The last couple of weeks have been very exciting for us at Camp Kenya. We were recently approached by the East African Whale Shark Trust whom we work with seasonally for a bit of assistance with their latest initiative – coral reef restoration on the south coast of Kenya. Our Marine Conservation Projects are primarily focused on helping to improve livelihoods of communities that are dependent upon marine resources but occasionally we are able to provide assistance to organizations that work inside the waters.

Water based marine conservation is very delicate and not something to be taken lightly. Sea urchin populations have dramatically increased and are destroying coral reefs in Diani on Kenya’s south coast. Over time there has been a massive growth in certain seaweeds which accelerates the problem as they prevent light getting to the coral.

The East African Whale Shark Trust has started a pilot project to restore a section of the reef. The local fishermen have agreed not to fish a designated area and the next step is to weed out the seaweed and reduce the sea urchin population. So when they approached us to help them with a bit of underwater weeding which just needs a bunch of confident and enthusiastic swimmers, needless to say we had a whole lot of gappers at hand.

Up went Volker in his little flying machine to spot whalesharks (the season has just begun and they should be arriving any day)…

And down went our gappers (the video below says the rest)…

Big thanks to Volker, Nadia and all the gappers who have done an amazing job clearing out unwanted seaweed and sea urchins. The next step is to start looking at replanting coral which is going to take qualified divers.

We are very proud to have been able to help them get this going…

I just got back from a road trip across our Camps in Kenya and Tanzania with Nick North, one of our Camps International Trustee’s and his wife Ginny. It was there first time out here with us although both of them spent many years all over Africa in their youth. Needless to say that its been a real pleasure to show them all the various projects that we have been engaged with over the last few years if not longer. It never ceases to amaze me just how much our gappers, Lifers and School teams have contributed through dedicated hard work and I know our Trustees share my sentiments.

One comment that Nick and Ginny kept making is how shocked they were to see the kind of distances and the amount of projects that are so spread out. I never really thought about it in that way but they did make think about it and hold my breath in awe of our field staff who handle the projects on the ground. Putting up an entire classroom block that is 50kms away from the closest hardware is one thing: putting up an entire classroom block when there is no water available to drink let alone use for construction is another. Then the rains come along and the roads become impassable but somehow, we still manage to carry on.

The results from last year have been truly uplifting and we have left a lot of smiles across Kenya and Tanzania. The new kitchen at Sasenyi Primary is complete and in operation (the containers next to their feet are for carrying water for the school feeding programme – some kids walk up to 10kms carrying water!)

It’s currently very very smoky inside but not for long as our energy efficient partners at CO2balance have confirmed that they will support the construction of an institutional stove and we should get that in place very soon. Our Camp Kenya gappers were on site that day busy sanding down and varnishing that last of 50 new school desks that were partially sponsored by Southfield School, Camps and an amazing group of people that visited last year and have set up a dedicated fundraising campaign for all the much needed infrastructure at Sasenyi. Little Ben tells the story first hand below:

Yes, Camps International does financially and physically support all its projects through your participation in our various programs but No: we can’t do it all alone. And for this purpose, the Camps International Trust has come into operation and been an amazing supporting hand for lots of different independent projects or for so many people like the Crossley’s or the Cummins group who have come out here and been a part of the process themselves and want to keep being a part of it.

And that’s just one location in one country! We have 18 active projects in Kenya alone, 5 in Tanzania and several more in Borneo.

2 days and 6 punctures later, we made our south from Camp Tsavo across the border to Tanzania. The road is miserable on the Kenyan side and I could see a cheeky smile forming across the face of Tommie, our Tanzania Country Manager as we crossed over to the far too smooth surface…(yeah, yeah, Tommie, I got the message!). And the view…aah the view from Camp Mbokumu…

So irrespective of the lousy view out of their windows and the fact that there are a handful of real coffee shops down the road, our Camp Tanzania work their butts off in all sorts of obscure locations around Mount Kilimanjaro. We have been very ambitious with some of our projects but we have never failed even when the school dining hall is big enough to park a couple of planes in!

