Volunteer work in Kenya

Volunteer Work in Kenya

Before you depart, you will have the chance to decide if you would like your volunteer work in Kenya to focus primarily on healthcare or education projects. You will then volunteer in your preferred field of work four days a week. You will also be placed in social projects. This way, you will become familiar with different fields of work, helping out in many different projects.

Project Emphasis: Healthcare

Your volunteer work in Kenya in the field of healthcare will include work in hospitals or public health centres. Here, you will assist nurses or doctors in various areas such as:

• Maternity wards
• Orthopaedics
• X-rays
• Emergency care
• Child and adolescent healthcare
• HIV
• Psychotherapy/rehabilitation

You could also volunteer in a laboratory or operating room, accompany clinic personnel on house visits in rural areas, or help to explain healthy living to the local population.

In order to work in the field of healthcare, you must have appropriate medical knowledge. If you are unable to prove any healthcare experience, your responsibilities in the hospital will be limited to observation or administrative tasks.

Project Emphasis: Education

Your volunteer work in Kenya in education projects, will include work in preschools or primary schools, as well as in special establishments for children with disabilities. You will be assigned to a school or class, where you will support the teacher for the duration of your stay. During the instruction, you will support the teachers and help the children with their assignments. Classes are generally very large, so teachers cannot always offer individual attention to all of the students. You will also help:

• Correct homework,
• Develop teaching materials and plans,
• Tutor students,
• Review missed lessons with children,
• Help out in a reading and writing club,
• Teach children about hygiene and environmental protection, and
• Form art and sport clubs.

Upon request, you could also teach a class independently, under the supervision of a teacher. Now and then, the schools are affiliated with orphanages, where you would also volunteer caring for children. The same is true with educational facilities for children with disabilities.

During school holidays, you can help in “holiday clubs”, reviewing learning material with the children, developing new instructional materials, or renovating schools. Experience in the field of education, occupational therapy, or speech therapy is welcomed, but not required.

Project Emphasis: Social Projects   

Kenya is home to over a million orphans. Most have lost their parents to AIDS, and many are infected with AIDS themselves. There are numerous establishments in Limuru, which take in these children. In these projects, your volunteer work in Kenya will include helping to teach the children, prepare meals, or organise games and sport activities. Maintenance work on the buildings or construction work could be part of your responsibilities. This means you will need to pick up a hammer or paintbrush! Aside from helping children, you can also dedicate some time to assisting adults, organising workshops and conversation groups, in order to improve women’s self-confidence, as many suffer from HIV/AIDS, abuse, and bitter poverty. You may also take part in renovation work.

Assistance in Nairobi Slums

Volunteering in Kenya, you will spend one day a week working in a clinic at the edge of the slums, which was established for the healthcare of the people there. You will assist doctors and nurses in their daily work or take care of administrative tasks and make healthcare visits to the homes of patients who are unable to visit the clinic. You could also work in a nutrition project, handing out food and offering nutrition advice.

If you would also like to do volunteer work in Kenya at the weekend, you are free to help with vaccinations in a slum clinic, or care for children in a baby rescue centre.