Reminiscing On Our Trip to Kenya with World Vision in 2019

The last few weeks have been uneasy, but it has given us an opportunity to appreciate memories and adventures of the past. There is one trip especially that lies close to the heart of our company, and that is the trip we took to Kenya last November with our charitable partner World Vision. We are so thankful that it happened before all the travel restrictions and pandemic even began. It is our hope that these stories lift your moods and remind you of the positivity in the world. We are stronger together.

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Last November (2019), eight employees of the Adventurer Group ventured across the world to Kenya to visit the villages of Mwatate and Taveta, two communities that they sponsor in Africa. As an employer, the Adventurer Group offers their employees the opportunity to donate to World Vision every month to sponsor children and villages living in poverty.  

The employee donations are matched by the President James Epp, who suggested the idea of sending employees to Africa in for the company’s 50th Anniversary and the celebration of 15 years of partnering with World Vision. He had visited Kenya 10 years earlier and was inspired to one day send employees to experience the wonderful work of World Vision and the beautiful and kind people of Kenya. 

It’s so important to us to give back to this beautiful world in which we are so passionate to explore. While we are lucky to be from such safe and developed nations, we know that most of the world faces enormous challenge to even achieve basic human necessities. That is why we give back: because we can and we want to make a difference. 

The annual trip to Kenya with World Vision was a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our employees to directly serve the communities we sponsor and witness the progress we have made through our partnership with World Vision. Watching our employees unite from places far and wide for a common cause makes us grateful and proud of the company we are part of.  

Prior to the trip’s departure, Scott Vanderwerff, the General Manager of Fraserway RV in Airdrie, shared that he was “eager to see how the support of the Adventurer group through the program is assisting in the lives of the children, their families and communities around them”.  

The Work We Do with World Vision 

Taveta and Mwatate are two villages located in Kenya that the Adventurer Group has been supporting through the Area Development Program (ADP) for 15 years with World Vision. This program aims to improve the safety and well-being of children, families and communities. Partnering with World Vision to focus on these geographical areas has allowed us to participate in positive social change and contribute to the healthy development of impoverished communities. 

Mwatate

We currently sponsor 99 children from Mwatate. Some of the main challenges Mwatate faces is access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation. Most of the families are farmers and their welfare depends on rainfall and good climate for sufficient crop production.

Relying on farming is getting more challenging because of the effects of climate change. It has left farming cycles inconsistent and brought on droughts due to reportedly dryer seasons. Without enough food or welfare, families rely on relief assistance to survive and only 35% of the community is above the poverty line. 

The village also faces issues with insufficient water supplies and waterborne diseases, child nutrition, food supplies and health, obtaining an education and economic instability. We are currently in phase 2 in the program here, having built a strong foundation to now evaluate and grow into the progress that has been made. 

Below are some strong markers of the progress that has been achieved with the help of World Vision.

Taveta

 In Taveta, we sponsor 15 children. Our work with World Vision here has focused on protecting children and developing safe, accessible schools. One of the challenges in Taveta is school attendance and children here often do not attend school or drop out in primary. The schools have been situated in far and difficult to get to locations, leading children to miss out due to the lack of realistic access. World Vision has now created maps to place schools in sensible walking distance for children.  

We are now in phase 1 of the program (ADP) in Taveta and are building the foundation to ensure that all children can access education, immunization, and clean water. Our current mission with the support of World Vision is to “ensure children can access and benefit from quality education” to improve their livelihoods and protect their human rights. 

Children are a vulnerable social group and the reality is that many of them are exposed to poverty, prostitution, and child labor. 

Kenya 2019 

 Together from far and wide, the Adventurer Group set out into the heat of Kenya to finally meet the villages and children they sponsor, experience their culture, and observe the work that World Vision has done. It’s safe to say everyone returned home with a fresh perspective and full heart. 

“We came with the intention of blessing them and in return we were all blessed”, Patrick Blink, CFO of Adventurer Manufacturing. 

At Taveta, everybody described being welcomed with open arms and big smiling faces. Shortly after the greetings, everyone, including our team, broke out into a soccer game. Some of the children didn’t even have shoes but that didn’t stop them from beating the adults in every single soccer game. Experiencing the pure joy of these children was a strong reminder of why we choose to support and participate in the World Vision program.

After soccer, the villagers and team enjoyed some delicious, traditional food at a local restaurant where the laughter and smiling continued. Language barriers were put aside and cultures were shared. After the meal, the team participated in some cultural activities like cake-cutting and getting dressed in traditional Masai clothing by the village people who then blessed them in their conventional way. “We came with the intention of blessing them and in return we were all blessed”, Patrick Blink, CFO of Adventurer Manufacturing recounts.  

At Mwatate, the team saw how World Vision has been able to bring over 5000 villagers access to fresh drinking water. Before, they would have to travel far distances to get water from a tiny stream which often caused children to miss school. Twenty-one local schools received Lifestraw community filters and water kiosks were established to organize community water distribution.  

World Vision finds creative and resourceful ways to get communities what they need. For example, to combat sanitation issues they have taught villagers to make soap as an income-generating activity. They have also given a group of women of the Belli Belli group micro-finance loans and education to grow their own chickens and produce their own feed. These activities are beneficial for health reasons but also for developing a sustainable, local economy. 

The trip to Kenya was also about celebrating. Seeing Giraffes, Zebras, other wildlife for the first time was exciting but even more so was witnessing the generosity of the villagers of Kenya. From the beginning, our team witnessed gratitude in a multitude of ways. The villagers showed their appreciation through cultural ceremonies and celebration.

The people of Kenya are especially great at acknowledging what they were grateful for such as the help they receive, access to fresh water, rainfall, and the success of their schools. There was celebration through dancing, sharing traditional foods, and tree-planting ceremonies. While these villages are poor in some standards, in culture they are very rich and they gave our team memories of a lifetime. 

Paying it Forward 

Experiencing the beauty of Kenya and its people reinforces our commitment to investing in the development in these villages and their children. In both communities the team planted 120 mango trees that will continue to give back to the villagers for years to come. Rob Cusack, General Manager of Fraserway RV in Halifax, describes this commitment in a beautiful analogy: 

“Planting a mango tree in good soil where it can bloom and flourish is like offering a child the same opportunity to put down good roots, grow strong, thrive and gain an education. In time, with patience, love and nurture, that investment will bear fruit and the cycle pays forward.”