The Mbokumu Dining Hall is just up the road from the Camp but much much further up the road (further enough for our 4wd pickup to wheeze and cough with altitude sickness) is another amazing little project that has just been completed and a big hat tip to all of you who were apart of this little kitchen on the banana infested hills of Kidia.

Perhaps you are beginning to notice a pattern here. We appear to have an obsession with a handful of things and food is definitely one of them (click HERE to remind yourself of the other). Yes, in areas where the basic needs like food security and hygiene and water are simply not available, we have a duty to focus and help establish basic fundamental necessities.  And we like to stay positive and realistic about what we do.

Yes, we are indeed proud of all that has been accomplished and yes, we also know that we have miles to go before we sleep…

2009 was a particularly exciting year for us in Kenya. The dust settled from the post-election crises in 2008 and life in Kenya resumed as we know it and love it. We had a great year and felt we achieved so much in terms of the projects, which is core to what we do across all our locations.

As many of you know, we run several different projects across a host of different locations from the south coast of Kenya to the Tsavo & Kilimanjaro ecosystem. Our model of intervention works and we know that for a fact as we can tangibly measure and report our successes and failures. Of course there is always room for improvement and we hope we are getting better and better all the time. For those of you who keep up to date with our Project Diary, you may have noticed that we are increasingly trying to focus on improving livelihoods, not just by providing the basic necessities of life but also by facilitating income generation activities for communities.

Within the various locations where we support schools, this is not always possible but we have been trying to ensure that we meet the basic needs, so that whatever little support the school receives from the government can be used more sustainably. Over the past five years we have learnt that the best way to start in a new area is through the local primary school where we build relationships and understand the needs of the community over time. We then try and move further afield and start to address community needs while still supporting the school.

None of this would be possible if it were not for the support of all our volunteers. You can never underestimate the value of labor in a place like this! Whether one is helping to construct a toilet block or digging away all day to put in systems to avoid erosion, the fact of the matter is, is that every bit counts. So often, Camps International receive additional donations from people who have traveled with us, be it to sponsor a needy child with secondary school fees or to contribute to a desk making project and sometimes to support project’s that are much more costly.

Stephen Kanja Primary School located next to our Camp in Mukurumuji where our Life clients stay is one such location where there has been an overwhelming support through Camp Kenya and independently from Life Clients. Over the past three years, Sally’s Trust have financially supported a series of large scale projects managed by us and aimed at securing water through construction of water tanks, rainwater collection and rehabilitation of the land around the school. Sally’s Trust continues to support some of the classroom construction at Muhaka Primary today.

Recently, the school and the community in Mukurumuji (the area is also known as Majimboni) have been blessed by a group of Life clients that visited in September and were so taken by being a part of this community that they decided they want to do something really big and meaningful. Three months later, a community borehole was opened which was entirely financed by this group (click HERE to read the full story)

And it did not stop just with water. In December, they returned armed with laptops to run a Computer Bootcamp for the secondary school. So much came out of just one group of people visiting and we only site this as an example of just how much happens when your feet are on the ground (so to speak). Do have a read of an article that appeared in one of our local weekly papers HERE. And once again, whether you help build a desk or raise additional funds for a specific project, every bit counts and really does help. To date, we can honestly say that everything we set out to do in and around Stephen Kanja Primary has been achieved and so much more.

Without sounding too cliché, things always change in life and the important thing is to know how to adapt. As long as Kenya continues to remain peaceful, we are committed to this country for life but we also have to adapt to ever changing global forces as well as local dynamics. The fact of the matter is, we simply did not have enough volunteers coming to sustain the camp. Thus, as a past volunteer we wanted you to know that we have closed Camp Mukurumuji but have stayed long enough to finish all the major projects.

The good news is that we will continue to operate our Life Program just down the hill from Mukurumuji within one of our very first and dearest locations, Camp Makongeni where we have been for the past five years. So much has already been achieved within this area but like most places on this continent, so much more can be done. We thus, feel that our Life Programme will be better placed here and encourage all to have a look at the Camp page HERE and our project page HERE.

