p72 yourspace nov28 26/11/08 16:58 Page 72
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A week in the life
Vanessa Parkinson joined a group of agents for a taste of
volunteer tourism in Kenya with Virgin Holidays. She says
the work with orphans has changed her for ever
Day One whiskey and our painting mis-
We arrived in Nairobi at 7am and were whisked sion turned into a bit of a party. safari and came back to the
away on a three-hour drive into the Rift Valley camp when it was pitch black.
to Ngeteti where we were due to help at a Day Three
school with 460 children. When we arrived they Everybody involved had their Day Four
all came running out to greet us even though name painted on the school On to a backpackers camp at
the heavens opened at the same time. walls. We said goodbye and left Lake Naivasha, which was lux-
Each classroom did a welcome speech and a supplies, but kept some for the ury because it had hot running
dance. Most of the children did not have shoes. Siadia home for abandoned water. We took a boat trip and
We stayed in a local four-bedroom house with children we were visiting on the saw a pregnant hippo. I heard
no running water and just paraffin light, and we way to Lake Nakuru. her giving birth that night. It
slept on camping mats. Everybody was touched by was an incredible noise!
It was eerie because what they
we were all so tired we
Vanessa
saw. There Day Five
were very quiet. About
Parkinson
was a three- Back to Nairobi. We stayed at a
3.30am we were woken Age: 40 year-old boy, four-star hotel but wished we
up by a wild dog scratch- Job title: Branch Gitau, who were back in the tents or the house in the
ing outside the house. manager had not spoken since Rift Valley. But we flew home Virgin Atlantic
Works for: The Co-operative he was brought in after Upper Class and by then we did appreciate
Day Two Travel in Worthing his mother attacked him. the luxury!
Up at 6.30am for a How long in the job: 12 years He was sitting on the I’m 40 years old and I thought I had done
25-minute walk back to Best thing about your job: Every floor looking at a book, not everything until I went on this trip.
Ngetiti, where I helped put day is different reading. I sat down next It really was life-changing.
three coats of paint on two Worst thing about your job: to him and read the book
classrooms. The tempera- When people can’t afford the softly. He touched my hand
ture was in the 30s and it holidays that they really want and then would not let go. ■If you are an agent and would like to appear in
was hard work. We ended Best thing about Kenya trip: It was very difficult when YourSpace, send us your name, agency name,
up covered in paint but Meeting the orphans we had to leave and the phone number and a few lines about yourself by
had no water to clean our- Worst thing about Kenya trip: bus was very quiet. email to
yourspace@ttglive.com; or post to
selves. But we had a few Leaving Gitau behind At Lake Nakuru we put TTG YourSpace, First Floor, Ludgate House,
beers, some Kenyan up our tents, went on 245 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 9UY
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