Kenya here we come !

<p>As&nbsp;engineer-students&nbsp;in tropical&nbsp;agronomy,&nbsp;we&nbsp;will&nbsp;help&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;development&nbsp;of a&nbsp;remote&nbsp;Kenyan village&nbsp;with&nbsp;the support of an NGO by&nbsp;:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>- Managing&nbsp;the&nbsp;vegetable&nbsp;garden&nbsp;that&nbsp;allows&nbsp;the village to&nbsp;be&nbsp;self-sufficient&nbsp;in&nbsp;food&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>- Participating&nbsp;in the purification and distribution of the&nbsp;collected&nbsp;rainwater&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>- Taking&nbsp;care of the&nbsp;children&nbsp;in the&nbsp;orphanage&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Passionate&nbsp;about trekking,&nbsp;friends&nbsp;since&nbsp;our&nbsp;arrival&nbsp;in Angers and&nbsp;especially&nbsp;students&nbsp;in&nbsp;their&nbsp;first&nbsp;year&nbsp;at ISTOM,&nbsp;we&nbsp;had&nbsp;to&nbsp;form&nbsp;a team of 3 or 4&nbsp;people&nbsp;to go on an&nbsp;internship&nbsp;at the end of the&nbsp;year. It&nbsp;was&nbsp;during&nbsp;a trek&nbsp;we&nbsp;did&nbsp;in&nbsp;February&nbsp;that&nbsp;the&nbsp;idea&nbsp;naturally&nbsp;came&nbsp;to us&nbsp;to&nbsp;create&nbsp;a group&nbsp;together. But&nbsp;who&nbsp;are&nbsp;these&nbsp;3&nbsp;little&nbsp;guys&nbsp;? Enzo, Lo&iuml;s and Anthony&nbsp;:&nbsp;boy&nbsp;scouts&nbsp;from&nbsp;Angers, nature&nbsp;lovers, active&nbsp;members&nbsp;of the&nbsp;school&#39;s&nbsp;associations&nbsp;such&nbsp;as&nbsp;Human&#39;ISTOM&nbsp;(our&nbsp;school&#39;s&nbsp;humanitarian&nbsp;aid&nbsp;association),&nbsp;Istomiel&nbsp;(a&nbsp;beekeeping&nbsp;association) and the&nbsp;school&#39;s&nbsp;community-supported&nbsp;agriculture.&nbsp;We&nbsp;have&nbsp;many&nbsp;projects&nbsp;in&nbsp;mind&nbsp;and&nbsp;we&nbsp;try&nbsp;to&nbsp;give&nbsp;ourselves&nbsp;the&nbsp;means&nbsp;to&nbsp;make&nbsp;them&nbsp;a reality.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Our&nbsp;school, ISTOM,&nbsp;forms&nbsp;student-engineers&nbsp;to solve all types of&nbsp;development&nbsp;problems,&nbsp;especially&nbsp;agricultural&nbsp;ones, in the &quot;southern&nbsp;countries&quot; (in&nbsp;Africa, South America or Asia). In the first&nbsp;year,&nbsp;we&nbsp;are&nbsp;asked&nbsp;to go on a Mission of Discovery and Social and&nbsp;Solidarity&nbsp;Initiative (MDSSI). The&nbsp;aim&nbsp;is&nbsp;to&nbsp;discover&nbsp;the&nbsp;functioning&nbsp;of an NGO and to help social and/or agricultural&nbsp;development&nbsp;in a tropical zone,&nbsp;so&nbsp;our&nbsp;project&nbsp;is&nbsp;perfectly&nbsp;targeted.