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By day its red dirt roads winding between
white-washed, coral-brick houses beneath
palm trees swaying in the currents of the
ever-present Indian Ocean breeze. At night,
the equatorial stars pierce the cloudless
sky as the sopping moon lulls her way
between the baobab silhouettes on the
horizons. Welcome to Takaungu.
--Franki Rolapp, Past Volunteer
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Franki Rolapp - Volunteer |
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Contact Us |
Email:
info@comekuona.org
In USA
14419 Englewood Dr.
Gig Harbor, WA 98329
USA.
In Kenya:
PO BOX 85085-80100
Mombasa, Kenya |
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How to
become a Volunteer |
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Volunteers speak out about their life learning
experience in Kenya. |
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Coming to the EAC was
my first experience in working in an
International NGO.
I could not have asked for a better
community to be a part of.
I felt welcomed from the beginning
and feel that I now have family in Kenya.
I think that this environment is one
that is truly open for all ages and all
experience levels as long as you bring an
open mind, open heart, and are willing to
work for a common goal.
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Liz Orr,
Portland OR, USA
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The most meaningful
thing I took away from my internship at the
East African Center in Takaungu had nothing
to do with the work I was involved in, but
rather the interactions I had with the
people in the community.
Everyone in Takaungu has been so
embracing which has made me feel right at
home.
The people I have met here have
become like a new family to me and that is
what made my internship so rewarding. I have
never felt uncomfortable in Takaungu because
the people whom you meet here really go out
of their way to make you feel comfortable
and safe.
What started out as small talk and
hellos quickly became deep conversations and
frequent invites to go hang out after work
was done.
Within the three short months I have
spent here, the impression that the people
of Takaungu have left on me will last a
lifetime.
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Kert Lin,
Seattle WA, USA
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My main goals were
coming to Takaungu were to understand local
culture, to improve in Swahili and to
conduct my graduate research. Staying in a
homestay was the best way to understand
local culture and improve in Swahili. I also
learned a lot from the community and was
able to combine my graduate study research
by completing a research survey with the
East African Center sewing program. I will
miss all the people I met in Takaungu.
-Yasuko Soeda,
Japan
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My summer internship
with the AC was the quintessential college
experience. It exposed me to a new work
environment as well as an extraordinary new
culture, opening my eyes to a different way
of life. The experience was challenging, but
incredibly rewarding. The staff was so
friendly and accommodating that sometimes I
could forget I was halfway around the world
from my comfort zone. The work I did will
stay with me as I move into the working
world because it gave me a realistic view of
the non-profit sector, which was an
invaluable lesson. I met some of the most
incredible people, both from Kenya and
around the world. My volunteering experience
was definitely inspiring and life changing.
I would do it again in a heart beat!
As
an aspiring international development
worker, I am so grateful to have this
experience as a volunteer for an
international non-profit organization.
While I have experience working for
community organizations in the U.S.,
volunteering abroad has given me a
completely different perspective on the
inner-workings of the development sector.
-Molly Bisset,
Seattle WA, USA
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In the Netherlands I am
study nursing at the Hogeschool van Utrecht
(HU). After I finished my first year I took
one year off to go abroad. I wanted to do
more in my life than only studying and
working in The Netherlands. The best way to
be as open minded as possible is, in my
opinion, going abroad and seeing more than
only what your country has to offer. In
Takaungu I have worked on various projects
for the East African Center health and
education programs. The main project I am
working on is writing a Health Education
Curriculum for Children. I have a large
interest for health, so this has been a
perfect project for me. I’m really enjoying
my time in Takaungu. My work is fantastic, I
live with a nice family and the people here
in Takaungu are great. People are friendly
and welcoming. You will hear Karibu, which
means ‘welcome’ in Swahili many times.
-Hanneke Bos, The
Netherlands
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Brian Carhart |
During his stay in Takaungu, Brian worked on
the renovation and running of the EAC-sponsored
library at Takaungu Primary School.
We opened the library July 14th, one week
after hours of sweeping, dusting, painting,
and reorganizing the existing building. On
the first day, students came in large
numbers to look at and to read the books
provided through the EAC bookplate program.
Children were climbing over desks and each
other, excited to get to the books. Some
fights broke out and children were hitting
each other. It truly is a beautiful sight to
see children literally fighting to read.
These screams, laughs, and shrieks of
excitement validate my work here in Takaungu
and the work of the EAC.
The animation continued through the end of
the first week and even through the first
month. Each day of this first week there was
a little girl from standard two who ran
everywhere, so excited about the library.
