I am excited to share that I have successfully written a grant proposal that was funded. I cannot wait to write this accomplishment on my resume. This is definitely my proudest accomplishment of my internship thus far. I have received funding for a project I have created with my host organization. We are holding a week long camp from August 11, 2008-August 15, 2008 for children who are ages 10-15. Most of the students to be involved in the camp have been orphaned, predominately by HIV/AIDS. When we conducted a needs assessment at the school, they stated that the major problems the orphans faced were dropping out of school and turning to the streets because they have a strong stigma against them by the other students, and they do not feel they deserve the education and success as they are different than the other students. The camp we will create addresses these issues, and other problems in the community through having fun games and workshops to discuss leadership, tolerance, discrimination, self-esteem, conflict resolution, communication, assertiveness, gender roles, and health issues such as basic health/hygiene and sexual health. All the other FSD interns have volunteered to help facilitate the workshop. I was so nervous about getting the funding because I had to finish the grant proposal after the weekend retreat to Naivasha and with less support and assistance than I had hoped for, but it has all worked out very well.
Naivasha was amazing. It is such a beautiful place. We went with all 11 interns for a weekend retreat, to relax and reflect on our experiences in Kenya thus far. The other interns went towards the end of their internships, some with only 2 weeks left. We went only 3 weeks into the internships, as this was the only way to combine the two groups. We stayed at this great place on the lake, that we were told was the budget option, which was absolutely gorgeous. I ate salad and a veggie burger which was so exciting. Salad in Kenya is not so popular, and if your lucky you can get some cabbage to make something similar to a salad. At our hotel they had arugula which almost brought tears to my eyes, when it was served with avocado, cucumber, carrots, and a light honey mustard dressing. I realized that besides good coffee, salad is the thing I miss the most. We went hiking at Hell’s Gate National Park for about 14 miles. We hiked down the gorge to hot springs, and saw zebras, warthogs, baboons, and gazelles. It was absolutely gorgeous. We filled our evenings with western food, making a habit of ordering wine and chocolate cake, both of which are impossible to find in Kakamega town. We also hiked to
I am very happy and looking forward to our weekend in Kisumu. We are apparantely going the same weekend as a Reggae road show from Kakamega to Kisumu, so this is excellent news for me.
