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It is always a pleasure to visit this part of Kenya. Returning to Kaimbaga felt like coming home. I stayed in the same place, caught up with friends and quickly settled back into life within the community. It was also brilliant to see the science laboratory from Project Sayansi fully in use. We always use return trips to check previous projects, ensure they are being maintained and confirm they are creating the impact intended. Seeing students completing practical science les

Project Nunana was created to complete the work we had begun at Retca School through Project Retca. In 2022, Village Projects Foundation constructed a new library and computer laboratory for the school. The next challenge was to fill those facilities with the books, computers, furniture and educational equipment required to make them genuinely useful. The plan appeared relatively straightforward: collect the donated resources in the UK, load them into a shipping container and

In November 2024, I returned to Frankadua for the next stage of Village Projects Foundation’s relationship with the community: completing Project Agbe and providing a sustainable supply of clean drinking water for local residents and the children of Retca School. These regular visits also give us an opportunity to inspect our previous projects, speak to the people who use them and understand whether they are continuing to deliver the benefits we originally intended. For Villa

In December 2023, shortly after completing Project Sayansi in Kenya, I travelled to Madagascar to learn more about wildlife conservation and whether it was an area that Village Projects Foundation might support in the future. This was not a Village Projects Foundation project. I travelled as a volunteer with the Madagascar Research and Conservation Institute, more commonly known as MRCI. Their programmes are presented as conservation volunteering opportunities. However, it is

Four years after my first visit to Kenya, I returned for a trip that felt like the beginning of an important new chapter for Village Projects Foundation. The purpose of the visit was Project Sayansi: the construction of a new science laboratory at Kaimbaga School. The word sayansi means “science” in Kiswahili, and the aim was to give students the opportunity to experience science practically rather than learning everything from a textbook or blackboard. Although I had visited

When I left Frankadua in March 2022, I did so knowing that I wanted to return. During that first visit, I had taught at Retca School and seen first-hand how difficult it was for the children to learn without many of the basic facilities we take for granted. The school had no electricity, very few textbooks and several unfinished classrooms. Teaching Computing to children who had no access to computers was particularly challenging. Before leaving, I committed Village Projects

Project Ukraine began on a Bank Holiday Monday at Normandy Cricket Club. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had forced millions of people to leave their homes, often with little more than they could carry. Like many people watching the crisis unfold, we wanted to do something practical to help. We partnered with Normandy Cricket Club who, mainly directed by my Dad, organised a fundraising and donation event, and the response from the local community was incredible. People arrived t

On 14th March 2022, I left London Heathrow and boarded a flight to Accra for my first volunteer teaching trip to Ghana. I travelled alone, but shortly after landing I met the other volunteers taking part in the IVHQ programme. We spent our first night together in Accra before setting off for Frankadua the following morning. Frankadua is a rural community situated in a more central part of Ghana. The journey from Accra took around four hours, much of it along dirt-track roads.

Looking back, Kenya 2019 has done a lot to shape the direction I have decided to take the charity. What I learnt, the opportunities I had, and the people I have met on this trip have been invaluable to the charity going forward. This trip begun as a travelling holiday for Max (Stevo), William (Pez) and myself. We wanted to experiemnce Africa in all of its rawness. My Grandma was from Tanzania, so I had at least some awareness of what we were getting into, but this trip went b