Kenya orphanage trip- any advice please

daisyboo

HI, me and a group of friends are visiting Kenya in the summer for 8 weeks, We will be staying at a childrens orphanage in the uplands. I am after some advice on which anti-malaria tablets and insurance to take.

A friends reccomeneded Doxcycylin as these are around the cheapest she said however I am a little wary about them making you sensitve to the sun.

Also does anyone know if it would be better for me to get backpackers insurance? we will be going on safari for a few days whilst were there.

What types of things are must haves? Ive not done this type of travelling before so not sure whats needed/not needed.

Is there anything anyone thinks the children will really appriciate being brought over

If anyone can offer advice who has had a sililar experince then it would be greatly appriciated.


Thank you

Emmylou_2

I went to Kenya last year (albeit for a holiday!) and took doxycycline. I laid out in the fabulous sun for two weeks and had no effects.

Some things I would recommend taking:

Imodium or similar
Dioralyte or similar (you will get a dodgy tummy at some point)
Lots of pairs of knickers (or some travel wash, although I hate doing washing in a sink!)
A plug in mosquito repellant (Boots sell them in the Travel section)
Anti-mosquito spray for when you're on safari
A spare memory card for your camera (or, if possible, a laptop to download your pictures onto).

As for things that will be appreciated:

Sports socks (you know, the white towelling ones) - they went down a treat.
Paper & pencils
Reading books (the children learn english at school)
Footballs
Boiled sweets (the kids in the village near the hotel we visited went mad for sweeties!)

I absolutely LOVED Kenya and now pay for one little boy to have his lunch at primary school, and for a teenage girl to go to secondary school...

daisyboo

Thank you for the reply some good advice there. Although the orphanage does not have electricity at the mo (may have by the time we get there) so plug in repelent wont work.

I think its really good that your helping twp children well done for that.

Beckipeg

We did this with a large group of people a couple of years ago (with our children aged 5 + 6!) - and still keep in contact with the people we met there. A very positive life experience helping to set up an orphanage and local community centre. We were in the middle of nowhere with no running water or electricity - cooking was over a fire, water from the well, toilets a hole in the ground!

We took Malarone as the easiest antimalarial (more expensive, but took for fewer days before and after trip). It was also most effective against the malaria strain carried by the mozzies in the area we were visiting (near Kisumu). Check with your doctor what's most suitable.

We still get letters asking for clothes, books, and shoes. Pens, pencils, paper all very welcome. Be prepared to leave anything you take behind, your cases should be far lighter when you come home than when you go.

Take photos of your family, where you live, children you know. Always ask permission before you take someone's photo. If you have contacts at a local UK school you could ask the children to make cards for you to take to give to the children at the orphanage - they will be cherished.

If you can take lightweight toys - eg. balls, parachute game, frisbee were all appreciated - need to be for a group to use, not just individuals. We also took stickers, bubble mix, balloons etc. to play with the children.


Apart from the usual our packing list included:

Antibacterial Soap, waterless hand cleaner, antibacterial talc, fly papers (no electricity where we were), fly spray (non aerosol), water purifying tablets, toilet paper (keep some in your pocket and plenty for your stay there), wet wipes, mirror. Zip lock plastic bags to store things in. Sewing kit, superglue and duck tape - great for emergency repairs - something WILL need to be fixed! We had our children with us so we took complan and vitamin tablets with us in case they had trouble with the food. In the event, we left them with a local widow's co-operative.

Take decent walking shoes, tough sandals, flip flops (never go barefoot, even in 'bathrooms'). Clothes should be fairly modest - skirts below knee, t shirts/blouses not too revealing for women, shorts not too short for men. Don't forget long sleeves for evenings when mozzies like to bite. Sun hat and sun glasses essential to avoid heat stroke. Work gloves (take extra pairs to leave behind - not just for DIY, but working in fields etc).

Also take a decent first aid kit including emergency medical kit including broad spectrum antibiotic, intravenous needles etc. (from doctors) and emergency dental kit (at least one person in your team should have this). Antiseptic cream, Piriton cream, immodium, rehydration salts. Canesten (for if you get a reaction to the antimalerials).

Mobile phone - follow tips here on MSE and get a local sim card to save costs - or set up your one for roaming in Africa and be prepared for the bill.

Pack in rucsacs (much easier to carry around) or use cases on wheels to avoid delays at airport. Use every ounce of your luggage allowance to take gifts if you don't need the weight yourself - you will be glad you did.


Things I wish I had taken - spare mobile phones to give away, brillo pads or similar for washing up smoke stained and burnt cooking pots, Bibles, a padlock and key to secure our room.


A tip - copy all your insurance papers, passport details etc. and email them to yourself at an email address you can access in Kenya at one of the internet cafes - eg. yahoo. If the worst happens and you lose vital papers, you will at least have a copy. Don't forget to take your passport, insurance papers (we used Lloyds annual family insurance), vaccination certificates (otherwise you might have delays at the airport), travel documents etc. (also have photocopies of these kept in separate luggage). Take clean undamaged paper UK money to change in banks over there - not many banks will take Visa - check before you go. Be prepared to pay local people to do jobs for you - eg. cooking, washing - for many a monthly income of £20 is a fortune.

