Project Overview
Overview
Are you good with your hands and fancy putting them to good use?
Get your hands dirty building homes on projects in the stunning area of either Nakuru or Naro Moru. Get stuck into building one of the community development projects or help build houses for poor communities. Whichever building venture you embark on, this is a fantastic opportunity not only to live and work alongside the community who will benefit from your efforts, but to also learn something of the difficulties facing those in the developing world.
When you book this trip, in addition to the 52% typically of your programme fee that is spent in country, we will also use US$75 of your fee to purchase 6 bags of cement, 5 tons of sand or equivalent through our Big Giving programme.
Trip Highlights:
- Getting your hands truly dirty working with the local community!
- Spending time in this stunning part of the world
- Exploring National Parks at weekends
- Dancing to Kenyan music - some of the catchiest in Africa!
Itinerary & Details
What do the building projects do?
There is no social housing scheme in Kenya which means that those people that cannot afford their own home will be forced to live on the streets, in caves or in slums. The need for simple housing in Kenya is great as is assistance in building for the community itself. This can include classroom building or repair, orhpanages or educational centres, accommodations or churches to name a few. These are community run projects and as such the community will decide on the priorities at the time based on funds available and who is available. This is a great opoprtunity to interact, socialise and work alongside Kenyan people to help them build a better and more prosperous future.
If you are building in one of the established community development projects near Nakuru, you may be laying or repairing the foundations for the community projects with children (orphanages), which will provide an educational centre, accommodation and medical care for the children and community who make their living on the local city dump. You may find that you are asked to work in the community of Hilton, directly beside the city dump, to build shelters for the people living there, usually single parents, or grandparents caring for their orphaned grandchildren.
In the Naro Moru area of Mount Kenya, the community is working to continue their social programmes of supporting people away from offending behaviour, offer additional support to single parents, and other much needed community support. These are true community projects, where they fundraise, build, and make full use of a variety of buildings for many reasons. You will learn much about the social circumstances of many of the poorest people in rural Kenya. The current project is working with a local conservation group to help them build a future accommodation for volunteers to increase their opportunities for help and income.
Why do the projects need volunteers?
The projects depend on the goodwill and donations from the local community and sponsors. They welcome additional labour (don't worry - strong muscles aren't a must!), and any particular skills you may have, such as building, organisational, engineering, etc.
Your role as a volunteer
You will get involved in many aspects of the building process, depending on the stage you join the project at. You could find yourself getting stuck into a number of tasks, ranging from helping to renovate established buildings, to finishing off work well under way, or starting a building completely from scratch!
The skills you need
You will need to have an appetite for hard work, be very hands-on, and willing to get involved with a variety of tasks. You should be an outdoors person and be prepared to work in different weather conditions. While building experience is not necessary, if you have a specific skill it will be welcomed! The ability to view the bigger picture and long-term goals on the project are essential to the understanding of activities that may seem repetitive and a little insignificant at times.
Very few community building projects have a set timescale for their construction, as local communities will raise some money, use it to buy materials and build until these materials run out. Then they will wait until they have raised more money to start on the next phase. For this reason, building projects in Kenya may change with quite short notice, so you must be prepared to fit in with whatever is currently going on.
You'll find there are many types of building processes in Kenya, ranging from traditional styles using locally found materials such as wood and stones, to the bricks-and-cement style you may be more familiar with, so you'll need to adapt to the materials you're working with.
Accommodation included
Whichever building project you volunteer on, you will be provided with local accommodation.
Nakuru
You will be living with a local family in a homestay. Nakuru is Kenya's fourth biggest town, about 160km from Nairobi, and is a fairly laid-back and modern town. Nakuru has a good transport system and is well linked to the rest of the country. Facilities are good, with several banks, internet cafes, tour operators, and hotels. Water and electricity may occasionally go off, but in general supply is reliable.
