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This blog is moving to gvi.co.uk
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Angola black-and-white colobus (<i>Colobus angolensis palliatus</i>) a key species in coastal forests</td></tr>
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<br />Over the past years, this blog has been a very valuable communication tool. We have exchanged ideas on alternatives to charcoal with community groups in Uganda, created awareness on cetacean conservation in Kenya, published reports that have been used by organisations such as Birdlife International and WWF, and raised over USD 25,000 for various community based initiatives in coastal villages.<br /><br />We are now making things even better. Our blogs will be fully integrated into our new website which will be live by the end of January and thus, we are moving. Blog posts will be directly accessible on <a href="http://gvi.co.uk/">gvi.co.uk </a>and <a href="http://www.gviusa.com/">www.gviusa.com</a>.</div>
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<br />Other live news, updates and goings on are published on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GVIKenyaShimoni">Facebook</a> and from <a href="http://www.twitter.com/GVIShimoni">our twitter account</a>. Some older stories can be found on the <a href="http://gvikenya.wildlifedirect.org/">wildlifedirect</a> blog which is no longer being updated.<br /></div>
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Health Club – HIV awareness class at Shimoni Primary
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It’s reaching the time of year here in Shimoni when the schools begin preparing for exams before slowing down and commencing their well deserved end of term holidays! For the health volunteers, this sadly means we don’t have as much teaching time! Luckily for us, Kopa (GVIs health officer) struck a deal with the teachers of Shimoni Primary and managed to schedule a week’s worth of afternoon Health Club classes! This has been a great opportunity for us volunteers to get our heads down and work together to plan some educational, interactive and hopefully enjoyable classes! <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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We began our Health Club sessions with an HIV focused lesson. The local children are aware that HIV is a health issue that is prominent in this area, so they seemed keen to engage with the lesson and show their knowledge of the subject right from the word go – as Madame Julia (health volunteer) was writing the title on the board, the children could tell us what the letters in HIV stood for. Great start to the class!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Health club Members joins the other student in end of year closing ceremony.</td></tr>
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<br />Madame Julia began the lesson by explaining what HIV is and how we can contract and transmit the virus. This was done with a simple, yet very effective demonstration using plastic cups, water and yellow squash (we chose to color yellow to represent the HIV virus). The liquids represent bodily fluids and by mixing the liquids, the spread of virus is visualized and easily understood. Mister Jackson (health field staff) then went onto illustrate exactly how HIV weakens our immune system by filling a white balloon (white blood cell) with yellow confetti (HIV virus) and popping the balloon! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madam Rosie enjoying the Health project</td></tr>
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I ended the lesson with an interactive true or false activity. The aim of this was to firstly get the children directly involved with the lesson and to review what we had covered in the session, in the hope that the children would have learned and remembered something new! We respect that HIV is often a negative and sensitive subject to discuss, however we wanted to conclude our class on an optimistic note! I believe we achieved this by discussing that HIV treatment and therapies are greatly successful in prolonging a healthy immune system for many years. And much to our delight, the children all seemed to agree! </div>
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<br />Rosie Chisholm – Health Volunteer <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> </div>
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Remini'sea'ing 2013 on the GVI Marine Project
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As we come to the end of another great year at GVI Shimoni
Kenya, we will highlight the exciting moments that we have had here and on the
Marine project in particular and what we can look forward to in the coming
year.</div>
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At the beginning of the year GVI Kenya's marine research program was featured in the East African magazine SWARA article 'The Big Five of the Ocean' alongside partners KWS, WMA, KMFRI and KASA. <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/130125332/Marine-Research-Programme-in-SWARA-Magazine">http://www.scribd.com/doc/130125332/Marine-Research-Programme-in-SWARA-Magazine</a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-giYsFOU3qPY/UrRJwuS7UYI/AAAAAAAADQo/BsErFT-bKJM/s1600/885301_544832718930992_524002355_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-giYsFOU3qPY/UrRJwuS7UYI/AAAAAAAADQo/BsErFT-bKJM/s320/885301_544832718930992_524002355_o.jpg" width="214" /></a>Earlier this year KWS held a Turtle committee conservation
meeting bringing together members from Turtle Conservation Groups in the
Southern coast of Kenya. The meeting was to bring together the groups to
discuss the current situation of turtle conservation as well as the future.<br />
GVI provided information from boat based
surveys and turtle transects on their spatial distribution in and around the
Kisite MPA. In March, GVI had a staff member collaborating with our partners
the Watamu Marine Association and helping them to analyse their data and put together the catalogue which now has upto 100 individuals.<br />
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In
July, GVI Kenya had the first ever recording of a Dwarf Minke whale in Kenyan
waters. This rorqual whale happened to be passing through the Wasini Channel
when our Sharp eyed boat captain Faridi spotted this rather large dolphin like
cetacean.<br />
August was the peak Humpback whale
season and GVI had a total of 25 sightings during the season accounting for a
total of 56 individuals. The team participated in the Synchronised Whale
Watching Day (SWWD) for the second year, with only a record of 3 Humpback
whales for that day. We were featured again in SWARA magazine for one of our Humpback whale photos and as contributors during the SWWD.
In September, the whole GVI team in Shimoni participated in the International
Coastal cleanup day along with students from 4 Primary schools and a total of
approximately 1.5tonnes of rubbish was collected.</div>
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In November, there were two events: GVI collaborated with WWF in providing training
to three personnel members on Marine mammal identification and data collection
over a period of three days. <br />
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Also in this month, the Kenya Marine Mammal Network held the very first
workshop, bringing together current as well as prospective members of the
network. GVI along with WMA and other members provided input on the status of
Marine Mammals along the Kenyan coast and also highlighting the major gaps in
lack of data in between Watamu and Kisite as well as North of the coast in
Lamu.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first KMMN workshop in Mombasa</td></tr>
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<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IkDaGOAIoNM/UrROJNmIAtI/AAAAAAAADRY/hptdN6KIcYk/s1600/1403312_537676692979928_884399887_o.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IkDaGOAIoNM/UrROJNmIAtI/AAAAAAAADRY/hptdN6KIcYk/s320/1403312_537676692979928_884399887_o.jpg" /></a><br />Training WWF<br /><br /><br />We have collected a total of 52 hours of behaviour on Bottlenose dolphins this
year; the surveys were boat based and were only able to be done during the calm
season. We observed their behaviour in the presence as well as in the absence
of Tourist boats and what effect they have on them.Throughout the year the GVI Marine team has been</div>
teaching environmental classes (Earth Club) at Mkwiro primary school with Std.6. They have been taught about Sharks, Cetaceans, Mangroves (of which they entered an art competition and five art pieces were printed in next year’s annual calendar of Mangrove Action Plan).<br />
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In the coming year, we are hoping to collect more hours of behaviour on Bottlenose dolphins and also to increase our participation in global events
together with Mkwiro primary school (e.g World Oceans day). We will also be
carrying out workshops with the local boat operators on Humpback whales:
behaviour and how to drive around whales as well as information on Dolphins and
the code of conduct.<br />
We are also going to be collaborating
some more with WWF and provide more training to the captains on how to drive
around dolphins and other data collection methods as a follow up of the
training provided in November this year. We will also be carrying out Reef fish
surveys and more water bird surveys. We will continue collecting data on cetaceans
found in the Kisite MPA and possibly more collaborations with partners.We are looking forward to another successful year. We wish you a wonderful holiday!</div>
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Hannah's week on the Community Program
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I honestly didn’t think community would be so much fun. After two incredible months of forest and
marine conservation I am ashamed to say I wasn’t particularly looking forward
to community, but oh how wrong I was. We
started the week with teacher training, where we hand a lot of fun practicing
teaching lessons. I learnt a wealth of
valuable information from why the sky is blue to how to get ready for a night
out. We then started real lesson
planning, and I was surprised by how easily it came to me. I planned an hour long English lesson for
Standard 7 on punctuation, explaining the different between “Let’s eat, Madam
Jordan” and “Let’s eat Madam Jordan”. In
the afternoon we observed some lessons and I was impressed by how the GVI staff
managed to engage a group of children from varying ages and levels with such
ease and authority. In fact, the
simplicity and well thought out lesson plan taught me a thing or two.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Standard six enjoying an open library session.</td></tr>
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After such a rewarding day I doubted that it could get much
better, but at 3:15 we headed back to the school for open library. Everyday the library is opened for an hour to
allowed children to come and read for pleasure in their spare time. Voluntarily learning in out-of-school hours
is something that British children would find abhorrent, but in Mkwiro it is
evident that these children do not have the same attitude. It was wonderful teaching children who wanted
to be there, who wanted to learn.
