A special friend shared with me the most wonderful moments in her life, when she volunteered in Costa Rica and Africa helping children. She said it was one of the most rewarding experiences in her life!
Her personal volunteer statement and many others, helped me decide to embark on a life changing trip with one thought on my mind, how to make a difference in the lives of those children who are so much less fortunate than all of us!!
Next thing I know, had already booked a flight, arranged with the GP the vaccinations and all I could think of was the arrival day in Kenya and the children at the rescue centre in Kikambala.
Africa – I could not imagine what my eyes would meet… Many said, why Africa, diseases, criminality, poverty! These were exactly the reasons why I chose Africa, to see with my own eyes the real problems these people have to live with daily. While I was in Kenya, I felt no fear, instead everyone keeps on smiling, greeting you on the street, children waving at you saying ‘Jambo’ and yet the poverty is so high that no picture from any TV channel can transfer the real pain, hunger and thirst these people experience daily.
07/01/2010
Heathrow airport departing with Kenyan Airlines to Nairobi then catching an internal flight to Mombasa. Happy, excited, still couldn’t believe that within 9hrs I would be arriving at in the other side of the world.
08/01/2010
And it is a completely different world! An old man offered to carry my luggage for just 5kes, which is not even 5pence (still enough for him, too little for us if you consider that many times we all leave behind the pennies to the supermarket). Leaving Mombasa airport on the way to Mtwapa village where I would be staying for the next 18 days, was the first real shock that I faced. Here it is best to say, ‘One picture a thousand words’! A huge WHY was troubling my mind, WHY life is so unfair, WHY kids are not leaving as normal kids in Africa, WHY I can eat and drink and they cannot, WHY whatever doesn’t touch you doesn’t hurt you, hurt US, all of us wherever we come from, sitting comfortably in our warm couches!
And yet, the lesson about life, my life, was about to begin. Arrived at the volunteers house, everyone very welcoming, people from all around the world, any age, there and then, all to receive this unique experience their own way. The first night I slept, my mind wouldn’t rest from the thoughts and the anxiety for the morning to come, to see the center , meet my class, see their world…. to be continued.