Naro Moru
You will be living at Batians view hotel, close to the community where you will be working. Naro Moru is a village in the foothills of Mount Kenya, Africa's second highest mountain. Water is freely available, with a boiler being used for heating it. There is electricity when the sun goes down, and there are plenty of power points to charge electrical gadgets. This is in a beautiful setting, where there are many birds, flora and animals to be seen! It's easy to arrange to climb Mount Kenya in four to five days, or just to take a day hike up part of this picturesque mountain.
Project resources and advice
Resources are provided by the community and as a result can be very basic. You will find working gloves useful and don't forget to pack old clothes as you'll be getting very dirty!
Food included
You'll be provided with two delicious meals a day which are vegetarian-friendly.
Things that you will need to organize yourself
- Flights to Kenya: i-to-i can secure preferential rates, please ask us
- Travel insurance: i-to-i can secure preferential rates, please ask us
- Visa
- In-country transport (except your airport pickup on arrival date)
- Tours, trips and add-ons: i-to-i can secure preferential rates, please ask us
- Extra food (approximately US$50 or GBP£25 per week)
Stories
Sophie Banks gives this project 10/10
Here is what Sophie had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
The country is beautiful and the people were so friendly I made tons of friends.
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
I met so many amazing people and did so many things I will never forget it!
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
It was the best time of my life!
ben cooper gives this project 10/10
Here is what ben had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
kenya has so much to offer it was such an experience where words cannot describe how much of a great trip we had.from the volunteering with the poor communities to the smiles on the kids faces when they saw white people and what we were doing was brilliant and then the safaries were awesome.
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
i learnt alot about africa in a whole the cultures the language the terrain. you can read all you want about it but you have to go there to experience it first hand. i was affected by the extreme poverty nothing can prepare you for that. i learnt that you dont need much to be happy and that no matter how bad we are off there are alot of people far worse off than us.
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
do fundraising cause you are expected to donate things or money to your project.relax when you are there.
take your time theres no rush.
keep your wits bout you be prepared to smile alot and please and thankyous go along way.
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
it was an unbelievable experience the kenyans were such lovely people the children are so happy with so little.
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
if we were prepared a bit better and informed that without donations from us volunteers the projects wouldnt run. i was dissappointed that so much money went to i-i and none to projetcs.
George Paton-Williams gives this project 10/10
Here is what George had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
Im afraid its the old cliche 'there were too many highlights to put down here'!
The whole trip was just one long highlight of my life so far. But if I had to name a few...
Safari at Maasai Mara (of course)
Seeing the sun rise over Mt Kenya
Boda-boda journeys!
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
I spent alot of my tmie in the Hilton slum of Nakuru where families literally have nothing except what they find on the city's dumpsite. However, still seeing them happy, smiling and content with life forces you to realise how easy we have it and how relatively pathetic most of our troubles at home are.
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
Budget!
Do everything possible, leave without regrets.
Don't let the constant attention of being a white man in a black man's country get you down. Just learn to accept it and never get annoyed with the locals about it.
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
Through good and bad - only great memories. Do it!
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
Only things that I could have done differently - pretty much taken more money and budgetted better!
Jackie Wilson gives this project 10/10
Here is what Jackie had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
As I stayed for a total of 8 weeks I was able to really get to know the community and feel part of it. The work they are doing is nothing short of amazing and I felt huge pride in being part of the group
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
Definitely...I thought I would be the one sharing my experiences and that they would learn more than me, but I was wrong, I have come away learning more about myself and my attitude to work and life in general
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
For this trip...contact the in country co-ordinators before you leave home as I was unaware how cold it would be and how remote it would be....wasn't a problem, but others may benefit from an email chat with the local rep.
Be prepared for physically demanding work and embrace it
Get as involved as you can and get to know your local co-workers
Stay for as long as you can...you don't get much out of it in two weeks, the longer you stay, the more valuable the experience for both parties
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
An amazing experience that needs to be repeated soon!!
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
No
Robyn Osborn gives this project 10/10
Here is what Robyn had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
Too many things!, But i dug a whole 7ft deep when im ony 5.2ft pretty impressive i thourght. I went on a safari...Amazing! I was there during the i-to-i party and had an amazing time and generally it was the best experience of my life so far.
