Orientation Day

After arriving in Africa, we woke up the next day and James, the driver from the night before, drove us and four other volunteers into the center of Nairobi. We met up with people who work for VICDA, a company that works with Global Volunteer Network to place volunteers in organizations in Africa. The other people in our group were from Venezuela, Australia, and Argentina. We were all shown around the city and stopped at a very busy grocery store to buy water and also walked around the market to buy anything else we would need during our time volunteering.


After our time in the city, we got in a van that drove us to the Happy Life Children's Home. The home in located in Roysambu, an area of Nairobi. The home itself is very nice and safe, but the area around it, not so much. We must be inside the home by six o'clock every evening. The home is in a gated courtyard with a small playground in the back behind the buildings. A large four-story building houses all the children, as well as an isolation room for sick children, volunteer rooms, and a reception office. The L-shaped building across from it has two large play rooms and a kitchen.


My mom and I are staying in a room that has two single beds and a bunk bed. Our shower has very hot water, thank goodness! The first night, we helped bottle feed the littlest babies. There are twelve of them. The oldest is seven months and they have all been abandoned by their parents, or their parents are no longer living.