Volunteer Work Abroad – KNYV1
Have the time of your life doing Volunteer Work Abroad in Nyeri, Kenya. The town is situated about 150 km north of Nairobi, in the Central Highlands. Nyeri lies between The Aberdares Mountain Range and the western slopes of Mount Kenya. Volunteering at this orphanage and school will allow you to discover yourself as you give your time to the kids. Dive into making this organization a success story by helping out in their preschool, elementary school, building, gardening, helping with homework and playing with the children. The number of days you stay is up to you as programs are customizable.
Volunteer Work:
- Teaching – Help teach at a preschool or elementary school
- Building, gardening
- Assist the older kids with homework
- Arrange sporting activities
- Counselling or nursing
40 children, aged 7 – 14, reside at this orphanage 9 km from Nyeri. The children attend a school on-site. A nursery school also operates there so teachers and helpers are needed to spend time with those children during the day. An elementary school for grades 1 – 8, including a computer class, has been built in recent years with a capacity for 170 children.
A building project is ongoing and will house a dining hall and a boys dormitory. There are 2 acres of land with a large garden so they can grow their own food and provide meals to other children from the community. The charity is founded and run by a pastor and his wife.
The Positive Awareness and Counselling Team is a community based organization registered under the Kenyan Department of Culture in Central Kenya. The organization was registered in 2004 and originally began its operations focusing on HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns and counselling sessions. Nurses and counselors can be of great help at the home and in the counseling center.
Kenya School Terms (approximate):
- 23 Jan – 21 April
- 8 May – 11 August
- 28 August – 3 November
Orphanage’s Goals
1. Assist children who are unable to pay school fees & medical expenses
2. Restore hope to the helpless through counselling & funding to the children
3. Offer training for the benefit of the children
4. Offer assistance to those suffering from HIV/AIDS
5. Fight stigma & discrimination
6. Exert maximum effort towards relief for the people
7. Empower young women and men through literacy campaigns as a means towards gender equality
8. Fund an individualized sports program for abused children, widows, and step-children
9. Establish an endowment fund to receive donations, gifts & other assistance for the poor people
Itinerary Volunteer Work Abroad
Day 1
Arrive today at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. Apply for your visa in advance online. Use this website: https://immigration.ecitizen.go.ke/index.php?id=5
Once you have your luggage, and have gone through the exit door, you will see your driver holding a sign with your name on it. There are ATM machines at the airport so you can withdraw some local currency. 10,000 Kenya shillings is approximately $90 US.
On your drive to Nyeri, you may ask the driver to stop along the way so you can buy some drinking water or snacks as the ride is about 3 hours long. Upon arrival at the homestay, you will meet your hosts, or proceed to your chosen hotel. Enjoy dinner and get settled a bit before going to the orphanage.
Days 2 +
After breakfast, you will be picked up and taken to the orphanage. Each day, Pastor Francis will have you picked up and returned in the evenings for dinner and overnight, unless you opt to stay at the orphanage/school site. Francis will explain current volunteer needs and determine where you can best spend your time. Arrange with your driver what times work best for you for you for your volunteering. You may also take some time off, if you wish, to enjoy the local area or explore the town especially on weekends. You will have lunch each day at the orphanage while working. Breakfast and dinner is served at your homestay each day.
Last Day
Today you will be returned to Nairobi’s airport or to a hotel. Your pickup time can be arranged with the driver to depart 5 hours before departure of your flight. You can save time by checking in on-line ahead of time. Nairobi’s airport has many shops, but not much in the way of restaurants, so a good idea is to pick up water and snacks.
About Nyeri
Nyeri is situated about 150 km north of Nairobi, in the country’s densely populated and fertile Central Highlands. The town’s population is estimated to have grown to over 300,000. Small business activities are vibrant and the town continues to grow. Most domestic homes in Nyeri are relatively permanent, modernized, and well-built compared to other parts of the country.
The majority of Nyeri residents are Africans from Kenya’s largest ethnic group, the Kikuyu. The Kikuyu language is widely spoken, along with Kenya’s national language, Swahili, as well as Kenya’s official language, English.
Phone and internet services are widely available, generally affordable and reliable. Electricity provision is also reliable, more so, in fact, than in most of the rest of the country.
