Kenya Program
Tentative Kenya Trip Dates: June 23rd – July 9th, 2010
Meet the 2010 Kenya Team Leader: Britnie Powell
YouthLINC team to Return to Kiamuri, Kenya for the 2010 service year!
YouthLINC will return for a third year to the beautiful and dusty village of Kiamuri to continue working on quality of life improvements with the community. A Rotary International Matching grant supported by Sugar House, Holladay, and Meru Clubs will provide bakery and computer equipment for a school in the village, and YouthLINC teams will supply vocational training in these areas. The team will also build new primary school classrooms, and continue work in women’s health issues. The community is in need of social work help, AIDS education, and education in family planning. The people of Kiamuri are excited for the return of YouthLINC to their community and look forward to working with us in the upcoming year.
Kiamuri, Kenya Report – 2009
Live more simply. Love more freely.” -Kenya Team, 2009
The YouthLINC Kenya team traveled back to Kiamuri, a village located several hours north of Nairobi. Participants worked tirelessly constructing a secondary school in the village and taught lessons on several different topics in four schools in the community. The team donated hundreds of books for a library constructed with funds donated by Jerika Michel, YouthLINC Kenya 2008 alum. Students also put on a women’s health fair, taught business lessons with our micro-enterprise team, and had a wonderful cross-cultural experience where the team learned to “live more simply and love more freely.” Truly the team learned the beauty of service among the humble people of Kenya.
Thanks to a Rotary International Matching Grant supported by Rotary Clubs of Meru, Holladay, American Fork, Lehi, and Rochester, Minnesota, 1000 people in Kiamuri have access to clean water through a catchment system.
My experience in Kenya has provided me with truth; a truth that has helped me understand how deprived and impoverished so many parts of the world are. It has given me an appreciation for many of the essentials I take for granted such as food, water and clothes. This experience has set a higher standard for me to make the world a better place. “
-Amin Adib, Kenya 2009
Construction
The construction team worked in the dust and dirt prepping an area to build a new secondary school classroom in the village. Students spent hours leveling the ground, making gravel from big rocks that they crushed with sledge hammers and building the foundation for the brand new classroom. They worked alongside parents of students at the school and enjoyed seeing the fruit of their labors as the school was being built. The team also helped dig a large irrigation ditch, repaired classrooms, set up chalkboards and hung pictures to beautify the students’ learning area.
Education
The education committee prepared and taught lessons at four different schools in the area. Each student on the team prepared a lesson to teach at each one of the schools, topics ranging from geography to science, self-esteem to animals and so on. Students taught their lessons four times, one time at each school, and then spent the afternoons playing soccer or other outdoor activities with the children at the schools. The team gathered hundreds of books and set up a library at one of the schools that will be available to the entire community throughout the year.
Medical
Each day, while the children were in school, the medical team would gather up the women and teach classes on family health, domestic violence and coping mechanisms, AIDS education and several other topics specific to women. They held a question and answer session each day and allowed the women to open up about their health needs, ask questions and receive much needed guidance from the nurses, staff and students of the YouthLINC team.
Micro-enterprise
The micro-enterprise team followed up with several loans YouthLINC gave out last year to a co-op of women. They toured businesses and gathered data on all of the loans and how well each business is doing. They also spent time interviewing new groups of women to provide loans for this next year, getting their businesses up and running. The women submitted personal profiles as well as business proposals, and the team then chose a group of 15 new women who will be ready to receive new business training and a loan to begin their own small business in June 2010. The team spent much of the school year setting up fundraisers to raise money for the Kenya micro-enterprise program and put on a charity golf tournament and drawing that raised over $3,500 for our micro-enterprise fund.
