Peter Kalenga just led the Hillcrest Preparatory School for a 4 day outdoor adventure at Camp Tsavo and came back smiling ear to ear…and of course had to share his trip with us….

After driving for 6hrs along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, the Hillcrest Preparatory School bus emerged in the middle of the Tsavo wilderness and drove along the semi arid, thorn bush vegetation composed of acacias and camiphora trees. As usual red clouds were formed as the bus disappeared deeper into Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary. The team looked perpplexed but excited about not knowing what to expect at the next stop after saying goodbye to their usual modern environment. ”That red bumpy road was nice!” One of the kids commented.

The group of 18 students (Age 10&11) and 3 teachers were out for their 4 day school trip to Camp Tsavo. They have hardly had any adventurous trips before and you could tell from their first approach that they were all really excited jumping up and down, screaming and shouting with joy.

That evening the team set off for their bushcraft skills course and a game drive. On our way, I was pleasantly surprised to see how enthusiastic the students were and fascinated by stories about animal behaviour and how the African bush men survived in the bush. It was a real pleasure to watch them fully participate in the footprint and spoor identification with questions flowing like a stream.

We believe Service Learning is crucial for young people to shape principals and create a strong responsible and moral foundation. To the Hillcrest students, it was a really worthy and rewarding trip. The feeling of humanity got in to them after arriving at Sasenyi primary school. They were shocked by the huge number of pupils squeezed in one classroom and the scarcity of learning facilities. They even felt sorrier for the kids who lacked so much compared to themselves and yet they were still happy to be in school. The background of the Sasenyi kids criss-crossed their minds and they started to compare their life back at home which is full of privileges.

This really gave them the moral boost to work tirelessly at classroom plastering and moving rocks ready for a new classroom foundation. That evening they had a great reflection of what they have experienced during the day around the camp fire…

Mt Kasigau hike certainly got everyone’s attention the next day. No one believed these young students would manage to ascend 1640 meters on the daunting paths of Kasigau at that age of 10 and 11. And if you thought they won’t make it then you were wrong. The team left early Friday morning for the hike and by 4pm everyone was back playing football. It took them 3hours up and 2½hrs down!

Congratulations to Hillcrest Prep students for setting a new record of being the first youngest group ever to climb Mt Kasigau! During the hike the team showed determination and accepted the challenge. They held on to one another at their own pace as they slowly maneuvered up the last peak to enjoy great views and celebrate their victory. On their way down the steepest areas turned to a skiing zone “bottoms down”! They all sled using their “bottoms” happily singing songs of motivation. I could not help but feel proud of myself having taken such a young determined group up and down safely.

“The mountain was awesome!” Miss Kartins said.

“Peter, we have now become strong and responsible, we have confidence and proud of ourselves.“said several of the students as they departed across the red soils of Tsavo…

Peter Kalenga

Wow what a week! Most of the United Nations were represented last week in sleepy Muhaka as we welcomed 77 students and 8 teachers from the International School of Kenya for their final year school trip. They had travelled from the hectic city of Nairobi to the chilled out south coast of Kenya. The brief was for them to spend the week of their final school trip having lots of fun, experiencing traditional culture, participating in community project work and enjoying all that the coast has to offer. Vics recounts the week that just went by…

On day one they had a great taste of culture which was organised and facilitated by the drama group from the Amini Youth Club. They were taught all about the coconut tree, how each part of the nut can be used and utilised and even attempted to climb the tree itself. It swiftly became apparent that it is certainly harder than Jericho (the local coconut harvester) made it look. One overly self-assured student unfortunately scraped half his foot off from getting a bit too confident and trying the scale the 4 meter high tree, panic not though, he survived!

Makuti making was another activity whereby they learnt how to make roof tiles from the coconut tree leaves. The young people had also created handbags, stylish hats and even a helicopter from the makuti, all beautifully woven from a wonderful natural resource.

A village tour ensued thus making the group familiar with their surroundings and showing them the projects that Camp Kenya has carried out over the years and also the projects that they would be involved in. The local tailor was welcoming as usual and swiftly took an abundance of orders for shorts and maxi dresses, all made from colourful and beautifully patterned Kenyan kanga.

