Students Visit Kenya For African Adventures Trip of a Lifetime
This Easter, a group of Fareham College students and staff went on the trip of a lifetime to Kenya with educational charity African Adventures.
African Adventures provides humanitarian and financial support to a number of educational projects and schools in Africa. The trips not only greatly benefit the projects but the volunteers as well, providing a learning experience like no other.
The group from Fareham College spent several months fundraising for the event, with a goal of reaching £1600 each. The first £1000 per student was kindly provided by The William Price Charitable Trust, and the students held several activities to raise the rest. Fundraising activities included a quiz night held at the college, a sponsored walk from Portsmouth to Southampton, as well as several bake-sales. With support from fellow students, staff, friends and family, they were able to reach their targets and travelled out to Kenya on 8th April.
Whilst they were there they were involved in working for school and orphanage “Love for All”. Unfortunately, the school had recently been evicted from their old site, so the team of volunteers were on hand to help build new classrooms and build morale amongst the students. Spending time with each student and engaging them in fun group activities, as well as teaching a few Maths classes, helped to create a positive atmosphere for the students who’ve been through a few hard times recently.
Daniella Ford, Level 3 Gaming & Computing student at Fareham College, said: “African Adventures was a fantastic experience I will never forget. I will be able to look back on all the good that has been done and how my work has impacted the people. The work included digging deep holes with minimalistic tools; such as sticks or old metal poles. These were for the foundations of the school, in which stones, scrap metal and wood were used to create a new building of classrooms. It was amazing to meet the people within the school/ orphanage and learn about their lives and the difficulties they face every day- still smiling through, regardless of their situation. The house visits really put this into perspective, seeing how they really live and to hear about their families lives. This trip really showed how lucky we are, and even the less fortunate can still make the most of their lives.
It was very fulfilling to see all that Kenya has to offer; including a safari drive, trip to the equator, tea and coffee fields and Rift Valley. These were all very educational experiences and helped us to see how life really is in Kenya. We were also able to get up close and personal with elephants and giraffes in their sanctuaries, learning how they were saved and cared for. These were great bonding experiences for our group and had some amazing memories to share.”
The group of volunteers included Poppy Rhodes, Luke Wicks, Kayleigh Buckley, Daniella Ford and Rose Healey.
