Mobile Clinics
139  Stations visited
6,802  Patients seen
36 Volunteers involved
1local Clinical Officer
1 Doctor
Covered  western province and parts of  Rift Valley

MDP( Micro-enterprise Development)
26 groups visited, attended business seminars each group comprising approximately 15 members each
6 Volunteers involved with local translators
Covered western Province

Mobile clinics:
147 stations visited
5,277 patients seen
37 medical volunteers from across the world
Covered  western province and parts of Rift valley.
Local staff comprised of a clinical officer,pharmacist ,Nurse and translators.

MDP (Micro-enterprise program)
48 stations visited
45 groups attended business seminars, each group comprising  a minimum of 15 members
13 MDP volunteers involved
Main projects undertaken by the groups were mainly Micro-lending, horticultural, Dairy and trade in artifacts /tailoring
Covered western province of Kenya.

As you have likely seen in the news, Kenya is going through a very difficult and contentious situation right now that resulted from the Presidential election held on December 27, 2007. The results of this election are being contested and it has caused rioting and violence in many parts of Kenya. Therefore, in early January we had to make accommodations for all of our volunteers who were on the ground in Kenya to leave.

Although they were not in any imminent danger, the country was volatile and we did not think it was safe to travel around the country each day to do our programs. We also canceled the trips for the volunteers scheduled to come in January and February. We have put a hold on all our programs on hold until the situation improves and it is safe for volunteers to come and work. Since all of our programs involve daily traveling (using our vehicles) to rural villages in western Kenya, we can’t take the chance of running the programs when the roads may not be safe. However, our grade school Epico Jahns and our clinic are still fully operational.  We would have had hundreds of angry parents and a mob of three hundred little school children banging down the school yard fence to get into the classrooms if we tried shutting down the school.  Since our clinic and school are staffed by our local team of Kenya teachers, nurses, and doctor, these facilities can still run without the volunteers being present.

This fall and winter has been the busiest fall/winter months for us ever. I just got back from Kenya and we were completely filled to capacity on the farm. We had 14 Indiana University students that were staying with us to complete their student teaching assignments. They taught Epico Jahns, our grade school, as well as several other local primary and secondary schools. In addition to the IU teachers, we had 10 of our own regular ICODEI volunteers working in our Healthcare, AIDS, and MDP programs.  With 24 people on the farm, we had a very full dinner table in the house each night.

Our Microenterprise Development Program continues to further evolve. This is our newest program that is still undergoing development. I spent my two weeks in Kenya meeting with our network of microenterprise groups to try out various business training seminars.  We are in the process of developing a business training manual for MDP volunteers to use in order to give basic business skills training classes to the microenterprise groups.  The groups loved learning from these training seminars on basic business topics such as accounting/bookkeeping, marketing, pricing, savings and investment, good business management practices, business planning, etc.

It had been four years since my last trip to Kenya, but I was finally able to get back during July and August. The growth and positive changes were amazing. The frustrating things are still frustrating. It’s still hard to believe what has grown out of this chance encounter with Reuben back in 1998. We’ve had over 450 volunteers from 21 different countries: Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Iraq, India, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK and the USA.  We now have 46 local workers and six international coordinators.

One of my priorities of this trip was to assess the healthcare program, as it has grown tremendously over the past four years. I was able to spend some time on the mobile clinics and get good feedback from volunteers on the ground. I am in the process of finalizing a healthcare program manual that will provide more information for volunteers prior to arrival as well as help with the daily activities on the mobile clinics.

As the new school year started in January, our primary school opened its doors to Grade 5. We now have pre-school through Grade 5 and plan to continue adding one new classroom each year until a full primary school up to Grade 8 has been established.  The new classrooms added each year are typically funded and built by overseas volunteers.  If any group is looking for a fun, exciting, worthwhile project, please contact us about helping build a Grade 6 classroom.  Volunteers are welcomed to help fundraise for the classroom ($2,000 to $3,000 USD) and then help build it in Kenya with our local masons and carpenters.

This December we had several volunteers conduct a program and impact evaluation on our Empower AIDS Training Program.  The Empower Program is a “training of trainers” course that aims to develop local AIDS peer educators within the very rural communities of western Kenya .  Several volunteers spent their time meeting with past Empower participants to assess the impact our training had on the participants and their community. The volunteers also developed a list of action items and recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the program. We are very appreciative of the time and thought that went into this evaluation work.  The report will not only be useful for internal planning purposing but will also be helpful for future Empower volunteers.

The summer of 2006 has been a very busy and productive one for Volunteer Kenya / ICODEI.  From May to September we had 48 volunteers participate in our education, healthcare, and development programs.  Our summer volunteers included people from the USA, Canada, and the UK .

The HIV/AIDS Education program was again a huge success. Our volunteers spoke to thousands of people in the rural villages and continued our EMPOWER peer education training program.  At the mobile clinics, between 100 and 150 people were evaluated and treated or referred each day.  Due the extremely high demand for healthcare services in the rural villages we were working in, our volunteers typically left the farm to work at 8:00AM and did not return until after dark (around 7:00-8:00PM).  Our main obstacle in running the mobile clinics is obtaining medicine.  Our budget from the volunteer fees was rapidly eaten up by purchasing medicine for the mobile clinics. Any upcoming volunteer medical students are encouraged to check with their schools and hospitals to see if they can get donations of medicine and medical supplies to bring to Kenya .

As we begin the new year we are extremely excited to see the advancement of Epico Jahns Primary School to now include Grade 4. The school was started in 2001 and each year we have added an additional grade (and classroom) to accommodate the advancing students. Epico Jahns Academy now has over 300 students in pre-school through Grade 4. The classroom for Standard 4, the teachers lounge, and office was finished this January. Construction on both buildings was started this past fall by a group of volunteer teachers from Indiana University , but due to a lack of funds they had not been completed until January. The classroom for Standard 5 has been started, but does not yet have a floor or finished walls.

Our nursing school is now beginning its second year of operations. We now have over 30 nursing students and 2 full-time teachers. We hope to start having overseas volunteer medical students, doctors, and nurses come work alongside our Kenyan teachers at the nursing school. Volunteers will not only provide teaching assistance but also assist in curriculum development.

Jambo everyone,

I hope you are all doing fine out there. We are praying for all affected by the Katrina and the subsequent one. We hope our friends in Houston and Louisiana were not seriously affected. This email is for everyone who has volunteered with us in one way or another. We have those who have been here in person while others have participated in raising funds for our numerous projects.

The HIV/AIDS Awareness Program made over 250 presentations in 2003, to schools, churches and community groups. The audience reach included thousands of men, women, and children and made use of video, live theatre and lecture-style techniques. Every school in the Bumola Division of Bungoma District has received an Volunteer Kenya visit within the past 24 months. In addition most schools in other divisions within Bungoma have been reached, as well as schools in Butere-Mumias, Mount Elgon , Tesso and a few in Busia districts.

This program utilized the organization’s 10-year old Mitsubishi Pajero and was staffed by an overseas volunteer, and local staff which included a field coordinator, a translator (for local languages other than Swahili), and a driver.