Kenya community volunteering

Our gap volunteer programme acts as a link between the overseas volunteer/tourist with the work of the Mission and the community.

Our Mission is an indigenous organisation; over 97% of the staff at the headquarters is Kenyan. When overseas volunteers/tourists work and visit the communities it will always be with at least one of the local workers. In the near future we are hoping to employ and train another member of staff to help manage the gap volunteer programme who will be Kenyan.

When organising trips for our volunteers further a field than Western Kenya i.e. Mombasa and Masai Mara we always use responsible and indigenous tour operators, which supports the local community. Even when we organise trips locally i.e. Mt. Elgon and Kakamega Forest Reserve we always use local tour guides to show us around the Parks/Reserves, we encourage our volunteers to visit the local tourist sites during the weekends which supports the local businesses, tourism industry and local employment. Whilst on our trips we buy food and drinks from local cafes, stalls and shops which are owned by the locally community and who employ local people.

Our volunteers live at a local guesthouse where all six staff have been employed from the surrounding area. The guesthouse was built by local builders which we trained whilst they were building. All of the building materials were locally bought and the furnishing was locally made. The food which we buy is from the local market which is held every Thursday in Kimilili Town.

In everything we do we look on ways to conserve the environment, reduce wastage of resources and reduce expenditure. One way of us tackling all three was to use local transport rather than Mission vehicles. Where we possibly can we use matatu’s (public mini busses) and boda boda (bicycle taxis). This supports the local employment, the transport industry and reduces unnecessary CO2 emissions. However when it comes to the times when we need our own vehicle we share the Mission landrover.

The management team often reminds the staff at the headquarters to turn off every electrical appliance when not in use and all staff abides by this rule. At the guesthouse we always remind our visitors to reduce the amount of water they use, and to conserve electricity. The water used when washing clothing is all rain water which is stored in two large tanks outside; which normally stores enough water for the dry seasons.

One of the activities that all of our volunteers are involved in is the planting of trees. We provide 5 fruit trees to each volunteer, which are planted around Kimilili. This not only consumes 1.5 tones of CO2 emissions but also produces food. In mid 2007 we bought 50,000 saplings from a local tree nursery for one of our local units. We aim to plant 100,000 saplings in each of our 4 local units and to develop our own tree nurseries, which will be run by the local community.

We have agricultural projects which encourage the local farmers and communities to grow fruit trees in the households which provide them with shade and food. We have also been encouraging the local community to use environmentally friendly stoves. We have been encouraging the community to grow faster growing trees (6 months) which releases nitrogen into the soil and can prop mature banana trees from falling down within the banana plantations.

When we visit the Kenya Wildlife Service National Parks they are provided with a leaflet stating what they should and shouldn’t do within the National Park. We provide every visitor to the Mission with a comprehensive welcome booklet which gives details of the history of the Mission, an introduction to Kimilili and its facilities and transport, the administration and government of Kenya and living conditions of Kenya. We also warn our visitors of taking photographs and dress sense etc.

This gap programme isn’t just a holiday, but a programme which aims to bring in new skills and resources to the local area of Kimilili, whilst at the same time allowing volunteers to see Kenya by taking trips at the weekends and at the end of their stay.