Trip to Kenya as volunteer

If you want to see a short answer, how was it? Here it is — it was very unique, sensitive and adventurous, beautiful and sensational.

For a long story — fasten your seat belt.

I work for KLM and we can have a big discount on the ticket, but only if there are seats available on the flight. 2 days before the trip there were 57 free seats in my KL565 but just 20 hours before the flight it became 23 seats and then in 1 hour — even 3! Oh. Apparently a lot of people from 29th Sep flight missed the flight and were rebooked to my flight. This happens a lot. No worries. I will make it.

Just before the departure there were around 14 seats available and I finally got my seat. Middle seat on the last row. Gate agent was very nice and she offered me an aisle seat not in a last row but with a small child next to me. I took it. Anyway I fly to Kenya to play with children so I need to be prepared already. Well,

It didn’t go as planned because the child’s father was sitting on my seat and told me that the gate agent promised them that the entire row would be empty. We asked a crew member what to do and I was reseated… to the middle seat… and luckily not in the last row this time.

After 8 hours of sitting (with some walking breaks of course) I started to feel my lower back a bit. But it was ok. It took us 1 hour to pass the passport control and finally we are in Kenya! Yeey.

First thing that you notice — Kenya has left side traffic.

As a former England colony they still haven’t changed it. All cars are mostly very old and you have no idea if they will reach the destination point. Roads are almost like in Ukraine — sometimes good sometimes — you will not call that roads. Anyway we were very tired and happy that we could finally sleep after some glasses of wine.

Day 1. Chill day

We woke up just before the end of the breakfast(7.00–10.00) and had a nice time.

We had a rest next to the swimming pool and had a small walk to the nearest supermarket. Kenya people are very kind — all of them would say hello to you — and laugh after it for some reason. Very loudly.

Dinner was fantastic. Honestly I haven’t expect such a delicious dinner.

Day2. Giraffes

On our second day we decided to do some sightseeing. The first we have visited was — Karen Blixen museum house.

To be honest — nothing special but nice to see and to walk around, Listen to guide stories of this lady. We also have tried some Kenyan coffee here. Next stop — giraffes. Very cool place to feed and to see giraffes. Definitely must go.

You will feed giraffes guaranteed and make awesome pictures. But watch out for giraffes’ head bumps. They may try to hit you. After the giraffes we went to the Nairobi animals orphanage. I really like this place with all the rescued animals. Also we had a guide who told us a lot.

Day 3. First day of the bush camp

At 9.00 we were picked up by a driver with 12 kids. This moment when you see them for the first time — is so touching.

Every kid has their own personal story. Some of them have never been on the bus, some of them go to the lake for the first time. Some don’t have parents. Some are shy and closed, some are very enthusiastic. First stop we made was a point of view.

I really like this sign toilet — which shows that you can go nowhere. Don’t worry. There was a road.

Very nice view on green Kenya. What I didn’t like — there were a lot of locals selling stuff but what they started to do — they gave toys to children and ask us to pay. That was not a fair move.

Anyway we continued our journey and because there was no traffic jam and our driver drove African(read insane) style we were much faster. We stopped next to a modern playground next to the mall and had our first great moment with children.

We went to the toilet with boys and honestly I think they had never seen a urinal before. They were really surprised with a motion detector in the sink for the water. We were ready for the playground. Suddenly the shiest boy from the group starts laughing and climbing and playing — being just a kid. It was fantastic to see. In the end he is a kid and he was enjoying these simple things. It was a great time when another small girl defeated her fear while climbing the highest tower. It was amazing. Later she did it 10 times. So brilliant to see.

Bushcamp. Unique place. We have a lake and monkeys just above us. Hippos could come to us in the night so we have an electrical fence!!

Incredible! We had lunch and we were assigned to the kids. In my team we had 3 children for 2 of us. Brilliant children with not an easy life.

We went to the swimming pool. You won’t believe but they were so happy to see the swimming pool. You see pure happiness in their eyes. Not cause they play Xbox or Nintendo — cause they are in the swimming pool. But what amazed me more — we had a shopping game. Every child has received a bag and we needed to visit 3 spots — to get clothes, shoes and underwear and hat. Believe me or not — but those kids were so happy to get clothes. I remember myself when I got clothes as a present and was so sad because of this. These kids — had pure happiness receiving a hat. A hat! This is priceless. I am writing this and have some tears going down the chicks. They have different values in their life.

We were coloring some pictures together and I had a great mathematical turtle picture that you need to color but before you color it you need to do math so you know with which color to color a spot. The exercises are very simple — like: 4–1 and 9–3. And children really like this game. They calculated with the help of their fingers and were so happy to give the right result. You praise them — and they are happy. Just 100% happiness.

One of the kids came to me and said: I wish I will be in your team. This is priceless as well. But honestly you have children attached to you but it doesn’t mean you play only with them. No. You just pay extra attention to their needs.

