Skip to content

Yota

EU Aid Volunteer. Education officer. January – April 2019.

1. Age
28

2. Profession
Primary school teacher-Master in Special Needs Education

3. For how long time have you volunteer in Shianda?
4 months

4. Why did you decide to go to Kenya?
I found that the vacancy on the EUAV page matched my profile and it happened to be in Kenya.

5. Why did you decide to volunteer with WEFOCO?
I didn’t know much about either my sending or the hosting organization when I applied for the vacancy. It was the position’s description that triggered my interest.

6. What do you think about the work that is being done by WEFOCO?
I appreciate the efforts of the members for community development. They try to do whatever they can, with the resources they have.

7. What kind of tasks did you have?
Education related tasks.
1)      I was organizing sessions for teachers in primary schools of the area implementing the International Child Development Programme for which I am a certified facilitator. This has briefly to do with caregivers’ personal exploration of their interactions and the reactivation of their already existing caring skills and empathy. ICDP is a program that considers positive social interactions as a basis for any learning process.
2)      I acted like a school link facilitator between schools in Kenya and Estonia. I was filming Kenyan students of different ages and their activities with the purpose of exchanging information through schools.
3)      I visited families in vulnerable state and counseled them about education, living conditions, hygiene etc.
4)      I visited community groups and had discussions about disability with the intention to influence them towards the acceptance of people with disabilities in the society.
5)      I had talks with Secondary School students about early pregnancy, prevention, human rights, stereotypes etc.

8. What did you like the most about volunteering?
I have been volunteering for years in several projects and what I like the most is the fact that I am a new version of myself after each and every experience.

9. What was surprising?
That I didn’t get sick at all :)

10. What kind of additional information would you have liked to know before going to Kenya?
I was well informed, I cannot think of anything.

11. For what kind of difficulties the new volunteers should prepare themselves for?
1)      The new volunteers should be prepared enough to not expect to continue living with their European lifestyle. They should face the challenges and try their best to be adapted to the way the people of the community live.
2)      Be very well psychologically and mentally prepared that your skin will “speak” more than your behavior. It’s inevitable and you have to “protect” yourself on a way that is suitable to you and it’s also culturally appropriate. But try not to take anything personally.

12. Tell about your favourite experience from Kenya.
I was on a bus traveling from Nairobi to Kisumu a few days before I had to leave Kenya. As I was watching the people and the landscapes out of the window I felt full of love and good vibes and started crying out of happiness and gratitude for having lived this experience.

13. Do you miss something from Kenya/Shianda?
I miss my neighborhood’s children’s faces and warm hugs, as well as the coolest handshake ever!

14. Any other comments?
Respect and love yourself, respect the people and their culture and just let it happen!