Tomorrow's the day!

So, after a couple of people suggesting it, I thought I would set up a blog for my time away in Kenya. I can't make any guarantees as to how often I'll be able to update it, as I've no idea when/how often I'll have internet whilst there.

I guess I'll explain what made me do this. Well, a few years ago my plan was to do some travelling after finishing sixth form, in a gap year before university. Unfortunately I never managed to save the money for it, and I had never really decided what exactly I was going to do. Most of you probably know, I also dropped out of uni after less than 2 months, and have worked in three different jobs in just over a year, so have never really had a clear direction of where I'm going in life, despite the 5+ years working in retail up until last year, before eventually giving up on chasing a career with that company.

But, years ago, I always had an interest in teaching, so when I saw the company IVHQ and the placements they have to offer, it was the perfect opportunity to do two things I had always wanted to do. Skip ahead a couple of years, postponing several times for various reasons, here I am today, almost packed and ready to go.

I'm leaving tomorrow, flight leaves Heathrow at 7pm, lands in Nairobi at 6.30am (GMT+3, so 8 1/2 hour flight). Hopefully I'll manage to get some sleep on the plane, though Wednesday there is not much happening as far as I know, picked up by the local volunteer company and taken to a host family for the day/night, before orientation Thursday. Hopefully there will be a couple of other volunteers arriving early, so we can have a wander around Nairobi (not too keen on doing that on my own on the first day in the country!).

Thursday we'll be picked up from our temporary host family and taken to orientation, to be given the final details of our placement. As it stands at the moment, I'll be teaching (Maths, English, Science and Social Studies) at the Olympic Education Centre in the Kibera slums, and will be living in a volunteer house, not in the slums, but close, looked after by two Kenyan ladies named Milka and Wambui. Though this is all subject to change, won't know for sure until Thursday.

Also at the orientation, we'll be able to book safaris, as well as the outreach weekend, visiting 3 projects started by past volunteers:

The KCC Slum Project (Reaching out to 130 slum kids through education, feeding projects and further projects.)
IDP Project (the combination of a feeding program for over 170 displaced families .currently we want to start several projects which will gear the development of lives of camp dwellers.
Nakuru slum Project (we reach out over 50 families living in the slum whose daily bread is earned by scavenging from garbage waste deposited near their homes. Currently only have a feeding program for the slum dwellers.)

During the weekend, we'll also take a bike ride through Hell's Gate, and help distribute food at the Nakuru slum. Oh and the opportunity to experience the night life in Kenya...with drinks being around a pound a pint, I'm definitely in!

Well that's everything I know so far, not sure what else I'll be up to over the next month, but I'll try to update this with my plans whilst I'm away. Hopefully people are interested in reading!