The main industry in Nyeri is farming with the main cash crops being coffee and tea. Tourism is also significant, as there are many tourist destinations nearby, including Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Aberdare National Park and Mount Kenya National Park. The grave of the scouting movement’s founder, Lord Baden Powell and his paxtu cottage are popular attractions.
Excursions
If you wish to do any additional excursions on the weekends, or before or after you do your volunteer work, we can arrange for you.
- Treks on Mount Kenya can be arranged, either as a short day hike or the more adventurous full technical climb for 8 days.
- Aberdare National Park – visit for a day or overnight, staying at The Ark, allowing you to watch animals drinking in a waterhole from the deck of the hotel.
- Visit any of the parks below by adding on a few extra days
Kenya Parks Nearby
Aberdare National Park
Between 2 mountain peaks is a plateau of moorland. The eastern slopes are relatively gentle and are therefore attract more animals. This park offers variety of flora and fauna not found elsewhere. The high altitude of Aberdares National Park makes the park different to the typical savannah of most Kenyan parks and creates a cool alternative to the traveler.
Elephants and buffalo dominate. You may also see black rhino, giant forest hog, black serval cats and the rare black leopard. The Aberdare mountains also form a respite for the endangered eastern race of bongo, an outsized forest antelope. Other wildlife consist of eland, waterbuck, bushbuck, reedbuck, duikers, suni, bushpig, warthog, lion, Syke’s monkey and hyena in varying numbers.
Elsamere
Visit the former home of the late Joy Adamson. She, along with her husband George, became world famous for their pioneering conservation work. Their relationship with the lioness Elsa is a story best told in the book or film, Born Free.
Elsamere continues to be maintained as a functioning conservation centre. By staying at Elsamere you have the unique opportunity to visit an active base for local conservation projects and a chance to experience life in one of Kenya’s most historic homes. Many of Joy’s paintings still decorate the house. Elsamere is found near the shores of Lake Naivasha.
Hell’s Gate National Park
Hell’s Gate National Park is situated in the environs of Lake Naivasha about 90 km from Nairobi. It is characterized by diverse topography and geological scenery. It is an important home of the lammergeyer.
Hell’s Gate is a popular park for a daily excursion from Nairobi. The park is particularly popular with walkers and campers who can enter without a vehicle and move noiselessly past herds of zebra and gazelle. The park is flanked by imposing cliffs which lead to a narrow canyon containing hot springs and geysers.
Lake Naivasha
Much of the lake is surrounded by forests of the yellow barked Acacia Xanthophlea, known as the yellow fever tree. These forests abound with bird life, and Naivasha is known as a world class birding destination. This is also where Elsamere, the Elsa Conservation Trust home of Born Free fame is located.
Lake Nakuru National Park
Lake Nakuru is a soda lake on the basin of the Rift Valley. Up to two million flamingoes reside in this park, feeding on the blue-green algae along the shores of the lake. Along with white rhinos, you may spot lions, leopard, hyena, Rothchild’s giraffe, warthog, rare tree-climbing lion, waterbucks, buffalo, Thomson’s gazelle, reedbuck, countless baboons, and sometimes the rarely seen black rhinos.
Mount Kenya National Park
Mount Kenya is the country’s highest mountain and second highest in Africa. Sitting astride the equator its icy summit reaches to 5199 meters (17,058 feet). The entire mountain above the 3200-meter contour forms a national park. Several rivers flow from the perpetual snows of Mount Kenya.
Many visitors want to attempt to reach the peaks; a feat requiring considerable rock climbing skill. The mountain’s lesser peaks and glaciers can be scaled and walked by the fit and the adventurous. Point Lenana on Mount Kenya, 4985 meters, can be easily reached. There is excellent rock and ice climbing of a high standard to the twin summit peaks of Batian (5199 m) and Nelion (5188 m).
The best months are January, February and late August through September for those who wish to savour the mountain air and the glorious views. There are many hotels around the foothills, among them the famed Mount Kenya Safari Club.
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a 90,000-acre (360 km2) not-for-profit wildlife conservancy. All 5 members of the ‘big five” can be found on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy; lion, buffalo, elephant, leopard and rhino. The conservancy works to conserve wildlife, provide a sanctuary for chimpanzees, and boast the largest sanctuary for black rhinos in East Africa.
