Kenya+2009+Volunteer+Trip

**__Kenya Volunteer Trip 2009__**


 * I hope you enjoy and find useful all of this information on my amazing adventure to Kenya this past summer. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. **

I have returned from my amazing two and one half week volunteer trip to Kenya leaving this past July 27th and I returned to Chicago on August 13th. I volunteered at the Dago Dala Hera Orphanage and the Dago Primary School. To see more information go to: [|Dago Dala Hera Orphanage]. One of my main objectives in making this trip was to be able to share as much as possible my journey and what I learned in Kenya. Nothing is as good as being there but hopefully what I put together here will help you and others to learn and experience much of my amazing journey and adventure.

To see the pictures I took go to my Facebook Page (Brett Weiss) and then to Photo Albums. Then go to the album, Kenya 2009. Enjoy!

To see the video clips I took of some of the Dago Orphan Girls Singing, click here: []

To read the journal I kept during my trip, click here:

To learn more about the wonderful organization that coordinated this entire experience for me, Village Volunteers, go to: [|www.villagevolunteers.org]

Click here to read an article on the recent "Kick It In Kenya" tournament I was able to be a small part of: []

Dago Dala Hera "A Home of Love" Overview Document:


 * __Letter I received from Milka:__** She is a 15 year old graduate of Dago Primary School, lives close to the school and loves to come around and help out at the orphanage. She handed me this letter after we had met once. She had been under the impression my first name was "Brave", thus the Dear Brave. The children are told not to ask visitors for any kind of help, but it is quite common for them to ask for help for the money they have to pay for their schooling. Milka goes to high school now (something not a lot of children, especially girls, get to do). Most high schools are boarding schools. Here is the letter: [[file:brettteach/Letter from Milka.dot|Letter from Milka.dot]]


 * __Chujio Water Filters:__** On the way out to Dago from Nairobi we stopped at a company just outside of Nairobi. Patrick picked up a number of water filter systems for the school and orphanage from Mr. Kamwana Wambugu the founder and owner of the company. He is a retired science teacher who started this company after retirement. One of the many impressions this trip made on me is it has given me more of an appreciation that I can just turn a tap and have fresh, clean and healthy water. Mr. Wambugu gave us a tour of how he makes these ceramic water filters. As the brochure states, this is still a major problem for Kenya (and for many other countries in the world). Here is the brochure and Mr. Wambugu's business card: [[file:brettteach/Chujio Water Filters.doc|Chujio Water Filters.doc]]

The following is a bumper sticker that was passed out at the Dago Football(Soccer) Netball Tournament by the people working the AIDS area. It asks, "Have You Been Tested?". On the second day of the tournament, the first day they were in attendance, they tested 300 people. They were thrilled with this number. They could have tested more, but ran out of kits. I spoke with a man named Alex who was in charge of this group. He told me that here in Nyanza Province they know that about 16% of the population is HIV Positive, however they know that number is very low because lots of people have never been tested. Their two challenges are that many men will not be tested for "macho" reasons and that so many people live so far from any place that could test them, they just do not make the trip. Here is the bumper sticker: