News and Diaries

Danielle Cox (Kenya)

( Last Updated: 05-12-2007 )

Let me try to explain, as a hard core AV, why I stayed in Africa for another full term - 3 months - at my school long after my fellow volunteers had departed.

I have been asked many times now: "Why did I choose to return?" And no matter how many times I am asked, the question gets no easier to answer. I will often reply that I would like to get the image of the ‘dusty barren land' out of your head from the start; I have travelled all over East Africa and it is so green and lush, that at times its I forget where I am. This is generally the time I forget my sunscreen and get burnt! No matter how lush it may be, I am still on the Equator.

My home for six months in Kenya - to be precise, a town called Eldoret - is at the Queen of Angels Primary School. I have Internet access, supermarkets, restaurants, nightclubs (always an experience) and, well, everything really - but it's African-style. The Church runs my school so there is a Convent attached, and the sisters are lovely people until they catch you not singing in liturgy!

There are 24 staff in total and it has taken me 5 months to get all their names right! As for the children, I would know names but not faces and faces but not names; because with 450-500 pupils, including nursery (pupils aged 4-14), it was a near impossible feat to learn each child's name.

I teach Maths, P.E., Arts and Swimming and sometimes help with standard 8 science. School for me starts at 08.00am and finishes at 4.00pm. My days vary depending on what I do. I gave up my free afternoon in the 2nd term to coach a Netball and Football team. I often take after school activities or help with preps. I have found the more you get involved, the more you get out of the whole experience. It is not only the children you interact with more, but the staff too, and I have made some great friends this way.

Along with AV project work there is the travel, too, and Africa is such a wonderful continent. It has so much to offer: hot springs, animals, markets, lakes, rivers (white water rafting the Nile) vast areas of open land, amazing and obscure weather and sunsets and sunrises! Believe me, seeing the sunrise over the Indian Ocean is a must...it's beautiful!

Whilst travelling I meet some weird and wonderful people. They are such a friendly nation and l have a 101 questions to ask. I have tried to learn a new language, eat and cook new foods, teach but, most importantly, be independent.

For some, it may be the first time travelling alone or living away from home. No matter what your circumstance, the whole AV experience is a learning curve and an adventurous one at that! The people you travel out with will become lifelong friends and I guarantee that in 40 yrs time I will be able to ring some of these guys and we will be laughing about our time together here in beautiful Africa.

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