At the beginning of 2011 we started actively promoting our Volunteer Scheme and can report back that it has been a fantastic success this year, with many of our volunteers writing up their experiences for this blog – click their names to find out more about their trips!
It started with the arrival of Monika and Dan for a three month period, two people who made a massive difference to the GLO, with their dedication and compassion for the children warming all hearts at the orphanage. Dan used his experience to convert our existing henhouse into a home for Remi, our new Head Teacher, and overseeing the building of a new hen house for our broilers. Monika worked endlessly introducing education play to our Mamas & Aunties.
Then in April Lucy and Emily arrived from Bolton, and Mick, Cathy & Ceri came for a two week stay, with all spending many hours interacting with the children and even arranging a much anticipated GLO 1st Sports Day.
July saw the arrival of Sue from South Africa and our own Aideen with her mother Margaret, again three very willing and keen volunteers who even got stuck in with the routine daily chores as well as enjoying playing with the children.
In August Micheal and Clare arrived from St Anne’s in Manchester – welcome company for young Anett (our 1st German volunteer, who stayed for 3 months), and it turned out to be a very lively time for everyone at the GLO – the school was shut for the month so the volunteers had a much increased volume of children to deal with each day.
When Marco and Tess from New Zealand arrived in mid August the whole place was a sea of children and volunteers having a wonderful time and they willing joined in. Gareth, Rebecca, Jenny, Kayleigh & Philip made September another bumper month for volunteers and by this stage we could see the impact on the children as they learned about other cultures.
Jan from Bolton and Tobais and Katherina from Germany spent many happy days there in October, Tobais actually assisted in the delivery of the calf – a rather messy job! November was the busiest month of the year with the Genesis Group from Cardinal Langley School in Manchester making the GLO their chosen charity to visit – Brendan and Domi, were two teachers leading the group and Rachael, Ashley, Stephen & Luke were the 6th Form Students who even visited Mercy’s village for a traditional night of food & entertainment.
Bridget and Jane, our more “mature†volunteers came for their second visit, along with Nuala and her sister Maria who were here for this first time. Brilliant volunteers with a very canny eye for noticing exactly what was going on – which act as a huge helping hand for Kevin and I.
Last but by no means least was the lovely Laura from Dublin – an accountant in her normal job, and got stuck into everything and even found time to train our staff on different aspects of accountancy, auditing our school and orphanage account whilst here (and also winning a dance competition too!)
All in all we have had a fantastic response and can safely say our volunteers were the cr̬me de la cr̬me Рif anyone reading this is interested please drop me an email, we are always looking for great volunteers and especially teachers now as our new school is up and running. We hope to see you at the GLO next year.
Hi,
My partner and I will be travelling in Kenya in June and July. We are very limited in time but would love to volunteer at an orphanage such as yours. Personally i have volunteered in an orphanage in the Phillipines before, while my partner is studying a major in International Studies and has done an extensive Internship working with Indigenous Australians. Not to mention we are both parents. (a 6yo and a 2yo) Not sure if a stay of only a week would be a plausible scenario, but if you think we could be of any assistance would love to hear back from you.
Thanking you kindly
Cam McKinnon
Melbourne/Australia