Make this Christmas extra special for Ingrids Angels

The Ingrid Education Centre was visited this Summer by a handful of AVIF's volunteers; Beckee, Sam, Mariam, Stan, Deb, Alec and Charlotte spent time with the Director, Douglas aka Wesley Snipes ;-) and his wife Grace and family, assisting the wonderful work of the centre in the Matopeni slum area of Nairobi. Children here are fed and educated rather than spending a day breaking rocks with thier hands, alongside their parents or guardians in the nearby quarry, day in, day out. The volunteers were lucky enough to help teach some the  lessons to the children, they cooked chapatis, they bought a water tank and helped install it too. It was a success for all.



.... but now there's a chance the hopes of all the children there could be lost. Although a deposit secured the plot of land temporarily there are only 41 days remaining!!! to help secure the future of the Centre by raising the £2,440 needed to legally buy the land, or the owner has to sell.

If you can spare just a dollar $1 or just a "quid" £1 we'd hugely appreciate it, you'd be buying a share in the future prospects of many children. Simply go to the JustGiving fundraising site it will only take a minute to help, or if you prefer not to give our details on the internet and have a Paypal account you can send a secure payment via our email Volunteer@AVIF.org.uk

Help us make a difference x
Deadline is 29th December, 2009



I'd like to say ASANTE SANA [thank you very much] to all that have already donated...x

More Photos on the main FB group
Technorati Tags: ingrids angels, christmas, future, kenya, volunteer, poverty, education

	Christmas with Sky and AVIF Bring your family together with the best line up of movies all in stunning High Definition. When new customers subscribe to Sky+ HD via the webshop AVIF will receive £120! If you are thinking of joining Sky please do so via our webshop so we can receive this huge donation. Why join Sky+ HD? Join Sky+ HD with Sky Movies in HD and receive a FREE Sky+ HD box (£30 set-up). New customers will receive £50 to spend at M&S when they join Sky TV too!   Don’t forget there is £120 for AVIF for every new customer that subscribes to Sky+ HD via the webshop. The offer unwrapped Sky+HD Box is FREE when you take Sky TV with Sky Movies and the HD Pack for 12 months This package comes with FREE broadband and calls Enjoy a £50 M&S voucher when you join online* AVIF will receive £120 when new customers subscribe to Sky+ HD Don't Forget Support AVIF this Christmas when you buy online, simply start shopping at www.buy.at/AVIF or use any of the links in this email. *Only available for new customers with their viewing card enabled by 17 January 2009. One voucher per household and only available when you join online. Visit www.buy.at/AVIF for more great offers from over 150 top retailers.
	Forward this mail on to help AVIF raise funds. Please forward this mail on if you think that you know people who would like to receive it. Responsible emailing Remember if someone receives this mail from you, then tells you they don't want to receive a similar one again you must not send them future messages. If you are considering forwarding it on you must do so only to people who you consider would like to receive it and to whom the content is relevant. If you have a formally-managed list you must only send it to those who have expressed that they wish to receive such mail from you. Purchases made through www.buy.at/AVIF are made according to the information and terms provided by the company making the sale to you. Further details on using the buy.at shop are provided on the site.

Please help us to help Ingrids Angels

The Ingrids Education Centre has been leasing the land it stands on for the last 3 years and now the owner has put it up for sale. In this time the Centre, under the guiding hand of Douglas "Wesley Snipes" Onkware has been caring for over 100 children in the Matopeni slum area of Nairobi.

This summer AVIF volunteers assisted greatly, helping the buy and install a permanent water tank as well as teaching and spending time at the Centre. We've all secured the plot with a deposit but the agreement with the owner is that the remaining amount is to be paid by end of December 2009.

Securing this plot also secures the futures of 116 needy children from the slum area, keeping them from working in the neighbouring quarry but instead providing them with at least one meal a day and a chance of an education. The money currently being spent on rent at the Centre will then help towards the purchase of food and materials for the children, as well as saving towards more permanent classrooms.

There is a simple fast way to help, by donating via the JustGiving page,
Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. If you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.