Both groups experienced the interesting local witch doctor and even got to see his ‘witch doctor license’ which many were surprised at. It was an insight into how local people treat ailments and illnesses but also if you are wanting to cure insomnia, the witch doctor is your guy.

Days two and three consisted of either a fantastically relaxing day learning to scuba dive or snorkel in the clear blue waters of Wasini Island, alongside a slap up fresh seafood lunch and chilling on a traditional dhow OR working ones butts off doing project work in the heat!

We are building an emergency ward at Muhaka dispensary and we are all so keen for this vital infrastructure to be built as soon as possible. Currently there is no such facility, therefore, if you are requiring emergency medical attention you are transported by a motorbike to the nearest hospital half an hour away with half the journey being on a dusty, bumpy road. Not so fun if you have a broken leg, are unconcious or are about to give birth unexpectedly.

The emergency ward will basically be an area suitably equipped for such incidents and patients will wait here until an ambulance arrives, which of course is a much safer way to travel to hospital. Tabitha, the nurse in charge, is so delighted with the prospect of having an emergency ward at her clinic and greeted all the students to say thank you.

The groups on both days worked tirelessly to achieve as much as possible within such a short time frame. The foundations are almost completed and when our next group of gap year students arrive they will be continuing where ISK finished. Its always a reminder of the importance of working together towards a common goal when we start new projects and we look forward to bringing updates of the progression.

They also worked hard to complete two tree nurseries on our shamba opposite Camp Muhaka. As the main source of fuel for cooking is charcoal or wood, many trees are cut down, and not many are replanted. Having a tree nursery where we can raise plenty of trees till they are strong enough to survive when replanted in the community, will give them a much better chance at survival so having the right kind of storage for trees is critical (and of course recycling plastic bottles into the nursery construction makes this little ecocycle perfect!)

Day four consisted of a jam packed beach day which incorporated a beach clean up followed by creating artwork from the washed up flip flops. Earings, bracelets, keyrings and juggling balls were created and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the ocean breeze whilst getting arty. Acrobats entertained then invited those daring enough to have a go. Those that did had a great time and were surprised at themselves as to what they achieved in such a short lesson.

Stretching and deep breaths ensued for the yogi’s with John from the Africa Yoga Project giving a fantastic yoga lesson as the tide slowly came in. Swimming in the glorious Indian Ocean, chilling on the bright, soft, white beach, beach volleyball, Frisbee, football and sipping cold sodas lasted all day. As if that wasn’t enough, a delicious beach bbq for everyone was prepared by our brilliant chefs.

All in all a great day was had by all and the final treat was a meal at the famous Nomads restaurant on the beach. This group certainly enjoyed their final meal and made the most of the ‘eat as much as you like’ buffet. We even managed time over the week to enjoy camp fires, watch a documentary about Mohammed Amin, the man who exposed the extent of the Ethiopian famine, who’s son is an ex ISK student, and participate in a whole group challenge organised by the student leaders. Making a guy a dress out of tissue paper, get the smallest person to eat 10 kit kat chunkies in one minute and racing in sleeping bags.. say no more!

Its safe to say that the ISK group had a fantastic time down on the coast and we look forward to their return!

On the 24th of January, the Aussie Gap team moved from Camp Muhaka to Tsavo. When we arrived we were warmly welcomed by the staff here and presented with lunch. We were then given a brief overview of the camp and its projects. These included making elephant dung paper, the tree nursery, sanctuary maintenance, Sasenyi School, wildlife monitoring, the bush adventure and lastly the safari. While listening to all of these I could tell that everyone was excited and looking forward to our time here.

On our first official day here at Camp Tsavo we made elephant dung paper. Although this may sound bizarre and even a bit gross, it was actually quite interesting and fun. We were showed how to make this by some staff members who also explained to us how important this paper was to the local community. We smashed the poo, mixed it with glue and panned it. We then left it to dry and some of us even added some flowers to it. Overall this was a different, yet interesting and worthwhile experience. We also got to spend the afternoon working in the tree nursery, where we filled some plastic bags with soil ready for planting, cementing the bottle well, removing aloe vera plants and chilli picking. Overall these projects were relaxing, yet eventful.

