AVIF Volunteers in Kenya

Embracing and saving newborn lives in Kayole and around the world

2010-01-01T17:17:00.000Z

Happy New Year to you all and what a fabulous idea already virally hitting the internet! Resembling a baby-sized sleeping bag, crucially, the "Embrace" includes a warming device that can be removed and heated in a pan of water over a wood fire in only a few minutes. Once charged, the device "will keep the baby at a constant 37C (98F) for more than four hours". Incredibly the product isn't

Virtual reality does good

2009-12-30T16:03:00.001Z

Thanks to Summer volunteer, Charlotte, we've had a wonderful article published about our work by Catherine Scott of YPN. Ignoring all the embarrassing "about me" stuff, I'd like to thank everyone else involved in all our incredible achievements of 2009: Securing Ingrid's future; fitting the water tank and building the new classroom, not to mention an incredible computer teaching station still in

More Christmas gifts for Kenya

2009-12-23T20:00:00.003Z

More Christmas gifts have been received! An incredible £400 has been raised largely through a raffle event that Katherine and Lydia (friends of Zoe) ran at the Putney Rotary Christmas Dinner earlier this month. Some great prizes were donated from companies like Penguin books and Coty perfume and makeup. The rotarians were very generous with the purchasing of raffle tickets too!! More gifts

Merry Christmas to ALL

2009-12-19T02:59:00.003Z

Christmas by Marks and Spencer and AVIF

2009-12-11T19:39:00.000Z

AVIF webshop newsletter Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without M&S Marks and Spencer's Christmas 3 for 2 is back! This offer includes beauty gifts, toiletries, cards, wrap and decorations; it's a great way to get more for less this festive season. Stocking Fillers Perfect for Secret Santa gifts M&S has

More results in Nairobi

2009-12-09T19:37:00.000Z

Yesterday, Ingrids Angels received a 2nd gift. In 2010 the Ingrid Education Centre are moving another class up to Grade 4 and Zoe, visiting at the moment, offered to help with the construction of the new classroom. Within 5 hours they'd all finished.Zoe leaves for Maseno Thursday morning to visit The Mercy Home.Funds have also now been cleared from Justgiving to buy the land the centre is sited

Can Copenhagen alleviate poverty in Africa while protecting it from climate change?

2009-12-07T13:24:00.001Z

On the dawn of the Copenhagen UN Climate Change Conference, Paula Kahumba has made a video with the simple question: will Copenhagen face the challenge of how to alleviate poverty in Africa while protecting us from climate change? Paula lives in Kenya where she manages a blogging platform for wildlife conservation on http://wildlifedirect.org, brainchild of the famed palaeoanthropologists now

More gifts from MannaRelief of Advanced Nutrition for malnourished children

2009-12-03T18:12:00.000Z

My wonderful contact at MannaRelief has just rang to offer another 6 months supply to us, fully funded. With these "glyconutrients" we can add to the "current food programs which are mainly cereal-based and lack many of the nutrients young children need ... filling a child's stomach not only fails to correct the problem, but it serves as only a temporary fix to a much bigger problem." This

The spirit of Christmas is alive and here

2009-11-29T15:11:00.001Z

We all just wanted to express our huge appreciation and .. well .. Douglas and wife Grace who run the Ingrids Education Centre in the Matopeni area of Nairobi are just speechless. The generosity of "A Friend" is staggering, donating 64% of the target funds needed via our JustGiving site with a simple message Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.We'd like to also thank Nick, Nicola, Jack, Robert,

Kukuhut and progress in Kenya

2009-11-24T15:58:00.002Z

I'd like to introduce the gorgeous Amanda, pictured here with Diana. (Click the photo gain access to the FB album for more photos). Amanda is director of the Tumaini Centre and the Vision Centre in Khalaba, a neighboring village community in the Matungu District of Kenya, Western Province. The nearest town is MUMIAS and is only a ten minute drive away. On a standard day, Amanda may be seen in

Make this Christmas extra special for Ingrids Angels

2009-11-18T20:11:00.001Z

The Ingrid Education Centre was visited this Summer by a handful of AVIF's volunteers; Beckee, Sam, Mariam, Stan, Deb, Alec and Charlotte spent time with the Director, Douglas aka Wesley Snipes ;-) and his wife Grace and family, assisting the wonderful work of the centre in the Matopeni slum area of Nairobi. Children here are fed and educated rather than spending a day breaking rocks with thier

Christmas with Sky and AVIF

2009-11-05T20:32:00.001Z

AVIF webshop newsletter Christmas with Sky and AVIF Bring your family together with the best line up of movies all in stunning High Definition. When new customers subscribe to Sky+ HD via the webshop AVIF will receive £120! If you are thinking of joining Sky

Please help us to help Ingrids Angels

2009-10-25T19:06:00.001Z

The Ingrids Education Centre has been leasing the land it stands on for the last 3 years and now the owner has put it up for sale. In this time the Centre, under the guiding hand of Douglas "Wesley Snipes" Onkware has been caring for over 100 children in the Matopeni slum area of Nairobi. This summer AVIF volunteers assisted greatly, helping the buy and install a permanent water tank as well as

