Care Home Residents Thanked For Supporting Humanitarian Mission In Kenya
College students who volunteer to help some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable children have thanked residents of a Dorset care home for supporting their humanitarian mission.
Members of the Brock2Kenya group visited Colten Care’s Avon Reach in Mudeford to give a first-hand account of their latest projects with orphaned street children 4,000 miles away in the city of Nakuru, Kenya.
Staff and residents at Avon Reach, plus Colten Care colleagues and suppliers, are among the supporters of an annual trip for volunteers, providing donations of cash as well as clothes, shoes, educational materials and other much needed items for distribution to hundreds of Nakuru’s children.
In Kenya last October, 26 Brockenhurst College students spent 12 days on three separate projects, at a school, a nursery and a welfare centre.
Among their activities was helping to install flushable toilets and clean-water sinks to try and cut the risk of children contracting waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
They also took part in a daily feeding programme to help tackle severe malnutrition among the youngsters, gave lessons in literacy and numeracy, played games and ran arts, crafts, singing and dance sessions.
After being in the audience at Avon Reach for the update on Brock2Kenya’s work, resident Noeleen Braisby said: “I found it riveting, really fascinating to hear about all this. It made me realise the huge gulf between our lives here and the extraordinarily poor lives that some of these children in Kenya lead. Long may the mission continue.”
Those presenting to the Avon Reach residents were Adrian Butterworth, Progression Adviser at Brockenhurst College and Trip Lead, and two students who were with him on the last visit as part of their educational enrichment options, Lexie Henderson and Bethany Cohu.
Adrian said a project in plan for October 2024 will be to build and install a further rain harvesting kit, involving a roof-mounted tank to provide water for toilets.
When that visit happens, it will mean that more than 100 Brockenhurst College students will have been to Kenya to help since Brock2Kenya began in 2019.
Adrian said: “We couldn’t do the mission without the help of the Colten Care residents and staff and our other supporters. Everyone’s help makes a massive difference. If we get can help one child in dire straits to get out of their circumstances, then it’s worth doing.”
Avon Reach’s connection with Brock2Kenya came about through Home Manager Ruth Wildman who is herself a volunteer on the annual trip.
Ruth said: “The highlight of the last trip for me was when the tap on the new plumbing system was turned on and we saw clean water coming through. That was amazing. But when you go into the schools, you can see that outside in the street there are many children who can’t get in. We give a few hundred children a chance but many more need help.”
After showing the Avon Reach residents a short film about their 2023 trip, Adrian handed round souvenirs including a Kenyan flag, a bush hat and a wood engraving of the Swahili saying ‘hakuna matata’, the name of a song in the film The Lion King that roughly translates as ‘no worries’.