During our stay here we also had the opportunity of working at Sasenyi Primary School. During this time we did demolished an old school building, in preparation for the building of a new one, cementing the walls of a newly built room, and some of us even had the privilege of being inside the classrooms with the children supervising and teaching. Our time here was precious, as we all felt the work here was helpful and it was also amazing being able to talk to the headmaster about the school and also experience some time with the children.

We also got a chance to visit Imani Womens Group and were surprised to see how women have worked together to improve their living standards as well as tackle their daily challenges. We visited the local community and worked in their farms by helping them harvest green grams and cowpeas. In the afternoon we made bracelets and necklaces from locally purchased beads. It was amazing since everyone came back to the camp with a souvenir of a bracelets and necklaces.

One of the projects we also got to take part in was sanctuary maintenance, which involved filling in the pot holes and ditches in a road on this ranch. Although this work was found a bit hard, it was worthwhile. We also got to take part in wildlife monitoring, whereby we had the exciting task of spotting animals and listening to the staff tell us interesting facts about them.

We also got to experience a bush adventure during our last week here at Tsavo. We got to go on a game drive where we left the buses and looked at the many different footprints. We were also taught how to identify the footprints which was very fascinating. In the afternoon we were divided into three groups and had a competition in building huts. We then got to try and use a bow and arrow and shoot the target, which ended up being harder than it looked. Then we were shown how to light a fire without using a lighter or matches.

On our last full day here at Tsavo, we spent on safari. We got to explore Tsavo’s East National Park where we saw giraffes, baboons, different type of antelopes, zebras, buffalos and many elephants. From living in Australia where you can only see these animals on TV or in a zoo, to seeing these beautiful animals in their natural environment was fantastic and presented us with some amazing photo opportunities.

 Our time here at Camp Tsavo and been a brilliant one. We have been able to experience Africa in a way that normal tourists couldn’t. From being able to see beautiful creatures while just driving into Voi, to the amazing staff, our experience here is unforgettable and unlike any other.

We work with so amazing people across all the villages and places where our camps are based, from the rainforests of South America to our community forest conservation projects in Africa. Through our projects, we often meet and get to know outstanding talent and dedicated individuals who over time have become part of the Camps family. Many of you have met and worked with these people through your travels and I am sure you will agree with me that they are heroes in their own right. A few months ago, we featured Benson Gitari, the artist and now meet Mzee Sururu, the old man of Kaya Muhaka Sacred Forest…

I am Mzee Sururu Kasim Lagiza, Aged 60 years and a local Farmer. I was born in Muhaka village and attended my school in 1967 up to Class 7. Due to a lack of funds my parents could not take me further with my education although I was so bright. My aim was to become a Pilot and that was my dream, but then there was no one to help me achieve this. I had to work in Farms in order to support my family as I was the elder son. I worked for ten Years in different Farms as a “Shamba Boy” then I got an idea of starting my own Farm. Due to my effort, a cooperative was formed called Muhaka Diani Farmers Cooperative Society (MDCS) and I was appointed as a Secretary to record all the sales done in each day. This was a challenge to me since my Education level was not good. However, I did so well that the Cooperative sponsored me to attend various courses at District and National level.

I joined Cooperative College of Kenya where I learnt different courses at different times of the year I did ABM 1&2(Administration Book Keeping and Management (1975-1976) .The knowledge that I gained from these courses helped me to work and communicate effectively. I managed to organise and coordinate seminars with other Farmers within the community. The dream to become a Pilot was completely lost and my interest was now in plants. I loved nature more than anything.

In 1986 Conservation became my pinnacle carrier, and no person could change my mind. I started to fight against the Kaya Muhaka destruction from the Charcoal burners and Local house builders. The Kaya forest community Elders appointed me to lead them in keeping records. I was chosen as the Chief Elder to lead the Kaya Sacred forest early February 1999. On my work as an Elder I tried to involve many community members to understand the great impact of Kaya forest to the world. I am glad most of them understood how precious that forest is in terms of our tradition and this helped to with stand the pressure except a few. Due to poverty some people didn’t want to listen; they thought I wanted to ruin their life. Despite all challenges I stood firm; I knew that it would take time for people to understand the whole concept of sustainability, due to the diverse needs of the Kaya forest globally but I said to myself, ”it must start somewhere”.