Please help us secure the childrens education now!

Mount Kenya with Mary Kariuki

MOUNT KENYA, alt 5,199m (Batian), is the highest mountain in Kenya, and 2nd only to Kilimanjaro for the entire African continent.



My good friend Mary "Mumbi" Kariuki of StandOut Adventures is planning to take us up to one of its 3 peaks, early 2010.

Lenana via the Sirimon Route is a non-technical trail that allows all trekkers to enjoy a magnificent view of east africa without any climbing skills. The other two routes, Naro Moru route and Chogoria Route are more suitable for climbers familiar with rock climbing, belaying and rope techniques.

Day 1 : Sirimon Park Gate to Old Moses Camp - 9km, approx. 3/4 hours hiking through the beautiful rain forest to Old Moses Camp at alt. 3,300m.
Day 2 : Shipton's Camp - 16km, approx. 7/8 hours hike through the Liki Valley via Mackinder's Valley to Shipton's Camp at alt. 4,200m where you enjoy an incredible view of the north faces of Nelion and Batian peaks.
Day 3 : Peak Circuit for Acclimatazation - 4 hours - ascending to a steep ridge through Kami Hut, Hausberg Tarn and Two Tarns Lake through some of the most spectacular sceneries. Return to Shipton's Camp.
Day 4 : Point Lenana at alt. 4,985m and back to Old Moses - 4 hours starting at 2.30am to arrive for sunrise. From here you can admire Kilimanjaro's highest peaks, Kibo and Mawenzi visible from the south, the Indian Ocean from the east and Mt. Elgon from the west. Descent back to Shipton's camp for breakfast. Old Moses for dinner.

Mary and her climbing team are native Kenyans who grew up close to Mt Kenya. All are very knowledgable about protecting the ecosystem. As with Mt Kilimanjaro, the glaciers of Mt Kenya are retreating rapidly due to climate change and low snowfall.

Mt Kenya benefits from equatorial climate. A typical day is a sunny crystal clear morning with temperatures around 25°C in low altitude and around 10°C as you slowly climb. Fog and clouds are commonly generated by mid day but at dawn, the ground surface is cooler and clouds leave the peaks uncovered. Temperature can drop down to -10°C during the night.

The mountain has two rainy seasons from late March till June and from October to December. The best climbing season is December – March and July – September.
Contact Mary for a quote at info@standoutadventures.com or +254 722 562449
Technorati Tags: mt kenya, kenya, mountain, mary kariuki, climbing

The Road to Hell by Michael Maren

Shaking up the inertia, as he does so well, I first blogged about Michael a few years ago.



A former food monitor for the United States Agency for International Development, Michael provokes debate about Aid in Afica. One such discussion comes from AVIF volunteer, Alec, recently returned from 5 weeks in Kenya, mainly rural and Mike, a Board Member for AVIF's CIC, KO2.

M: That is a great article. Some of the poorest Asian countries seem to have
been able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps with relatively
little aid - Cambodia is going to be an interesting case in point when
I visit again eight years on. Corruption on a grand scale but people
who were incredibly, remarkably inventive at making the best of what... Read more

A: Good article and well put Mike. My own feeling is that withdrawing all aids
to Africa at this late in the day may not be the solution. Perhaps
everyone from both sides needs to stop seeing just $ signs and change
their perspective on what they regards to as aid, and welcome the idea
of just providing and receiving education as a mean of aid......

The discussion continues on FaceBook here ...

Technorati Tags: michael maren, aid for africa, poverty, greed, corruption, kenya

Mercy Home Storyboard from Eleanors volunteering in Kenya

Eleanor has wonderfully uploaded a story board with great explanation, onto Facebook.
You may need to add her to read it, starting here.
That concludes this years volunteering, Asante Sana to all involved.

Technorati Tags: volunteer, kenya, AVIF, mercy home

Swine flu - malaria - resistance to drugs - Hello?

With the hysteria about to escalate over swine flu, I'd like to bring back chlorine dioxide, or its marketing name MMS, to the fore. Its really incredible stuff and despite the unlicensed factor is totally capable of ridding anyone from anything from a common cold to malaria, verrucas, athletes foot, internal sexual viral infections. Swine flu (which is killing less people than standard seasonal flu) would be equally wiped out.