Stumbling on worlds over and over again, but so eager to get it
right. I sat down and read with a boy
from Mkwiro Primary school and every time his eyes fell upon a word he didn’t
understand, instead of stumbling over it, he would look up at me expectantly
and ask “Madam?”</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hannah working with the Kindergarten class during a music and movement session.</td></tr>
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Overall, community has been an absolute joy – from marking
exercise books to running around in circles with the kindergarten class. I am glad I got the opportunity to experience
it and when I have free time I would be more than happy to join the community
team to give them a helping hand. I now
understand why this is such an important part of the GVI program in Kenya and
why people never want to leave.</div>
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Hannah Bailey - Conservation Intern</div>
Nutrition Class at Shimoni Primary
<br /><br />This past Tuesday we had our final health club class at Shimoni Primary, a public school here in the village. The school term has just finished this week, but we were lucky enough to have one more great lesson with a few eager students from a mix of ages! These students voluntarily attend health club a couple of days a week after their scheduled classes have finished for the day. <div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Health Volunteer teaching</td></tr>
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On Tuesday I arrived at Shimoni Primary with Jackson (health staff) and Ryan (health volunteer) in the typically blistering heat to a class full of rambunctious students. After a few minutes (of which it took us to settle them down) we began our lesson on nutrition and a balanced diet. We began by explaining what these things meant. We explained how the food we eat affects our health and that eating the right amounts of a variety of food types is important to maintain a healthy body. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Health club Members listening keenly</td></tr>
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We went on to discuss different food groups, (carbohydrates, proteins, etc.). At this point the students were volunteering their own answers, and giving us examples of different types of food that they eat regularly. It was great that they felt so confident with the material, and willing to use their prior knowledge! Fortunately, we had a poster (that Jackson had made) with examples of food containing different vitamins and minerals, and a food pyramid. This was a wonderful aid for the students to use, as it added color and interest to the dull black board! We used the food pyramid to demonstrate serving sizes. We discussed with the students that your body needs more of some types of foods (complex carbohydrates), and less of others (sugars).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Health Club Members doing assignment</td></tr>
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Our final activity, which created the most excitement, was when all of us together came up with three exemplary, nutritionally balanced meals. Having drawn three ‘plates’ on the board, the students began suggesting different foods from a range of categories in the food pyramid. Together we created meals consisting of eggs and toast with fruit on the side; ugali (a typical Kenyan maize dish), rice and beans with cabbage and spinach; and potato stew with fish. We even included some biscuits, which our food pyramid had suggested we “use sparingly.”</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Health Volunteer Demonstrating an activity to the students</td></tr>
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Getting students to contribute is often one of the more challenging components of teaching a class here, as they are not accustomed to highly interactive teaching, and are used to copying from the board. So, it is really great when you do get students interested and involved in a subject manner, as we did in our nutrition class! The students were very willing to participate, because the subject matter was relatable. They were able to give examples of the food they eat, and we were able to supply them with a new understanding about why we should eat certain types of food and what it does for us. It was wonderful way for us to end the term on such a high note!</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Julia Hatheway-Health Volunteer</span></div>
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Global Hand-washing Day 2013
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Global Hand-washing Day for 2013
was celebrated at Shimoni Primary School in Shimoni Village and GVI Shimoni
Kenya’s Health Project was invited to attend and help out at the event. So, to
begin with…let’s talk about a short overview of what the day is all about…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Davis(Safe shimoni chairperson) opens the meeting.</td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Global
Hand-washing Day was originally created for children and schools, but can be
celebrated by anyone promoting hand-washing with soap. Each year, over 200
million people are involved in celebrations in over 100 countries around the
world. Global Hand-washing is endorsed by a wide array of governments,
international institutions, civil society organizations, NGOs, private
companies, and individuals”.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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and support a global culture of hand washing with soap.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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a spotlight on the state of hand washing in every country.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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awareness about the benefits of hand washing with soap”.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">These are pretty much the main objectives of Global Hand washing day
and were a great guide for us when we were asked to prepare some posters for
the event. The week before this day was due to be held, Mr. Patrick (the Public
Health Officer) approached GVI and invited us to collaborate on the day and
prepare some informative and exciting posters relating to hand washing. So….we
set off on our graphic designing, mental brainstorming and health-related artistic
road to some wicked posters that we could show the kids on the day!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ibAe8rqU778/UmdqRTxbWEI/AAAAAAAADPk/swLi_EqG6EI/s1600/SANY0713.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ibAe8rqU778/UmdqRTxbWEI/AAAAAAAADPk/swLi_EqG6EI/s400/SANY0713.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shimoni Primary School student listening keenly</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Gabrielle Gunners (Health Project volunteer) used her amazing artistic
skills and produced a masterpiece step-by-step guide to washing your hands
correctly, with only her bare hands and a pen! We were then able to photocopy
this and laminate the copies before taping them to areas near the school’s
toilet facilities. Hopefully creating a successful, friendly reminder to the
kids of the process when they need to wash their hands after using the toilets.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Allan Farah shows how to properly wash your hands</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">So….after our amazing posters were complete and Global Hand washing
day had arrived, GVI headed to Shimoni Primary to help the Community Health
Workers (CHW’s) with their presentations. Madame Mwanamvua (CHW) gave a
thorough and informative presentation on the method to washing your hands, the
kids seemed to be watching closely and we had some volunteer students come up
and demonstrate to the group. After some more presentations from the CHW’s and
the Public Health Officer we concluded a successful hand-washing day. Hopefully
this was able to increase the student’s awareness of how, when and why to soap
up and wash your hands!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CHW's, and GVI Volunteers<br />
<i style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Jackson
Vukovic – Health Project Field Staff</span></i></td></tr>
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You are what you eat!
