It was business as usual here in Central Kenya on St. Patrick’s Day, with no holiday, parade or shamrock to mark the occasion. The Kikuyu people of Mukurwe-ini, my temporary home near the foothills of Mount Kenya, have never heard of our patron saint and how he is celebrated around the world.
March 17th was much like any other day here in rural Mukurwe-ini. In an attempt to bring some small taste of St. Patrick I downloaded leprechaun and shamrock colouring pages from the internet and gave them to a local nursery school. The children were very proud and excited to present their completed pictures! Following the visit to the school I attended a meeting to discuss fundraising ideas for a new Community Centre project that will provide a valuable health and social resource for the locality. Afterwards I met with a Support Group for people living with HIV, in the process of starting a basket weaving business, to check on progress and discuss pricing and marketing techniques. In the afternoon I had my weekly Kikuyu language lesson with Simon, a retired teacher and one of the Community Health Volunteers working with Vision Gardens.
Although I missed the annual celebrations and catching up with friends back home it was a rewarding way to spend St. Patrick’s Day. Many of my Kenyan colleagues and friends live in extreme poverty but they are the most welcoming and friendly in the world. I find it impossible to be lonely here.
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- My Neighbour Children with their Pictures
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- A Local Nusery School with their St. Patrick’s Day Pictures
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- Kikuyu Lesson with Simon
Hi Frances,
My name is Martin and I am writing to you on behalf of a website that I am currently involved in starting up. We aim to provide prospect volunteers with all the information they need in order to feel confident in their choice of organisation, position and destination, as well as inspire people to make the jump and try out volunteering.
As a part of that, I was wondering whether you might be interested in answering a few questions and perhaps sharing any advice you may have for people who are considering to volunteer.
If you think you might have time to do this, I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me through info@volunteeringinfo.org, and you can view the website I’m representing at http://www.volunteeringinfo.org.
Thanks, and keep up your amazing work!
Martin Jonsson
Hi Frances,
Iam the above named youth,i would like to join your group as a volunteer in HIV/AIDS,Income generating activities,community developments and so on.
I will be glad to hear from you.
Yours friend,
Danson.