In 2007 Camp Kenya came in to save the situation. Mr Simon the Director at Camp Kenya came and introduced himself to us. He wanted to work with my group to help in conserving the sacred Kaya Forest. Camps opened our hope by supporting in funding our various ongoing projects as well as volunteers coming to us and that’s where my English also improved!

When I met with Dipesh things became much better. He brought a new idea of eco-friendly briquettes, education about moringa Plant, chilli planting which I count it as a promising project and use of recycled bottles for construction. I‘m happy meeting new friends from different countries. I work with all volunteers hand in hand on our projects. These projects includes indigenous tree nursery rearing and planting, Casuarinas planting, jatropha cultivation and harvesting. Through Camp Kenya, a permanent Camp for the community has been constructed, a borehole was completed and three buffer zones for Moringa plant, Indigenous trees and casuarinas trees were expanded. I’m happy to work with Camps and my community has accepted this organisation.

A change is what I need in my community so that people may value the Kaya Muhaka forest not only for future generation but also for global climate change. My future plans is to plant more indigenous trees within Kaya forest especially the degraded areas, plant more casuarinas trees as a substitute for building materials.

I will also continue to encourage people to become Eco-friendly towards biodiversity. Conservation is crucial to our life, we need it.

Mzee Sururu (and thanks also to Peter Kalenga for compiling this)

And a big congratulations to our Camp Kenya gap year students at Camp Makongeni for completing a new house in less than two weeks!…

What a week!! Reunited together we finished Mama Maimuna’s house, well structure, and had an amazing opening ceremony with balloons and singing. Other smaller projects included making a bin for the community of Makongeni, we collected rubbish and did another day at the wicked.

So, Harlie and Rory on the ball for this week’s blog. Liking it so far? Well, we worked very hard on mama’s house. We did things from mudding walls, and we dug hole the height of Jackson (and that’s deep), completed the mangroves, all contributing to the income of the community.

However, it wasn’t all work and no play! Good old Gladys organized games night (even better than bingo) we had potato slinging, balloon popping, (some of the guys had to get extra close)and water weeing into a cup! Safe to say the boys lost! To finish our awesome week we had a ‘friendly’ match of netball with the local school kids, leaving the campers a tad bruised!

Rory was manager and wasn’t very good at it! Onto the latest goss… Solveig conquered her Essex accent! Nonie got the award for monster eater! And Stephen was crowned Prince of Holland.

Tune in next week! Laters babe!

And the Gap Year in Africa diaries continue on (thank you Chloe and friends)…

It’s safe to say that our experience at Camp Kenya has been anything but ordinary. Over the past two weeks we have come together as a group, working on each of our projects and bonding with the camp staff. The three projects that we worked on include Mama’s mud house, the grey-water system and the bottle house for the polytechnic school.

Working in the heat and humidity was pretty tough, but all our hard work paid off once we saw the progress that we had made on each of the projects. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t finish some of the projects, because we know that we have made a great contribution to each of them. The team that worked on Mama’s house with Sampuli exceeded their personal expectations by shoveling clay into wheelbarrows and pushing them through soft sand; quite a difficult task for a group of girls (excluding Matt). The teams that worked on the grey-water system and bottle house found it very rewarding to contribute to sustainable projects that will help the community in Muhaka.

In the evenings and the weekends we enjoyed spending time with the community, playing soccer, teaching netball and exchanging language tips (although some were better at learning Swahili than others!). I don’t think that any of us will forget witnessing a brawl between the monkeys at camp, especially when one of them took refuge in a room with girls that were sick in bed! Most of us also had the opportunity to spend time at the local schools and dispensary. Those that participated in the optional activities were able to spend a day snorkeling in the marine reserve near the border of Tanzania and Kenya. Here they swam with stingrays, dolphins and a wide variety of tropical fish.

On behalf of everyone, we would like to thank all the staff at Camp Kenya for making our experience so memorable. Eustace was a fantastic father figure while we spent time away from our families, and each team leader was a great mentor and friend. As we leave to continue our journey in Tsavo, we are going to miss everyone that we met in Muhaka, and hopefully one day we can meet again!

