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| Viewing: Volunteer Teaching in Kenya |
Package ID: 1890 |
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| Volunteer Teaching in Kenya |
Volunteers will live and work in the beautiful Shimoni Archipelago, off the coast of the Indian Ocean on the border with Tanzania, a world class location for dolphins as well as other wildlife. Volunt
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What Difference Does This Project Make?
The Kenya Expedition is making a difference by supporting our partners, including Kenyan Wildlife Services, in three focus areas; cetacean research, community development and Terrestrial ecology studies. Through education, environmental awareness and current wildlife monitoring studies, our collaborative work has been building capacity within the communities, assisting them in developing sustainable tourism practises and protecting cetacean and primate species within the area. Volunteers choosing to join this project will focus on the community development side of the program but will ultimately aid all aspects of this long term multi focused program
Highlights
Integrating deeply with the local community and learning some Swahili, English language teaching techniques and an intro to TEFL (teach English as a foreign language) certification, Camping out under the African stars; living on an African island; having the chance to see dolphins and whales; experiencing the amazing mega-fauna of the island that includes whale sharks and manta rays (seasonal), snorkelling some of Kenya’s finest coral reefs, seeing primates and making a real difference to these vital community development projects.
Location
If you are looking to go on an adventurous expedition that takes you to a truly exotic location, this is the one for you! Shimoni is a peninsula located next to the Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area, which lies at the tip of the Pemba Channel. With scattered islands covered by coastal forest, mangroves, rocky shores, sandy bays and fringed by coral reefs, Shimoni is a tropical haven and divers’ paradise. The expedition’s main base is located on Wasini Island, which is situated alongside the famous Kisite National Marine Park.
Field Conditions
Accommodation is in shared housing that has a large communal banda where volunteers can eat, conduct training, plan lessons and relax after their teaching within the local community. You will be living with different volunteer teams either from theI expedition or from volunteers choosing to work on the dolphin project. This is a great way to learn more about what we do in the area and you will also have the opportunity to stop in to see other projects at work. The communal area has a beautiful view of the channel and Mkwiro beach. The base camp will have limited electricity, powered by solar panel and backed up by a generator. Volunteers can wash either in the ocean or using bucket-style showers on the base. Wholesome and varied meals will be cooked on a rotational basis
Project Life
I always wake up a bit groggy but after breakfast of pancakes, fruit, Kenyan tea and spectacular views of the ocean there is no way I can be grumpy for too long. Having planned our lessons the night before we headed off for a hectic day of teaching. The first lesson was English, which is always such a pleasure to teach as the children never tire of learning. Instead they ask so many questions!
After a quick cup of tea and some yummy biscuits made by the guys on camp duty it was back to the village for P.E. classes. P.E. is always energetic but so much fun especially when we play banana, banana, mango. This must be the most popular game on Wasini Island!
By lunch time everyone is starving and it is always gratefully received. We take a few minutes to catch up with the volunteers doing marine and forest project work and then its back to lessons. Today was creative arts where we taught the kids how to write poems. They came up with some brilliant ones that completely put me to shame. Later in the afternoon we headed off into the village to the orphanage. I love walking through the village; everyone rushes over calling your name. I’ve been here four weeks and am still struggling with all their names!
The orphanage is always the highlight of my day, just being there reading, talking and drawing with the children is so much fun. They are always so happy and excited to see us and the time always goes far too fast.
In the evenings we eat dinner as a group, always delicious and there is always a fight for seconds. If the people on camp duty are really nice they make flapjacks. That always makes people happy! We go through the days debrief, and cover plans for the next day, or discuss weekend plans – with so much to do and experience in this part of the world, it requires some careful advance planning!
Most evenings we go over to Paradise next door for a welcome cold drink and time to chat and a catch up with everyone. Bed time is always great after a quick look at the beautiful stars and a cuddle from Charlie the base cat. I can’t wait to crawl into my bed and although it sounds cheesy, I can’t wait for the next day to begin.
Jessica Eddison, Kenya Volunteer
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