Volunteer in Kenya with Volunteering Solutions

Bei dem Abflug war innerlich Eibe Angst vor meinem eigenen Mut. Ein komplett anderes Land, eine fremde Kultur all das war vor mir. In Afrika gelandet,wusste ich, es war die beste Entscheidung meines Lebens. Die Arbeit im Waisenhaus,die Volontäre, die reisen veränderten mich und mein Leben. Ich fand eine Familie. Die Kinder haben mir viel gezeigt und ich habe von Ihnen gelernt. Danke für eine wunderbare Zeit.

After some extensive online research I found Volunteering Solutions Kenya program and instantly knew this is what I wanted to do. The support from the office staff Sunny was great and he provided quick resolutions to all my questions. My time in Nairobi was great and loved the volunteer house and Mercy who cooked us awesome meals. It was great to live with other volunteers from around the world. I worked at the Kanjeru Primary School, where teaching young children was fun.

Overall it was a nice experience and I would like to go on such a trip again.

The experience was good overall, it's just that VS team are slow on email replies. It takes them couples of days to respond, and sometime no response is received. I hope they can work on this point that will make them rank higher in reputation among us volunteers.

I wake up, wash, pray, get dressed, scrubs under my jeans And sweatshirt go downstairs to Marci, and the two Easta's, then check the delicious simple breakfast usually tea, toast, brown herbal cheese that I bought, pineapple, or banana, I great everyone, get out to be hit with the cool, fresh, and alive breeze of Air and the wonderful green scenery, I start walking through the muddy streets of kikuyu, pass by the little shop nearby, " jambo", comes the reply " Mizuri, have a good day", then the children on the corner, they start mozongo, how r u? And comes the little boy to touch my hands, and tells me, do u have yogurt, no?

I walk by then to the area where the. Cars workers r, then the films rental shop, then the coal sellers, And again people looking at me, I nod my head, then nod and smile back, some of them sometimes ask me " is ur leg ok" I say " yes", they smile and have a good day.

then go by the construction site, then the billiard table for rental where I always wanted to go, then out to the street in the center of kikuyu, the shoes cleaners sitting there, with the chair in front of them, smiling At me, cross the banks, the photos printing shop, the chemist where I once got needles And a suture from, then go through the market street, all bumpy, and muddy, the mobile shops, the shoes shop which plays great music, then the vegetables around, lettuce, cabbage, avocados, tomatoes, cucumbers, bananas, passion fruit, tangerine and orange, I had nice memories here, picked avocados for 5 ksh each, and helped some guy who had vegetables fallen collect them, then u go out into the matatus stop, just before that the boiled corn sticks and the sausages, the matatu drivers start coming, hi, how r u? where r u going?, then I say Limuru, they say go this side. 

U find the small bus there with the big wooden plate on it saying limuru on it saying the last stop as limuru, I get on it, some one is usully standing there knocking on the matatu, u find urself either head squeezed in the back seat between two fat women and the car roof, tilting the head down, or by the driver and a passenger, or even hugging the guy who collects the money,then the matatu gets full, the thing starts moving, when it looks like it would never move and the crazy loud music comes out, which u may be even more lucky to be standing just by its speakers, through the journey that's full with bumps, and side stops each time the money collector knocks for the driver.

We go through scenery which is marvelous simply the rail way is on the way, lots of women carrying their children in the classical way with them tied to the back in a blanket, young children playing, people waiting for the correct matatu, and others.
We reach limuru, recognized by the bata factory outlet and the matatu stops, I drop off, search for the tigoni matatu usually number 116, which takes Me through the wonderful way to the hospital, its usually the first stop, after 10 minutes I find myself there, a hospital in the middle of nature, simply marvelous, I walk by the front door, greet the warden who is a lady, jambo, she goes " mizuri" and smiles, I rush inside, take the first left, and the. Another left up those three stairs, then go through the door of the dental clinic, patients are sitting on the sides I walk through them, enter to find wangari going around, i hug her, and tell her my habari sobuhi, and the two young dentists there, greet them, I take off my cloths inside the technician room, come out, put on the gloves, check those green sheets number, they r usually four or five for me, I tell wangari to call the first one, he enters, I let him sit, and then introduce myself, my name is dr.hytham, and I will be doing ur treatment today, people usually are very appreciative, I make my jokes about the dental work, about dentists, and patients come out with a wide smile, I keep asking during work wangari paper points sizes 20-45 give me five, wangari, file 50 please, wangari fissure bur wangari, more cotton, and then between patients I just stand up, go inside the small dental technician room, drink some of the tea with milk from there, she never complained the wonderful wangari, she was never complaining, she stayed with me till 3 p.m. When she is used to leaving at 12, and then we finishe really tired, she always walks with me out of the hospital, as soon as u get out of the gate u find the Matatu guy waiting for us, limuru, limuru, so I go inside the tuna can, get back to limuru, and from there back to kikuyu, where to i walk again through the simple town till home, where I usually find the Esta's watching tv, I come in, I say, I am home, Marci greats me, I go into the kitchen I sit with them for a while, then go upstairs have my shower, I come down with my iPad, read for a while, start meeting everyone, then comes food time, I usually find has cooked me something special for vegetarians, she mostly has my food prepared on the cook, and I go pick a plate fill it, I eat, while joking with Esta's, Marci in front of me, usually dressed in my comfy sweatshirt and pants, fully hugging the couch, I finish wash the plates and then get back to watch Mara and Clara on tv, or dance with Esta's or talk with the Germans.

An hour and around 9:30, everyone gets sleepy and the simplicity and serenity of the place surrounds me, the dog next door starts barking, I go online for a while on my phone, and then read for a while, then go up second floor, i enter, art- my american 50 yrs old room mate- is usually sleeping, i turn the ipad on, it guides me on how to enter and go up to my bed, i eat some macadamia nuts, and listen to music,  today being the last day I went online, and found this message on my email from a Kenyan patient, 

Dear doctor,kindly confirm if you are coming for the final stage of my root canal. Rahab really appreciates it. (tigoni
hospital,limuru).

This is a 48 years old patient, who I was doing for her a root canal treatment, and she got attached to me, and asked wangari my email, got it, and sent me an email, check how polite, how literate, how educated those people are here, and at the same time, how appreciative they are of what I do. It felt really great knowing that this is a governmental hospital, and the procedure I am doing to her Is a bit annoying, and I'd I would say it to be extracted if the patient doesn't understand the value, but they completely appreciate the importance of what I am doing.

The comparison ran quickly in my head, felt funny, we have similar and even better conditions in Egypt, but it's a cultural issue, it's even deeper, it's a human concern, it felt wonderful to get this message from her, I was really happy, I sent her a reply back that I will be traveling but when I come again I will see her and will check how good e teeth are, promised her that.

I slept with a mind full of thoughts and a heart full of feelings, in the sweet warmth of my kikuyu's bed in Marci's home, limuru, Kenya.

I had amazing time in Kenya, thanks to Joe and the staff of Volunteering Solutions. The project was really interesting. It was a good experience to teach the children and help out with sorting beans and washing shoes etc. The highlight was helping out the children and our trip to Mt. Longonot and Naivasha.