An update for travellers wishing to volunteer in Kenya with African Impact you can continue with your plans without doubts and fear for your safety as an agreement has now been reached in Kenya between the political leaders, Odinga and Kibaki. The agreement has been positively received and as a result African Impact has decided to go full steam ahead with our medical and community project from 1 April onwards.

Our project managers are in constant contact with us here in our Head Office based in Zimbabwe and they are confident that we can resume the project to normal operating levels without threat to our staff and volunteers.

Kenya’s communities need all the help they can get, now more than ever!

We have 3 volunteers joining us in April and you can be a part of this initial team of volunteers responding to the urgent need for help and assistance in this area. For those booked to join later on this year, or who are interested in joining our volunteer force in Kenya, please let us know if you would like details to contact past volunteers directly, and indeed those who were with us during the recent crisis, for reassurance and their personal account of how they felt whilst in Kenya.

Please be assured that we would not deliberately put you in any danger and if the situation was unsafe we would warn against travel to Kenya.

Our project managers and staff are skilled and experienced in ensuring your safety at all times. Travel in-between projects will be assessed carefully at all times. On the days you would travel into the slums, our staff will routinely check in advance of your arrival if the area is safe to enter. Our staff would conduct this safety procedure even prior to the political unrest and will continue to take these precautions and more.

Should you or a member of your family need to speak to our project mangers in Kenya please feel free to contact them:

Tesni Anderson: tesni@africanencouter.org
Sean Anderson: sean@africanencounter.org

For any booking queries please contact lauren@africanencounter.org

Please note that we are offering a 15% subsidised discount on the placement fee for participation in our Kenya project for the remainder of 2008.

Please let me know your thoughts and plans for your placement and if you have any questions.

Lauren Lock
Destination Manager - Kenya

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As you all know, things in Kenya have been really crazy since the elections, with a lot of counrtywide unrest. Due to this, the usual structure of our medical and community project was disrupted and our project involvement became limited to only the orphanages in Limuru.

Until last Sunday, things had been calm in Limuru, where our volunteer cottages are. Around lunch time we were faced with over a 1000 refugees at the nearby Tigoni police station and the Red Cross Centre in Limuru. The refugees had been displaced due to the political unrest. On Monday, we went to check out the situation and established that it would be safe for us to send our volunteers in to help at both places.

Monday morning we spent at the Red Cross Centre, sorting clothes and helping to dress those that had nothing, as well as cooking lunch for the 500 refugees, helping with registration etc. In the afternoon, we cooked rice for 800 (at least) refugees at the police station. They have spent most of their time this week at the police station opposite Brackenhurst, helping with the preparation and distribution of food (which is usually CRAZY!!), playing with young children, and helping out wherever else there is need.

This week, we have felt it most important for our volunteers to respond to this immediate crisis in our area, and they have been happy to do so and have done a wonderful job. We have been told that these refugees are expected to be there for at least the whole of the next week. However, we would like to give the medical volunteers the option of going to the hospital from next week again.

The situation in Kenya seems to have calmed down and we feel like it is safe to drive anywhere. There is still tension though, and we will not send the volunteers into the slums until this has completely settled down.

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