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Volunteering Opportunities

Program Outline

 

This program is tailor made to provide maximum community service and hands-on experience for those who are visiting us.  We have incorporated diverse fields to enable our volunteers this year to have an educative and lifelong experience while having the benefit of being supervised where necessary. The objective being that our volunteers live with the host communities, learn through their struggles, and thus help them formulate solutions to their problems. Our target area is the densely populated Dagoreti District of Nairobi County that is home to Kawangware informal settlement and low income area. There is a need for volunteer work to be carried out in this area due to lack of adequate amenities and the need of educating and mentoring the population on life skills. This program allows volunteers to experience different types of medical settings in Kenya rather than just one.  It combines community hospital, small clinic in the slums, maternity hospital, pharmacy and laboratory medicine so you can get a taste of how things work in a developing country in a wide variety of placements. This year, we are pleased to say we have incorporated diverse fields to enable our volunteers enjoy their short stay and have memorable experiences. They include health, education and tourism. We have brought the various stakeholders on board to help our volunteers have maximum return on investment.

 

Itinerary 

 

Day 1: Community Hospital Day 2: Maternity Hospital Day 3: Community Pharmacy Day 4: Laboratory Day 5: Clinical Work The above schedule shall apply to those with an interest in medicine or those with a medical background. The facilities above have been carefully selected to provide massive supervised experience for tropical and other diseases. Here the volunteer will work under supervision of the in charge at all times since this concerns human life. They will be required to observe the different procedures that patients go through in a typical Kenyan hospital setup, help in pre packaging of drugs, counter check with the in charge for medical supply, enter different inventories for all drugs, prepare surgical wards with nurses, help at the triage to enter data, be with the nurses in the delivery room, work with community health workers on public health programs, be dressed as required and adhere to their supervisor throughout. Please not that your level of experience will determine the level of supervision you will receive, thus determined by your CV.

 

Program Fees

 

For all program applications there is an administrative fee of 150 USD.

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​** Note it is possible to stay longer than 12 weeks, however you will need to obtain a visa for longer than the 90 day visitor visa that you can obtain upon arrival in Kenya What the fees cover: -​Airport pickup and drop off -24 Hour support from staff -Orientation upon arrival -Program Supervision - Hospital Administrative and Placement Fees -Food and Accommodations -Travel costs to and from placements -Caretaker/House mother

 

​Placement Facilities

Wema Hospital; is a community hospital in the Kawangware slum. This is the center for all volunteers, they shall start their week at the center. Learn all that appertains to clinical work and be given directions for their medical rounds. They shall also shadow the doctors and nurses through the procedures. Pumwani maternity hospital; this is the largest maternity hospital in east Africa. It’s a council hospital and most busy. Here the volunteers shall be taken through the normal procedures of child delivery, observe mid wifery procedures and child welfare procedures under the supervision of the mid wives and gynecologists. The experience here is massive for the nurses and medical students, since this hospital records over 100 births per day. Community pharmacy; it’s prudent for our volunteers to have a feel on how a pharmacy operates. This are pharmacy shops or chemist (as we call them) where the community buys their prescription medicines and can also purchase over the counter medicines. It shall help build our volunteers’ pharmacy knowledge and the rules therein. Laboratory day; is set aside for our volunteers to spend the whole day working in a busy laboratory room. Here the volunteers get to learn how to test for various tropical diseases and common bacterial infections in the sub Sahara region. Some tests can only be found in Africa hence the new experience of learning African infections in addition to the already learned. Clinic day/Outreach ;   here the volunteers have an open session with the doctors to exchange notes and make observations from the week. After the exchange they then head out to local council dispensaries that serve the slums to help with their community projects or for clinical work. There is opportunity to participate in home care in and around the slum for those who are in need. They shall also be encouraged to write proposals in areas where they feel the local dispensaries need help.

 

For more information download the Program Information Booklet PDF

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What we need from you when you apply...

 

Submit a file (in PDF or Word format) including:

• Full name

• Your experience in the medical field (it's okay if you don't have any)

• Your strengths and weaknesses

• Criminal Background Check

• A current copy of your resume 

• Why you chose Kenya to volunteer

• What to you expect to gain from this experience?

• What type of outreach projects do you think would be beneficial in Kawangware?