The children we work with are more often than not heavily burdened
from a very early age. As the adult population has been devastated
by Aids many of the children have taken on the role of parent, heading
up families, trying to feed and cloth other siblings as well as
trying to attend school.
The Footsteps Rafiki Programmes are aimed at broadening the experience
of the children in the communities we work with; bringing some fun
and play into their lives: introducing them to sports and arts and creating
the opportunity to meet new people and gain some understanding of the
world outside their village.
All our volunteers must raise the money to cover
the costs of their trip which includes all travel, accommodation, food and equipment
- we also ask each volunteer to raise an extra donation towards a chosen project at the schools we visit. If you want any details about the Rafiki programme please contact Suzanne@footstepsuk.org
July 2011 Rafiki
On 23 July this year we took 24 volunteers to Kenya to work with the children at Rae and Wenwa primary schools. The trip was a tremendous success thanks to an enthusiastic and hard working group who developed a strong link with the children at the school. During the trip we visited our recently built Health Centre and saw the site where the new Children’s Ward will be built later this year.
We were also able to work with the children at Rae primary which will be the next school project we take on. During the Rafiki programme we set up a new garden at the school and one of the volunteers, Sean Smith, a design and technology teacher from Rokeby School, built a gazebo in the middle with the help of local children and their families.
On the final Friday we held a sports event that was attended by teams from all six of the schools we have so far helped. It was an exhausting and exhilarating event which ended with the biggest rain storm experienced in the area this year just as we were singing our goodbye serenade to the watching Africans.
Click above to see the Rafiki 2011 video
Rafiki 2010
On the 23rd July this year 26 of us travelled to Kisumu on the edge of Lake Victoria to spend 10 days visiting and working with children and teachers of Magunga and Kanyalwal Primary Schools. It was great fun and hard work as we gave the kids a chance to enjoy a week-long programme of sport, solar cooking, tie-dye t-shirts, art and classroom painting among other things. This is our fifth programme but it doesn’t seem to lose its freshness for us or our volunteers. This year’s team raised enough money to build a much needed Nursery at Rae as well as giving the kids the time of their lives. Everyone threw themselves into the programme with relish and went home with some life changing experiences and some lifelong friends.
Click above to view the Rafiki 2010 video.
For full screen viewing click above
On the right, the team relaxing at Carnivore at the end of the trip
Rafiki 2009
This year our Rafiki Programme took 16 gap year students to Kenya, plus several more mature volunteers, to meet and work amongst the communities that Footsteps supports. As well as having a great time with the local children, the volunteers had already raised enough money to connect Kanyalwal Primary School to a clean supply of drinking water. The new fresh water supply will drastically improve the health of the children and allow the school to develop its own garden.
Click to view the Rafiki 2009 video
Rafiki 2007
This year we were joined by an enthusistic group of young volunteers from St. Edwards and Headington schools in Oxford. We worked with Magunga and Rae schools splitting our time between them - exhausting but hugely rewarding! Read a report of our Rafiki 2007 Programme.
Rafiki 2006
In 2006, our friends at the children's sports coaching company, futureproworked with us to send two trainers to the school, as the children were
very keen to play football, rugby and other ball sports. Read
the report of our Rafiki 2006 programme, Michael's diary and see the gallery of photos
above
