OPPORTUNITY TO VOLUNTEER IN KENYA (KANYAWEGI VILLAGE, KISUMU KENYA)

Canadian organizers
The program is run jointly by the University of British Columbia (UBC) Students and a community based organization in Kenya - Kanyawegi Support for Orphans and Widows (KASOW), which has a branch here in Vancouver, Canada as a registered organization under the society Act of BC. KASOW-Canada has inspired, encouraged and supported many Canadians to provide personal services and expertise to the people of Kanyawegi to reduce the impact of poverty among orphaned and impoverished children, widows, the needy and destitute in Kanyawegi village, Kenya. In addition, KASOW-Canada is:

· Helping Canadians, youth and students create positive change in Africa through service learning and volunteering.
· Motivating many Canadian youth and community members to be aware of challenges facing developing countries.
· Inspiring and supporting many Canadian students to become personally involved in international projects and to experience Global citizenship.
· Providing effective leadership and mentor to many Canadian, and students undertaking or aspiring to undertake international projects.
· Establishing a wide range of fruitful collaborative, social justice projects and programs with various departments at the university of BC.
· Spurring the interests of Kenyans in diaspora to address the poverty related challenges and development efforts in their own villages back home

Volunteer Period
1. January to April
2) May to August
3) September to December
We have only 5 opening remaining for September to December placement – 3 months placement, but you can do less depending on your availability. So hurry to avoid missing this great opportunity. Currently we have 18 volunteers on the ground in Kanyawegi, 13 from UBC and 5 from Simon Fraser University (SFU) for the May – August placement running various projects.

Fees
There are no fees charged, which is great, you only pay for your plane ticket, room and board. Three meals are provided in a village home stay setting. You will experience the local culture and enjoy the hospitality of the Africa people.

Personality:
We are looking for people who are enthusiastic and passionate about helping out. Cultural sensitivity is important and more importantly, students with ability to adapt easily to new cultures. Volunteers MUST be 18yrs or older, male or female. We are looking for mature and responsible people. Because village living can be challenging, older volunteers are preferred. Generally people with interest in community health and development and who specializes in agriculture, engineering, health, education, social work and commerce

Skills:
Team player, self-motivated, creative and outgoing! People with technical skills in various fields are particularly encouraged to apply.

Type of placement:
Working with community members, especially women groups, school children, children with
special needs in a variety of sectors including education, health, agriculture, environment, business and social work. Specific ongoing community health and development projects are namely;
· Computer training: In Elementary and High school
· School reconstruction project
· Goat keeping and tailoring cooperative projects
· HIV/AIDS awareness project (teaching in schools, VCT and wellness center)
· Health, food and nutrition (sustainable agriculture and food security)
· Water, environment and sanitation projects
· Small business and micro-finance project
· Fishing and poultry projects

Placement Location:
Kanyawegi is about 6-8hrs drive from the capital city, Nairobi, depending on the condition of the road. It takes only 45 min to fly into Kisumu by plane and 30min drive from Kisumu town centre to the village. There is no reliable public transport in the village, but the common transport system is operated by “boda boda”, which is basically a bicycle propelled by energetic male youth. However, other places within the village can only be accessed by foot, so you will be doing some walking, or you may call it hiking.