The only down side is that chlorine dioxide does the job for you, so your first defence, your immune system, doesn't build up your own antibodies/immunity, leaving you open to attack again as with the common cold .. BUT .. chlorine dioxide will have also wiped out 99% of any other viral pathogens you're carrying around so boosting your immune systems ability to get on with defence. Double whammy!

We're pushing its use in Kenya without support from WHO, who say their testing came out negative on mice a few years back. The Malawian government are backing MMS' long term use with discoverer Jim Humble, in order to eradicate malaria. Onyla couple of drops of the solution can also purify any water supply, as it does with our own UK supply.

 .. its certainly controversial but it makes me laugh out loud whenever I see articles about resistance to Tamiflu etc. At the beginning of this new pandemic Tamiflu's owners were rubbing their hands. Not so much anymore. The fact is our licensing process of way out of synch with the faster viral process of evolution. Such drugs are ill equipped to deal with viral infections speedy metamorphosis on reaction to drugs .. yet we have a perfectly simple solution at our fingertips.

Unfortunately MMS can be made in your own kitchen (though we don't recommend it, Jim Humble explains how in his book). Because of this simple manufacturing process MMS won't make huge amounts of profit for the pharma giants so it'll never appear on our shelves, but is available online. My young family suffer from one or two ill health periods a year, if at all, which are quickly treated with a dose or two of chlorine dioxide. Even my dog was treated when he first arrived with skin complaints.

I'm dead against drug use, antibiotics especially and definitely chemo. Those who know me well know why. Its common knowledge how cancer cells work and how oxidation can aid recovery. Brady Hurst, a functional practitioner in Atlanta, GA, explains here

MMS Chlorine Dioxide Dr Brady Hurst True Health Center

Contact us for more info.
Technorati Tags: MMS, chlorine dioxide, Kenya, malaria, swine flu

Progress in Yala

Edward has sent an update from the work carried out this Summer in Yala with Deb and Alec.
He tells us the widows in the community "are very committed and have worked very hard to complete the office. It is now our plan that we plaster it... They have also contributed maize and hope to start a feeding program in the centre for the orphans they are caring for".


[1]Ruth watering seedlings at the Yala tree nursery.

Over the Summer the volunteers challenged the group to build their own office.
This is now almost complete.

[2] Kobat officice in Sawagongo.


[3]Training of widows in micro finance at CWOSUP office, using the money sent by Nick and the Mercy Home Foundation volunteers. We look forward to hearing more.
Technorati Tags: kenya, volunteer, AVIF, CWOSUP, Yala, poverty, sustainable development

Challenging a youth group to build their own office

Alec & Deb, in western Kenya this Summer, challenged a local youth group to build their own office. Offering to provide the roof, they told the group they would have to find the rest of the materials and tools and of course the labour. After news of the challenge, land had been donated to the cause, so that a big centre could be built up around it, the new self help centre.

Click the photo for a running storyboard, hosted by FaceBook. Many thanks to Deb & Alec.




Technorati Tags: volunteer, kenya, africa, innovation, challenge, construction

Storyboard of a summer in Kenya

Instead of blogging it you may as well go direct to the wonderful storyboard put together by 2009 volunteer Deb from UK. The storyboard is hosted by FaceBook so you'll need to join if you haven't already and visit the Volunteering in Kenya group where the link is on the group page. Alternatively add Deb and introduce yourself before reading through the highly informative, open and honest account of life in rural Kenya.


