Posted in Kenya on October 8, 2025
October 2-4
Jambo! We have finally all arrived, from all across Canada, all 14 of us! A little excitement for some, flight delays, missing their connecting flight, having to overnight in Istanbul and doing a little sightseeing before flying out – bonus!
While they are checking out the Blue Mosque we are checking out the National Museum of Kenya and the national drink of Kenya, the Dawa!
The last group finally arrives at 2 am on Oct 5th and after a quick shower and a short nap we load up into 2 vans with a third one for our luggage to head to Naro Moru where we will be working at St Michael Macharia School, grades 1-9. Nderitu is our go-to person and will be with us the whole time.
October 5
First stop is to visit the David Sheldrick Elephant Sanctuary. This is the most successful elephant orphanage in the world. The Sanctuary is only open for 1 hour a day and we witness the elephants being fed and getting a chance to touch them and watch them play. Next stop, the mall, to load up on snacks, beer, wine and cash as required.
We finally arrive at our home away from the home for the next 2 weeks, the Lusoi Ranch & Resort, a beautiful property situated on 50 acres, 45 minutes from the school. After checking in, we head to the dining room for a lovely buffet dinner, a quick briefing and off to bed early, exhausted but excited to be here!
Anyone having a birthday on a DWC trip doesn’t miss out on a celebration! We were fortunate to be able to celebrate Bills day with a lovely cake and all the staff singing and dancing! Truly worth getter older!
October 6
Our project is to finish the e lab classroom started by a previous team. Part of our group works on assembling the trusses and purlins and hoisting them into place. The rest of us start digging out the area around the kitchen to build a covered veranda for the children to eat their lunch out of the rain and sun. The school provides a porridge drink at recess for all the children and a meal at lunchtime. They line up neat and orderly, the youngest are the first served then run over to high 5 and hug us. The smiles and laughter truly warm your
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Teatime break under an awning with sweet potatoes and arrowroot to munch on and back to work but first, some picture taking of our team in our DWC shirts. Lenny has designed a beautiful logo for the back, that sits the Canadian and Kenyan flags side by side, underneath Mt Kenya. “Tunajenga Pamoja”, “Together We Build”. A beautiful, meaningful, inspirational sentiment.
We break at 12:30 for lunch, prepared by Lucy and helpers. Lucy is Nderitu’s sister, a lovely, warm kind woman. The sautéed cabbage dish is a big hit! Trevor asks for the recipe and if she can serve it again!
Exams are being held all week but once they have been completed for the day, we are invited to stand in front of the whole school to be welcomed with chants of “We Love DWC”, “Thank You DWC”and the students shouting our names out as we are introduced. It’s such an amazing moment, one that words can’t describe but all of with tear filled eyes gives you some indication of how moved we all were.
Once the formal part of the presentation was completed, 300 students rushed us to high 5, fist bump and hug us all! Massive smiles all around, ours the biggest!
The air was filled with laughter and love and we all knew we had made the right decision to be here and excited to return the next day.
October 7
The work – It’s day 2 of our adventure! Both mornings have started off with rain but the sun sure does shine once we get to the school site. Heads and faces radiating with bright red colours. Today we also started to see a bunch of people come and help us from within the community to help us accomplish even more and boy oh boy do they work hard!
The children – Even though they are busy with school assessments this week they still make sure to take time out of the day and come give us high fives and hugs. As soon as one starts the next thing you know there’s a swarm of kids wanting to be next. It’s the simple things in life – whether it’s chasing a tire in an open field or seeing a baboon on the side of the road; these trips sure make you see things in a different light.
The group – another trip allowing us all to connect with new faces and create new relationships. Even when we’re tired, we’re still smiling. The amount of gratitude you get to feel after every day makes it all worth it.
Cheers to the rest of the adventure
Natasha
October 8
The veranda project is coming along quite nicely with many strong members from the community helping us out! We’ve organized a very efficient assembly line, the wheelbarrows lining up to be filled with dirt and wheeled off to dump in the garden area.
Another group has learned how to bend rebar into stirrups with an ingenious, simple jig design of nails in a piece of wood that bends the rebar into braces. One person clipping wire, a couple twisting into ties and then the rebar cages are built and placed.
The classroom project continues, more purlin cutting and some chiseling for the roof support posts.