She runs as fast as she can from her
classroom to the library when its break time
or during the lunch hour. Jumping into the
library, she streamlines for the shelves and
picks out a book, usually an encyclopedia.
Grasping the chocked text, she runs to a
desk and flips through the book as fast as
she can. I am not sure she actually sees
what is on the page before she turns it.
Pink shirt girl then runs the book back to
where she got it and will run to the other
end of the library, knocking people out of
her way (including me), to get another book
and repeats this deranged behavior.
Not only are the students excited about the
library, but teachers and parents too have
stopped by and showed their appreciation and
gratitude, saying the library was
“beautiful”. We painted a globe and
handprints on one wall, and the alphabet is
placed nicely above the windows along
another. The white washed walls will only
last a few weeks, soon covered with some
history. This history told by the small
brown handprints and scuff marks from the
thick flip-flops students wear. |
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Yarrow Goding |
Yarrow volunteered to help organize the East
African Center and the Vutakaka Community
Center and is now on the board of directors
of the EAC in Seattle, Washington, USA.
Two years ago, I first visited Takaungu with
others involved in our original project in
Kenya. At that time, I knew next to nothing
about Takaungu, except that one of my
friends has family here. After thirty
minutes driving past tropical forest, sisal
plantations and roadside villages north of
Mombasa, we turned off the tarmac highway
onto a red dirt road barely wide enough for
two cars to pass. Women with baskets, jugs
of water, bundles of wood balanced on their
heads walked by the road with regal posture,
goats and cattle passed in front of and
behind our car, children ran alongside
calling out greetings and giggling as we
waved in reply. Mango trees, cashew trees,
and avocado trees tucked here and there
amongst the palm trees that grow everywhere.
After months in hectic Nairobi, and a
whirlwind tour of Mombasa, this place was
calm, orderly, and peaceful. It is the
Africa I imagined as a little girl. When we
pulled into Takaungu Village, we were
welcomed into the home of our guide’s
grandmother, and though she spoke no
English, and hadn’t been expecting guests,
she made us feel at home and served us an
incredible lunch of fish and coconut rice.
Since then, I’ve been back to Takaungu for
short visits—a day here and there, a
meeting, filming the EAC’s video about
Takaungu—but I haven’t stayed long enough to
settle in or explore much on my own. I knew
a lot more about Takaungu before this trip,
but entirely through the experiences of
others, their research, pictures, emails and
stories.
I was again welcomed warmly and
unconditionally. People who I’d only met
briefly during my previous visits became my
friends. I explored the side paths in the
town, the beach, the creek, some of the
other villages, learned how to cook Swahili
food, talked with whoever I happened to
meet, played with the kids, answered a lot
of questions, and asked even more. As I
write this, I’ll be leaving Takaungu in less
than three days, and it’s breaking my heart.
Again, I’ll have to depend on others for
news of my friends here, how the kids are
doing in school, the progress of our center,
and the inevitable changes—good and bad—that
take place. The thing that makes it okay for
me to go is knowing that I’ll still be a
part of the village, a little bit, as I’m
doing my work with the EAC in Seattle, and
that when I come back, I’ll see the resource
center complete, our libraries in use, our
programming in action, and I’ll be warmly
welcomed by my friends here. |
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Kimberly Bigelow |
Kimberly (on the right here, riding the free
ferry that crosses Takaungu Creek)
volunteered alongside Brian, working on the
library at Takaungu Primary School and
tutoring kids after school.
Takaungu is a little slice of heaven. Every
morning I wake up to the excitement and
possibilities of a new day here in Kenya.
But most importantly, I wake up to a new day
right here in Takaungu.
After spending the first few weeks of my
trip traveling around, it was nice to
finally settle down somewhere…but I never
expected to find such a peaceful, tranquil
place…palm trees, ocean and all! Everywhere
we go there are at least 5 kids curiously
trailing behind us and calling out, “Jambo,
how are you?” If you respond and ask them
how they are, they aren’t quite sure how to
respond and most of the time they just
giggle in excited little bursts…it’s
darling.
I feel like we’re just getting started with
tutoring the kids after school, after
reopening the library. Today, Brian and I
were painting there and had to practically
lock ourselves in to keep out the
ever-curious children that are present
throughout the village. I will definitely
miss Takaungu when I go, and can truthfully
say that out of all the places I’ve been in
Kenya, this is by far its biggest, brightest
star. |
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Jenn Holmes |
Jenn volunteered in Takaungu during the
construction of the Vutakaka Community
Center, helping with organization and
planning.