For those of you that have a close connection with Mukurumuji, please rest assured that we will continue to support the sponsorship programme with various children you have meet and committed to. Of course we are sad to leave those beautiful hills but we are also equally excited to take on new challenges and hope you will come along for the ride.

Happy New Year to all! And what a great start to the year! We have been keeping quiet about this amazing initiative undertaken by a group of Life clients who travelled with us in september. Below is the brief story about a bunch of amazing people who fundraised just over 10,000£ to drill a borehole for the community in Majimboni! It’s a story that has touched us all across Camps International and am sure it will you…

(Many thanks to Drighid Smyth for writing the Press Release).

On the 7^th January 2010, the local village of Majimboni in the Shimba Hills had fresh water pumped directly to their local village. Local people today sampled for the first time water flowing from the new well located behind the Stephen Kanja School. With a population of 3000 people previously the local community would have to walk over 2 km to get fresh water. The Well, is a very welcome addition to the numerous projects which are underway in the village of Majimboni and are supported by Camps International.

This project was initiated by a group of 9 people who participated in a  Camps Life Programme, September 2009. The well was completed in less than three months and was coordinated by  Tony Cummins,  an Irish Engineer from Cork. The group project managed this particular assignment with help from a local geologist and Camp Kenya staff following extensive fundraising in Ireland and the UK.  The nine sponsors who spent the month of September in Majimboni, as part of a Camp Kenya Life Program, agreed on this particular project and will fundraise in excess of £10,000 stg to bring the project to conclusion.

The Well will provide clean water to the village of Majimboni. A borehole of 115 meters was drilled and water was struck. It was important that the well was deep so that in the event of drought water would still flow. African Water Drilling Company was  the company responsible for delivering the project and our thanks to Abdulla and his team for completing the project in the fastest ever time from conception to completion in Kenya.

Speaking at the opening of the Well, Mr Tony Cummins said, “We chose this project because we believe that it brings huge value to the village and benefits the most people. During our time here in September 09 we were touched by the wonderful people who showed such grace and kindness with the tough lives they lead.  There is no running water in the village and it was often the responsibility of the children to fetch this from the local river every day.  The minimum journey would take 2km and needed to be fetched before or after school – this is obviously time which could be dedicated to study, play or family time. “

He continued “We are particularly grateful for the huge cooperation we got from the local community without whose help this would not have been possible. In particular I would like to thank Chief Matano  who was very supportive throughout the project. This programme was a dream in September 09. In three short months it has become a reality and this is due to the cooperation of the entire community. In passing the Well over to the people of Majimboni today our vision is that the well belongs to the community, is sustained by the community and supported by local people. Today we hand over the well to the people of Majimboni, who we know will manage it well and  have established a committee to take charge of the project made up of local leaders, local people, the school and other interested parties. “

The Majimboni Well is part of the Mukurumuji community programme which was launched in November 2005 and is named after the river which runs through the Mukurumuji camp meaning where people meet. Majimboni is the nearest village and is situated on the edge of Shimba Hills National Reserve. Over 60% of the inhabitants in this area are living below the poverty line.

The nine people involved in fundraising for this project were: Carmel and Tony, Cathy , Nollaig, Shannon, Dave and Rhihan, Carol , Lee and Caroline.

. Hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets to demand that Developed countries start taking more responsibility for the planet. There have been amazing campaigns running across the globe from the streets of London to little villages in India. TCK, TCK, TCK – TIME FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Negotiations are extremely heated at the moment. Today’s Guardian is running an article stating that, “Developed nations are trying to water down their emission commitments – no wonder the rest of the world is angry.”

Yes indeed, the developed world in particular has to reduce its carbon emissions. We are all feeling the adverse effects of becoming a society that is entirely dependent upon manufactured goods. Now more than ever, each one of us has to pay attention to our carbon footprints – especially those of us who have the luxury to sit in front of TV screens, love our coca cola or can’t do without our cars. We are all responsible.

