Changing lives in Kenya

In February, St Vincent’s Toowoomba quality and risk manager Anita Waite was lucky enough to travel to Kenya, Africa for two weeks.

The awareness trip was organised by notfor-profit group Go Beyond All Borders (GBAB), which supports children and families in need through grassroots projects in Kenya, Uganda, Thailand and Australia.

St Vincent’s Health Australia was proud to sponsor Anita’s flights through its staff mission program, which assists with funding expenses for staff volunteering for outreach work or programs.

The GBAB volunteer team was from all walks of life and consisted of two nurses, pharmacist, pastor, builder, retired counsellor, early childhood educator and administrator.

GBAB supports Huruma Children’s Home in Ngong, a town near the capital Nairobi, which cares for 150 orphaned children and a further 100 children in need from the slums of Ngong.

The home also runs the Ngong Huruma primary and secondary schools, which cater for children as young as babies to high school. The students have been busy learning English, French and sign language at school, as well as maths and sciences.

Anita volunteered in the Ngong Huruma health clinic, assisting with health screening for the students. She also assisted with putting 220 hampers together for families living in the slum, parents of students, and staff and volunteers at the school.

These hampers were funded by donations made by GBAB supporters in Australia, and consisted of essentials like flour, rice, beans, sugar, milk, soap and cooking oil. These hampers were worth two weeks of wages for the locals in need.

Anita and the team visited a Masai village suffering from drought. Items purchased from the woman at the village funded access to clean water and schooling for their children.

She also visited one of the largest slums in

Kenya. GBAB funds water filters for the local school through the Project H20 initiative. These containers filter dirty unsafe water and provide clean water for a community of 100 for more than a year.

“I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity to learn about life in Kenya, and assist the communities there,” Anita said.

“St Vincent’s places huge importance on caring for and helping people, and I am very grateful to have been a staff member for over 25 years.”

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