Charity volunteer spent four weeks at Kenyan school

Martin Mackenzie, a fundraiser for the Leamington-based Siloam Christian Ministries, has just spent almost four weeks living in very basic conditions in Kenya.

It was Mr Mackenzie’s third visit to the Lambwe Christian School for the Deaf in Ogongo.

He said: “I think the hardest thing that I had to cope with was cold showers or no water at all.

“The diet was also restricted.

“The most frightening experience was being stuck in our vehicle in the mud and the most uplifting was seeing the children, whose academic age was five but their physical ages were from five to eight, playing with the large soft toys that I gave them.”

Most of the youngsters Mr Mackenzie worked with had no known relatives and several were HIV positive.

The volunteer brought 40kg of nearly new clothes with him for the children and teachers along with wind-up torches, lanterns and teaching materials.

In previous visits to Ogongo the weather had been very hot and conditions were dry but this time it was very cold during the night and there was a lot of rain.

This filled up the water butts, for which Mr Mackenzie had raised funds but also made some of the mud roads around the area impassable.

Mr Mackenzie, whose Severn Valley Railway anorak proved invaluable in the heavy storms, said: “As soon as we heard thunder in the distance we finished what we were doing as quickly as possible and tried to reach the concrete road ten miles away.

“We seldom made it and had many very slippery journeys.”

Mr Mackenzie’s main aim is to raise funds for a borehole to provide the area with a reliable source of clean water.

He is quarter of the way to the £20,000 target and a charitable foundation has said it will consider match funding.

Donations can be made by calling 0800 027 7917 or visiting www.siloam.org.uk