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The&nbsp;choice&nbsp;of Kenya&nbsp;was&nbsp;prompted&nbsp;by the&nbsp;opportunity&nbsp;to support a&nbsp;humanitarian&nbsp;project,&nbsp;proposed&nbsp;by the association&nbsp;Human&#39;ISTOM, in&nbsp;Ahero. In&nbsp;parallel&nbsp;to&nbsp;our&nbsp;internship,&nbsp;it&nbsp;seemed&nbsp;obvious&nbsp;to&nbsp;us to&nbsp;go&nbsp;our&nbsp;bit&nbsp;in&nbsp;this&nbsp;project&nbsp;of&nbsp;drinking&nbsp;water&nbsp;supply&nbsp;of the village of&nbsp;Kirindon. This&nbsp;is&nbsp;how&nbsp;we&nbsp;focused&nbsp;our&nbsp;research&nbsp;for&nbsp;NGOs&nbsp;in Kenya for&nbsp;our&nbsp;MDSSI.&nbsp;Moreover,&nbsp;this&nbsp;East&nbsp;African&nbsp;country&nbsp;is&nbsp;the second&nbsp;largest&nbsp;English-speaking&nbsp;country on the continent,&nbsp;which&nbsp;is&nbsp;a big&nbsp;logistical&nbsp;advantage&nbsp;on the one hand and&nbsp;will&nbsp;allow&nbsp;us to&nbsp;improve&nbsp;our&nbsp;English on the&nbsp;other.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>More&nbsp;specifically, as part of the MDSSI,&nbsp;we&nbsp;will&nbsp;be&nbsp;working&nbsp;alongside&nbsp;locals&nbsp;and international&nbsp;volunteers&nbsp;in the&nbsp;vegetable&nbsp;garden&nbsp;to&nbsp;grow&nbsp;food&nbsp;to&nbsp;feed&nbsp;the people of the village.&nbsp;Another&nbsp;aspect of&nbsp;this&nbsp;project&nbsp;is&nbsp;the collection of&nbsp;rainwater,&nbsp;its&nbsp;purification and&nbsp;its&nbsp;distribution to the homes.&nbsp;We&nbsp;will&nbsp;therefore&nbsp;ensure&nbsp;that&nbsp;this&nbsp;system,&nbsp;which&nbsp;is&nbsp;so&nbsp;precious&nbsp;for the&nbsp;inhabitants,&nbsp;is&nbsp;maintained.&nbsp;We&nbsp;are&nbsp;also&nbsp;ready&nbsp;to&nbsp;participate&nbsp;in the&nbsp;renovation&nbsp;of&nbsp;useful&nbsp;buildings for the&nbsp;community.&nbsp;Finally,&nbsp;many&nbsp;children&nbsp;gather&nbsp;in the village, due to the&nbsp;presence&nbsp;of a&nbsp;school&nbsp;and an&nbsp;orphanage&nbsp;(hosting&nbsp;about 150&nbsp;young&nbsp;people).&nbsp;Volunteers&nbsp;are&nbsp;asked&nbsp;to&nbsp;teach&nbsp;the&nbsp;children&nbsp;some&nbsp;maths, English or&nbsp;biology&nbsp;lessons, but&nbsp;also&nbsp;to&nbsp;play&nbsp;with&nbsp;them. All&nbsp;these&nbsp;missions&nbsp;will&nbsp;keep&nbsp;us&nbsp;busy&nbsp;during&nbsp;our&nbsp;3&nbsp;weeks&nbsp;in&nbsp;Ahero&nbsp;where&nbsp;we&nbsp;will&nbsp;be&nbsp;accommodated&nbsp;in a&nbsp;volunteer&nbsp;house.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/734070/5cf94a28-4c7e-463b-bb67-27408f68666d.jpg" width="100%" /></p> <p>Concerning&nbsp;the&nbsp;humanitarian&nbsp;project&nbsp;that&nbsp;will&nbsp;take&nbsp;place in&nbsp;Kirindon&nbsp;during&nbsp;the 2&nbsp;weeks&nbsp;following&nbsp;our&nbsp;internship,&nbsp;we&nbsp;will&nbsp;install&nbsp;a&nbsp;sanitation&nbsp;and water distribution system,&nbsp;currently&nbsp;non-existent. The&nbsp;Maasai&nbsp;community&nbsp;is&nbsp;waiting&nbsp;for us, as&nbsp;well&nbsp;as&nbsp;another&nbsp;team of&nbsp;Istomians&nbsp;who&nbsp;have&nbsp;decided&nbsp;to do&nbsp;their&nbsp;MDISS&nbsp;directly&nbsp;on site,&nbsp;from&nbsp;the&nbsp;beginning&nbsp;of August.