CWOSUP's contact details if you'd like to help are:
Facebook group
Director Edward Wata
EdwardWata@Yahoo.com
Mobile number:+254723204653

Technorati Tags: AVIF, kenya, yala, CWOSUP, poverty, volunteer, africa

More photos from Kenya

... just a few links so you can see what amazing work has been done this Summer.
Alec's photo journal of the office being built for the Christian Widows and Orphans Support Project CWOSUP in Yala is here:



The photo journal for the water tank construction at the Ingrid Education Centre in Nairobi is here:


Christina's photos on Flickr from Nakuru are here:
Thank you to everyone involved
ASANTE SANA

Technorati Tags: AVIF, kenya, volunteer, africa, poverty, children

Summer volunteer program comes to an end

I'd like to thank all volunteers this Summer for all their wonderful work and patience and generosity. This Summer has been quite challenging for some with illness and hard lessons to learn, realities to face, but everyone of the teams was strong and helpful to each other, supporting each other. Asante sana Beckee, Sam, Mariam, Stan, Deb, Alec, Andrew, Philip, Laurence, Amy & Christina.



Throughout the placements, volunteers have had time to visit the slum areas and various other parts of Kenya; Diani beach, Mombasa, Kisumu and the Maasai Mara.

Ken, Manager at the LLK school in Nakuru says "I'm impressed with their work. They are focused, reliable, obedient, hardworking and honest. They have learnt a lot in terms of culture, games and class work & our staff have also enjoyed their company. They have been part of our team. I wish them success and good luck in their future. I've never had an organized team of volunteers like this one."

I'm really proud of everyone.
Click the photo below for more photos.

Arguments Baseball and Roofing in Kenya

8th Aug
Today was a mixed day... and for those that know me well, it will be no surprise to hear that I don't always have the best delivery. [Ed: LOL]
We met the widows and children at the CWOSUP Niawara centre. I was surprised to see only 20 kids were members, but they put on a lovely display of singing, dancing and poems and as usual, they were all happy and smiling.

They meet every Saturday to play and have some food via the feeding program provided by CWOSUP. The widows also meet and are part of a micro finance scheme ran by CWOSUP, which basically funds loans as a reward for saving a little money. So the kids did their little display and we got to chat to the widows, we heard from the chief of the area who seems to be a very wise man and also very charitable, we met him at KOBAT yesterday and he came today in full regalia, which is quite similar to regimental army dress, very smart.


He has actually donated the land the buildings that this group use. We also heard from the chief of the group, another older gentleman. As standard, we were told what funding was needed. I was really surprised that the most important thing needed was uniforms?? This group just meets on a Saturday. Kids have to have them to go to school and it's a cost that has to be covered by the carers and this is hard enough, but I can't think that it is necessary for this group before other much (IMHO) more needed things. The reason given was that if something happens to the child on the way to the centre, then they will be easily identifiable. ... in a lot of cases, not just here, there is a mentality that your organization must look successful on the outside for it to be deemed as successful and I
believe that this is the case... We listened to each of the widow’s talk about themselves and their circumstances. Almost all added at the end that "we need uniforms".
I was asked to comment at the end.
I asked out of the 10 widows here, how many had rooves that leaked?
8 hands went up.
I asked, if CWOSUP received funds, would they rather it go to uniforms or to widow’s rooves?
A lot of chatter debate and nodding of heads followed.
The chief of the group was raising his voice at a few of the women; the women with solid rooves were arguing the uniform case still.
We suggested wrist bands for the kids, which seemed acceptable ...but more raised voices. I asked to go and see some of the houses that were leaking and was told next week.
I asked why not now, most places we go to are very ready for us and I wanted to see how
it really was. So we found out who was near and arranged to go to the houses after playtime with the kids, which incidentally we'd already eaten into.
Alec had made a sharp exit at probably the raised voices point, I also decided I'd leave the widows chatting and being shouted at by the chief, and I'd go to play with the kids.


