PROGRAM SCOPE
Mombasa is Kenya’s second largest city, home to more than 30,000 street children and even more young orphaned children. The need for assistance and care for these children is immense. Our program hopes to provide some support for this community.
We will travel to Mombasa during June 2010. The students will first assist the staff at the orphanage with basic English and Math classes. Soon students will use their own lesson plans to teach through drawing, acting, and singing. They will organize arts programs, sporting events, and coordinate trips. We also assist the children with their homework, computer work, and help them dress and get meals. Our priority is to build lasting relationships with these children, build their sense of self-worth, and give them the love they truly deserve.
This trip is as much a way of supporting the children, as it is a priceless experience for the Columbia students. This is a way for us to travel, experience a completely new culture, learn how to teach and assist others, and provide needed assistance at the orphanage. This is a life-changing kind of trip that will provide the students with a completely new perspective on the world we live in and our social responsibility.
Cosmic Volunteers, based in Philadelphia, is a non-profit organization that receives 100% of its funding from volunteer program fees. Their mission is to perform charitable services in developing countries with compassionate volunteers who become immersed in local communities where they contribute their talents and energy to helping others in need. Destiny Garden Village Orphanage is run by Kenyan Jacob Boaz Muoga who is the Program Director of Mabadiliko Care International in Mombasa.
POST-PROGRAM PLANS
Following the trip, we plan on gaining a partnership with the Destiny Garden Village Orphanage in Mombasa directly. Through this partnership we hope to gain partnerships with various other orphanages throughout Kenya. Cosmic Volunteers is providing us with a gateway to this goal. We intend to stay in contact with the children at the orphanage, continually raise money for the children and the orphanage, and continue planning trips to Kenya. This is a program that we feel passionately about and hope to support in years to come.
CSIS KENYA
Melissa
Melissa is from Binghamton, NY and has come to Columbia to major in Urban Studies. She traveled to Italy and France this past summer and caught the travel bug. In addition to being a member of CSIS, she also plays lacrosse for Columbia. She is very excited to be traveling to Kenya this summer and hope to continue participating in service abroad programs throughout the rest of her college and professional career.
Hannah
Hannah is from Douglassville, PA and has come to Columbia University to study visual arts and film. She has traveled to Europe in the past, but is thrilled to travel to Africa and do service work. She is excited to be involved in this project and plans to continue seeing the world and doing volunteer work. After college she plans to have a career in the arts.
Grace
Grace Tan is a first-year student in Columbia College of Columbia University. She is currently pursuing African studies, and hopes to major either in that or anthropology. Grace has been taking Swahili this year to prepare for her trip to Kenya. Working with her student group, she hopes that they will achieve the necessary amount of funding needed to make this goal a reality.
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