In the heart of Kenya, Raphael welcomed us with open arms and shared his home, support us and show us everything that needs to be done nearby. For those who did not see my Instagram (I invite you to follow it click here), I spent almost 2 weeks in a volunteer program so here I tell you everything!
What is a volunteer program?
A volunteer program is an exchange of work or skills in exchange of accommodation. Sometimes it includes food and sometimes you can even get some economic benefit as it would be tips. It is a way in which you can finance your trip a little more or support some beautiful cause. There are 3 types of volunteers:
- Hotels and hostels: You exchange a few hours 4-6 hours working at the reception, in the bar, the kitchen, cleaning up or whatever they need help with… They will always tell you what they are looking for.
- Social work: In these volunteer programs, you usually support schools, orphanages or gardens giving some classes, helping teachers and in some special projects.
- Environmental work: These are some organizations in which you support the project they are promoting. You will find some special farms, NGO’s….
There are several pages where you can find those volunteers, but for me the most recommended and most complete is Worldpackers. Here you can filter by country and type of volunteer you want to do. Any questions you have, do not hesitate to ask me. If you want to sign up, remember that with the code: viajandosinfrenos they will give you a discount of $ 10 USD on the yearly subscription.
What is the Good Samaritan?
Good Samaritan is home to 83 children in Soweto, Nairobi. This orphanage began more than 20 years ago thanks to Damaris. She was an orphan and when she managed to grow and understand the importance of education and values, she decided to start helping some children and show them the way. She started with a cardboard home and received for the first time 2 children who helped feed and grow. Later that year, she was receiving 2 more, than 4 until today where there are 83 children of all ages. Damaris today with the help of her daughter Emily, her daughter-in-law Raphael and others , she is managing to educate these children.
Today, they have an elementary school called Good Samaritan School where they give all the elementary school for their children and some children of the neighborhood. For the older ones, they have to attend to public schools but they still incur very large expenses. They already have some children who have won some scholarships for universities and have a workshop where some graduates can support and work there.
How was my volunteering?
I must be honest and confess that I was not the whole 2 weeks and I “regret” a little bit because I would have loved to be with these children for a longer time and this beautiful family that opened its doors to us.
At the moment I was traveling with 2 Colombians (Daniela Montoya @danielaporelmundo and Andrea Palacio @andreapalaciom) we were coming together from Tanzania and we were all going to volunteer so we took a bus together from Arusha. Raphael had already explained to us how to get there so we could easily get home. When we arrived at Raphaels house, we met Unise and Steff (son of Raphael and Emily). We decided to go to the supermarket and eating something and rest meanwhile Raphael and Emilly arrived. When we met them, they opened their arms and told us to feel at home, that tomorrow we would go to the orphanage to meet all the children.
The next day when arriving at the orphanage with Emily and Raphael, a little boy saw us on the car and screamed to the other kids, they all came out like a stampede to hug us. Everyone wanted to show us their rooms, their drawings and show us what they had learned in school. After a small tour of the home, we were able to play with the children and we helped cook Ugali with vegetables (If you know me, you know that I was dying inside because I usually don’t eat vegetables, but I must say that I was very good). The day was long and we enjoyed it a lot but the next day we weren’t going to go, it was Sunday and they wanted to show us Nairobi.
Our hosts took us to the city and showed us around the main things in Nairobi. Later we went looking for some typical food in a restaurant called Kilimanjaro (Super recommended) in the city center. We went up to the convention center to be able to observe all of Nairobi and then we took a few tours through the city’s neighborhoods.
The next day we escaped from Nairobi as Raphael helped us plan a Safari to enjoy the Massai Mara National Park. Which I will tell you a little in another post, but it was an incredible experience. If you want to go, but you can’t volunteer, I know that Raphael will gladly help you get contact them, so below I put all the information. For these 3 days we escaped Nairobi and this is the reason why we did not completed the 2 weeks, but I must say that it was something spectacular.
When we returned from the safari, Daniela only had a couple more days because she had to leave so we took the opportunity to be with the children as much as we could. We played, singed, cooked and most importantly, we had fun.
It was time to say goodbye to Daniela, but now we take the opportunity to go to school Andrea and me. In school you feel an incredible vibe. Emily is the director and upon arrival, all the children ran towards us. Even those who did not know us. We did a tour and Emily showed us in which room or what teacher we were going to support, she already had everything planned. In my case, she asked me to support the bigger kids with Mathematics, Science and English. At first I was very scared because I had never taught in Spanish, and much less in English and I had not seen these topics for a long time and I didn’t remember much.
Teaching is not easy, it helped me remember my teachers with much love that I even wrote what I was doing. The first class I did not feel very confident for the first few minutes, but as I saw the questions, everything was coming to my head, I remembered formulas, I remembered chemical processes everything!
This week was almost always on the school, every day except at Andrea’s farewell that we went to dance at the orphanage and prepare popcorn. When I was confident, I started teaching new topics and even some teachers asked me to tell them and the children a little more about the culture of Colombia and South America. We did geography class and I must say that they learned very well. On my last day I did a quiz to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade about the map of South America and almost everyone knew how to locate them on a blank map and to mention all the countries perfectly.
The last day I was there, I almos cry, all the children had prepared a song and a dance wishing me good luck, they gave me letters and lots of hugs. I came to school and to the orphanage thinking that I was going to help these children, but I really realized that they helped me. They showed me how to enjoy simple things and they showed me my abilities to teach and even lead. I didn’t want to leave but it was time, I want to apply for a special visa for Australia and I need to present an exam and the closest dates were either in Zambia or South Africa. I need to start going in that direction and see if I can present it. Then I tell you a little more about this.
Other activities you can do in Nairobi!
Giraffe Center
A place that I loved was the Giraffe Center. This giraffe shelter was created by a couple to help take care of the species because it was in the process of extinction. Today it has a fairly luxurious hotel, but it has a part open to the public where you can feed the giraffes and pet them. Normally I do not agree with this type of activities, but in this case they are rescued giraffes that have suffered so they are not caught like in a zoo.
If you want to go, this is the location because I think there are 2. This is the one I went to and I thought it was great.
Entry costs:
- 1,500 KSH approx 15 USD
These others are some plans that I recommended, but because of time I wasn’t able to make them so if you have time and are interested I recommend them:
Nairobi National Park:
It is the only national park within a city and is a safari. Within this park, you will find all kinds of animals. Lions, giraffes, elephants …… even if you go down the road you can see some from afar. For security reasons, this park is surrounded by a fence which appears to be a zoo, but the park is so large that you will realize that it is not. Recently there were news in which some lions escaped through the streets of Nairobi.
Elephant Rescue center:
Like giraffe center, this is a space where you can find rescued elephants and be very close to them. The elephant is one of my favorite animals and I think I regret a bit of not going. It would have been amazing.
Carnivor
If you like to try different food, you should go to this restaurant that is very close to Nairobi National Park, you will find different types of meat. Crocodile, ox, antelope depends on what they where able to caught that day. They clearly use species that are not endangered. If you are a food lover it must be a very good place, it is a bit expensive from what I understand.
If you like to help, teach and learn, volunteering is something I recommend without a doubt. It was a very beautiful experience that opened my heart. I remind you of the promotional code: traveling on brakes so that you get a discount and below you find Raphael’s phone number so you can contact him directly if you want to know something deeper about volunteering.
Raphael Wallah
+254722819384
Tell him that Nicolas gave you the number so he wouldn’t be so lost!