This was great fun.
Alec and I had bought a plastic baseball kit and a football (soccer ball for you Americans) Baseball was really funny, we ended up with 10 kids all just running around the posts having no idea where or when to stop, but they all had a bat and we laughed a lot. We had a penalty shoot out for lollies and then a game. We then ate with the children, we had rice and beans, then handed out some balloons.
Much fun was had, but I was feeling quite bad about causing such a debate with the widows. We went to see actually only 1 of the widows whose roof was leaking and it really was in a bad way. She had tried her best with carrier bags and bits of plastic and sticks to try and stop the leaks, but some areas were just falling apart. She has been saving bit by bit and has actually bought 3 iron sheets as she plans to build a new house when she can afford to. You can see she is really making an effort by herself planting vegetables and expanding her banana trees. Alec had a look around the place and has devised a plan
to do a quick cheap fix which will hopefully hold up for her until she can save enough to get her new home. We will be going there on the 14th, with tarpaulin and some other bits and pieces to see what we can do.
Hopefully some of the others will take a look and will be able to repeat what we do. 
I know this is so small a thing to do in the big picture, especially if no one else tries it, but at least this widow and her children will be dry.
[Deb Cartwright]


Technorati Tags: avif, kenya, volunteer, yala, poverty, sustainable development

Update from Deb

We travelled to the family home of our host Edward and met a widow who was actually his carer when he was a child, as he himself is an orphan. She had been helped with a new roof. Most of the buildings in this area are made from mud. Posts are driven into the ground and sticks are weaved between, then mud from the ground surrounding is mixed with water and added to the sticks. A grass roof is then added.
As you can imagine, the rooves don't last too long before they need repairing.


Granted a lot of the ladies I have met here are too old or frail or sick to repair their own rooves, but even for those that might be physically able, it's not within the culture to do this and often there is no other help from the people around them. Added to this the grass, which used to be readily available, is no longer being grown. Almost all agricultural land is being used to grow things like maize, bananas, sugarcane and vegetables. It's not even available to buy in all areas and the transportation is more expensive than the grass itself. The modern replacement for the roofs is corrugated iron sheets which are relatively expensive, but can last for several years and have been adopted by almost all that can afford.
Unfortunately many of the widows cannot afford them and many have very badly leaking rooves. The rain then seeps down into the mud and the house will eventually fall.

Mama's house now has the iron sheet roofing and she is much more comfortable and things are kept dry at home. We also met one of the youths who has been trained in keeping
chickens. He started with 2 chickens and now has lots of them. He has learned how they need to be kept to breed and successfully hatch chicks. There were several ages of chicks running around. He was even building a new chicken coop on the side of his house because his business was growing so successfully. These are the kind of things the organization targets directly and it is most definitely showing success.


We then went to meet a group, a youth group, that is going to provide vocational training to the youth of the area. The chicken-keeping project is ran from here and we saw a latrine built under the scheme earlier in the day. We met in their office with around 10 young people and were told about what they are doing and, of course, what they needed funding for. The main concern was that they were being kicked out of the office in December. They already had some land but needed several thousand Kenyan shillings to start a centre on it. They also told us they were lacking skills but we established that several of the youths had built their own homes on their family land so pointed out to them they were actually a lot more skilled than most.
We asked, "why not build your own office on the land you already own?"
There were some half hearted excuses, like "we need a brick and mortar building".
"Why?" we asked .. No answer.
Another cultural problem is that each man will build his own house differently and they couldn't possibly work together so we laid the challenge, "build your own office, we will work with you too!"

The challenge was taken and we were told "next time you come back to Kenya you may see".......
So part 2 of the challenge was "build it by next week"!
Silence for a few seconds and then "it's possible"

So, next Saturday, the 15th August, Alec, Edward, Moses and I, and whoever else we can rope in, will all pull together to build this office in a day. We are providing the iron sheet as there is literally no funding available. Alec and I have a bet since Alec has the construction knowledge but I have faith in this community and believe that if they will just start working together, anything can be achieved.



We left the group in high spirits and tracked off to meet the widows of this region, they were meeting together at one of the widows houses. A very old lady stood up and asked; "Why are you so different to me? Why are your people succeeding and mine not?" she asked.

After seeing many things and having many late night discussions, a big influence on things not moving forward in this region are the cultural restraints;
- women not being allowed to do things for them selves
- others not being able to help for fear of back luck or death
- the beliefs that God will somehow bring them everything they pray for.

I can really only hope that people will soon start to believe hard work and working together can only improve things.

[Deb Cartwright, Yala]

Technorati Tags: avif, yala, kenya, volunteer, africa, sustainable development, poverty