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
I went for building but due to a lack in the funding deartment we did alot of conservation work, i had never taken this into account befor but it was great to see and do and i really feel like iv helped to secure a small part of their futures by plants new trees and so on and trying to recover the awful damage that was caused all those years ago.
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
If you going to Mount Kenya it gets pretty chilly at night time.Exepected the unexpected.Go with an open mind, its the best way toget the most out of your journey.
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
Amazing,Welcoming,Truely life changing,Total eye opener to how peple really live, not the rubbish you see on tv ect.Adventurouse.I have to many good things to say, so im leaving it as BLOODY AMAZING!!
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
I found the in country co-ordinators thee most welcoming helpful people i think i have every met so all that was erfect the nly thing i would say is do let the voluenteers know it gets pretty damn chilly at night times (but on a plus Batians View, where we stayed, was more then happy to give u extra blankets) i think im just abit of a pansie to the cold, but hay ho apart from that it was fantastic!
Hannah Wright gives this project 9/10
Here is what Hannah had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
The people i met, the new experiences i had, just how different everything is from back home!
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
The day we got taken to the slum where we would be building, it was probably the worst thing ive ever seen in my life, all those people living off a dump site just made me realise how much we take things for granted and think we have problems but they're nothing compared to what these people live in everyday!
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
1. Be open minded about where your going and be flexible because you'll probably be expected to help out with jobs other than what you were expecting to do.
2. Dont worry about food, there are plenty of cafes/restaurants/supermarkets so you wont ever go hungry!
3. Its pretty much impossible to change travellers cheques out there! So remember to tell your bank you might be using your card.
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
A big eye-opening trip ill never forget!
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
Our homestay was nice in terms of accomodation, food etc but the lady we lived with wasnt particularly welcoming after the first few weeks!
James Deacon gives this project 9/10
Here is what James had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
The children and how welcoming everyone was despite how little they had.
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
Going on some home visits put everything into perspective and the whole trip was a real eye opener
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
Go with the flow
Be open minded
Have fun
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
Amazing experience, would do it again tomorrow.
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
If i had a little more time but apart from that, no.
Bronwyn Stevens gives this project 8/10
Here is what Bronwyn had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
Being welcomed by the community. How useful the project was to the community. The commaraderie with other volunteers.
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
The whole thing - it was completely different to anything I had experienced before.
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
Read up on your country and try to learn some of the local language before arriving.
Take small gifts for your homestay hosts - it might seem silly to you, but they are genuinely interested in where you come from.
Be open-minded - life will be very different to what you are used to and probably harder/smellier/less comfortable, simply accept the differences as being different and you will have an amazing and rewarding trip.
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
An eye-opening, life-affirming break from hum-drum, comfortable existence.
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
Staying longer.
Amanda Clarke gives this project 8/10
Here is what Amanda had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
I couldnt wait to tell my friends about all the wonderful people i met and the safari that i went on.
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
Make sure you really research thoroughly before you make any major choices regarding your trip.Have a really open mind and take any opportunities that come your way.Dont get too caught up in working, make sure you have fun as well!!
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
An amazing, eye-openning adventure.
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
The experience would have been better if i had recieved the correct information about my project. The information supplied to me by i-to-i did not correspond with what was actually happening at the project. We were told we would be building homes, churches, schools etc for underprivileged communities and this was not the case.
Timothy Foley gives this project 8/10
Here is what Timothy had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
I encountered so many new things: I learned soccer from Kenyans, met a man who was burned for having committing burglary, ate ugali ... you name it. Lake Nakuru was a lot of fun, as well. Also, Ken (our I-to-I contact in Nakuru) was very helpful, and my homestay host Peter Gatere was great.
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
The ability to work with mentally and physically challenged students at Nakuru Hills Special School was very interesting, and I enjoyed the opportunity to have them paint with us -- they seemed very interested.