Our two month and three month Camp Kenya Gap year volunteers have just finished their first week in Camp Makongeni after spending their first two weeks at Camp Tsavo. Gladys, our Camp Manager at Makongeni, Jackson Reid and others have sent a short blog on what they have been up to in Makongeni and more importantly the story of a mother’s life that’s about to change…

The last four days have been epic. In that time we have started the main structure of a house for a local mother in the community. After a long time of struggle Maimuna Hamadi Redano now has something to smile about. Maimuna is the lady whom we are building a new traditional house for. Maimuna is a single mother after her husband died and left her with 7 children and no were to called home.

She used rent a single room for herself and her children in the village which she could not manage to pay the rent every month and at the same time providing for the children. She doesn’t have any source of income and even she tried to start a business in the village, she didn’t have enough capital to keep it going. After the business was unsuccessful, she moved to her aunt’s house where she stayed for 1 year. It was becoming a big burden to her aunt who told her she could no longer manage. The Makongeni village Chairman choses her as the first priority for the house building program and now the volunteers are doing an amazing job building her house for her. In 2 weeks time Maimuna and her children will have their own place to call home…

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The group have also already immersed themselves into the the Baraka Women’s Mangrove conservation project…

Also we have reinforced the walls of a local pond which the local mothers rely on for an income. This includes planting hundreds of mangroves trees which help increase the local fish population. We can’t stress the amount of fulfillment and joy we have experienced here in Makongeni.

Today being Friday, we have enjoyed the comfort of a fire and the sweet taste of beer to bring our group even closer together. With the addition of simple games such as limbo and musical statues we have truly formed a bond that will last longer than our trip here in Kenya.

Not to mention the food is fantastic!

As many of you are aware, there is a whole lot of sewing going on in Muhaka…Susanna Matters was back in December for a month to take the rewashable sanitary pad program one step further. We are all extremely proud of this project how much it has already benefited the girls in Muhaka. The project is currently being scaled up and I finally managed to squeeze a blog out of Susanna! Here we go…

When I was a child, my mum always told me that one day I would be grateful to know how to sew a hem by hand. No question about it, apparently.  So every weekend my imagination would channel the ‘accomplished’ heroines of Enid Blyton’s boarding school tales and I would attempt to sew for about twenty minutes without knotting my thread or bunching the fabric up into a hopeless mess.

About fifteen years on, it would appear that my mother may have had a point.  For a blissful month at the end of 2012, I found myself back in the beautiful village of Muhaka, indulging in classic ‘girl-talk’ with a group of local young women as we sewed by hand. These enterprising young women call themselves the Pink Chapati Ladies and it is a true honour for me to introduce you to them.

The Pink Chapati Ladies of Muhaka Village are a determined bunch. They are mothers, school-students, breadwinners and orphans. They know all the words to Rihanna’s songs, recognise good fashion and love to have a splash in the ocean. But unlike many of the young women I meet on a daily basis, the Pink Chapati Ladies sew their own re-washable sanitary pads (chapatis).

A pink chapati is a simple solution with very big benefits. You take three cotton circles and one plastic circle and then sew around the circumference. Next you sew on two thin parallel straps and two tiny squares of velcro so your circle can be folded onto itself to make a soft, winged pad. Finally, you fold a square piece of soft, absorbent fabric into a liner and tuck it under the straps. And there you have it – Muhaka Village’s safe and eco-friendly alternative to newspaper, cowdung, rags or nothing at all!

Additionally, the pink chapatis are keeping girls in school. Students, who previously were embarrassed to attend school while menstruating or were forced to truant in order to earn money to fund personal expenses such as the purchase of sanitary pads, now have a different story to share. These days, the girls carry a plastic-lined segregated pouch allowing fresh new liners to be separated from used ones. Each pouch also comes with a clean pair of underpants and will soon include a bilingual women’s health information booklet. This exciting development is all thanks to the dedicated Pink Chapati Ladies who are establishing themselves as local seamstresses and role-models just because they come together every day to have a good chat over their sewing. Soon these remarkable young women will be able to develop this work into a small business, allowing them to earn some pocket-money for everyday expenses while ensuring their community has sustainable access to clean sanitary pads.

The Pink Chapati Ladies are driving positive change in Muhaka and surrounding villages. It was a pleasure to work with them over the summer. And in case you’re wondering, they agree with my mum – my sewing could do with some improvement!

Susanna Matters is the Founder of ‘Goods for Girls’, an Australian non-profit committed to advancing educational outcomes for girls in developing communities through the provision of essential hygiene products and services.

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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