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<br /><br />Last Monday was a historical day for the GVI Health Program. It was the first time EVER Health Club was held at Mkwiro primary school. Mkwiro is a village on the is<span style="text-align: center;">land Wasini, right across the channel from Shimoni. It is a huge step forward that we now can start teaching life skill classes in Mkwiro, since the island is more conservative than the mainland. Topics such as early marriage, sex, STD’s, HIV and AIDS are something that the teachers aren’t that comfortable in teaching. However these are important subjects that GVI health volunteers are MORE than happy to take care of!</span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jOhKopARkLk/Ul-JlL2SxtI/AAAAAAAADOs/q4L1OSYBgDg/s1600/P1030711.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jOhKopARkLk/Ul-JlL2SxtI/AAAAAAAADOs/q4L1OSYBgDg/s320/P1030711.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Gabrielle Gunners teaching </span> </td></tr>
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<br />As you might understand, we were super excited about our first Health Club class. Health Officer Kopa, field staff Jackson and I were shocked by the number of kids present! All of a sudden we had a classroom full of sixty five students. All of them ready and set to absorb anything we had to teach them. With a big smile on our faces we were ready to start teaching! It is always motivating to see such great interest from the students. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackson Vukovic- Health Field Staff</td></tr>
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<br />Mr. Kopa wrote the topic of the lesson on the board – how to lead a healthy diet!! Points such as a stable intake of nutrients, eating regularly and balancing good and bad food were brought up with the kids. Sugar, oil, excessive intake of dairy and fats were some of the things we discussed. We asked all the kids a question to get them thinking – why do people lead an unhealthy diet? Reasons such as finances, availability, laziness and addiction were put up on the board when brainstorming. The kids were listening intently when we talked about the long term side effects of leading an unhealthy diet. Consequences such as high cholesterol levels, heart attacks, stroke, weight gain and organ strain made the students sit quietly to hear what we had to say. These facts highlighted the importance of thinking about what you eat.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sLBAN-tiIzI/Ul-JlKRBT8I/AAAAAAAADO0/NrbxgXyrs3M/s1600/P1030712.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sLBAN-tiIzI/Ul-JlKRBT8I/AAAAAAAADO0/NrbxgXyrs3M/s400/P1030712.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Health Club members listening keenly</td></tr>
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We finished off the lesson by making the students draw and paint their own food pyramids that we had taught them during the lesson. At the end we received 65 beautiful pyramids demonstrating what they had learned. We happily walked out of the classroom knowing that this was the beginning of a new and rewarding collaboration with Mkwiro primary school.<br /><br /> Gabrielle Gunners – Health Project Volunteer </div>
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My journey so far with GVI…
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Hi! My name is Jackson and I’m from Sydney, Australia…so, I guess I would say…”g’day mate!”…or something like that. I have just began working for GVI as a field staff member in Shimoni Village along the south-eastern coast of Kenya on their Health Awareness & Promotion Project. I am writing this blog to tell you guys a little bit about my story so far…<div class="MsoNormal">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackson Vokovic as a Health Volunteer</td></tr>
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From a young age I had known I was interested in the health field and had a pretty good idea that I wanted to work in health when I grew up. Two of my grandparents were doctors and my sister an Occupational Therapist – so I got plenty of exposure to the health field and the kind of work involved. Each time I was lucky enough to see my grandparents do something ‘doctor-y’ or my sister ‘therapy-it-up’ at her hospital – I only got keener and keener on working in health.<br />
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After working at a hospital in Sydney for about eight months as a wards person, receptionist and stock coordinator I had come across GVI on a Facebook page and decided to check out their website. Along with an interest in health, I had always been keen on doing some volunteering in another country and getting a taste for working in international development. Scrolling through GVI’s pages and pages of varying volunteer programs, expeditions and internships I came across the Health Awareness & Promotion Project in Kenya. The project really caught my eye and I book-marked the page on my PC!<br />
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So after a bit of brainstorming and ‘nutting’ out my finances I decided I was going to work at the hospital for another six months and then head out to Kenya to volunteer with GVI. The program fitted perfectly for all the things I was interested in…<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackson Vukovic enjoying the Health Project</td></tr>
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<b>Health work + foreign country + international development</b></div>
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…BOOK IT IN! </div>
<br />Over my 3 months of volunteering with GVI on their Health Awareness & Promotion Project I was able to take part the following tasks:<br /><br />·Help out at the local Public Medical Dispensary with administrative work, organisation and weighing toddlers up to small children<br /><br />·Going into the field with Community Health Workers to hold child growth monitoring outreaches<br /><br /><div>
·Plan and teach health-related lessons in the secondary and junior school<br /></div>
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·Tutor adults who live in the village on computer skills<br /></div>
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·Collect research for the Public Health Officer on national and global health developments<br /><br />By the time I had powered through my 3 months volunteering I had felt like I had taken part in valuable work that would be of benefit to the community and I had a great time being part of the GVI team in Shimoni Village, Kenya. But…this isn’t where it ends yet…<br /><br />A few weeks after I had finished my volunteering with GVI a field staff position on the Health Awareness & Promotion Project had become available! This was a really exciting opportunity to be able to do some more work in the health field in Kenya and be back as part of the GVI team. It would also be a great opportunity for me to gain more work experience in the international health development field…as well as getting to do some more work with the awesome Kenyan’s who live in Shimoni Village!<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackson working at the local Health Facility</td></tr>
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So….I applied and sent my resume in! After an interview with the Senior Management Team and a reference check I was notified I had been successful and selected for the position. So far my time back here in Kenya has been just as amazing as my first trip here! So far so amazing! <br /><br />
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<i><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Jackson Vukovic –
Health Project Field Staff<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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The Secrets beneath the waves
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Imagine deepest indigo waters that slowly shift into a brilliant turquoise and then a bright emerald green, topped with sun sparkles. Now add a dramatic rock stubbornly receiving the incoming blows of the Indian Ocean, and you have an image of Kisite island and its surrounding lagoon, all part of the Kisite-Mpunguti marine park. </div>
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While skimming through the water on our research boat, the space above the waves seems endless. A quick dip under the surface reveals quite another dimension: our world may feel empty but underneath the waves another world reigns. A snorkel, mask, and flippers allow us to briefly visit this brilliant blue place. In addition to dolphins and whales, in the marine project at Shimoni we also look for other large marine animals such as turtles, rays, and reef sharks. Staring eye to eye with a giant green turtle is a highlight, but the underwater camera runs hot when reef fish surprise us with glimpses into their everyday life. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juvenile Semi-circle Angelfish -<i>Pomacanthus semicirculatus</i></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">Just yesterday I learned a beauty secret of the deep when bumping into a large pufferfish: it was receiving a morning facial treatment by little fish carefully cleaning the skin. Swimming in the middle of a shoal of hundreds of little gem-like fish is just as fantastic as playing hide and seek with a moray eel peeking from its den. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green turtle -<i>Chelonia mydas</i></td></tr>
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Sometimes, just sometimes we glimpse the wonders of the underwater world above the surface, too. The first time I saw a flying fish masterly skim the waves for dozens of meters I thought I had spotted a giant dragonfly. It was being chased by a larger fish, also surfing the air above the waves. Who knows, maybe the next step in fish evolution is reaching for the skies - quite literally?<br /><br /><br /><i>By Anna Enzerink a two week volunteer on the Marine Research Program</i></div>
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The Mysteries of Malnutrition Management
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On a bright and sunny morning I awoke excited for my first Growth Monitoring Outreach. It was a short walk to the neighbouring community of Majengo where we found many smiling faces (and a few wary ones too!) waiting to greet us. The concept of “weighing babies” seemed like fun but the importance of what we were doing started to unravel.</div>
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Malnutrition can be defined as “a state in which the physical function of an individual is impaired to the point where he/she can no longer maintain adequate bodily performance processes such as growth, pregnancy, lactation, physical work, and resisting and recovering from disease” (The Sphere Project, 2004). In Kenya, the national figure for acute malnutrition of children under the age of 5 is estimated at 6% with huge variation in the different regions of the country ranging up to 20% or even higher (UNICEF, 2006). <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /><br />Under nutrition can be identified by assessing the individual’s nutritional status however this would involve investigating the availability and utilization of nutrients at the cellular level. Out in the field this becomes impractical so we rely of proxy indicators of nutritional status primarily Anthropometry (measurements of weight, height etc.) and recognition of clinical signs (oedema, skin pigmentation).<br /><br /><div>
During the growth monitoring outreach we measured the child’s weight on a hanging scale and compare this to a Weight for Age chart on their Health Card. This allows us to graph their growth against a reference population, if they fall below the normal range the child is identified as underweight. We also check for immunization status and flag children who require follow up.<br /></div>
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In total we weighed 54 children, including a set of 2 month year old twins and a little boy petrified on the Muzungu (white person)- I couldn’t look twice at him without him bursting into tears and running in the opposite direction! At the conclusion of the outreach two children were identified as underweight. <br /></div>
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The question was what happens now? I sat down with Community Health Worker (CHW) and Pharmacist, Diego at Shimoni Dispensary to find out.<br /></div>
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In the community, CHWs screen children using anthropometric measurements (e.g. weight, mean upper arm circumference) and the presence of oedema. Underweight or children displaying signs of oedema are referred to the nearest health facility for further investigation. A thorough assessment including questions about breast feeding status, diet and appetite is completed by a nurse or health worker and then an official diagnosis of malnutrition is made. The mother is also checked for signs of malnutrition and treated accordingly.</div>
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Further reading of the Kenya Guideline for Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition<br /> revealed that children can have a combination of both acute and chronic malnutrition. Acute malnutrition can be categorized into Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), determined by the patient’s degree of wasting and certain criteria (eg. Comparison to WHO height for weight charts, mean upper arm circumference and level of oedema). All cases of bi-lateral oedema are categorized as SAM. SAM is further classified into two categories: Marasmus and Kwashiorkor. Patients may present with a combination, known as Marasmic Kwashiorkor. <br /> <br /> Common signs and symptoms of Marasmus include:<br /></div>
