So I have now been volunteering for IHF here in Nakuru, Kenya for three weeks, and I have six more weeks to go. Ultimately I am amazed by the children and their resilience to the conditions that they have faced. Day in, day out, they continue to show such strength and pride, and most importantly, they are able to have fun all the time! There are many adversities they face and I am enjoying immensely the opportunity to help them. At the moment in the center … my main focus is on helping with the centre theme of “Respect” where I have been encouraging and assisting them to respect themselves more in their appearance, caring for their school clothes, earning their education and addressing certain behavior traits and doing this by just being with them all of the time so that during play you will get more opportunities to talk serious too, being very consistent and role modeling this, correcting them when needed and explaining why these things are important in their lives.

Respecting their home in the centre and the staff too is another area that I focus on with them where we now do regular litter pickups and talk about the damage some of these things can do if left around regarding water, health, hygiene and the environment. What I see from the children when doing all of these things is a willingness to contribute to their home and they respect that someone can show that to them continuously so this is good work but only if others can follow on from this when they come to volunteer too.

Being a part of the children’s lives, even if it’s making a difference to just one child a day, is far more rewarding than I thought was possible. Taking time to understand children individually and simply spending time with them talking, playing, sharing stories and having fun will make a difference everyday to them specifically but you can also still focus on wider centre work too. I have already completely fallen in love with Kenya, the children and the people here and know that I’ll be returning for sure to continue to support in some other way.

If there’s a lesson learnt while here is that i wish I’d prepared myself more for the conditions that the children were in somehow as it was really hard to begin with until you adjust and realise the bigger picture. My first reaction to badly leaking roofs and seeing the damage it causes to the children’s bedding and mattresses was to ask to pay money towards it then you see the long list of repairs needed that are all vital and it overwhelms you that you cannot simply fix everything with what is in your own bank account, nor is swapping out your own items with the children’s as yours aren’t damaged is only a very short term solution.

The bigger picture being; you need to just be yourself and be there for the children and also roll up your sleeves with both manual work and any international work that will fundraise or support your centre. What has been very encouraging indeed is seeing each positive change unfold through time and this is down to the planning and wisdom of centre directors and local staff, being part of this team is proving to be a really great experience that i’ll never forget.

As for IHF themselves, if you fancy a really hard challenge in a varied of situations, especially here in Nakuru Kenya and that if you apply yourself correctly you will absolutely make a difference i’m sure.