Robin Sansom

YMCA Norfolk sent a group of staff and young people to visit YMCA Kenya in January 2018. It was an amazing adventure finding out about the work of the YMCA in Kenya, meeting fellow YMCA workers and experiencing new cultures.

YMCA young person, Chelsea Hishon reflects on her experience…..

Q1: have you ever done a trip of this nature before?

No, I’ve gone on school trips but not been out of the country volunteering before. This is all new. I have been abroad before to France but not on a plane. So going on the plane I didn’t like it to begin with but I got used it, and once I was up there it was fine.

Q2: what did you want to achieve from the trip?

I wanted to help others, and create more awareness on the matters that are happening in Kenya and take over the sanitary items and other toiletries and stationary. And experience other cultures. We received training as well on the topics discussed.

Q3: what was your highlighting of the trip?

Going to the slums, because we got to play games with the girls and understand what the girls were experiencing and health issues and seeing what the girls have to face. Hearing their stories made me feel upset but also inspired me, one girl advised the others to not have children early, it was good to see how they support each other and see how happy they are despite the conditions.

Going to Kajido to the girls/women’s centre was also a highlight. Because we got to meet girls that had gone through FGM, one girl I met was 10 years old when she had FGM occur to her and ran away from a forced marriage. Her story had to be interpreted for me by the Elder of the centre Leah. Leah had also undergone FGM, she supported the others too and it was good to see how they supported each other. Also, they wanted to teach others FGM and make them aware, I found that inspiring, which led me onto to write a letter in campaign against FGM that will be published by the YWCA Nairobi for officials to see.

Q4: looking to the future, how has this trip changed you and what are your plans?

Already I’ve been advising others and making them aware about FGM and been explaining it to them, it has surprised me how little people know about it in this country.

I feel less anxious and feel happier with what I have.

I want to go back to Mombasa and help build homes and decorate them. Also care for animals, this is through Camps International. I need to fundraise for this trip about £1,800. It’s not going to stop there, I want to go to other countries and volunteer and do charitable work, India is on the radar to help with the elephants as well.

*FGM stands for ‘Female Genital Multiation’

Kenya trip thoughts

YMCA Norfolk sent a group of staff and young people to visit YMCA Kenya in January 2018. It was an amazing adventure finding out about the work of the YMCA in Kenya, meeting fellow YMCA workers and experiencing new cultures.

YMCA young person, Amy Moore reflects on her experience…..

Q1: have you ever done a trip of this nature before?

“I’ve never done a volunteering trip, it was very exciting and it was new”

“I have been abroad before, and as I’ve been to countries in the middle east before I had some insight as to what aspects would be like, like the slums, the traffic, but what was new to me was what I thought I knew from the media and the news. They made it sound like doom and gloom and riots all the time, whereas this is not true.”

Q2: what did you want to achieve from the trip?

“I wanted to create a YMCA connection outside of the UK, so I could personally be able to go out and help with trips and events in the future”

“I also wanted to experience a hostel in a different country and be able to compare against the hostels in Norfolk, and what I have realised is that the young people in Norfolk have it easy”

“It was also good to see how different the youths and the residents are in Kenya in comparison to Norfolk. The youths in Norfolk are lazy in comparison, we’re really unmotivated and struggle to make our life’s better whereas in Kenya the young people want to achieve more and are willing to do stuff to make this happen”

Q3: what was your highlighting of the trip?

“It’s difficult to pinpoint a specific day or event that was my highlight, so it’s between visiting the slums and the girls/women’s centre”

“going to the women’s/girls centre (Kajido) was one of the highlights of my trip because even though they have gone through so much, and they could be snatched at any moment, living in potentially constant fear, they did not seem scared. They were also very happy to receive guests and they welcomed us as if they had known us for years”

“when we spoke one on one to the girls from the centre it was insightful in hearing what they had gone through. The girl I spoke to (13 years old) some of her family members had helped her escape FGM from her tribe. These family members had been shunned by the rest of the tribe. She is still in contact with these family members. She’s not angry with her parents for wanting to make her have FGM happen to her, but actually wants to reconnect with them. I found this really touching that she’s not angry with them.”

“at lunch I had a conversation with Leah (Chair of the Centre, voluntary role) and she had actually had FGM happen to her as a child, so understand the importance as to why it shouldn’t be happening. She was telling me that on a regular basis she has been beaten by angry fathers and the betrothed husbands to the girls and she has even had to pay off the husbands and fathers for the loss of the dowry from the girls. When she was telling me all this my heart was just breaking that she had to go through all that but had made her stronger in her fight against FGM and it inspired me to want to do something too”

“the moment we stepped onto the bridge into the slum I was speechless from what I could see. There under the bridge was the river and the banks were just full of rubbish and you could smell the rubbish, which was overpowering. What I found hard was that in the first few moments that the children in the slum would have one toy, and if a child lost their toy in the river, they could and have died from trying to retrieve it.”

“Walking to the community hub to speak to the girls there we had to avoid the steady stream of waste in the streets and in our path. It was nice to see that all the children were curious by us and not scared but happy to have visitors. When we got to the community hub and we met the girls, we were all a little bit nervous so had to have one of the volunteers translate on our behalf. “

“once over the initial nerves with games, dancing and singing it was nice to hear from one of the girls that she fell pregnant at 14 and that her partner had taken off as didn’t want the responsibility, she had to work 2-3 jobs to try and feed her son. She was telling the rest of the girls in the group not to get pregnant. It was an eye opener in comparison to girls in the UK, that if they full pregnant they would get help from the government, but not the girls in the slum, this was another culture shock”.

“when we had finished speaking and meeting with the girls, one of the YWCA volunteers took us to his home, in the slum. We all struggled to fit in his boxed size home but he was so happy to show us his home and he was telling us how he would get electricity, by hacking into the overhead wires, which would sometimes get cut by the local government. I felt very humble that he allowed us to see his home and it made me think of when I lived in the hostels at YMCA Norfolk. Young people in Norfolk complain about what they have and yet he was so happy with his home.”

Q4: looking to the future, how has this trip changed you and what are your plans?

“This trip has made me realise that no matter what part of the world you are from, we all have problems, however some us get the government to help and have better support systems around mental health and housing, whereas in Kenya they don’t. It makes me realise how much more our government actually does for us in comparison to other countries”

“My hopes for the future are to continue having communication with the YWCA in Kenya to help with their work around stopping FGM and any work I could do in the slums, anything I can really”

*FGM stands for ‘Female Genital Mutilation’