Area information and Tourism:
A trip to Kenya will be a memorable adventure; Kenya is truly a tourist destination and is a home to one of the world’s most cherished safaris. A visit to Kenya will take you to the lavish Massai mara national park (one of the world’s best), Tsavo, and Amboseli game reserves, Mt. Kenya and the Great Rift Valley. Besides, you will have the opportunity for a vacation extravaganza at the Kenyan costal city of Mombassa and lie in the unforgettable beaches along Malindi and Lamu. Kanyawegi is a rural community in western Kenya, comprises five villages with a population of 15,000 people. The community is predominantly Christians, and local language “Dholuo” is commonly used. However, official language is English while Swahili is the national language. Most people speak all the three languages. The village is located in the suburbs just outside of the lake town Kisumu, which is situated along the equator by nature. Wouldn’t it be nice to stand right at the center of the world? Kisumu city is overlooking the spectacular lake Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world and the source of river Nile. The region is a home to many legendary and mysterious igneous rocks, animals, birds and fantastic landscape. The proximity of Kisumu and Kanyawegi in particular to Uganda and Tanzania gives every visitor to this community a chance to visit the three east Africa countries in less than a day. A weekend trip to the neighboring Tanzania will not only provides a rare glimpse of the Seregeti national park but also a chance to climb the famous Mt. Kilimanjaro situated along the Tanzania/Kenya border. Uganda too is a place you don’t want to miss. Besides its undisputable beauty, Uganda is where river Nile begins its flow to the Mediterranean Sea. Be sure that you will not only enjoy the animals and sceneries, but the best part of your stay in Kenya will be your interaction with the warm loving and kind people of this great country. Therefore, any reason to visit Kenya and volunteer in Kanyawegi is a good reason!

Host Organization: Kanyawegi Support for Orphans and Widows (KASOW)
Is a community-based organization (CBO) specializing in community health and development. Our mandate is community empowerment via sustainable income generating and development projects, passionately pursuing a novel approach to combating HIV/AIDS pandemic and aggressively aiming at helping the United Nations (UN) fulfil one of its very important millennium development goals; education for all school going children. We are operating at the grass root level, in the deep rural villages commonly ignored by big charity organizations. We identify with the community’s problems because all of our members have lived experiences having been born and raised in these communities.

Our Vision
To create vibrant and sustainable community income-generating projects through the mobilization of local resources with the view of promoting self-reliance and sustainability, in order to reduce the poverty and HIV infection rate, increase food security, living standards and most of all create a hope for the future.

Our mission
One of the root causes of poverty is lack of basic education. At the same time, poverty is a major determinant of health, responsible for a host of ills, which plague rural communities such as the high rate of infant mortality, malnutrition, poor sanitation, diseases, illiteracy, and unplanned and large ill-fed families. KASOW believes that to reduce poverty and all of these negative aspects, which tend to degrade humanity, we must address poverty related issues and empower women, men and children to become economically independent. We envision building a sustainable agriculture to ensure food security, a profit based village economies through small business driven by micro-credit loans, sustainable health care & sanitation and the provision of quality and affordable education to the young children especially the marginalized like the girl child. We aim at reduce extreme poverty and equally important, eliminating poverty vicious cycle.

Training
· There will be one week orientation period, which will be provided by KASOW to ensure volunteers smooth transition into the community
· Training will be provided for all volunteer teachers on teaching methods in Kenya. The head teachers of the respective schools will assign a mentor to the volunteer teachers. He/she will guide the volunteer in the beginning on understanding the curriculum and on cultural sensitivities
· Training will be provided for those who will have interest in duties related to other community development project, e.g. childcare.
· If a volunteer require more training after or if the volunteer require special training unique to themselves or to their project areas, he or she will be required to inform KASOW office

Training will be mandatory for all volunteers. It is meant to help volunteer navigate the teaching duties and other assignments easily and effectively

Accommodation
We offer only one type of accommodation, i.e., village home stay! In Village home you will stay with local community member in their home. Food will be provided, three meals a day, (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Lunch may be in the form of packed food depending on how far the host home is from your work place. Please note that the food will generally be a combination of western & local dish and taken in a group as volunteers.

Village home stay:
· Private bedroom with lockable door and storage facilities
· Shared living room, washroom (outdoor pit latrine) and bathroom (no running water, must learn how to use water in bucket to take a shower)
· Common kitchen, incase you want to make a special meal for the family
· There are no laundry facilities available; washing is by hand, will train you

For more info read about the 2006 project report and watch & listen to 2006 project video http://www.thekenyaproject.com