When volunteering in Kenya, you’ll work with our in-country partner ACCESS Kenya in Naro Moru, Kenya. ACCESS Kenya works to improve the environment as well as water and education resources in the community.
About The Trip:
DWC’s Kenyan partner, ACCESS (Action Crew on Community Environment for Sustainable Services) Kenya, is a non-profit group based out of Naro Moru village at the base of Mount Kenya. This organization is focused on education and protecting the environment, as well as raising awareness at the problems that come with deforestation. ACCESS Kenya strives to safeguard water that is much needed for people and wildlife to survive.
ACCESS Kenya has built and refurbished school classrooms, assisted at regional orphanages, constructed community water tanks and planted thousands of trees to restore life-sustaining forests. With a strong base of sustainable development and community project management aimed at alleviating poverty, ACCESS Kenya strives to improve life for people in the Naro Moru region through community-driven works.
ACCESS Kenya was started in 2004 by a local group of volunteers who realized that prolonged droughts and deforestation were affecting the ability of people to thrive in the region. The lack of adequate learning facilities in the area has also become a focal point of the organization’s goals and priorities. Read more here: http://accessvolunteergroup.org/
It’s Not All Work:
A small market town of roughly 3,000 people in central Kenya, Naro Moru survives mainly on tourism, with hikers headed to nearby Mount Kenya and wildlife lovers taking their cameras to the Solio Game Reserve, the Mau Mau cave and other natural sights. Naro Moru is also close to the Rift Valley, which is where Kenya’s wildlife really flourishes. It’s a stop well worth it on a weekend or an add-on trip after volunteering with ACCESS Kenya and DWC.
Climatewise, Kenya is close to the equator and has a pleasant, tropical climate with daytime temperatures averaging between 24°C and 29°C. Humidity is high and the rain is sometimes heavy on a daily basis, although it seldom lasts the whole day. Of course, it’s never easy to predict the weather, but consider this a rough guide.
Learn more from our volunteers. Read their Kenya blogs. »
The Project:
Volunteers will be building a system to support a school garden that will provide food for children who often only get one meal a day. Those children often have difficulty focussing on their studies because of hunger.
The goal is to harvest rain water for schools to use in a garden at the school. Items used in this project would be gutters, water tanks, pipes and fittings. The school leaders want to make the lunch program self sustaining by growing their own food so that meals can be provided to all children. By volunteering in Kenya, you can work to help alleviate their concerns. Kenya itself is still heavily reliant upon agriculture for its economic success; tea, coffee, sisal, corn and wheat are among the main crops grown in the highlands, while coconuts, pineapples, cashews, cotton and sugarcane are harvested in the lower areas. This dependency on agriculture makes ACCESS Kenya’s goals of improving water resources and restoring deforested areas even more important to the people of the region and the country as a whole, especially since most agriculture is reliant upon rainwater.
When / Itinerary:
- Saturday, July 4 and Sunday, July 5 – Team arrives in Kenya; check in to hotel
- Monday, July 6 to Friday, July 10 – PROJECT WORK in Naro Moru
- Saturday, July 11 to Sunday, July 12 – Free days for some R and R
- Monday, July 13 to Friday, July 17 – PROJECT WORK in Naro Moru
- Saturday, July 18 – Transport to airport and fly home or continue your travels in Kenya
FAQs:
DWC Team Leader:
TBD
Team leaders are essential on our volunteer trips overseas. While they themselves are volunteers, they are also experienced travelers and who are willing to take on more commitment and responsibility.
We choose leaders who are knowledgeable about travelling in developing countries because they must understand the conditions they are leading people through. Additionally, we choose leaders who can be called upon in an emergency (they are required to have first aid training) and who want to make sure their team has the best experience possible.
Find out how to become a team leader with Developing World Connections
Are You Ready To Go?
Want more information about this trip? Email DWC at [javascript protected email address] or apply now using our online application.
You can secure your place on this trip with a $500, non-refundable deposit that will go toward your total trip cost. After you’ve submitted your forms and deposit, our office will contact you and send you a welcome package.
We’re glad to have you join us.
Still have some questions? We’re here to help, please feel free to contact us now, or fill out the form.