Crissy on Volunteering Abroad
Over the uni summer break ‘22/’23, I travelled around Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa for 11 weeks and spent some time volunteering in local communities along the way. In this piece I’ll tell you a little bit more about my adventures as well as some things that may be helpful to think deeply about when considering volunteering overseas.
I spent four weeks at Kyosei Foundation: a local grassroots pre and primary school that was set up in a rural village called Mapumbazuko, 45 minutes out of Arusha, in Northern Tanzania. The founder of the school, Mr. S, desired to form a school where all levels of education were offered at the same institution. In Tanzania, the school system means that most schools cover only a few years of learning and then students have to change to another school, which causes a lot of disruption as well as many barriers, to continuing their education. I helped as a teacher at Kyosei, which was chaotic and not without challenges, but the learning curve for me was exponential. I lived with the family of Mr. S, who were extremely kind and caring towards me, and treated me like I was part of the family. I helped to cook local dishes over gas stoves and open fires, wash dishes and clothes outside by hand and well water in the heat of the afternoon, learnt basic Swahili, and every weekend went exploring with the family in the local area, whether to water holes in the savannah, or walks into the rich green jungle, or once even visiting their grandmother, who lived tribally.
The second place I volunteered at was Agatha Amani House, a women’s and children’s shelter in a village near Naivasha, Kenya. Said to be the only shelter in a country of prolific family and sexual violence, the safehouse was set up by a grant from a Kenyan woman who had bequeathed her land for the cause. I lived with the residents at the shelter, running classes in physical health, hygiene, and health and wellbeing. I also worked on the permaculture farm, digging, planting, and harvesting crops, and ran English classes with the children, to provide an education despite them being absent from formal schooling whilst in the shelter.
Volunteering allowed me to break up my travelling and spend several weeks in one community, granting me the blessing of living in the daily lives of other people. I got to know and connect with people, hear their stories, and really absorb and learn, the vivid culture and language. I also made strong friendships with other volunteers from other countries in the world, which was a highlight too.
It wasn’t evident to me at all in the beginning, but from planning my trip and then my experiences themselves, I realised how important it is to take care as to what, where and how I choose to volunteer. Overseas volunteering, especially in third world countries, and almost even more especially it seems, in Africa, can draw some pretty questionable discourses. I found a lot of volunteering options in the continent had wobbly foundations. There were many wealthy, international volunteering organisations, that stayed short-term in communities and required hefty deposits by the volunteers – which made me uneasy. I realised that if I was to volunteer, that I needed to be contributing to something that was ethical, community-lead, long-term and sustainable.
Here are some things I would encourage anyone thinking of volunteering overseas to consider:
Is my volunteering contributing to a long-term project over numerous months or years?
Is it a sustainable endeavour?
Is it led by someone in the community or by an outsider?
What was the reason behind the initiation of the project/cause? Was there a need for this project, identified by the community?
Do I have to pay a cost, and what is this going towards?
How long am I going to stay there for?
Nothing was straight forward, and there are always pros and cons, but I feel like at least with my volunteering, I honestly think I did have a tangible effect in these communities. I loved my time over in Kenya and Tanzania. I loved the people I met, those who shared their stories with me and I think of them often. I couldn’t recommend it more.
I’d encourage you to put time to consider why, you want to volunteer overseas, and how you can do this in a meaningful way, before you jump into it. It’s worthwhile thinking about.