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
1. It's helpful to have change as opposed to simply currency notes (much transportation is 20 or 30 shillings).
2. Those selling goods will make the price much higher than it should be -- you need to bargain much lower.
3. Bring clothing you can throw away - it gets too dirty.
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
Very happy I went!
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
When I got to the airport, I didn't know the names of who would be picking us up -- two people (who happened to be very nice) just appeared with an I-to-I sign and said 'come to our car!' It would have been helpful to have their names and/or cell phone numbers beforehand for security purposes.In terms of volunteering, I would have liked more 9 am - 3pm days, because in reality, it was more like 9 am - 12:30 pm. I paid a lot of money, so put me to work!
Himatee Patel gives this project 8/10
Here is what Himatee had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
The experience of the build itself and the feeling of really making a tangible contribution to this underprivileged area.
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
I had seen poverty very closely but had never lived so closely to it or experienced the trials they experience on a daily basis such as loss of water, limited power, etc.
I'm a lifelong loner, and I learned that there's nothing wrong with needing other human beings around you for comfort.
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
When you look at the list of items you may need provided by i-to-i, check off every single one, you will need all of it.
If working on a build site, consider bringing clothing that you are willing to leave behind -- the locals will happily accept them and you don't have to worry about laundry and can make room for souvenirs.
Take time to learn about a dozen local language expressions, it will come in handy that you are trying to speak the language and will increase your confidence.
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
A life-affirming and humbling experience that will stay with me for a long time
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
Better accommodations -- by that I mean just a lot less bugs and less creatures living in the roof of my room.
I would have liked to have known how rustic it was by the HQ office before choosing the project.
Melinda Sparke gives this project 8/10
Here is what Melinda had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
Learnt a lot about the problems facing the community; beautiful area; good interaction with project members
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
Definitely increased my knowledge/ awareness about the extent & impact of deforestation & climate change on the region
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
Read all the i2i info before departure; take snacks/fruitDo some reading about the area/ cultureBe aware of local sensitivities eg we let some children walk with us to the project on the first day & were then advised this had caused worry to the parents. Be responsible about giving gifts as your actions set a precedence.
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
A thought-provoking & worthwhile exprience
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
A more thorough 'show around' at Batian's on arrival ie we later enquired about a lounge to use in the evening but heard no more; managers not very visible.other staff very helpful, pleasant.
We had not anticipated that we would be expected to make donations, this was perhaps naive!
Ben Johnson gives this project 7/10
Here is what Ben had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
Christmas day.
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
The community spirit the local members of the project exhibited.
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
Be open minded; don't expect anything; have a great time.
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
A thought provoking experience which has made me assess my life.
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
I would have prefered a more worthwhile project. However the work beening undertaken in mount kenya is important.
graham cawdron gives this project 7/10
Here is what graham had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
Meeting the people over there was one of the highlights as they were all so pleased to have visitors. The smiles on the kids faces every day we arrived made it feel like we were wanted and that the work we were doin was appreciated.
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
speaking to people about the slums was a real eye opener and also seeing kids layin on the streets and kids sniffing glue is quite upsetting. Seeing this made me think, would that happen on england? i dont know what is being done about this by the government over there but these people deffinately need some help and guidance.
Do you have 3 top tips for future travellers?
Culture shock is a big thing but when you get to know people, you find they are so so friendly. Be willing to get involved!
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
A real eye opener.
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
I think that we coould have done more work over there and have a better idea of what the task was. we only did short days which i understand because of the heat but it fealt like we could have done more.
Kenneth Westwood gives this project 7/10
Here is what Kenneth had to say:
What were the highlights of your trip?
It was one massive highlight.
Was there a part of the project that changed the way you look at the world or affected you in some way?
Just seeing firsrt hand the different cukture and way of life out there.
Give Us Up To 10 Words That Sum Up Your Experience: For example - "A life changing experience!"
A great Adventure!
Is there anything that would have made your experience better?
Not becoming ill.
