Volunteering in Kenya

By Abigail May Garcia

A trip to IL NGWESI, a Maasai Village. Abi with a Maasai Elder. At the back is the 

Boma (house of Maasai tribe)

Kenyan  Women Processing orange juice

I HAVE always believed, that every experience we had is a preparation for something great.

I am a Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) International Volunteer serving in Kenya for 14 months. My placement is with a fruit growing cooperative that needs assistance in marketing and product development, since during the peak season most of the fruits are not sold and goes to waste. The cooperative is in a remote village at  the south coast of Kenya with no electricity and no running water.

Despite all the challenges, I became more excited thinking about what I would learn and could do to the cooperative. The members of the cooperative are growing citrus trees such as oranges, limes, tangerines, lemon and also passion fruit, bird’s eye chili, bix (atsuete), maize, sorghum, sukuma wiki (kales), cassava and a lot more.  I was already thinking of what the products we could make considering that there’s a lot of raw materials.

Women learning how to use measuring cups.

The first time I met the coop members, I realized that my excitement was on the next level. Oooppsss… apart from being late for 3 hours, old women came into the meeting with babies tied on their back with a Kanga (like a sarong), 95 percent do not speak English, most never had education, and most were tired from walking several kilometers just to reach the meeting place.

I was in a state of culture shock! But then life had to go on. I had to be resourceful and patient. I presented to them the outlines of what I intended to do such as understanding of basic hygiene and sanitation, Good Manufacturing Practices, organizing things and eventually processing.

I remember that one of the sessions I had with the women was understanding the  basic concepts of measurements. The venue had no chairs so the women just sat on a mkeka (banig). I showed them several things such as plastic bags, set of measuring spoons, set of measuring cups, candy thermometer, oven thermometer and a small weighing scale. Then one lady said “Please assist me with that paper bag.” I looked at her confused, then she pointed at the several plastic bags I was holding. I just handed her the plastic bags and said “ah, paper bags….”   In the village the word plastic bag (like our sando bag) does not exist. Any bag is called a “paper bag”.  We just laughed during the entire session.

Having fun with other Volunteers

That day, we learned how to take measurements for dry ingredients and liquid ingredients. I know some of them had a hard time understanding why they have to measure things when they can just get a handful and mix it with anything. But then it is necessary that they have to undergo through these steps, which will eventually lead to their understanding of the importance of standardization in food processing.

On the 7^th month, the women started to process juice and sell it at the local market. Little changes mean a lot.

It’s been 11 months since I came to Kenya, but everything is soooo slow with work. I may not be able to do wonders but surely I have learned a lot of things. The volunteering experience taught me how to live a modest life, meaning finding joy in every little thing that happens. Besides, if not for volunteering, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to gain friends all over the world, go to a safari (Swahili term for journey), see the famous migration of wildebeest, lions, cheetah, leopard on the tree, hyenas, elephants and zebras crossing the road, giraffe prancing, embrace the baobab tree, white sand beaches, learning new cuisine and most of all knowing myself better. ■

 Abigail May Garcia is a B.S. Food Technology graduate of SOTECH and currently works as a volunteer in Kenya.