Celebrities and global leaders have put their signature behind various campaigns for climate justice. African leaders are taking strong stands and we stand firmly by their side on this one:

So from the big wigs to the little guys on the ground, everyone does have something to say and hopefully we are all putting our words into action. Not so long ago, we blogged about how we at Camps International are doing our bit do reduce our carbon footprints and since then there has been so much more development. Our new partnership with Co2balance has swung into action on the ground in Kenya where we are building hundreds of energy efficient stoves for less fortunate homesteads who are dependent upon wood or charcoal to cook their meals.

As mentioned before, these, “stoves reduce firewood consumption by half and save in the region of 3.05 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year, 15.25 tonnes over the 5 year life span, in comparison to traditional cooking methods. In addition to the saving in greenhouse gas emissions, the reduced need for firewood and the burning of rubbish leads to a corresponding reduction in the amount of time spent collecting cooking fuel.  The recipients of the energy efficient technology also gain considerable co-benefits such as reduced costs and a considerably improved environment from a health and safety perspective.“

For now it’s as simple as that and if all goes to plan we could be building thousands of stoves along the South Coast of Kenya and around the Tsavo ecosystem. Over the last week, I have been up and down in Muhaka almost everyday and there is such a buzz amongst the villagers for the stoves! Everyone wants one!! And our project officers can’t keep up with the demand. Eustace, Sampuli and Yayha are leading a team of stove builders and we are targeting 200 stoves by the end of this year and another 300 in the first 2 months of 2010!! So for those of you that will be coming in January, prepare yourselves for a lot of stove building…

On a moonlit night, almost as bright as day, when even scoundrels and vagabonds fear the dawn, from o’ the murk the bones of a beast of terrible size can be seen lurking next to the surf. But this is no mythical monster. This apparition; as old as time, as terrifying as the dark, is a ship from days long gone, slumbering where she fell in the waters of Mantanani Island!

“Ahoy m’hearties! Be you in need of shelter?” calls a voice from beyond the vessel.

A ghost? A Pirate survived from the heyday of buccaneers? A child who has watched too many Jonny Depp films?

No, it’s a member of the Camp Borneo staff (for that’s how they speak on Mantanani… honest.) And he’s beckoning you over to take a look at The Magellan, our very own Pirate Ship! (Or the remains thereof.) So, why on earth do we need a pirate ship? Well… we don’t and that’s just the point. When you’ve got community projects galore, marine conservation work, scuba diving and endless games of football with the local kids all nestled neatly onto one desert island, what else could you possibly need…?

Exactly! Your own Pirate Ship made out of driftwood and recycled rubbish that has collected on the beach of the otherwise pristine island. 

Now obviously it’s nowhere near finished yet, but our gappers have made a great start this year (those HUGE driftwood planks ain’t light y’know!) but we are looking forward to screaming “Pieces of Eight!” “Shiver me Timbers!” and generally going “Arrrrrh, Jim Lad!” by this time next year in a finished, if landlocked, boat… So if you’re up to the challenge…? And if you don’t mind, y’know… building a kindergarten, teaching English, measuring some turtles and learning to scuba dive when you have some spare time away from the Magellan. Why not give us a call?

On a serious note, apart from being tremendous fun, we are building the Magellan to act as a backdrop to our marine conservation and education programmes. Being built entirely of “stuff” that has washed ashore from the sea it will easily illustrate, not only to our volunteers but also the children at the local primary school, the need to be more aware of marine life, the dangers humans pose to it and how we can begin to help.

So, once finished the Magellan will act as a classroom, playground and general place to hang out and watch the sunset. Can’t wait!

To see more pictures of our slowly emerging Pirate Ship and from our other projects on Mantanani, click here.

My first draft of this post was, in no uncertain terms, a work of genius. It was informative, revealing, entertaining, moving, shocking and uplifting. It had characters, subplots, themes…

…and crucially it contained every metaphor, synonym, expression and simile for excrement I could think of, expertly woven in seamless fashion into the narrative to be almost imperceptible to those not in on the joke. Honestly, I even managed to crowbar “touching cloth” and “turtle’s head” in there without being too obvious!

