Kenya Medical Camp

The land costs for this trip covering accommodation, meals, transport and activities comes to £795.00 and you can either pay this to Moving Mountains yourself or fundraise the total amount. The balance of £600.00 covers the cost of the medical camp and also helps fund some of our personnel, such as child counsellors and community health workers.

The money can be raised on our BT MyDonate fundraising website page which allows us to collect 20% gift aid online.

Cost includes

• All the medication / medical equipment required for the camp and it’s transportation to the location of the Medical Camp
• Medical Camp logistics, planning, local promotion and staffing
• Accommodation provided in safari tents (guest rooms for smaller teams during the medical camp)
• Transport provided in private safari vehicles or converted overland trucks
• Meals throughout and bottled water
• Camping fees at either Kakamega National Park in Western Kenya or Castle Forest Lodge on Mount Kenya and at the camp on the shores of Lake Naivasha
• National Park fees at Kakamega National Park
• Fundraising target of Moving Mountains.

EXCLUDES

• International flight to Nairobi and internal flight to Kisumu (optional)
• Visa, vaccinations / personal medication required and personal travel insurance
• Accommodation in Nairobi if needed on the 1st night and 18th night of the itinerary
• Airport transfers and meals in Nairobi (we can help provide these and you can pay directly in Kenya)
• Any tourist / safari activities in Lake Naivasha (National Park entry fees, etc)
• Personal expenses such as extra snacks, drinks, souvenirs, etc

LOCAL PROVIDER

Our local provider is Adventure Alternative Kenya which will make all the necessary arrangements in advance and work with Moving Mountains Kenya with regards organisation of group stays, medical supplies and local Doctors and Dentists, meetings with local committees, communications between the UK office and Kenya.

Although this is our first Medical Camp in Kenya we have a long history of running successful Medical Camps in Nepal, and we have been providing very popular placements for Medical Elective students across Kenya for over a decade. Both Western Kenya and Embu has also had dozens of teams visit the areas to take part in ‘Developmental Aid’ projects at Primary and Secondary Schools, Medical clinics and hospitals, water projects and the development of our very own ‘Ulamba’ Children’s Home and Community Village in Western Kenya and the Rescue Centre for Street Children in Embu.

Our regeneration projects in both Western Kenya and Embu is the implementation of a long-term development plan focused around the rural communities of the Siaya District and the slum and rural communities around Embu. Overall enhancement of quality of life and sustainability of the community has so far been achieved via investment in infrastructure, education and healthcare as well as training and reliable employment.

Aside from the more obvious physical and material elements, one of the main achievements has been the rejuvenation of a community away from the traditional tourist trail which saw little benefit from the tens of thousands of people that arrive in Kenya every year. Through improvements in sanitation, schooling, employment and future prospects the communities have started to see the benefits from the years of investment.

The sustained close links of Adventure Alternative to these areas has provided locals with a reliable and ethical source of employment and training. Throughout the course of many years, Adventure Alternative has been running school and university trips, volunteer and gap year placements, medical electives and unique safari’s. These have brought in charitable donations and also a reliable revenue stream.

So far the physical achievements in Western Kenya include:

• Construction and management of our Ulamba Children’s Home
• Installing and maintaining numerous bore-holes in a variety of community-access locations in the Siaya District
• The development and management of the Early Child Development Centre (or Nursery!) on the site of Ulamba
• The construction of guest rooms and a guest house at Ulamba, as well as starting a small farm and renovating the community centre which all help to bring a regular income to the Children’s Home
• Complete re-development of numerous schools in the area, including Wagwer Primary, Wagwer Secondary, Kumuok Primary, Wagai Primary, Nyasidhi Primary, Barkatado Primary, Barkawandu Primary, Malunga Primary and Kayieye Primary.
• Support and development of Dophil Community Clinic and support given to Siaya District Hospital

Some of the achievements in Embu include;

• Development and management of the Embu Rescue Centre for Street Children
• A daily feeding programme run from our Rescue Centre providing meals for the street kids and some of the kids from the slums who experience a difficult home life
• Setting up a number of social enterprises which provide employment for some of the young people who show a desire to get away from their life on the streets
• Complete re-development of numerous schools in the area, including Embu County Primary, Urban Primary, the School for Special Needs and the rural Gatwe Primary School
• Black Cats sports and recreation club for boys and girls
• Support given to Embu Provincial Hospital and Dallas Clinic from Medical Elective students

Other initiatives include

• Continual care of dozens of children who come through Ulamba Children’s Home
• Funding provided for extra teachers in the schools we develop, at least until a point when the Government puts more investment in (this tends to happen shortly after the re-development of schools)
• Individual sponsorship and support given to dozens of school children in the regions
• Our ‘Black Cats’ sports club has now started in Western Kenya after the success of the Embu teams
• Supporting community cooperative programmes for wealth generation

Explore the Moving Mountains website for more information on our work in Kenya and beyond.

For this trip we are very happy to accept qualified physicians and nurses and medical professionals, as well as medical, nursing and public health students. The trip is supervised by Kenyan Doctors and the purpose of the camp is threefold: to diagnose and treat, to assist with the local public health campaigns, and to collect and share data with the provincial medical office.

The trip is obviously a great opportunity to experience health care in this part of the world and to also help others. It is important to be open, willing to learn and take part, enthusiastic and objective. The trip can be emotional, and you will meet people whose lives seem almost impossible to live, but your interaction with them will help in many ways.

Our medical camps are open to anybody, and there is a clear understanding that any community event like this can only exist if there is a need that is identified by the local communities.

We have an equal opportunities policy and strict policies regarding child protection, and we are founding members of Fair Trade Volunteering movement.

We ensure that the emphasis on personal development and international development is balanced, and that this medical camp is always part of a long term aim which has been properly evidenced.

Our support includes training and preparation from dedicated staff in the UK, which ensures that your time with us is productive and enjoyable and effective. Our training staff are experienced in managing volunteer expectations, and have a background in development.

We want to ensure that your time with us is productive and enjoyable and effective. We are experienced in managing volunteer expectations, and we have a background in development, but we will also be asking a lot of you during this trip.

Every camp aims to achieve some kind of development impact which has been developed in partnership with a credible partner, in our case Adventure Alternative which has over twenty years of experience in responsible tourism and supporting social welfare, education and health in developing countries through our sister charity Moving Mountains.

We analyse the processes of change that occur so that there is clear evidence for the need of events like this, and we use impact assessment ‘maps’ to try and define the developmental process.

We communicate with all relevant stakeholders and ensure that the placements are collectively agreed, for example with regional administrations and local Chief’s and committees in the Siaya District.

The arrangements for the camp will allow you to develop an insight into the lives of the community, which includes visiting homes, shopping locally, cooking local recipes, travelling on local transport and using community facilities like the early child development centres and attending community events.

During the trip there is always opportunity to meet and share your experience with staff who can help with evaluations and reflection, helping to build on the skills and knowledge and experience being gained. One of the biggest aims of the programme is to encourage people to engage in society on their return and take part in many incentives to promote global healthcare solutions.

You will not be expected to be a visiting Doctor who sees patients although sometimes of course misunderstanding occurs, we recommend you discuss clearly with the supervisor what you can and can’t do, and also make it clear to patients that they are being seen by a student and not a qualified Doctor.

We run long term ongoing medical programmes with Moving Mountains, and also at the request of local communities and hospitals. We have worked with medical authorities in many locations to ensure ongoing continuity as well as medical co-operation with other aspects of our work, for example the children’s homes we build and run, and the satellite private clinics which serve smaller remote communities and take some of the burden off under-funded Government hospitals.