
Project, Volunteer Africa! Report for The Young Explorers’ Trust – December 2024
During their summer holidays of 2024 Ace (they/them) and Josie (she/her) Cockburn, who both have cerebral palsy, spent 4 weeks volunteering in Kenya at a local hospital and an animal orphanage, respectively.
Mum, Claudi writes:
Why volunteer?
As the mother of two children with disabilities, I’ve always wanted them to show the world that disabled people are not just receivers of charity and voluntary support. So, for as long as they can remember Ace and Josie have raised money for causes close to their hearts; and as they’ve got older, they’ve done voluntary work for various organisations including charities and the NHS.
Why in these fields?


Ace is passionate about helping people and loves all things medical, aiming for a career in healthcare. To this end they study Health and Social Care at college. Josie is animal crazy—the more exotic the better! She’s especially interested the rehabilitation and re-release of wild animals and is studying Animal Care.
Why Projects Abroad?

I chose this organisation to travel with as they have a longstanding reputation for volunteering abroad—the twins’ godmother still visits the friends she made in Ghana over 20 years ago! Importantly, they put you up in a host family meaning you learn a lot about the culture and make friends with locals. But also, Projects Abroad were open to the idea of young people with disabilities becoming volunteers. From the beginning, they always had a ‘can do’ attitude and just kept working with me over the months to figure out how we could make our dream a reality.
Why Kenya?
I was conceived in Africa and had never been back. I wanted to share my return visit with my children!
Preparation and planning
We spent 18 months preparing for this adventure and raising funds to pay for it. In the months before travelling we had Zoom calls with potential caregivers, managers and volunteer co-ordinators at the two organisations, the host family (who commissioned a carpenter to make ramps so the house would be accessible) and the only wheelchair accessible vehicle hire company we could find in all of Kenya! We learned as much as we could about Kenya in other ways too. We watched films, started Swahili on Duolingo and checked out the latest Kenyan music on Spotify! Josie also did a research project for her Animal Studies course on the work done by the wildlife conservancy she was to go to, on saving the critically endangered Mountain Bongo.
The first few days


The journey, while hard (and a bit scary, with a 9-hour flight, a 6-hour drive, a powerchair and no carers) actually went relatively smoothly. We then spent the first 3 days training up carers, trying to get the wheelchair into the supposedly wheelchair-accessible vehicle and doing recces to the two venues ready for Monday morning. We made friends with our host family and rearranged their furniture for our needs—they were very patient. Then, finally, the real work began!
Ace writes:
Huruma Catholic Mission Hospital


The hospital is much smaller than the ones in the UK, less privileged and very friendly. On the first day I met the Matron and Sister (as it’s a Catholic mission hospital). I was a bit intimidated at first but they were encouraging and made me feel very welcome. Then I got to spend time in each of 8 departments and after that I really felt like I knew the place quite well. I chose to concentrate on the Male Ward and after a while I got to know the staff and the patients very well. The staff treated me like family even though you’re not supposed to. But Africa is very different to here! I especially liked working with the patients, making sure they were supported in the best way possible in the circumstances.

I did many things while I was there on the ward. I observed and assisted the doctors and nurses with many procedures e.g. cannulas, nebulisers, catheters, wound dressings, tube feeding etc. I also learned lots of theory and got to witness what it’s like in a developing country’s healthcare system. My favourite thing about this month was how Doctor Dan included me in everything, making sure I could get around the beds in my electric wheelchair, helping me put on rubber gloves and using my tray table for his equipment so I could then pass it to him and really be closely involved. I would also go off to the pharmacy for him to collect the drugs and equipment he needed. And when things were quiet I would go and help take temperatures and blood pressures in ‘Triage’.

I’m not going to lie, days were hard and some days I wanted to give up because people were suffering and dying and it made me upset. But I knew there was work to be done and I knew that there were other people counting on the staff and I wanted to help them. So, that’s when I had to dust myself down and get on with what I had to do and almost forget I hadn’t witnessed some of these sad things. For me, being at Huruma Hospital was very rewarding—to be a part of patients’ lives but not only that, staff’s lives as well.
Josie writes:
Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy, Animal Orphanage


At Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (MWKC) the atmosphere was something I’d never experienced before. There were free-roaming llamas, an ostrich called Esther, a baby buffalo called Dicky and an adolescent mountain bongo called Tama. I thought, because I was just a volunteer, that I would be doing solely cleaning and feeding like in the UK. But it was nothing like that. On my first day I learned how to administer medication through an injection to a Thomson’s Gazelle. I was nervous because I’d never done such a thing in my life, but the keepers talked me through it and congratulated me on my success.


From then on I realised that being a volunteer in Africa was ever so different to being a volunteer in the UK. The staff were super-friendly and the atmosphere was very relaxed and welcoming. While I always felt safe, the Health and Safety protocols were very different to at home in the UK—I loved it! I accompanied the keepers into enclosures with cheetahs and I worked closely with many other animals e.g. lions, hyenas and colobus monkeys. I still had to feed and clean the animals which was really hard work but this environment made me feel on top of the world!


I wasn’t doing all of the daily tasks alone. I had a buddy with me because I was only 17 and couldn’t be on my own. Her name was Keziah and she would do all the tasks with me. I have to say, it made all the hard work more enjoyable as she would teach me African songs and had lots to tell each other.
Summary

“I’ve admired the Mountain Bongo project at MKWC from afar and actually cried when I found out I had the job there! But add into that the fantastic people I met who were so dedicated to conservation and showed endless love for the animals. Also, my perspective was changed by seeing a part of the world that is so under-privileged. For me, this trip was the adventure of a lifetime.”
Josie
“I think the main reason why I wanted to go there was to be with the people of Africa and to help those in need. I never thought this month would ever happen! That’s why it was such a privilege to be a part of such a wonderful organisation.”
Ace
“Wow! Thank you to all those who made this possible, from the funders, to the staff on the ground and everyone in between. But mostly, thank you to my two fantastic children who did me more than proud!”
Claudi