Sure, the topic of our Biogas Collector does lend itself to a certain amount of, well… toilet humour; however, as you will have read in our previous post on the project we are talking about a pretty amazing and potentially life changing piece of design coupled with mother nature at her most resourceful, so it seemed petty of me to bring it down to the basic component… poop. There seems to have been enough of that going round here recently as it is.

With the project nearing completion thanks to the amazing work of our Gap teams this year, I recently took the opportunity to visit Camp Tinangol with our BGC’s designer and friend to Camp Borneo, Ian Hall, to see the last checks and pipes put in place before our very first deposit… which we even captured on film!

Luckily for you, the biogas collector isn’t a one dimensional poo based methane gas creator so the resulting film wasn’t quite as disturbing as you might think.

The BGC can quite happily use other natural waste, like food leftovers, kitchen scraps and even some garden trimmings, to produce its highly practical methane gas which in our case will, once we have given the waste products enough time to start the process, be used for cooking.

However with the possibility for the gas to also be used for lighting and heating we could be looking at a design that could be rolled out to communities across our camp locations in Africa, South East Asia and beyond to make a world of difference to those willing to use it. Yes, we are aware there may be some initial reluctance to overcome – - “You’re cooking with gas from what?!?” – - and we of course still have to make sure the beasty actually works (fingers crossed!) but come on, how amazing would it be for poor remote communities to be able to have access to free fuel for cooking, lighting and heating? This, as well as saving money, would also decrease the need to harvest wood sources and so help protect local eco-systems. Everyone’s a winner! Isn’t nature great?

By chance, on the day the plumbing for the BGC was completed Camp Tinangol was host to a party for the local community attended by Dr Maximus Ongkili, the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Malaysian government. It was a celebration for the completion of a new road which provided much needed access for local communities, but we of course took the opportunity to re-introduce ourselves to the good doctor and explain what we had been up to with our Gappers in the community. However, our chance for Dr Maximus to be the first to provide the… err…  “Official results for the Dunny-on-the-Wold bye-election”, were scuppered when he decided to talk politics to the gathered throng rather than poo. (Pauses for cynical cry of “what’s the difference!”)

But, whilst we missed the opportunity of seeing a government minister leaving a toilet cubicle with a bashful smile whilst sporting an orange Camp Borneo T-Shirt and saying “I now declare this bio-gas collector open!”, Doctor Maximus was kind enough to publicly acknowledge the good work the clients and staff of Camp Borneo are doing in and around Tinangol (It’s not all about poo). And a few minutes later the karaoke started… sadly, that can never be avoided. And Ian and I did sing a song… but only after I requested that Doctor Maximus should dance whilst we sing…

…he did.

If you want to see further pics of the BGC and the resulting party, click here.

They say time flies when you are having fun. The Camp Tanzania season has ended and it is time to sit down and look back, reflect on our entire season. So many volunteers came through this year and so much was done, targets were met and heaps achieved.Volunteers have been busy making a difference, leaving a mark on all projects that were assigned to them. Just to sum up sum up the kind of work that we were involved in:

Community development projects:
-Dining Hall construction (Mbokomu School)
-Art work (Kidia/Mbokomu)
-Kitchen/food store (Kidia)
-Tree planting (Kidia)
-Teaching (Mbokomu/Kidia)
-Furniture repairs (Mbokomu)

Wildlife Conservation
-Animal census
-Ranch maintenance/habitat restoration
-Elephant Dung Paper production

And we have had some real tangible achievements as always:

-Dining hall roofing half done
-Half the inside of the Dining hall-plastering complete
-Lots of learning aide on both schools’ walls (art work)
-Plastering/window fittings on Kidia’s kitchen done
-40 Desks/tables and 35 chairs repaired
-2800 seedlings planted
-Hundreds of poacher snares removed from Ndarakwai ranch

And this should not mean that life in Camp Tanzania is ONLY work and no play. We have had our fair share of Quiz nights, fancy dress parties and games nights that were a big laugh.

