2023 East Africa Volunteer Trip Recap
The Rotary Clubs and Friends Volunteer Trip experience
The focus of the Rotary group was to do a site visit at the Chwele Vocational Training College, Bungoma County for the Najijali Project while connecting with the local communities and our project partners on the ground. They also visited other existing and potential Rotary projects in East Africa. Some of the Rotarians visited Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. They also visited the Water Harvest Project in Matale, Uganda which they dedicated to the Memory of Kris Akins who had been the champion of that Rotary Global Grant project before she passed away in late 2022. May her soul rest in eternal peace!
In Bungoma, Kenya we were some of the first visitors to see the Najijali Project running in action! We gained quality time together with our Najijali students and staff sewing baby blankets, cooking, cleaning, dancing, while preparing for our Community Celebration Day on March 28th, which was a great success!
We also had the privilege of driving across the border to visit our friends and projects in Matale, Uganda. We walked through the beautiful Girls Dormitory, which now houses 103 teenage girls, and got to witness how our new Water Harvest System turns rainwater into clean water available for drinking, cooking, and handwashing. No longer will our student’s education be interrupted to go fetch water from the far away streams.
In addition to visiting our projects, we did some site seeing, danced, laughed, ate, and shared in cultural exchange fostering of friendships.
FRiends International Medical Teams Volunteer Trip Experience
Friends International Medical Teams (27 doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers) under the leadership of Mari Kay Evans-Smith collaborated with Harambee Centre, Chwele Yearly Meeting of Friends, Friends Lugulu Hospital and Chwele Dispensary, Grace Resources for Community Action (GRECA), Chwele Girls High School and approximately 50 local community healthcare volunteers to serve 1108 patients at a Medical Camp April 29-May 3, 2023 in Chwele, Bungoma County.
Two of the local volunteers were Liz Nyongesa (nursing student) and Lindah Sanyanda (PA student) who are currently on Harambee Centre scholarships.
Each patient had an opportunity to receive a vision and dental screening. Glasses were prescribed and many teeth were pulled. An integral part of the team were classes in women's health and individual sessions for behavioral health and nutrition. Medicines were prescribed and given to patients. Several critical cases received initial treatment and were sent directly to Lugulu hospital. The collaboration at the hospital level was excellent. This same group provided the same camp service at Makhonge village in 2019.
Coloumbe Family Trip Experience
The Coloumbe family of six from Hubbard, Oregon included Chwele Vocational Training College in their volunteer mission in Kenya in July, 2023. Some helped with constructing a shed for the student training at the college while others helped with children of the teenage mothers in the Najijali Project. They also volunteered at a residential facility for homeless boys in Bungoma town.