Never underestimate the strength of a woman.
Women are amazing. Women carry the weight of
the world, and then carry babies for nine
months. Working alongside the women of
Takaungu has been an experience I cannot
give justice through words. I have
discovered that constructing a building,
work that some would assume falls solely
under "manual labor," is not only
challenging physically, but mentally,
emotionally, and spiritually. The women of
the Takaungu sub-Location have come together
putting strength, and sweat into
constructing a resource center for
themselves.
Women show up everyday, volunteering their
time to help with the construction. Women
balance heavy coral blocks on their heads to
the construction site. Women dig ditches,
fill in the foundation, cook a lunch for 25
people, carry 20-litre jugs of water on
their heads from half a mile away, and then
take a little break to breast feed one of
their children. At the last EAC committee
meeting one woman stood up and held the men
accountable for either not coming to help,
or not putting their sweat into
construction. It was great to watch her
confront these men, who in the end, couldn't
help but agree with her.
My physical abilities are of course not up
to par with these incredible women, but I
have been pushing myself to work alongside
them as best I can. I have come to
understand that although we come from vastly
different backgrounds, upbringings, and
speak a different language, we share similar
emotions and common bonds. I feel blessed to
share time with these women and have learned
so much about myself, and about the values I
hold close to my heart; love, family,
community, and coming together to achieve a
common goal, being the change you want to
see. |
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Mike McCarty |
Mike helped build the Vutakaka Center and
the volunteer housing units. He also
initiated a program that gave local students
disposable cameras and had them write
stories about the pictures they took.
I only have a couple of weeks left here. I
know that time will pass very quickly. The
first of those weeks I’ll be out at the
Center helping where I can on the new
building and helping to build a couple more
outhouses and showers for the new volunteer
housing. I’m also going to slip up to
Malindi for a couple of days. Malindi is a
town full of Italians. I went there in
October for a couple of days of great
Italian food and stayed at a nice $10 hotel
with a pool. I even went to the casino for
the $1 blackjack. My main reason for going
back this time is to go snorkeling again.
There is nothing like warm water and
colorful fish.
The next week I’ll be going to the different
villages of the sub location and taking
pictures. I’ve asked the man who will be
taking me around to introduce me to some of
the old mzees (elders) who drink palm wine
and some of the old mamas who have helped
raise the generations of kids. My one regret
is that I didn’t do this earlier so I could
have gotten to know the people even better.
Maybe I will next time, whenever that may
be. |
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Megan Black |
Megan was in Takaungu when the center was
completed. In addition to helping there, she
taught English and Math at Takaungu Primary.
To begin to summarize the thoughts,
feelings, and emotions I have gone through
during my past two months in Takaungu seems
like a nearly impossible task. My heart and
mind have been pushed well beyond what I
ever thought was possible. I now realize
that after spending months of “getting
ready” to come to Africa, no preparation
could have ever prepared me for the beauty
and way of life in Takaungu Village and the
challenges I have been faced with. I am
finally settled and feeling more at home
here than I could have imagined, and it is
almost time for me to leave. It’s a feeling
that I wasn’t quite expecting, to be so
welcomed here and feel so accustomed to
living in this community and at the same
time have so much fear and confusion about
returning to the place I’ve known and called
home for the past nineteen years.
Time after time, I have been asked my
reasoning and purposes for coming here.
Before I left I didn’t have the perfectly
scripted and thought out answer that
everyone seemed to expect from me. I just
knew that at that point in my life it was
something that I needed to do. I wanted to
push my boundaries and comfort level and
experience a culture completely different
than my own. I didn’t know what to expect
from the people in Takaungu or myself, and
looking back there is no way I could have
possibly known the experiences that I have
had with the people here.
More than anything I have been amazed by the
sense of community Takaungu seems to have.
As the center is nearly finished, I realized
that I have never seen a group of more
dedicated and hard-working people. The hours
of work and planning that has gone into this
center is unbelievable and it is easy to
imagine the benefits and uses this center
will have in the near future. So many people
have taken pride and ownership in the center
and even though the EAC presented the idea,
they have taken it into their hands and are
making it their own. I wish that I could
fill the newsletter with information about
every single person I have met. Their
outlooks on life have made me question my
own and I am learning what is really
important in life and what should be truly
valued.
I can only hope that everyone reading this
will one day have the opportunity to
experience the happiness and lessons that
Takaungu has given me. |
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Sarah Kaufmann-Fink |
Sarah (on right, with fellow volunteer Megan
and little Ryann) was also in Takaungu as
the Center was completed. She helped
organize programs there and also taught at
Vuma Primary School.