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Severe weight loss and wasting, Ribs prominent, Limbs emaciated,Muscle wasting, May have good appetite, With correct treatment, good prognosis<br /><br />For Kwashiorkor: Bi-lateral oedema and fluid accumulation, Loss of appetite, Brittle thinning hair, Hair colour change, Apathetic and irritable, Face may seem swollen, High risk of death<br /><br />Chronic malnutrition is determined by a patient’s degree of stunting, i.e. when a child has not reached his or her expected height for a given age.<br /><br />The management of acute malnutrition involves two basic objectives:<br /><br />1) To prevent malnutrition by early identification, public health interventions and nutrition<br /></div>
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Education;<br /><br />2) To treat acute malnutrition to reduce associated morbidity and mortality.<br />(Ministry of Medical Services, 2009)<br /><br />Diego explained at the Shimoni Dispensary all children under the age of 5 are given Mix Me a vitamin and mineral supplement to be added food as a preventative measure.<br /><br />For children identified as moderately outpatient management involves food supplementation with Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (Plumpy Sup) and weekly monitoring.<br /> <br /> Uncomplicated cases of severe malnutrition - patients who have a good appetite; are free from medical complications; and do not have moderate/severe oedema - can be treated with routine drugs (e.g. Antibiotics, deworming, vaccinations, Vitamin A supplementation) and the relevant quantity of ready to use therapeutic food (Plumpy Nut) at home. Families attend the dispensary for monitoring and to replenish therapeutic food supply, parents are encouraged to return empty packets to improve compliance. Further follow up is made at the home by the community health worker involving nutrition and health education. Children who have a poor appetite and present with complications such as oedema, hypothermia, fever, weakness or fitting must immediately be referred to an inpatient facility for further management. <br /></div>
<div>
Malnutrition is an important public health issue particularly for children under five years old who have a significantly higher risk of mortality and morbidity than well nourished children. We are happy to work with our partners, The Community Health Workers to help identify and prevent malnutrition through regular monitoring at the monthly Growth Monitoring outreaches.</div>
</div>
<img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TstRAvL1bnk/UiTornfAoVI/AAAAAAAADEM/ywSmSh1r2xY/s640/Growth+Monitoring+4.JPG" /><div>
<br /></div>
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Georgie's maths teaching challenge
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Georgie teaching at Mkwiro Primary School</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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I arrived in Kenya having never taught before. I received a day of training, under the watchful eye of community staff member Jordan. I have since had the chance to observe and teach several lessons and the experience has been amazing. To see children, who are fasting through Ramadan, turn up to school and actually complete work, never mind just listen, is testament to the willingness of many people here to learn. During my first open library session, under the baobab tree, one boy approached me and said, ‘I don’t understand English, but I want to try.’ This same attitude is common: a drive to learn, to expand business opportunities and to thrive.<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teaching multiplication to standard 4</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
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I also had the privilege of teaching a young man from the village, during the weekly Men’s English group. Ali was an incredibly inspiring person to teach, not wanting to end the lessons but to keep on reading –both weeks we were the last to finish! He would be the one to guide me each week, letting me know what he wanted to learn or what he wanted to improve. During this week, I was also able to teach an English class to standard 5 children. I really enjoyed the experience. My highlight, however, has to be teaching maths. Standard 4 were very talented maths students and the irony of Madam Georgie, the world’s most enthusiastic but useless maths student, teaching multiplication, and the children understanding it, was almost too much to take in! I can finally say that all my hard work during A-level maths was worthwhile.<br /><br />
Georgina Harbottle - <i>Community Project Volunteer</i></div>
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Health project: follow up jigger outreach
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Today's adventure commenced with a casual 2 hour stroll to our neighbouring village- Kibuyuni. We were on a hunt for jiggers! My first thoughts when hearing about our planned 'Jigger Outreach' was what actually was a jigger?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking to the jigger outreach</td></tr>
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Searching the power of all knowledge, Wiki revealed....</div>
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A Jigger may refer to:</div>
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- a hand-operated railway car</div>
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- a measure of alcoholic beverage ingredients, and the tool used to measure them</div>
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- a pallet jack</div>
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- a hidden button on a double breasted suit</div>
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- an obsolete golf club</div>
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- Chigoe flea, a parasitic arthropod found in tropical climates that may cause an inflammatory skin disease</div>
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In careful consideration I decided it must be the Chigoe fleas we were targeting and not an expedition to build the school children railway cars!</div>
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At 1 mm long, the chigoe flea is the smallest known flea. Breeding female chigoes burrow into exposed skin on the feet of humans and remain there for two weeks while developing eggs. During this time the fleas swell dramatically, sometimes causing intense irritation (condition called tungiasis). Following this point, the skin lesion looks like a 5- to 10-mm blister with a central black dot- this is the flea's exposed hind legs, respiratory spiracles and reproductive organs. If the flea is left within the skin, dangerous complications can occur including secondary infections, loss of nails, and toe deformation.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6Pxxxo94pMY/UhYChgaA5ZI/AAAAAAAADCs/n97nV_lqRjE/s1600/DSC06214.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6Pxxxo94pMY/UhYChgaA5ZI/AAAAAAAADCs/n97nV_lqRjE/s400/DSC06214.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">School children ready for the jigger scrubbing</td></tr>
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Our journey began at the dispensary collecting supplies for our attack-</div>
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Antiseptic Wash, Gauze for scrubbing, Antibiotic Cream and Vaseline. Joining us we our partners from Rise and Shine and Shimoni Dispensary. We wondered through the beautiful surroundings on a glorious sunny day encountering much wildlife and scenery on the way- a family of Colobus Monkeys, Dung Beetles, Hibiscus flowers and the ‘Door to the Enchanted City’ (a lone standing door in an area of forest and scrubs)!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RfRgvMp6Uy4/UhYCv5pw6lI/AAAAAAAADDE/70AZzu4afXo/s1600/DSC06226.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RfRgvMp6Uy4/UhYCv5pw6lI/AAAAAAAADDE/70AZzu4afXo/s400/DSC06226.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The community health workers working hard</td></tr>
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Arriving at Kibuyuni Primary School we were quickly introduced to the Principal and staff. The children were promptly organised into queues and the production line began!</div>
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"Scrub the jiggers, soak the jiggers, vaseline the jiggers all over"!</div>
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The children's feet were scrubbed with gauze and antiseptic to remove exposed fleas. Any open wounds are treated with antibiotic cream and then all bites were then smothered with Vaseline in an attempt to suffocate and kill off the fleas. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-bdthCNAOo/UhYCiV0annI/AAAAAAAADC0/BCyr9WVEZNk/s1600/DSC06221.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-bdthCNAOo/UhYCiV0annI/AAAAAAAADC0/BCyr9WVEZNk/s400/DSC06221.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mr Saidi washing jigger feet</td></tr>
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Jiggers pose a complex problem for the local coastal communities of Kenya. As the fleas thrive in sandy conditions ongoing education must focus on strategies of prevention. We hope to work with our partners the Community Health Workers to provide education not only to schools but also to parents on the importance of foot hygiene, avoidance of jiggers and regular use of footwear or matting in sandy areas. </div>
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Belinda Kerr - <i>Health Project Volunteer</i></div>
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Australian Aid visit Shimoni and give a talk on family planning
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Every day at 10am
we roll down to the dispensary, ready to help the local health facility with the work they are doing. Jackson and I managed
to weigh 10 children ready to be seem by the nurse. Jackson and I were very busy working at the reception,
when Mr. Patrick (public health officer) was talking to the nurse saying that Australian Aid were coming to Shimoni to lead a health talk on different forms of contraception. Patrick
showed Jackson and I the residents who were waiting for the visitors to arrive. They were happy to wait as many were keen to start taking the contraceptive pill. Patrick added
that it’s a big opportunity for the local people to have this chance. These people were coming from very far, all the way from Nairobi to give this talk to
the people at Shimoni and provide free contraceptives, which people usually have to pay for.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">We saw a van approaching the dispesnary and on the side was written Australian aid. That was my first time to
see/hear about Australian aid. The PHO received the visitors and took them to the nurse where they introduced themselves and explained the purpose of their visit. This was to help people at
Shimoni to understand the different contraceptive methods and decide the best method for them. Their names
were David, Lucy mercy and Susan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Susan (front) leads the contraceptive talk at the dispensary</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US">The villagers were invtied to listen to
Susan who was one of the Australian aid officials. All people gathered in one
place and Jackson and I joined the team. Susan greeted her audience and
started his talk by asking the spectators on their
knowledge about definition of family planning. One of the villagers mama Hassan
said family planning was controlling of the number of children in a family
according to your leaving standard. Susan continued by talking about each contraceptive method, how it works and its effectiveness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">After Susan had finished, she asked the audience if they had any questions. Mama
(mother of) Omar asked if you will lose the depo after becoming fat. Mad Susan
smiled a little bit asked another question instead of answering it. She asked
if you can lose a nose ring if you become fat. The answer was no. that means
you can lose the depo even you become too fat. Susan finished by stressing the importance of choosing your contraceptive method carefully. If they want not to gate a pregnant a short term then
they should choose a short method of contraceptive. The villagers then started to queue to get the prescription. Every
client who was coming out of the prescribed room looked happy. Jackson and I
headed back home, happy at what we'd just experienced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US">Mwinyiisa Kopa- Health field staff<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
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First ever recording of a Dwarf Minke whale by GVI
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<span lang="EN-NZ">It was just a normal Friday morning, yet we
had no idea of the treat that was in store for us. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-NZ">Within seconds of arriving down at the
shelf to make the transfer to our research vessel, Bardan, a large shape was
spotted moving through the water – too large to be a dolphin, too small to be a
humpback whale, and it had a dorsal fin, ruling out the possibility of a Dugong
sighting. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-NZ">After some intense minutes of searching for
the erratically moving animal, it was spotted several hundred metres away,
moving west down the Wasini Channel.