We all had dinner together. We have 3 cooks here and they do a great job preparing great food with only the fire on charcoal. The food is fantastic. After the food — washing the hands and brushing the teeth and going to bed. They sleep in the tents. 2–3 kids per tent. It took them 2 hours maybe to finally fall asleep — they were extremely excited about their first experience in the camp.

Now it is 2.52 and I am finishing my day. I have a night shift from 1.30 till 4.30 to watch the kids. We divide the night into 3 shifts. 2 volunteers together with 2 policemen and 1 guard are sitting next to the campfire and helping kids if they want to go to the toilet. Still 1.5 hours to go before going to bed but I really enjoyed. I had a great talk with a former pilot and cofounder of wings of support organisation.

Day 4. Walk safari

Children were so excited so they walked up at 5.30. Volunteers who had a shift from 4.30–7.30 said it was busy 😃. They also need to prepare breakfast for kids — sandwiches and take care of them during this time. After breakfast we went to a walking safari. First we took a boat to an island in the lake Navasha

and there we had a great walk. We saw impalas, zebras, monkeys, wildebeests and giraffes — just 10 meters from us in the wild. Amazing. Children were tired cause they didn’t sleep almost the whole last night but still were extremely excited. For almost all of them it was the first time. After the safari we quickly took the boat back to our bus cause it was about to rain. And not a few drops but a real hurricane. We had lunch on the bus and continued playing different table games with kids. I showed them my favorite trick and they were so impressed — great feelings! So funny. At the end they figured out how I did it and started to show this trick to each other. Very funny. Then we had dinner and they went to watch a Madagascar movie. By the way, I forgot to mention — they pray before each meal and it is so great to see when all kids close their eyes and pray. Brilliant atmosphere.

P.S. Do you remember that shy guy? He came to me today and said — I missed you(he was in group 2 during safari so not with me) — I can’t express my feelings in words🤩. His name is Paul. And honestly I don’t think he says these words often. Or at all. He lives in a children’s house. Maybe he has parents … but anyway they are not with him.

Day 5. Safari on jeeps

What an awesome day. We started the day with great dances with all the children in the circle. This moment when a child is shy and closed but then goes to the circle to perform — is incredible! You feel so much energy! After that, we went to safari in the cars.

It was extremely great. Children were so happy to see the animals and were really excited!

We had lunch in the park and then drove back to our camp. At the camp we played table games again and had dinner. Before dinner, children had some lemonade with popcorn. I would like to mention something about Paul. I checked his background and indeed he lives in a child house. Maybe he has parents but he lives in the child house… he is a very closed boy but very smart and polite. I really wanted to take care of him even though he was not in my team — but it doesn’t matter because you play and take care of all the children. So he never runs in front of everyone to get food, drinks, toys — he sits and waits for his turn. He took around 10 popcorns when everyone else took at least 50. I was watching him and when he had finished the popcorn he remained seated. I asked him if he wanted some extra cause there was extra popcorn on the table. He said yes. I told him to go and to grab some. He wanted to go but he said — I need to ask the other leader if I can do it cause she was giving popcorn to everyone. I asked the leader if it was ok and she said yes. What touched me — how polite he is. I don’t know who has taught him this, maybe life but anyway it touched me. Just before that he gave me a bracelet. That is so priceless to be honest…

I will jump to another moment. After the dinner we had a big party cause today is the last day of the camp. We(leaders) have prepared some great games. All the leaders dressed up very funny and we did some dancing with kids.

Before the last game, children prepared some songs for us. The words were — thank you for everything that you are doing for us — you are great and we will never forget this. I started crying. So happy that these children had such a great time in this camp — only 3 days — and tomorrow they go back to their life which is honestly not great at all. It is tough and unfair, without great moments, without parents who praises them, without quality time with relatives, sometimes without proper food and education.

I want to say thank you to the wing of support organisation for this unique opportunity to bring a smile to every child in the camp, give them the feeling and knowledge that they are great and smart — even for 3 days. It was a great adventure and I think I will never forget Paul’s smile and eyes. I also have met great people and I am extremely happy that they are my friends now.

Day 6. Sensitive Goodbye

Very sensitive and touching day. I was trying to spend it as much as possible with Paul. After breakfast we had some games with the kids before departure and then lunch. Paul asked me to sit with him during lunch which I have done with pleasure. He had 2 sandwiches and I didn’t want to eat my lunch. He asked me why I was not eating and he took half of his sandwich and gave it to me. I really had another food and didn’t want it but this moment was incredibly touching.

After the lunch the kids were about to receive the toys and for that they needed to build up a line. Paul was one of the firsts somehow but then another boy started to push him and Paul was crying cause it hurted him. I took the bad guy out of the queue and put him to the end of the queue. I explained to him why I did this and he said sorry to Paul. Oh boy. After that we had a moment of goodbye and we went to the buses. In my bus that will drive to the airport also seats Paul with other 11 kids.

Finally my hotel and last words to Paul and other kids. Goodbye my friends. I hope these 3 days will change your lives and you will become great people! I know, you will!

P.S.

While waiting in the crew hotel I met Richard Branson.

Couldn’t talk to him a lot — but I am very happy!