WorldTeach volunteers on the new Kenya Year program will have the unique opportunity to assist classroom teachers in the Nyumbani Village, a village newly created for “double AIDS orphans,” those who have lost both parents to AIDS, and their caretakers.  In addition, volunteers will spend several weeks at its sister institution, the Nyumbani Children’s Home in Nairobi, the first home of its kind in Kenya for HIV positive orphans.  Founded by the visionary Jesuit priest, Fr. Angelo D’Agostino, both are important prongs of his initiative to care for children hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Kenya. 

Nyumbani Village (which means "home" in Swahili) is in Kitui, about three hours northeast of Nairobi, in a reasonably safe region of the country.  The Village was created solely for these children and their care-givers, who are usually grandparents; children without relatives to care for them are assigned to other caregivers. Houses are clustered in groups around the center of the community buildings, including the school. Each “family” has a small piece of land for their own cultivation, but the large-scale farming for the community is on the land surrounding the central Village.  Organic farming is practiced, and water conservation taken very seriously in this semi-arid countryside.  Just opened in 2006, construction of houses and other buildings for the community continues. 

Seven WorldTeach volunteers will assist the elementary school teachers at the local school. The program will now begin in mid-July 2008. Volunteers will  time in an orphanage in Nairobi and also at the Village for the remainder of orientation training.  The volunteers will assist with second semester classes, which begins in early August, and then after a long break in December and January (during which they may remain at the Village if they wish) they will return to assist for the first semester of the following year.

Volunteers initially will be assigned to grades 1 – 7 (1 volunteer per grade).  When the new school year begins in February, volunteers will “move to the next grade” with their students, so volunteers will assist in grades 2 – 8.

In particular volunteers will assist with English in the classrooms.  Children from the surrounding villages may also attend the school at the Village.  WorldTeach volunteers will also be highly encouraged to engage the students in extracurricular activities of all sorts. Volunteers may also work on the farm if they are interested.

Volunteers will live in special volunteer housing at the Village.  Their food will be provided, and they will be given a living allowance of approximately US$100 per month.

Unlike most of our programs, and due to the small number of volunteers, there will not be a WorldTeach field director in Kenya. From the seven volunteers, a head teacher will be selected from those who express interest in the position.  The head teacher will receive approximately US$100 per month as an additional stipend for serving as a support for the other volunteers, managing stipend payments, and coordinating with the US office.

All volunteers will pay a participation fee of US$5,990 per person.

Please begin the online portion of your WorldTeach application now, or write to us at info@worldteach.org to be placed on the official interest list for the Kenya Year program, and we will make sure to be in contact with you!

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