Trying to obtain photographs in order to identify the species proved
difficult – with a small body size (around 7-8m length), an erratic movement
pattern, quiet, indistinct blow and less than 3 seconds at the surface for each
breath with about 5 minutes in between breaths, getting any photo at all
required you to be quick off the mark! Every camera and video camera on board
saw some good use!</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eK7ZhnqYqf0/UfoPtAAx-QI/AAAAAAAADBg/HxzQ7KxPntU/s1600/IMG_3871.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eK7ZhnqYqf0/UfoPtAAx-QI/AAAAAAAADBg/HxzQ7KxPntU/s400/IMG_3871.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">''..a head broke the surface..'' an important part of the distinguishing features</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-NZ">Possible species included minke whales,
either northern, southern or dwarf morphs; Bryde’s or pygmy Bryde’s whales, or
small fin or Sei whales. All rorquals, all possibly found here, though none
have ever been recorded before.</span></div>
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</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0LMew5Or36k/UfoNKnRrsqI/AAAAAAAADBE/FsgnK7kEorI/s1600/IMG_3853.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0LMew5Or36k/UfoNKnRrsqI/AAAAAAAADBE/FsgnK7kEorI/s400/IMG_3853.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">''a white oval patch stretching from lower mandible to dorsal surface and a single rostral ridge''</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-NZ">Turning off the boat engine revealed the
inquisitive side of the whale we were watching.
Without warning, a head broke the surface right next to the boat,
prompting a round of oohs and aahs, but enabling a quick look at a head with a
white oval patch stretching from lower mandible to dorsal surface and a single
rostral ridge.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-NZ"> This immediately ruled
out a Bryde’s whale, which have three rostral ridges, and increased the
probability that we were looking at the first ever recorded sighting of a Minke
whale in Wasini/Shimoni waters. In addition, the white colouration around the
head increased the probability that we were looking at a Dwarf Minke whale.</span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-NZ"> How
intriguing – a great example of why we all love marine. There is always
something new to see!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-NZ"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-NZ"><br /></span></div>
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<i>by Chloe Corne, Marine Field staff and Humpback whale obsessionist :)</i></div>
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Nathalie's experience of teaching on a paradise island
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<span lang="EN-US">Jambo from Kenya! Rising with the sun to a breakfast
of pancakes is the best way to start the day on Wasini Island. With the soft
sounds of the ocean and the faint beat of island music in the distance, we set
to work on planning the week’s lessons. All the volunteers and staff are so
enthusiastic and any worries you may have about teaching just seem to fade
away. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_Jt64yE4Ywk/UfZ14dRYgbI/AAAAAAAADAk/U4SYBoj9tfg/s1600/DSCN0196.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_Jt64yE4Ywk/UfZ14dRYgbI/AAAAAAAADAk/U4SYBoj9tfg/s400/DSCN0196.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Volunteers lead a typical open library session at Mkwiro Primary</td></tr>
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The children of Mkwiro Primary School are
always so motivated to learn about new things, always asking questions
(sometimes even asking for homework!) and wanting to know more about the
subjects they study.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">During English lessons the children learn about
poetry and stories. Sometimes the children will write compositions, their
thoughts and ideas are all so individual and creative. As well as stories and
children’s literature, we also teach the more practical side of English
language, with work on phonetics and grammar which will benefit them in the world
of work when they’re grown up. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E-uU5w5j4SI/UfZ33X2eFWI/AAAAAAAADA0/c6LPseCEipM/s1600/DSC_0053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E-uU5w5j4SI/UfZ33X2eFWI/AAAAAAAADA0/c6LPseCEipM/s400/DSC_0053.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset from Mkwiro base</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US">In the afternoons we have an open library
session, where the children have the freedom to practice their reading. Open
library is always so much fun, there is always an air of enthusiasm in the
library and the children love finding new ways to bring the stories and its
characters off the page. Just last week, one child actually sang an entire book
to me! This turned the theme of library to poetry, the thing about teaching
here is that you can plan but, you can never predict the day’s events, no day
here is ever the same. Sometimes we take reading outdoors and while seated on
the roots of the old baobob tree, we read stories. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ak5ddXgGgso/UfZyLBqHZRI/AAAAAAAADAY/qAYsUD_HqsI/s1600/IMG_4033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ak5ddXgGgso/UfZyLBqHZRI/AAAAAAAADAY/qAYsUD_HqsI/s320/IMG_4033.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">We also teach adult classes in English and
Maths. We tailor the lessons to suit their needs by teaching topics which will
be useful for them to know in real life. This gives local people the skills to
be able to plan and organise a business which helps them create a sustainable
future for themselves and their families, working on the principle that if you
teach someone to fish you can feed them for life. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3002506125093224748" name="_GoBack"></a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>Nathalie Brand - Community Project Volunteer</i></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Lea stumbles across the right baobab tree
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Community holds open library everyday Monday through Friday from 3:15 to 4:15 in the afternoon. On sunny days, Jordan and I take a handful of colourful children’s books outside and sit on the great, big, gnarly roots of the Baobab tree. On the off day that it rains, we sit inside the library and prop the door open. Children come and go as they please. Some like to look at the illustrations. Some like to read the words. Some like to speedily race their hand-made wooden cars. And some like to spin Tusker bottle caps on a piece of string.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SR9uw-LAJso/UfZxreYqRPI/AAAAAAAADAE/_gXwcDW8MV0/s1600/IMG_3858.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SR9uw-LAJso/UfZxreYqRPI/AAAAAAAADAE/_gXwcDW8MV0/s400/IMG_3858.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lea tests out some of the local boys amazing car creations</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rs1Y3FmqALk/UfZx9TdUr9I/AAAAAAAADAM/LFQW-rU2GCc/s1600/IMG_4028.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rs1Y3FmqALk/UfZx9TdUr9I/AAAAAAAADAM/LFQW-rU2GCc/s400/IMG_4028.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></td></tr>
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One particular day in open library stands out. A couple of days ago, a 19-year-old boy named Ali stumbled upon the Baobab tree. He was a newcomer. He sat beside me on one of the great, big roots, asked for a book, and proceeded to read it aloud. After reading one book, he read another. And another. He mispronounced. I pronounced. He asked comprehension questions. I answered. He read. I listened. The hour of open library was coming to an end and I told Ali that we would be back tomorrow under the tree with more books. He looked disappointed that his hour of reading was coming to an end. He said he wanted to learn English. I was surprised at his request and told him that he could come to the men’s English class the very next afternoon. I had my doubts as men’s English on Tuesday rolled around. Jordan and I walked through the wooden gates to the schoolyard, passed the grazing goats, and unlocked the door of the library where men’s English is held. Mr. Kiponda, one of my usual students showed up. And then, to my delightful surprise, Ali’s eager presence popped through the doorway, books in hand.</div>
<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o6BcOS_IRSs/UfZxps0P6bI/AAAAAAAAC_8/W5D5CANTpt4/s1600/IMG_3854.JPG"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o6BcOS_IRSs/UfZxps0P6bI/AAAAAAAAC_8/W5D5CANTpt4/s400/IMG_3854.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">
Ali’s eagerness for challenge is admirable. His willingness to learn for the sake of learning is a rare find. The Baobab tree is quietly magnificent. It’s rich, green canopy of leaves, sturdy trunk, and firm roots is a haven for play, laughter, and imagination. Ali stumbled upon the right Baobab tree, and so did I.</div>
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<br /></div>
<i>Lea Silvert – Community Project Volunteer</i></div>
The Mighty Bardan!!