On my first full day in Takaungu, I visited
the community center being erected through
the combined efforts of the EAC and the
community members. I was floored at the
sight of it and at the pride and ownership I
immediately noticed in the community members
working at the site. After meeting the men
who were raising the heavy coral blocks and
plastering them together with cement to
create the beautiful new building I let them
get back to work and enjoyed sitting with
the women and children who crowded around
the site. The women cook lunch each day for
those who work on the building (the EAC pays
for cooking supplies as a method of payment
for those participating in the
construction). Children were plentiful and
after eating a lunch of ugali and beans I
was completely content to watch the children
play. What a reminder that money doesn’t
bring happiness! There were no tantrums over
one child stealing another’s toy; instead
the air was filled with happy sounds of
laughter. A large pile of sand that will be
used in the building served as a sandbox for
the youngest children while several of the
older ones had cut circles out of the soles
of old flip-flop sandals and attached them
to sticks which they maneuvered around as
toy cars. There was even a homemade soccer
ball made by balling plastic bags together
and tying them tightly with twine. There
were trees to hang on and things to throw at
one another—so much fun, so many smiles and
games.
Now, nearly a month after that orientation
to Takaungu, I am still so full of respect
for the community, which has so warmly
welcomed the EAC and me. I continue to learn
and to witness marvelous acts of kindness
and compassion and unity. While in actuality
these gestures are relatively small, they
are grandiose in comparison to what I’ve
grown accustomed to in America. Here, it
seems, the power of unity is understood to a
much fuller extent. It is not uncommon to
see a woman wearing full Muslim covering
walking and talking to a Christian woman
wearing much less. Unity is even more
obvious at the two community meetings I have
been here to witness. 40-60 people from
throughout the sub-location come together to
listen respectfully and discuss openly how
to best create a governing body for the
community center. Men and women alike share
opinions, ideas and criticisms as planning
for this community committee continues.
People are concerned with taking care of
their community and feel a responsibility
for it so much so that great lengths are
being taken to ensure the community center
and community committee’s success.
If only my high school government teacher
could see me now, for I am learning the true
meaning of democracy! It was discussed at
the last meeting how voting for the
chairperson, secretary and treasurer should
take place. After much discussion in which
the pros and cons for several methods were
discussed, as well as the issue of
illiteracy, it was concluded that in two
weeks time committee members will cast
written ballots for each of the three
positions. Megan, Mike and I, the three
current volunteers, will be available to
assist community members who have difficulty
reading the ballots, as we are impartial. So
on October 2 think of us here in Takaungu,
Kenya and the democratic forum that will be
taking place!
Each evening I look forward to the following
day as I know it will be new and exciting.
Though the scenery here is unbelievable, it
is the actions and words of people that have
left a lasting impression on me. I wish each
and everyone of you reading this were able
to see through my eyes and feel through my
skin the beauty that is Africa. I hope that
one day soon you will have the opportunity
to visit Kenya and know the peace that I
feel here. |
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Breona Gutschmidt |
Breona is a current volunteer in Takaungu.
She is working with the sewing club and kids
in after-school tutoring. Below are some of
her first impressions.
So, I've only been here two full days, and
Suzanne is already asking me to share my
experience with the world. The environment
-- the rustling palm trees, the general pace
of life, the amount of time spent outdoors,
amount of time spent drinking tea -- is
relaxing, but I have also been meeting so
many new people and trying to adjust to my
surroundings, and make sense of a new world
(and the heat and time difference!) that I
haven't felt relaxed. But I didn't come here
for a vacation.
The people here are so friendly --
friendlier than I anticipated and that has
been a very pleasant surprise. It feels like
everyone is eager to meet me, and they all
say hello. The children are lovely and
charming and also crazy, running around the
school and shouting out their lessons in
alternating bouts of order and chaos.
I tried to come here with as few
preconceived ideas as I could, but still
there were some to shatter. It is more
multi-cultural here than I expected. I'm
still trying to puzzle out the economics of
the place. There seem to be fewer mosquitoes
(thank god) but more bugs of other
varieties. Malaria and water quality, at
least so far, seem to be less of an
omni-present fear than I thought they would
be, even for villagers. People speak more
English than I thought they would. The
pineapple is even sweeter than I imagined.
I am looking forward to beginning my jobs at
the Center, getting settled for a little
while, and sharing more with you next month. |
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