By Sarah Howells
When I decided to undertake 2 months of volunteer work in Tanzania and Kenya in February, I was prepared for some hard work and memorable experiences. What I didn’t quite realise however, was that this would involve close encounters with angry elephants, uncomfortable experiences with Jigga Worms (parasitic worms that burrow into your foot!) and having all my food stolen by monkeys!
I started my adventure in Tanzania, at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. There I worked with the African women (known as Mamas) helping to plant coffee beans so they could earn their living. We were all extremely enthusiastic about our work, but the Mamas seemed to be more interested in getting us to teach them dances such as the Macarena!
It wasn’t all fun and games though, as we found out when we spent hours hand mixing piles of concrete in the baking African sun to lay the foundations for the local school’s dining hall. What they were currently using was nothing more than a run-down old shack. It was shocking to see the poverty that these people lived in, but it was really rewarding to feel their gratitude, especially when the children all came out on our last day to sing goodbye to us and say thank-you. It was a moment I’ll never forget. Even though the people there had nothing, they were the happiest and most welcoming people I have ever met.
There were certainly some adventurous moments in Camp too. In our first camp in Kenya, we had a very close encounter with an angry elephant! We were driving through the wild, and our guide was telling us about how the elephants were very hostile towards humans as a result of poaching, and a week earlier one had managed to flip a jeep 6 times over! As if this wasn’t scary enough, we turned the corner to see a massive bull elephant right in front of us! He took one look at our jeep, blared his trumpet and started to charge towards us! Luckily, our driver was prepared and reversed us to safety, but it was a frightening moment!
Despite the fact that I had an amazing time, my trip was a real eye opener to how lucky we really are. I hope I can one day go back to Africa as it has taught me so much, and I’d love to get involved with more volunteer work in the communities I visited. But maybe this time I’ll avoid the elephants….
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