MORE VOLUNTEER NEWS

Goodbye and thank you to our Australian friends
Last week we had to say goodbye to the six Australian medical student volunteers who have worked so hard for us during their visit. We have learnt much from them and as you can see from Tori's blog they seemed to have learned from us too. We do hope you have a good rest in Mombasa and a safe trip home to Sydney. http://kickstartkidsinternational.com/category/victoria/

The volunteers show off their Certificates Of Appreciation

A special thank you from Bram to James who organises the volunteer placements

A Social Worker volunteer from the US

As you know we have been very fortunate to welcome many volunteers over the years, mainly from the medical profession who are able to work with our doctors and nurses at Arrow Web Hospital. So we were very pleased to hear from Brooke Scole, a social worker from the US when she offered to work with us for six weeks.

Brooke has been working mainly with Rachel our own social worker and each has been able to learn from the other about the real challenges in providing services to the most vulnerable and poor in their very different communities.

Much of Rachel's time is spent in the community in some of the poorest slums in the world and Brooke was able to work with her there and in Arrow Web Hospital.

Brooke holds a young baby in her arms at Arrow Web Hospital

She admires a proud mum's new baby at the clinic

Brooke hard at work at the busy immunisation clinic

Brooke has been a great help to us and we look forward to hearing more about her before she goes home.

MORE INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEERS SUPPORT US

Jacq Goldthorp from Moray, Scotland

As you know Jacq visited us for two weeks earlier this year. She spent time with our staff at Arrow Web Hospital and out in the community with our social worker Rachel. As Jacq walked around the slums, Rachel told her about the desperate situation for people with serious learning disabilities and mental health problems. The government no longer provides them with free treatment and care and this means that many of them live in dire poverty, living on the streets.

Jacq visited Soweto Orphanage and was very impressed with the care provided there for over 250 children. Arrow Web Hospital provides immunisations and inpatient treatment and care for these children as part of the Comprehensive Care Program which has been funded by our board members.. We are currently seeking support from other donors to extend this program to help more of the poorest children in our catchment area.

During her time at Arrow Web Hospital, Jacq was able to help Bram improve the systems for managing finances and for collecting data which is required for the District Health Authority. As a result of all Jacq's work with Bram, we now have more evidence of the good governance of Arrow Kenya to show the government and potential donors. Job Onimo, our assistant board secretary has kindly agreed to lead the improvements which Jacq has recommended.

Jacq, thank you so much for all the advice and support you have given us.

"Thank you Elizabeth for looking after me so well during my stay"

Some of the children Jacq met at Soweto orphanage

Bram takes Jacq up country for a well earned break

This week's volunteers organise a special medical camp

James Harrison. who was introduced to Bram by a fellow medical student volunteer with Alison Lowndes' great charity AVIF, visited us at the end of last year. This week he returned with five other medical students from Kickstart Kids International, "a charity founded and run by young Australians, that enables advantaged countries to help "kickstart" the lives of kids who effectively have nothing"

Apart from helping out at Arrow Web Hospital and in the community, and visiting other health facilities as well as their own projects, James and the other volunteers Miranda Norquay, Victoria Rebecca, David Kc, Amanda Sherwin and Reid Schofield organised a special medical camp at the hospital for the community. They organised special treatment plans and paid for the drugs and supplies needed. These young volunteers treated over 360 children and adults in one day-what an amazing achievement. Thank you so much from Bram and the Arrow Kenya board, the staff and of course the community.

You can read about their experiences on the blogs on the Kickstart Kids International website and on Facebook. http://kickstartkidsinternational.com/category/david/ http://www.facebook.com/KickstartKidsInternational

Apart from the medical students from Australia, we also welcomed a social worker from the US.

Our volunteers from Australia and the US with our staff

"I want to play with your stethoscope Miranda"

"I am not sure about this Miranda"

James with some of our staff and patients

"Open wide for David"

Amanda listens carefully to one of the mothers

But it's not all good news.....

For those of you who have been keeping up with the challenges we have been facing in trying to transport a container full of urgently needed medical equipment and supplies to Arrow Web Hospital - last week Arrow Kenya board had to make the very difficult decision to abandon the project. We were due to ship the container on August 4th, but unfortunately our major donor COCO had to withdraw their offer of support last week, as we do not meet their new funding criteria.

This project which has been going for over three years, has been a lot of hard work for Bram and many of our supporters had given their time and money to help make this happen. Arrow Kenya would like to thank everyone who has worked with us on this project, especially Alison Lowndes from AVIF who helped set it up in the early days and has given us so much support and advice along the way. http://www.avif.org.uk/

We would also like to thank Jackie Keens from Aids to Hospitals Worldwide who has been so helpful and patient with us as we had to keep postponing the shipment, due to the difficulties in getting a Tax Exemption Certificate. http://a2hw.web.officelive.com/default.aspx

We will be contacting everyone who contributed to the project, but if you do not hear from us over the next few weeks, (when we will be asking you if you would like your donation refunded, or used to support other fundraising), please get in touch.