Village Volunteers is a life-changing experience

I volunteered in Kitale, Kenya with Village Volunteers at Common Ground. Myself and my two friends stayed in huts for 3 weeks right next to the director's (and his family's) home on the school grounds. We taught the pre-teen girls at the school dance classes, helped plant trees for a conservation project, and visited a local medical clinic. We ate our meals with the family and helped cook local dishes in the open-air kitchen. I really like how the local community leaders are directing the volunteers on what the community needs rather than an outside organization coming in and trying to implement changes that they assume are best.

My experience at Village Volunteers has forever changed me. More than five years later I continue to sponsor the education of an orphan I met during the program. Having the privilege to live with the locals game me an inside glimpse of the local culture, and it something that I never would have gotten if I've stuck to the tourist circuit or signed up with a volunteer program that was largely run by foreign aid programs rather than by the locals themselves.

Something I wish that I knew before I went was to bring lots of books, as evenings are quiet and the closest town is a matatu ride away. You get up early and go to bed early, and it's an adjustment if you're coming from a fast-paced city where you're used to going all the time. But that's part of the allure of volunteering in a remote area, where time seems to slow down and you have a greater change to reflect on your experiences. I'll always remember the time I spent with Village Volunteers, and I hope to be able to volunteer with them again--but next time through their program in India.