Volunteers also had a chance to visit the most beautiful sandy beaches on Zanzibar Island. This has always been a well deserved rest and recreation chill out after the heavy manual labor that they endure whilst in Moshi.

However, a season does not just end like that in camp Tanzania. We always have a reason to party and this year was no different. We had our end of season farewell party just before all volunteers started packing their suitcases and head off in different directions. We live like one humongous happy family here and it was evident when emotions flew all over the place. Volunteers and staff sat and enjoyed their last meal around a bonfire and danced together.

Later on, it was exchanging of gifts and presents. La liga was going to be the place to wrap up the evening.

What an eventful 2009. Happy Holidays!

Tommie Karisa
Operations Manager (Tanzania)

If anyone was following our blog regularly, they would think that Camps is obsessed with bowel movements. I suppose there would be an element of truth. With titles such as “Poop Two – The sequel“, I guess we stand guilty! Yes, we love toilets and what happens in them and yes, we strongly believe that providing hygienic environments to spend your time squatting and catching up on the local newspaper is a human right!

Judging by the amount of enthusiasm and determination by our Gappers, Lifers and School Teams to just get those holes dug, I reckon they all share our sentiments. I have not been around the bog (oops – I mean block!) for that long but in the last six months, I have seen two ablution blocks complete from start to end and a couple more poop-holes in the making.

This summer, our school teams started the process of putting up a toilet block at the Farmer’s Centre in Muhaka. In weeks, the hole was dug but this lot were determined to make sure there was a lot of space for waste…

So they dug and dug and dug…and then one day, they stopped digging and bunch of gappers started building. And they built and built and built and well, whaddya know! Hey presto! One spotless white toilet to compliment your shiny white teeth!

Meanwhile, not far from the sunny smiles in Muhaka, another group of people (better known as Lifers) were on poop role too at the local primary school. This lot dug and dug and dug too. Then comes the fun bit where you get to lay blocks, plaster walls and hang out at the toilet block. After a few hard weeks of smiley sweats, things begin to take shape, the paint goes on and the toilet seats get polished and ready to use. Now isn’t this just a work of art…

One would have thought that the gappers had their fare share of shit but they just had to keep going so when a lovely old widow asked for some help to build a toilet, hands went in the air and the shovels were back in action. Indeed, no story about a bowel movements would be complete without saying, they too dug and dug and dug…

and dug and dug and dug…

Alas, I am afraid this story will have to have a sequel which we promise to release just after christmas so for those of you that are coming out early next year, arm yourselves with a whole lot of shitty jokes…

Cause Camps is on  a bog roll!

Not so long ago, in a little Kenyan coastal village called Muhaka, a couple of strange looking people came along and started talking to the Chief, the school Headmaster and the elders. People started to ask questions like what do they want here? why are they coming to our little village? Then word got out through the passion vine that somebody was putting up a Camp. Up in went made much like any traditional houses in the area and then strange looking people started to arrive with big bags attached to their backs who loved to sing and dance everywhere they went:

They were very friendly, always smiling and loved to take photographs. They called themselves, “Gappers“. Nobody had heard of this funny little tribe called Gappers but they seemed like an ok bunch and were always busy building things, planting trees, and pushing children in wheelbarrows…

Peace reigned in our little village and everyone was very happy. They loved to dance, braid their and eat chapatis but must of all they really loved to work! Classrooms and toilets for the community started to appear everywhere! It’s hot and sweaty in Muhaka but this lot just kept working and smiling:

And now that the rains have come, everyone at the school is very happy because these funny people can take care of the vegetable garden the school kids have to revise for their boring old end of school year exams:

Word has it that there are a couple of young ladies called Sammy and Lucy and a few other funny looking people from very far away that tell everyone about our little village called Muhaka, so we just wanted to say you can keep sending them here as they are generally a well behaved lot and we just love to see them smile!

And do take a moment to check out the new Gap Brochure HERE