise the arrangements for their expedition. They will be getting together again in May for a second training weekend (where they are hoping the weather will be a little milder) before getting on their flight to Mombasa on August 11th for their four week trip to take part in our sports coaching volunteer projects in Camp Kenya.

Soon they will be in warmer climes

This expedition is running from August 12th -  September 9th 2013 and is open to all those over 18. No previous experience in coaching is necessary. If you would like to learn more contact us today.

What a great way to start the year. Yesterday, we had the official opening of the Amini Youth Club at the Muhaka  Trust House. There are now about 40 members in the club who are committed to their own youth development and self-empowerment (and of course having some fun!). Almost 100 people showed up for our little opening where members of the group got to show everyone what they are up to…

Weightlifting with the strongest man in Muhaka – Kassim (and yes, of course the strongest man works for Camp Kenya:))

Yoga with John from the Africa Yoga Project…

Introducing the wonderful work, Rachel and the Goods for Girls team have been doing for the past six months on rewashable sanitary pads…

Masa and his drama group had us all chuckling away with their short skit on how NOT TO SELL to tourists…

And of course no youth celebration day could be complete without hiphop!

Increasingly, interventions to eradicate poverty are beginning to take a more holistic approach. Rather than only focusing on water security or just education, organizations are now trying to address the multiple complex problems that affect any one community. For example, improving agricultural produce for farmers when there is no access to markets due to bad [...]

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 The other day I was walking around Muhaka with a friend who later on remarked, “there is a lot of young people hanging around.” Could not be more true. “About 65% of the total population of Africa are below the age of 35 years, and over 35% are between the ages of 15 and 35 years – making Africa the most youth full continent.” (African Union). They are the key to our future and certainly central to a positive growth in Muhaka. We have as you know started to focus a lot more attention on working closer with youth groups in many of the areas where we have camps and in Muhaka, we have recently formed our own group comprised of determined young people from the village. Vics reports on what we have been up to…

The buzz of excitement has remained in Muhaka as the Amini (Kiswahili word for, “trust”) Youth Club held its first official meeting this month at the Trust House opposite Camp Muhaka. We invited all young people within a 5 mile radius of Muhaka and introduced the youth club and what it can offer. Opportunities have been given to four young people in the shape of Activity Assistant positions whereby they can practice having responsibilities which will be great transferable skills for future employment.

Currently we have a busy timetable consisting of computer lessons, tailoring classes, making washable sanitary pads, weight lifting and yoga. Also, the youth club members have taken on a small part of the farm opposite camp and are actively cultivating the land to grow tomatoes and greens.

The very nearly completed bottle building for the tailoring school will be finished soon and the youngsters have been busy filling recycled plastic bottles with mud to act as bricks for the walls of the building. Once open, this will be a learning provider for computer courses and tailoring courses leading to recognised qualifications.

With the on going school holidays, the youth club has really been a haven for those that wish to develop themselves and gain new skills and we are very excited by the progression so far!

Asante Sana!

Vics Gillbard

The results of laborious conservation work never show immediately. So many volunteers have worked hours digging away at trenches on Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary and probably wondering what’s the point. If only you could see the waterholes filled, I am sure you will know just how much it was all worth. Steve Mwasi, our Wildlife Program [...]

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Camp Tsavo continues to buzz over December with school groups from Australia and Kenya as well as families from the UK. Steve Mwasi and Peter Kai share a brief report on this little melting pot of cultures in the heart of the Tsavo ecosystem…

Camp Tsavo receives volunteers and school group from different all over the world and once the teams arrive they participate on various areas of our ongoing sustainable community and habitat conservation projects in and around Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary. And of course what makes this place one of a kind is that everyone has a chance to spot wildlife on safari in Tsavo East National Park and just about everyday on the sanctuary where the camp is based. This month, Camp Tsavo was the meeting point for two schools from two different continents: Melbourne School from Southern Australia and Brookhouse International School from Nairobi, Kenya…

The first school to arrive was Melbourne from Camp Makongeni, a group composed of 17 pax who worked so hard in some of our youth projects in the Makongeni community in the last two days before they made their way to Camp Tsavo. After briefing, the group relaxed and enjoyed watching the stars in the evening across the beautiful Tsavo sky.

The following day the team got their hand dirty working on Elephant Dung Paper, one of our sustainable income generating projects which benefits the local community and is always a lot of fun. In the afternoon the group headed out to the bush for tracking and monitoring wildlife within the sanctuary.

The next day, we headed off to Buguta Primary School and managed to complete the floor for the new school kitchen which we started during the summer and is now successfully completed and ready for us when school opens in January! The third day was spent at Sasenyi Primary School mixing cement and ballast to lay the foundation floor of a new class which was also started earlier this year.

Brookhouse arrived a day after Melbourne and was a group of 32 pax comprised of 29 students (year 13), 2 teachers and 2 Assessors fully dedicated to Community Service. The main aim of this short trip was to complete the Presidential Service (PS) award training Gold Class (the Kenyan equivalent of the Duke of Edinburgh Award). For any participants to attain the Gold award, one has to complete 4 full days supporting sustainable environmental projects and offer services to less fortunate communities.

In addition to the solid hours of community and environmental service, Brookhouse also had a chance to participate in our basic Bushcraft skills course and of course making some paper from poop which left a lot of students smiling ear to ear. Some of the students even sang and turned the place into a  dancing floor!

On their third day, the group helped digging a drainage system which collects water in one of the most utilized elephant water holes just close to the camp. The ground was sticky and muddy due to the recent rains but this lot found their rhythm and literally stuck with it to the end.

Usually our school groups focus on their own projects and will then socialize together in the evenings around a camp fire or over dinner. It was a real pleasure to see Melbourne and Brookhouse take this one step further and decided on one day to mix project teams…

One group went to Imani Women’s Group to support the women in soil erosion control by planting vetiver grass within Imani camp compound. They also learned to how to make jewellery from beads and learn about the challenges that women face in the community. The second group went to Sasenyi primary school where they got involved in making gabions to secure the school from soil erosion. This was great a combination that has never been done before, the teams worked so well and the rate of motivation between themselves was high which led to great project impact in both teams.

A big congratulations to both schools and a big thank you from all of us at Camp Kenya. It was a real pleasure to work alongside such focused young people and feel so much more confident knowing who our future leaders will be…