We’ve developed our routine, pausing for teatime and cookies mid morning, an always delicious lunch ( today, spaghetti with Bolognese type sauce with lentils) and always fresh fruit.
Back at the resort, we meet in the beautiful lounge, full of carved wood tables and chairs, for happy hour before dinner. We reflect on our day – everyone shares their most memorable moment. Buffet style dinner and back to our rooms to rest our aching bones.
October 9
This is our fourth day of our Kenya project at the st Michael’s marcharía comprehensive school. The 14 of us have now felt excitement when the kids swarm us with hugs and hi five hand shakes, and exhaustion from our local task master he “just kidding “
While we have now seen progress on the class room with a new roof. The men have been out shined by the women of the group again with extensive rebar work for the new extension of the kitchen which is going to get a new floor and roof. Not that there is any challenges going on between us.
It has been great watching and learning from the two carpenters and stone mason tricks of there trade with our using power tools.
Until next time live long and prosper
Trev Kubersky
Third year DWC volunteer
October 10
And so ends our first week, and after four solid days of hard work I can see progress in the projects. As a newbie to DWC, I have been impressed with the overall experience, the teamwork, the coordination and the time with the school children. Now on to a fun weekend.
An early morning call to start the 3 hour drive to Sopa Lodge to experience the African safari. We followed the Matthew Mountain Range on our left. Along the way I learned about the fertile land with the main produce in this area being french green beans and snow peas, which are shipped to Europe. Lots of canna lilies, my favourite flower grows wild and was beautiful to spot amongst the greenery. The experience of the elevation change was noticeable the further north we went the lower the elevation, the warmer it got and the drier it got.
Our first safari started from the reserve gate heading to our lodge and started with one the big five, the giraffe. Lots of antelope and a couple of loins being lazy under the trees. I can’t wait for the rest of the weekend.
October 11
Safari in Samburu: Saturday was alright!
We were up early for 6:00 AM breakfast, then hit the road by 6:30 with John and Lawrence expertly guiding us through Samburu’s dusty, rugged terrain. It’s definitely hotter here than where we’ve been staying, but the wildlife more than made up for it.
Morning Highlights
- Elephant herd heading to the river for a drink, including a tiny one-month-old baby we even heard some trumpeting.
- Giraffes munching tree tops
- Monkeys in the brush as we searched for lions.
- A quick leopard sighting, shared with about 30 other jeeps.
Back at camp, we cooled off—Tusker beers all around. After lunch, some of us napped, some swam, and others headed to the bar.
Evening Drive
- Two lionesses, full and napping.
- Our elephant friends again, letting us know we were a bit too close to their baby.
- A tip from another driver led us to a special sighting of lion cubs just before sunset.
Samburu delivered big today—it was almost INCONCEIVABLE! Wildlife, dramatic landscapes, and a few surprises. Already looking forward to what tomorrow holds.
October 12
It is with some sadness that we said Kwaheri (Swahili for good bye) to the beautiful Samburu and the spectacular Sopa Sumburu Lodge to head back to the Lusoi Ranch Resort to start work again tomorrow. I will miss the friendly security people that ensured we didn’t have any unsolicited wildlife encounters. They cheerfully accompanied us to and from our rooms armed with a Rungu (a stick like staff) to defend or deter as necessary. Thankfully they didn’t have a reason to use them!
The safari was an amazing experience! The drive out of the sanctuary rewarded us with even more wildlife viewings. We saw all of the Samburu 5 (Reticulated Giraffe, Somai Ostrich, Elephant, Gerenook, Oryx, and Grevy Zebra). According to our driver, Lawrence, the Kenya Big 5 include the Water Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, Elephant, and Giraffe, so we ticked most of them off the list too! Yay!
On the drive back we passed Manyattas which are traditional homes of the nomadic peoples. They are small oval shaped domes with no windows and cow dung and mud floors to keeps out the undesirables (bugs and snakes). We also passed many roadside vendors that were selling produce and coal in large bags. The coal is burnt wood from acacia trees that sells for $10-$25 depending on the size and lasts up to a month depending on the family size.