&nbsp;We&nbsp;will&nbsp;be&nbsp;staying&nbsp;with&nbsp;local people for&nbsp;these&nbsp;two&nbsp;weeks.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;<img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/734069/71bfb130-9f75-4f38-bd52-57062e497ed2.png" width="100%" /></p> <p>The last part of&nbsp;our&nbsp;trip to Kenya, or&nbsp;should&nbsp;we&nbsp;say&nbsp;the first part in&nbsp;chronological&nbsp;terms,&nbsp;is&nbsp;a&nbsp;discovery&nbsp;of the capital&nbsp;followed&nbsp;by a trek in&nbsp;scouting&nbsp;style. As&nbsp;soon&nbsp;as&nbsp;we&nbsp;arrive in Kenya,&nbsp;we&nbsp;plan to camp for a few&nbsp;nights&nbsp;at the&nbsp;Rowallan&nbsp;Scout base in Nairobi.&nbsp;We&nbsp;would&nbsp;like to&nbsp;meet&nbsp;local Scouts to&nbsp;discuss&nbsp;our&nbsp;vision of&nbsp;Scouting&nbsp;and to&nbsp;spend&nbsp;time&nbsp;with&nbsp;them. In&nbsp;particular,&nbsp;we&nbsp;would&nbsp;like to&nbsp;visit&nbsp;together&nbsp;the&nbsp;grave&nbsp;of the&nbsp;founder&nbsp;of the&nbsp;scouting&nbsp;movement: Baden Powell (a&nbsp;scouting&nbsp;pilgrimage&nbsp;site&nbsp;located&nbsp;north&nbsp;of Nairobi). As&nbsp;usual,&nbsp;we&nbsp;would&nbsp;then&nbsp;like to trek&nbsp;through&nbsp;the Rift Valley to&nbsp;get&nbsp;closer&nbsp;to the people.&nbsp;We&nbsp;would&nbsp;like to&nbsp;sleep&nbsp;in the homes of local people, as&nbsp;we&nbsp;do in France, but&nbsp;also&nbsp;to&nbsp;participate&nbsp;in&nbsp;their&nbsp;activities,&nbsp;particularly&nbsp;in agriculture. One of&nbsp;our&nbsp;objectives&nbsp;is&nbsp;for&nbsp;example&nbsp;to&nbsp;spend&nbsp;a&nbsp;day&nbsp;with&nbsp;the&nbsp;tea&nbsp;pickers&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Gatamaiyo&nbsp;reserve.&nbsp;However,&nbsp;we&nbsp;did&nbsp;not plan to&nbsp;spend&nbsp;any&nbsp;money for&nbsp;this&nbsp;part of the trip but&nbsp;we&nbsp;wanted&nbsp;to&nbsp;inform&nbsp;you&nbsp;about all the phases of the trip.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>In&nbsp;summary,&nbsp;these&nbsp;6&nbsp;weeks&nbsp;(03/07-14/08) in Kenya&nbsp;will&nbsp;be&nbsp;as&nbsp;follows&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>- 1&nbsp;week&nbsp;of trekking close to the local&nbsp;community&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>- 3&nbsp;weeks&nbsp;of&nbsp;internship&nbsp;in&nbsp;Ahero&nbsp;to help in the&nbsp;development&nbsp;of the village&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>- 2&nbsp;weeks&nbsp;of&nbsp;humanitarian&nbsp;project&nbsp;in&nbsp;Kirindon,&nbsp;a Massai village&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Now&nbsp;that&nbsp;we&nbsp;have&nbsp;described&nbsp;all aspects of&nbsp;our&nbsp;project&nbsp;to&nbsp;you,&nbsp;we&nbsp;are&nbsp;counting&nbsp;on&nbsp;you&nbsp;to help us&nbsp;get&nbsp;going!&nbsp;</p>