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My maritime days in marine survey have been amazing!! I feel
like I can’t get enough words to describe my experience… Thanks to all the
marine crew, as without you guys it wouldn't have been this cool.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nkANKZhWtIo/UfYyuVRPUkI/AAAAAAAAC_c/U0mO8VfmMzI/s1600/Picture+266.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nkANKZhWtIo/UfYyuVRPUkI/AAAAAAAAC_c/U0mO8VfmMzI/s320/Picture+266.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">THE Mighty Bardan!</td></tr>
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After the
first marine day I thought I was done</div>
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But always
maritime stayed the hardened Bardan!</div>
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Early
morning as we count on boats and nets</div>
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Children
yawning as they happily wave.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Go Bardan,
go hit the waves!!</div>
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Cruising
gracefully past Funzi Bay</div>
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It’s always
marine day after day.</div>
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Moving to
Kisite spotting dolphins</div>
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Taking snap
shots of their beautiful dorsal fins</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iTwToA1JKks/UfY343UXj5I/AAAAAAAAC_s/uFSg2-c98Us/s1600/IMG_4788.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iTwToA1JKks/UfY343UXj5I/AAAAAAAAC_s/uFSg2-c98Us/s320/IMG_4788.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Humpback Whale tail</td></tr>
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I’ll never
live to tell a tale, </div>
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Without ever
mentioning the Humpback Whale!!</div>
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From a safe
distance as we sail</div>
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We watch
them gently beating their tail</div>
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Bardan’s
body is properly nailed</div>
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Though at times
it needs to be bailed!</div>
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<br /></div>
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This is done
using tins and pails</div>
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As
magnificent Bardan never fails</div>
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<br /></div>
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We snorkel
gracefully over coral garden</div>
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Keeping
watch behind us, crawls Bardan</div>
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We get tired
at times, so slow</div>
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But Bardan
never fails to take us to shore</div>
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Go Bardan go
my BOAT!!</div>
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<i>Written by Ronald Oloo, an attachee at KWS Kisite MNP who joined our program for 4 weeks.</i></div>
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Creepy Crawlies
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PXjQLPwQhlE/UeZjl2rgVKI/AAAAAAAAC-M/L3CRZT8djU0/s1600/DSC_1078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PXjQLPwQhlE/UeZjl2rgVKI/AAAAAAAAC-M/L3CRZT8djU0/s1600/DSC_1078.jpg" /></a></div>
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When it comes to bugs, spiders, and little things that fly into windows, there are 3 types of people. You can be:<br />
1. fascinated by bugs and all things awesome<br />
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2. not too bothered by them but not too interested either<br />
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3. scared pants-less of them because they are the spawn of Satan<br />
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When I first came to Kenya I was a solid number two.<br />
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However, since arriving I’ve been becoming more and more engrossed when I see a new species, instantly whipping out the camera and tuning out the rest of the world.<br />
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If you’re a one, fantastic! My work is done. Go book your flight! If you think you’re more of a two or a three, you’re wrong. Don’t worry, though, I was wrong once too, and in the words of that guy from Coldplay: “I will tryyyyy to fix youuu!”<br />
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Above all other things that creeped me out before I came here, spiders were top of the list. Now, above all other things they’re the creatures I love the most. In Kenya almost everything you see is a bigger, brighter, and simply better version of what you see back home, if you come from Ireland or somewhere similarly dull like me. Spiders are the perfect example of this.<br />
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My favourite of all the incredible species I’ve seen so far has got to be the Red-legged Golden orb-web spider.</div>
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This is an adult female
Red-legged Golden orb-web spider hanging in the centre of her web. You can see
the beautiful golden web they spin perfectly in the top left. Despite being
fairly scary looking, they’re completely non-venomous and pretty immobile. The
female hangs at the centre of the web waiting for food to come to it.</div>
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<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span lang="EN-IE">The males are a little
harder to identify since the species is sexually dimorphic in terms of size. In
other words, the females are a lot bigger than the males, having a body mass
about 1000 times that of the males.</span></span><span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span lang="EN-IE"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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As far as I have been
able to tell, this is the male of the species. I’m assuming this due to the
fact that it inhabits the same web as the female and its size in relation to it
is much smaller. The internet is effectively useless in this case given that
there are about 34,000 species of spiders out there.</div>
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<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span lang="EN-IE">There are so many other
amazing things to see here, the orb spider is just one of them. It’s my
personal favourite because of its gorgeous colouration. Also, its golden web
looks stunning when it catches the sunlight.</span></span><span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span lang="EN-IE"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span lang="EN-IE">The insect in the photo
at the top of this post is some kind of long-horned wood-boring beetle
belonging to the Cerambycidae family that I’ve had no luck in identifying
further.</span></span><span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span lang="EN-IE"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span lang="EN-IE">Here are a small collection other creepy crawlies I’ve seen in the short month I’ve been here.</span></span><span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span lang="EN-IE"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Believe it or not, this is not a leaf but a very clever bug!<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I swear to God this Praying Mantis is smiling for the camera</span></div>
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We found this wild species called a “Kopa” living in the house,
scientific name; Healthus Staffius. He doesn’t crawl but he’s definitely creepy
enough to warrant inclusion. By far the funniest species I’ve encountered.</div>
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<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span lang="EN-IE">The spiders and the
insects are just a small part of the experience in Shimoni. There are so many
amazing animals, scenery, and most of all people that even if I haven’t managed
to convince you that insects are the most awesome thing in the world, you’ll
still be wrong, but you’ll enjoy being wrong.</span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3002506125093224748&pli=1" name="_GoBack"></a><span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span lang="EN-IE"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><span lang="EN-IE"><i>Kevin Whelan- Forest Volunteer</i></span></span></div>
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Grand Opening!
