Village Volunteers in Kenya

  Kenya

Rural

Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks and 9-12 weeks
Typical Duration of Program: 5-8 weeks
Dates: ongoing

Description: Village Volunteers customizes your volunteer experience with partner rural village programs, matching your skills and interests to the needs of the community. As a volunteer, you work on village projects that are initiated, executed, and managed by locals. Opportunities include working in a school, or a clinic, teaching English or public health awareness, assisting in agricultural or building projects, assisting local women in their micro-enterprises, or spending time in less formal settings with children. Volunteers may also initiate local research projects for a thesis, work with traditional healers, musicians or artisans, youth theatre, or document oral accounts to capture and preserve cultural and family history for orphans.

Village Volunteers offers participants a great deal of flexibility. Depending on the length of your stay, you may choose to work with more than one village program.

Village Volunteers works closely with each volunteer to ensure a comprehensive preparation that includes both an understanding of the people with whom you will be working and all considerations necessary for travel overseas.

Guided by the villages we serve, volunteers have the opportunity to work in areas such as:
» public health awareness (HIV/AIDS, malaria)
» environmental conservation and appropriate technology
» rural health care
» building and construction
» ethno-botany
» natural medicine/homeopathy
» economic development
» nutrition
» micro-credit/enterprises
» traditional medicine documentation
» vocational training
» empowerment for women and girls
» cultural preservation
» education
» memory project to document lives of HIV+ mothers
» adult literacy
» preschool for orphans
» documentation of endangered languages and culture
» clean water projects
» organic farming/bio-intensive agriculture
» community and youth theatre
» traditional arts
» research
» permaculture
» documentary film/photography

Village Partners in Kenya:

Common Ground Program - Kitale
- Bio-intensive organic agricultural methods
- Environmental conservation (soil and water), agro-forestry, and biodiversity preservation
- Healthcare
- Public health awareness (HIV/AIDS, malaria, nutrition)
- Micro-credit/enterprises
- Primary school education
- Sustainable community development

The ELAND Maasai Project - Kimuka
- Education
- Cultural preservation
- Micro-enterprise development
- Health care and HIV/AIDS awareness
- Natural resource management

Mama Maria Kenya - Muhuru Bay
- Orphan feeding program
- Community health care and HIV/AIDS education
- English language workshops
- Indigenous preservation of Suba heritage and language
- Education

Mama na Dada Africa - Kunya Village
- Empowerment and educational program for women and girls
- Health awareness (HIV/AIDS, malaria, nutrition)
- Micro-enterprise development
- Rural health clinic
- Sustainable community development

Namunyak Maasai Welfare - Transmara
- Cultural Preservation
- Education
- Healthcare and HIV/AIDS awareness
- Micro-credit development
- Organic farming and permaculture
- Orphan care
- Resource conservation

Rabuor Village Project
- Assistance for the elderly
- Building construction
- Daycare center for orphans
- Health awareness (HIV/AIDS, malaria, nutrition)
- Micro-enterprise development
- Sustainable community development

Abha Light Foundation
- Homeopathy
- Integrative medicine
- Health care clinics
- Mobile clinics
- Health training programs
- Natural therapies
- Seminars for HIV caregivers

Highlights: Be immersed in a rural village; spend time with warm and welcoming villagers, especially children; and have the opportunity to assist villages in areas of great importance to their community. Volunteers can work in more than one village and go on Safari with Namunyak Maasai Welfare.

Qualifications: Regardless of your skill level, your contributions to a village or orphan program are appreciated. Come with an open mind and heart, ready to learn and pitch in where needed.

The total cost includes transportation to and from the airport, room and board, first and last night accommodations in Nairobi before heading to a village, transportation to the village and room and board and supervision in the village. Your hospitality fee goes to support the social needs of the village.

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: Village Volunteers customizes international volunteer opportunities for anyone with the desire to serve in a rural village.

Age Range: The minimum age requirement for volunteers is 20-years-old (exceptions may be possible). The minimum age for a child traveling with a parent or guardian is 10-years-old. If a volunteer is between the ages of 10 and 18, the accompanied guardian must be a parent, a legal guardian, or a person appointed by that parent or guardian and must take full responsibility.

This Program is open to World Wide Participants. This Program is also open to Families, Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to Kenya Independently Or in Groups

Typically Participants Work Independently Or in Groups

Application Process Involves:

• Written Application

Post Services Include:

• Alumni Network
• Exit DebriefingAbroad
• Re-Entry Debriefing at Home

Village Volunteers's Mission Statement: Village Volunteers is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works in partnership with rural village and capacity-building programs to support the development of sustainable solutions for community survival, education, and growth. Village Volunteers was founded in the belief that partnership is a key factor in the renewal and healing of areas plagued by poverty and disease. Committed to preserving autonomy and cultural heritage, Village Volunteers is a network of rural villages that works in collaboration with village programs to support the achievement of their goals and objectives by integrating international volunteerism, sustainable community development through grant writing and an Advisory Board of experts in international development fields.

Year Founded: 2002