Cross-Cultural
The cross-cultural committee prepared and organized activities and songs for the opening and closing ceremonies which included the national anthem and several songs and dances by talented YouthLINC participants. They held a July 4th carnival in the community and taught American games like the three-legged race and tug-o-war. The team also gathered donations for a carnival at one of the schools in Kiamuri and organized activities such as face painting, beading, bandana making and hemp bracelets for the children. They helped pass out jerseys and soccer balls to Kenyan students and organized teams to form a soccer league among the children of the community as well.
The YouthLINC experience has changed my outlook both locally and internationally. Locally, I am now more involved and committed to community service. Internationally, I am more thankful for everything I have in the United States and I truly understand the hardships now that many people go through.”
-Tyler Mackaben, Kenya 2009
2008-2009 Program: June 24 - July 7, 2009
Meet the Kenya Team Leader: Danielle Palmer
Meru, Kenya- 2008 Report
This Year the YouthLINC team traveled to the village of Kiamuri, several hours north of Nairobi. They worked on several construction projects, taught lessons in several schools in the surrounding area, visited hospitals, and lead a community health fair for the villagers. Participants also experienced the Kenyan culture through a cultural exchange and in living among the beauty of the Kenyan people for two weeks.
On Sunday we followed local people to their churches and shambas (farms). Walking miles and miles on those tiny dirt roads and thinking "This is Africa, really" was a feeling I won't forget."
--Guinn Dunn.
Construction
The team spent three full days building a primary school room for the village and they brought down many tools to use and leave with the village for future use. They also helped to finish another room in the school, finishing the floor and ceiling to complete the building. The entire group worked together to accomplish a huge amount of work in just a few short days.
Next Year
The team will work on building another school room at the Kiamuri Secondary school, and plan to focus on allowing the secondary students out early to help in the building process and to work along side the YL participants.
Medical
Many medical supplies were delivered to Meru County Hospital and were greatly needed and appreciated at the hospital. Participants were able to go on rounds at the hospital and received a lesson on herbal plants by several medicine men from the village. The medical team also taught lessons at the secondary school on AIDS, infant CPR and physical education. A health fair was also put together for the village where villagers attended several classes on a wide variety of health topics. Hats and blankets were also delivered to St. Luke's Hospital and were received with a huge smile and much appreciation.
In the maternity ward of Meru Hospital, I was holding an 8-month old baby girl being treated there. She looked up into my eyes, and I realized just how much help is needed in the local hospitals of Kenya. I am now considering a medical profession to assist in developing countries."
--Kajsa Vlasic.
Next Year
YL plans to put together a women's health day, and women will be educated on several health issues and relevant topics. Plans to continue health lessons at the secondary school are in the works, and more time will be spent on lessons regarding AIDS, substance abuse and other diseases affecting the area. The team also plans to do a service project at St. Luke's Hospital and will take supplies such as antibiotics to the hospitals.
Education
YL Participants taught at three schools with nearly three hundred children in attendance at each school. The team taught about physical education, animals, gave motivational lessons, taught about world holidays and gave students positive motivation to have dreams and goals in their lives.
I was awestruck by the overwhelming welcome by the entire village of Kiamuri on our first day. Never again will I see hundreds of joyous children singing and running alongside our vehicles."
--Andrea Corwin
Next Year
The group plans to have a book drive to help start a mobile library for all of the schools in the area. YL also plans to extend their teaching to four schools, and will continue to teach positive lessons geared towards giving the students the attitude to reach higher and achieve their goals. Plans are underway to start a soccer league in the community to help provide students and children with a positive after school experience and allow them to take leadership roles and create a full league with set up teams to continue throughout the year.
Cross Cultural
The participants participated in opening and closing ceremonies in the village, and several of the YL students brought instruments to play during the ceremonies and the community loved it. Students also participated in a panel/exchange with the secondary school, allowing each group to ask questions about culture, health and social aspects of each of their cultures. This provided a wonderful opportunity for both YL and Kenyan students to get to know more about one another, their lives and cultures and to equally learn from each other.
Next Year
YL hopes to continue with cross cultural experiences, and plans to involve more students and more schools in next year's exchanges.