Kenya Immersion

Students Jonathan Zarb, Ethan Gray, Harvey Carmody, Jurrin Romanis, Ned De Grandi, Daniel Corray, Phoenix Sweeten, Jake McCorkell, Haylee Tomicic and Alissa Grissenti and teachers Chris Lynch and Michelle Brodrick were joining the 8th annual St Joseph’s College and Clonard College immersion to Mannya, Uganda in November 2018. However, with one week until we were due to leave, a tragic dormitory fire took place in the Village of Mannya, where lives were lost and injuries sustained.

It was deemed not appropriate to visit Mannya, and the group was forced to either abandon the trip or find somewhere else to visit. Through the hard work of Michelle and Chris, an alternative trip and itinerary was quickly organised in 48 hours to take place in Kenya!

To immerse us in Kenyan culture and to experience life in such a different place, we visited a wide variety of organisations, centres and parishes, spread all over the country; including centres for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, a school for disabled and special needs children and a centre for those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. We also attended masses in different regions and even a three hour mass where to our surprise, not a word of English was spoken during the service!

The group was able to visit some animal sanctuaries, as well as a couple of days at the Masai Mara National Park, where we undertook a safari, sighting some of Africa’s most sunning wildlife! Throughout our time in Kenya, we experienced many new and exciting things.

Some highlights included running and participating in Edmund Rice Camps where great friendships were made, and home-visits in the Kibera Slum, home to over 1 million people in Nairobi. This was an eye opening experience which was somewhat confronting and really put life into perspective.

Ned and Daniel ran a respectful relationships workshop, where conversations and activities were run with a large group of kids and a deeper connection and understanding was formed between the group of Australians and the Kenyans.

After two weeks, the school group said their goodbyes to Jonathan and I as the group headed home. Jonathan and I were hosted by a group of Christian Brothers for four days in Nairobi prior to setting off to Tanzania to climb Mt Kilimanjaro.

The trek took five days to the Base Camp, but the greatest challenge was waking up at 11pm after two hours sleep, to trek the last seven hours up to the summit, where we watched the sun rise from 5895 metres above sea level. The climb was definitely the physically hardest thing I’ve ever done, but we felt so accomplished at the end of it.

These trips have definitely contained the most challenging and memorable experiences of my life, and will continue to change my life forever. We are all so thankful to St Joseph’s for the opportunity it provided us and the ability to see life from another perspective!