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Justyna and Jack our health project volunteers at the opening </i></td></tr>
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This week we had an amazing invite to attend the Grand Opening of the shiny new CCC (Comprehensive Care Clinic) for HIV Positive patients and Resources Centre or, as we commonly call it, The Shimoni Youth Centre! You may be wondering why we refer to it as a youth centre when it is an office for HIV drug dispensing, but there is one simple answer. This one building will house not only the new Office and Pharmacy for HIV drug dispensing but also a hall space for<span id="goog_387916194"></span></div>
health meetings, verandah and outdoor area for assemblies and presentations and eventually a computer lab and area for Shimoni youth to attend activities. What a dynamo of healthy-ness under one roof in one new building!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The event was packed with people from all around to show their support</td></tr>
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The MC (master of ceremony) for the opening event was none other than the Shimoni Public Health Officer, Mr. Patrick, a dear friend and colleague of GVI, and always a very welcoming spirit. After helping out at the Dispensary for a little while before the event began, the GVI health team headed down to the new youth centre (positioned near the Shimoni Dispensary) and took our seats. However, before this, Mr. Patrick had sprung it upon Kopa (GVI Health Field Staff), Diego and Swalehe (Shimoni Dispensary Staff) to prepare and perform a poem. So the guys put their heads together and prepared an awesome poem about HIV/AIDS!<br />
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Among the guests for the day’s opening celebrations were local officials from around Shimoni.<br />
Also invited and kindly attending were officials from surrounding areas such as; The District Health Officer for Msambweni (the Kenyan district containing Shimoni Village), Medical professionals from Aga Khan Health Service in Mombasa and an international guest medical doctor who has been working closely with Kenya to further develop health services.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pilau time! </i></td></tr>
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Before the presentations and speeches from various officials began, we were treated with some nice music and lots of smiling, happy faces (the Community Health Workers who had worked very hard to set up for the day). Justyna and myself (Health Project Volunteers) enjoyed the days presentation very much…..we were challenged a lot seeing as everyone who gave a speech spoke in Kiswahili! The incredible poem performed by Kopa, Diego and Swalehe (also in Kiswahili) was amazing and we could see the passion within them! Unfortunately we are not yet fluent, but we were able to guess and understand what the presenters were talking about……we think!<br />
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After the presentations were completed and all the presenters had finished, we were kindly asked to stay for lunch as well! We were served up healthy and hearty portions of Rice 'Pilau' with 'Katchumbari'. This amazingly tasty dish is a traditional, local favourite of the Kenyan coastline. In plain English for those of us who can’t yet master Swahili (me), Pilau is heavily spiced/seasoned rice and Katchumbari is a combination of fresh red onions and tomatoes with an oil/vinegar dressing.Yum! And thus the day’s presentation was complete, our bellies were filled with delicious food and we were invited to take a look at the furnished CCC office - another great day on the GVI Kenyan Shimoni Health Project.<br />
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<i>Jackson Vukovic – Health Project Volunteer</i><br /><br />
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Door-to-Door Polio Immunizations
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Trekking through the fields </i></td></tr>
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Through maize shambas ( corn farms) and overgrown great green lushness we trekked. Justina, Jackson, Kopa and I (the current health team) followed the lead of the Dispensary Nurse and 3 CHWs (community health workers) into Mbuyuni (an interior village in the Shimoni sub-location). We were supporting a public health initiative to immunize all children under the age of 5 against Polio. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Marking the doors of those houses the children were vaccinated</i></td></tr>
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VR1T44 3/3 was marked on the first door:<br />V-This house had been visited and the circle around the V showed that the children had been vaccinated.<br />R1- We were in round 1 of the immunization against Polio initiative.<br />T44- Team 44 was our team code.<br />3/3- 3 out of three children in the household were vaccinated. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Giving the oral vaccine </i></td></tr>
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We were part of team 44 bringing the pain… well not really but as usual, some babies sobbed as if the sweetened oral vaccination were jinn seedlings soon to mature within them into full-blown demons. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3RVSbkXWqtg/Udpu4Xjs-VI/AAAAAAAAC6Y/emESzPCBGXg/s1600/blog5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3RVSbkXWqtg/Udpu4Xjs-VI/AAAAAAAAC6Y/emESzPCBGXg/s400/blog5.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>This little guy was extremely upset about his vaccine</i> </td></tr>
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Other’s scowled furiously for the unrequested interruption from their games. Some simply gazed curiously at the oddly paired team of healthcare professionals, CHWs and wazungu (foreign) volunteers. Fortunately the parents were all for it and ensured cooperation. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Two of our GVI members helping with the door-to-door immunizations</i></td></tr>
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Besides, they found a familiar face in Hamisi (CHW) who visited these homes monthly to monitor the health of these specific families. Each CHW in the Rise and Shine community health unit has a minimum of 20 households that they must monitor, visit and report on. We got to see Hamisi’s families! For me, that was one of the most remarkable parts of the day. We got to experience one of the most crucial CHW responsibilities first hand. </div>
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In the span of 3 hours we had visited 40 households, 2 schools, and 109 babies and children had been immunized against Polio. A good days work as always on the GVI Shimoni Health project and even more awe and admiration to our ridiculously hard working partners!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2HnjhQBeOuk/Udp7gzBjlnI/AAAAAAAAC64/1TbUbBbTFZo/s1600/P1030389.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2HnjhQBeOuk/Udp7gzBjlnI/AAAAAAAAC64/1TbUbBbTFZo/s400/P1030389.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Our lovely volunteers at the end of a long morning </i></td></tr>
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Sarah get's deep down and poetic on the Community Project
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<b><u><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Let’s Learn Something New…</span></u></b></div>
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My Island<o:p></o:p></div>
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Kingdom in the sun<o:p></o:p></div>
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We live here together<o:p></o:p></div>
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In perfect harmony <o:p></o:p></div>
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Red Sunsets<br />
Over the shimmering sea</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The people who say everything said that ‘”You learn something new
everyday”. However, I think they forgot to mention that the things you learn
are not always very useful. Sometimes you learn things that shall probably
never help your life and will just end up taking up space unnecessarily in your
mind. You know what I’m talking about, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I learnt something new during the Standard 7 English lesson last week.
And no, it was not one of those useless things we tend to learn about every now
and then. On the contrary. So here we are, Kathryn, our very-amazing- with-
the- children Community staff is facing
the blackboard, writing down the aforewritten ( pointing to top of page) poem.
I have no idea what the lesson is about, so I’m just standing aimlessly at the
back of the class watching the girls shuffling through their books and showing
off their stickers. The poem is soon finished and above it, she has written the
title of the lesson… Acrostic Poems..</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Madam Sarah assisting in the classroom</td></tr>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now, before this title was written on the board, I had thought that I
was quite well versed in Poetry and all its associated shenanigans. But here
was something I had actually never heard of before. My mind thus goes into a
moment of slight confusion mixed with a suspense filled anxiety to find out
what these acrostic poems are. And find out I did. Just like the poem
aforewritten (points to top of page), Acrostic poems are poems whose first
letters of each line spell out whatever you are writing the poem about. Cool
things, yes?? This is the part where you now scroll up to the top of the page
to see if what I am saying is true. Which you shall confirm as soon as you
piece out what word is spelt out…Mindblowing moment.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And that is the story of how I learnt something new last week. And I am
happy that it was not something useless that will fill up my mind space
unnecessarily, because I do intend to start writing acrostic poems now. So, if
you are my friend with a name with just the right number of letters, you never
know if I shall write you an acrostic poem for your birthday…watch this space <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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P.S Community has been amazing!! If you have been thinking about doing
it, just do it. Like Nike. Get it? <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<i>Sarah Kagotho - National Kenyan Scholar</i></div>
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Andrew's Marine Glean
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This week I, along with 5 other volunteers, started our
marine training. Of course, our initial
goals were to see a few dolphin, oohh and awww for a while and enjoy a nice day
on the boat.<br />
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However, we have some
serious science to get done and to get some serious science done you have to
know a thing or two about what you’re doing.