Mount Kenya with Mary Kariuki

2009-10-24T17:55:00.001Z

MOUNT KENYA, alt 5,199m (Batian), is the highest mountain in Kenya, and 2nd only to Kilimanjaro for the entire African continent. My good friend Mary "Mumbi" Kariuki of StandOut Adventures is planning to take us up to one of its 3 peaks, early 2010. Lenana via the Sirimon Route is a non-technical trail that allows all trekkers to enjoy a magnificent view of east africa without any climbing

The Road to Hell by Michael Maren

2009-10-21T16:44:00.001Z

Shaking up the inertia, as he does so well, I first blogged about Michael a few years ago.A former food monitor for the United States Agency for International Development, Michael provokes debate about Aid in Afica. One such discussion comes from AVIF volunteer, Alec, recently returned from 5 weeks in Kenya, mainly rural and Mike, a Board Member for AVIF's CIC, KO2.M: That is a great article.

Mercy Home Storyboard from Eleanors volunteering in Kenya

2009-10-13T10:58:00.001Z

Eleanor has wonderfully uploaded a story board with great explanation, onto Facebook.You may need to add her to read it, starting here.That concludes this years volunteering, Asante Sana to all involved.Technorati Tags: volunteer, kenya, AVIF, mercy home

Swine flu - malaria - resistance to drugs - Hello?

2009-10-10T19:34:00.000Z

With the hysteria about to escalate over swine flu, I'd like to bring back chlorine dioxide, or its marketing name MMS, to the fore. Its really incredible stuff and despite the unlicensed factor is totally capable of ridding anyone from anything from a common cold to malaria, verrucas, athletes foot, internal sexual viral infections. Swine flu (which is killing less people than standard seasonal

Progress in Yala

2009-09-29T14:26:00.001Z

Edward has sent an update from the work carried out this Summer in Yala with Deb and Alec.He tells us the widows in the community "are very committed and have worked very hard to complete the office. It is now our plan that we plaster it... They have also contributed maize and hope to start a feeding program in the centre for the orphans they are caring for".[1]Ruth watering seedlings at the Yala

Challenging a youth group to build their own office

2009-09-25T10:16:00.000Z

Alec & Deb, in western Kenya this Summer, challenged a local youth group to build their own office. Offering to provide the roof, they told the group they would have to find the rest of the materials and tools and of course the labour. After news of the challenge, land had been donated to the cause, so that a big centre could be built up around it, the new self help centre.Click the photo for a

Storyboard of a summer in Kenya

2009-09-10T17:33:00.000Z

Instead of blogging it you may as well go direct to the wonderful storyboard put together by 2009 volunteer Deb from UK. The storyboard is hosted by FaceBook so you'll need to join if you haven't already and visit the Volunteering in Kenya group where the link is on the group page. Alternatively add Deb and introduce yourself before reading through the highly informative, open and honest account

More photos from Kenya

2009-09-03T11:05:00.000Z

... just a few links so you can see what amazing work has been done this Summer.Alec's photo journal of the office being built for the Christian Widows and Orphans Support Project CWOSUP in Yala is here:The photo journal for the water tank construction at the Ingrid Education Centre in Nairobi is here: Christina's photos on Flickr from Nakuru are here: Thank you to everyone involvedASANTE SANA

Summer volunteer program comes to an end

2009-08-31T16:53:00.002Z

I'd like to thank all volunteers this Summer for all their wonderful work and patience and generosity. This Summer has been quite challenging for some with illness and hard lessons to learn, realities to face, but everyone of the teams was strong and helpful to each other, supporting each other. Asante sana Beckee, Sam, Mariam, Stan, Deb, Alec, Andrew, Philip, Laurence, Amy & Christina.Throughout

Arguments Baseball and Roofing in Kenya

2009-08-13T19:24:00.001Z

8th AugToday was a mixed day... and for those that know me well, it will be no surprise to hear that I don't always have the best delivery. [Ed: LOL]We met the widows and children at the CWOSUP Niawara centre. I was surprised to see only 20 kids were members, but they put on a lovely display of singing, dancing and poems and as usual, they were all happy and smiling. They meet every Saturday to

Update from Deb

2009-08-13T15:25:00.000Z

We travelled to the family home of our host Edward and met a widow who was actually his carer when he was a child, as he himself is an orphan. She had been helped with a new roof. Most of the buildings in this area are made from mud. Posts are driven into the ground and sticks are weaved between, then mud from the ground surrounding is mixed with water and added to the sticks. A grass roof is

Volunteering journal from Yala and photos from Nakuru

2009-08-10T19:43:00.005Z

Deb's managed to write a few words down without losing everything by either the power going down, or losing the connection!! Truthful and shocking at the same time but exactly why things need to change.If you can't get access here's a few parts:"The head mistress here is something special. The school also has a feeding program which is sponsored 70% by the Millenium Project. Millennium have been