Three cheers for Kenya volunteers
A TEAM of Tweed volunteers has returned from Kenya with twice the successes under their belt than they ever could have imagined.
Tweed Shire Council senior construction engineer Nigel Dobson lead a group to oversee the construction of a dam and teach basic hygiene, sanitation and health to Kenyan students, teachers and villagers as part of the Tweed Kenya Mentoring Program.
The tour was twice as successful as Mr Dobson had envisaged.
A dam near the Obambo Kadenge village had become almost entirely silted up, but with the help of a local contractor, a capacity goal of 10 million litres was doubled.
The 20 million-litre dam can now supply clean water for people within a 6km radius.
"We can't even bathe in the water they were drinking, we'd get rashes and sores," Mr Dobson said.
The team also joined up with Murwillumbah midwife Lyle Burgoyne, the director and founder of Kenya Health, an organisation founded to provide health care to women and young children in Kenya.
The Kenya Health team conducted 10 free health clinics in their four-week visit to Kenya.
Call Tweed Shire Council to get involved with the mentoring program.