Hope this helps! Feel free to pm if you need to.

elsien

The antimalarials aren't just about the money - types of malaria vary, and need different medications to prevent against them. The medics are also very keen not to use the newer antimalarials if they don't need to, as it's really important that the mozzies don't become resistant, leaving no effective treatment for the locals.
Check with your GP - they usually get onto one of the tropical medicine hospitals for up-to-date advice, or give you a number to phone up yourself. Sorry, can't remember the name of the place, off the top of my head.

daisyboo

Thank you all especially beckipeg for that long reply its really appriciated.
With regards to some of your points my local brownie group where i'm a leader sent the children cards at christmas and will be writing to them before I go in June too.

Thankyou for the packing list there are things on there I just didn't think of! (im used to going to spain lol) I do know the children are in much need of scientific calculators as they are all at school and these are so expensive out there. I'm just trying to think of somehow for us to get them quite cheaply to give them some.

Elsien- I know its not just about the money as my health is the most importnat thing. My friend who went out at christmas said that the area in which we are travelling isn't effected by malaria but when we go on safari ect we will be travelling to areas where it is hughly present so I will be taking it for the entire trip just to make sure im ok.

elsien

daisyboo wrote:

I do know the children are in much need of scientific calculators as they are all at school and these are so expensive out there. I'm just trying to think of somehow for us to get them quite cheaply to give them some.

What about the kids you work with, or their schools - everythings so disposable, that I bet loads of people have got older ones floating around at home that they don't need, and a lot of them are solar powered as well.
Alternatively is there a local stationers or something you could tap for a donation for the publicity? Sounds like something you could maybe get a local paper interested in?

Good luck and i hope you all have a great time.

Sallys_Savings

I'd do as elsien suggested and try to get your local paper involved.

We have been involved with an orphanage in Sri Lanka and whenever we make a trip over we contact the paper. At first we hated doing this..we thought it was like blowing our own trumpet so to speak and really didnt want to do it, but really wanted some extra help.

But then when we did the first time we were donated so many things.....a dentist donated old stock of childrens carton toothbrushes, an elderly lady knitted over 40 small teddies for the children, a chemist donated flannels, a small toy shop donated bubble mixture and a newsagent donated some childrens board books as well as balloons and foil string.

Everytime we return home we send the people who have donated items a thank you card, a plain white card with a photograph of the children receiving the gifts. This is always really appreciated rather than just a shop brought card. Whilst we are there we also get all the older children to sign an A4 piece of paper to go into the cards (sometimes it returns rather crumbled though lol)

On our return we also contact the paper again and give a couple of photos to show in the paper...it keeps the interest going.

Take details of where you're going to local shops and businesses, they may take an interest. After the Tsunami one company sponsored my husbands air fare to go over (as the orphanage was damaged).

As for the toys to take Beckipeg has got it perfect.....especially the bubble mixture. On our last visit the children had a bubble pot each and made it last all afternoon ...they loved them. Also the simple balloon tied with sparkly foil string. We have also taken over yoyos, mini kites from tesco (think they were 59p each), the larger bouncy punch balloons. My daughters always take lots of embroidery thread and make friendship bracelets with the children. Tescos have the pin the tale on the donkey party game for 99p which i have taken to one preschool we visited last year. The multi packs of bouncy balls are handy too.

Hope you have a great time

daisyboo

Thank you all some really good ideads there, I am a little shy about getting the papers involved but my friend does know the photographer of the local paper who we were going to invite to one of our brownie fundraisers for the orphanage so I could maybe put a plea out in that article.

Tallulah22

Hi can i ask how you got invloved in this great scheme?

daisyboo

HI, my friends mums workmate set up the orphange in 2000 it was basically a little house where she took in around 20 children this then grew as the years have gone on and now she houses 120 children with a new orphanage building being built for completion this march. My friends mum went over last summer and asked if it would be ok for us to go over this year to help out. My friend went over at chiristmas and loved it.

We have decided to fund raise and go ourselves a group of 7 of us this is apposed to going with an organisation as we belive that thye charge a little too much and not much money goes to the children. Where as whatever we raise will be given directly to the orphange owner by ourselves. We can then decide what to spend this money on as at the moment they do not need anything major (they are helped out alot through the bank where the lady used to work) We have decided that we would like to brighten up the new building when complete and help with the school room and maybe a play area.

If you want to get involved a lot of companies do arrange trips including one to the new hope centre where we are going. I have a added a link to the charity that helps new hope out and I think they can arrange for people to go.
http://www.hihand.co.uk/supportingchildren.htm#a5
It will be a once in a lifetime experience which I can't wait to begin and I think that anyone who gets the opportunity should go for it and get involoved.