22nd September 2016
This summer, four St Brendan’s students travelled to Alara to work with the charity Kenya 2020.
The students followed in the footsteps of many of their previous St Brendan’s peers, as this now annual trip now sees the students learning first hand some of the issues facing development within Kenya every year. A visit to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy allowed Josie, Megan, Jenna and Oliver to see how conservation and farming can work together to support communities. The group also saw the sad sight of the last male Northern White Rhino in the world - a shocking reflection of what humans can do to wildlife and the environment.
The focus and highlight of the trip was the stay with the community of Alara; a village on the shore of Lake Victoria. The group got to interact with the local students, playing football and teaching them how to use microscopes. The British students also got to view health care in a developing country - a trip to the local maternity centre was a real eye opener of services available in rural Kenya.
The students undertook several jigger clinics at various schools across the area. This involved them washing, cleaning and removing jiggers (sand fleas) from children’s feet. This year saw two young Kenyan brothers arrive with severe infestations of jiggers in their hands and feet. The news of the British visitors had spread and encouraged their mother to send the boys for help. It was to the credit of the St Brendan’s students that they held and comforted these two boys as the jiggers were removed. A local leader praised the student’s actions and told them that they had changed the lives of the two young brothers, who can now return to school. Every Kenyan child was thrilled to leave the clinic with a pair of shoes, which the St Brendan’s students had collected and taken out to Kenya with them in many suitcases.
It was another very successful and emotional trip for the four St Brendan’s students, who returned home with many lasting memories and a sense of overwhelming achievement. Once again, the selfless students had a lasting impact on the Alara community and have changed the lives