As we drove we climbed up, up, up into an entirely different landscape. From the extremely hot and dry Samburu area through……counties, past many large commercial farms. The driver said they grow potatoes, maize and flowers for international markets. Lawrence explained the climate varies depending on whether you are on the Leeward (south east side of Kenya, where moisture comes from Indian Ocean) or the Wayward side where the weather comes from the north west and is drier with less rain.
We stopped to stretch and checked out a great local gift shop that sold local crafts and artwork and then had a nice lunch in Nyeri before continuing to the hotel to prepare for the morning. My heart is full!
Blog by Karen
October 13
We arrive at the site to find the window frames and metal door have been installed along with the remainder of the roof and overhang. At the kitchen all the iron poles have been installed for the roof. Today part of the team worked on mudding the classroom walls using a flicking technique with the cement mud on the trowel thrown on the wall. Then smoothing it out. The local workers certainly know how to smooth the cement to the walls. Two walls were mudded and a 3rd started before lunch.
The other team, worked on moving all the rock pile into the area of the veranda. 12 yards of dirt/rock, about 120 wheel barrels full – all moved before lunch. Some areas filled were too high so had to be moved. Ughhhhh!
It was an amazing working morning. While we worked the children were planting more gardens and some were playing in the mud building different things, there laughter said it all! At lunch a few more Canadian soccer balls were given to groups to play. They really kick that ball.
Lunch we had spaghetti noodles, vegetables and chicken with bananas and watermelon for dessert. After lunch there was more mudding, finish filling in the veranda from a different areas where there was a few mounds. The children so wanted to help and they certainly did! Then the tamping down of the rock/dirt and wetting it all down, we formed a water bucket line. We left at 3 today most of us went back to the Lusoi Resort for the pool. While 3 of us headed to Nyeri, Nyeri to visit Lord Baden Powell’s grave and museum. They kept it open longer for is we were grateful
We ended the evening with a bonfire with great music, dancing and lots of fun.
October 14
This morning we were all happy to see a cement mixer arrive to help with completing the veranda. Unfortunately it broke down after one load, was fixed and then couple more loads and then gone for good. Back to mixing cement by hand, to fill in the first section of the veranda. A replacement mixer arrived around 3pm and all hands on deck.
Meanwhile back at the e lab, the professionals were busy plastering the remaining walls and putting finishing touches on the window sills. Looking perfect and perhaps ready to work on the floor tomorrow.
As for the children : their life skills class includes working with their hands and a project they began yesterday was planting trees. They dug holes all over the property and today Planted indigenous fruit trees in each hole.
This afternoon I received a few more lovely notes from the kids. I love when they all come running for hugs, high fives and to touch my skin and hair. A couple girls were concerned that my skin was burning. Today they really wanted to know about Halloween in Canada. I also learned that they are fluent in three languages, English and Swahili at school and kikuyu which is a traditional language at home.
Amazing smart beautiful respectful children that I enjoy more and more everyday !
October 16
We learned today when we arrived at the school that the beloved former PM has died and the country is in morning. Thousands of Kenyans are travelling to Nairobi to await the arrival and demonstrations and unrest have already started. Friday has been declared a public holiday. Our NGO has decided that it might not be safe and security will be very high, causing traffic delays, so his concern is to get us back safely to Nairobi in time to catch our flights. The plan has changed and today will be our last day at the school since he recommends we leave first thing tomorrow morning.
We continue working on the classroom, mixing concrete, cleaning, and painting the windows and sifting sand. We have several workers helping us since the concrete for the kitchen patio has been completed and we assist wherever we can.
The principal calls for an assembly of the students in the schoolyard so they can thank us and say goodbye. She asks if the students would like to return to class or play with us-they choose us
We form a big circle and teach them the Bird Dance. Lindsay teaches a large group Highland Dancing. There’s dodge ball and soccer and hopscotch and a circle tag game and everyone is having a great time until the skies open up and we experience the Rains of Africa. Some of us move into the classrooms to tell stories, look at homework assignments and just talk with the students, answering endless questions.
Our last lunch, goodbyes to the workers and we head back to the resort to wash up for our goodbye party.
The resort staff surprises us with a BBQ around the firepit to thank us for being such a great, fun group. They all say how much they will miss us and we will miss them.
More dancing, all the staff join in and we reminisce about the past 2 weeks – the laughs, the frustrations and always the children. We will miss those hugs and smiles, for sure!
Posted in Kenya on October 8, 2025