So we started the week with a few lectures from our fearless leaders
Bron and Chloe. They taught us about the
main goals of the program here on Mkwiro, and that is to help the KWS monitor
the dolphin population and the health of the environment, and to study the
impact of tourism and how tourism can be done responsibly. This obviously is no small task, so they
didn’t send us in with a small amount of training. </div>
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We learnt about the different parts of the dolphin and the
different species. Here around Wasini
Island there are 5 major species of dolphin which we can sight; The Bottlenose,
the Humpback Dolphin, the Spinner, the Spotted and Risso’s dolphin. We also learnt about the threats to the
dolphin populations here and around the globe, and what GVI is trying to do
about it, from recording the population to advising the KWS on safe observation
techniques for tourists. We then learnt
about other megafauna, such as the Humpback Whale, the two types of turtles we
find around Wasini (the Hawksbill and the Green Turtle), and whale sharks. </div>
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When we had finished our lectures we were put through our
first test. While that test was nothing
to speak of, our next test was slightly more exciting. On the next day, we did our first boat
survey. We took turns learning about the
different forms we needed to fill out, and while at first we fumbled with the
papers which</div>
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seemed designed to stump a layman, we were filling data like
nobody’s business by the end of the day.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew on Dedicated Search, looking out for dolphins</td></tr>
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The next day we started to learn about dolphin ID. To keep track of the dolphins in Wasini, we
need to get a positive ID on as many of the dolphins as possible. This requires us to go through each one of
the photographs of the dorsal fins to be matched to one of the dorsal fins in
the database as best we can. Out of 180
individuals, it can be a little time consuming to find the winning pair of
photo’s but by the end of the day it becomes an obsession. </div>
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All in all it has been a fantastic learning experience to
take part, even in a small way, in a conservation project involving so many
people, and the skills and memories gained here will be with me for a very long
time.</div>
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Alex leads the way
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<span lang="EN-US">During my time in Kenya I have been working
as a forest project volunteer and my last week was really astonishing. I finally had
the confidence and experience to lead a group through the forest. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a2aFaLoUPl4/UdUwcLYXFgI/AAAAAAAAC48/GXasrxM0_-I/s640/alex2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a2aFaLoUPl4/UdUwcLYXFgI/AAAAAAAAC48/GXasrxM0_-I/s400/alex2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Andy collecting data through the thick forest</i></td></tr>
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While the
rest of the group conducted a survey I navigated the way through the thick
undergrowth. The only help I had was my compass to guide my way. At first the
going was easy with a clear trail to walk down but after the first kilometer
the trail was completely gone and I had to just follow East with my compass,
guiding the group through the dense bush.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2xi4YTl_hlY/UdUwb3tLbmI/AAAAAAAAC5A/DUqc4N-pwsQ/s640/alex3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2xi4YTl_hlY/UdUwb3tLbmI/AAAAAAAAC5A/DUqc4N-pwsQ/s400/alex3.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>There are hundreds of fascinating creatures in the forest </i></td></tr>
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We passed a lot of spiders which look
really cool, because they have two big horns as long as their body.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nxtzsJnC55Y/UdUx1H6P32I/AAAAAAAAC5w/3FhwD6wb_Uw/s640/Kite-Spider.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nxtzsJnC55Y/UdUx1H6P32I/AAAAAAAAC5w/3FhwD6wb_Uw/s400/Kite-Spider.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Kite spider</i></td></tr>
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You also
need to watch out for safari ants, walk over a nest of them and they will try their
best to bite you! Luckily as I was leading I spotted them first and navigated
the group around.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Spending some time with the smaller wildlife</i></td></tr>
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As we finally came out of the forest it felt good to know I
had lead the group through this tropical jungle, it was an amazing adventure
with an amazing forest and a huge variety of wildlife.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jiP-hjI_arQ/UdUwgoLRuHI/AAAAAAAAC5k/eAj0nl0v7UE/s1600/alex6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jiP-hjI_arQ/UdUwgoLRuHI/AAAAAAAAC5k/eAj0nl0v7UE/s640/alex6.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>From the tree tops the monkeys are watching us trek through the forest </i></td></tr>
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Not many people get the
opportunity to see monkeys in their own environment and some of the most colourful birds
the world has to offer. On top of that we always hear on our daily routes the
beautiful sound of the sea with its loud waves thrown at the cliff. Not to forget that
I was also part of this extremely important research for this unique forest.
Thanks, GVI.<br />
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<i>Alexander Hecher- 4 week Forest volunteer </i>
Shimoni Primary School’s intensive week of Health Club lessons
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It was a quiet and calm Wednesday afternoon at the Shimoni GVI Volunteer house. All volunteers from the Health and Forest Conservation projects were finished for the day and about to have the daily 6pm group debrief. But then.....Sophie (GVI Community and Health Officer) came racing into the house looking as though she had a bundle of information the size of Mt. Kenya to share! And so, she shared what was to be a shock of excitement for the Health Project team; an injection of adrenalin to their lesson planning spirit; a shot of vitamin C to their health educating life-force. We had been asked to go and teach:</div>
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A weeks worth of intensive health classes for the health club at Shimoni Primary School!</div>
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To some of you reading this blog, this may seem like a fairly average thing to be doing…teaching…at a school. BUT WAIT! There is more to come! Our lessons were not only going to be teaching the Health Club on health-related topics….we were going to be helping them prepare, practice and present two health poems and a drama skit based on the content we were going to teach them! WOW! Now this week was truly going to be intensive!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackson, Joanna and Cara intensely observe the students practicing their poems</td></tr>
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<b><u>What is the Health Club?</u></b></div>
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Some of you may be wondering…..”What is the health club?” Ok so, Shimoni Primary School has selected a group of dedicated students from a range of grades/years to do some extracurricular learning and be part of a club that learns about health topics. They have requested that the GVI Health Project come in and run lessons filled with interesting content, interactive activities and to help the students prepare for their presentations. </div>
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<b><u>The purpose of these intensive lessons…</u></b></div>
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When GVI was asked to come into the school and teach the lessons we were also informed that on the Friday of the ‘health intensive week’, Kenyan government officials were also going to be visiting Shimoni Primary School. The Headmaster of the school requested we help the students practice and perform two poems and a drama skit for the officials when they visit, we kindly replied with a……. “WHEN CAN WE START?!”</div>
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Health Project is our name and health awareness and education is our game!.......... So Kopa (Health Project Staff) and Jackson (me, Health Project Volunteer) set off bright and early Thursday morning with planning our rigorous yet exciting lessons! We were going to be covering topics including:</div>
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· Sexually Transmitted Infections (scary stuff to watch out for!)</div>
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· Hygiene and Sanitation and (remember to always wash your hands...we are watching!)</div>
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· Early Sex, Marriage & Pregnancy! (a serious topic full of great awareness)</div>
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All in one week…with time for learning two poems and a drama skit. BELIEVE IT……OR NOT! ;-)</div>
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By the end of the week the Health Club had done really, really well at learning the content we had been teaching about and in preparing………</div>
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Ø A poem on Sexually Transmitted Infections AND</div>
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Ø A poem on Early Marriage AND</div>
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Ø A drama skit about Early Pregnancy!</div>
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All of the students in the Shimoni Primary Health Club did amazingly well and a HUGE “Congratulations” goes out to them from the GVI Health Project for all their hard work and interest in health education. It was a pleasure teaching this club for the intensive week and we very much look forward to going back in the future for another intensive ‘health-filled’ round of educational lessons and activities! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Practicing our drama skits!</td></tr>
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<i>Jackson Vukovic – Health Project Volunteer</i></div>
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The edge of the sea
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wading out to "the edge of the sea"</i></td></tr>
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The weekdays are always eventful here at the GVI base in Shimoni, Kenya. Speaking as a member of the Forest group, I can honestly say that the work is as exhausting as it is enjoyable; you roll out of bed on Monday full of energy and anticipation, but by Thursday night you are quite ready for the weekend!. Thus, Friday mornings are set aside for those tasks that don’t require us to trek so far. We call them Fun Forest Fridays, and on one such day the Forest volunteers—myself included—marched out to a little place called The Shelf to count waterfowl. I imagined it would be an ordinary outing. I was wrong.<br />
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For starters, I had no idea what The Shelf actually was before I arrived. I had glimpsed a few satellite pictures of it but I assumed it was just a small outcrop of the Kenyan coastline that floods when the tide comes in. I was partially right. The Shelf is a massive sandy-bottomed lagoon, propped up above the normal ocean waterline by a flat ledge of rock. It’s about a kilometer across and a few kilometers wide, and it looks like something pulled out of a fantasy novel: an oceanic meadow with seaweed and algae instead of grass, submerged under a layer of ankle-deep water. Because this bizarre and beautiful site is not subjected to rough currents, the water is calm and heated by the sun, and stepping into it felt like a warm bath. </div>
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Everywhere I looked I saw something captivating. There were tiny shoals of silvery fish darting away from our footsteps; small branching turquoise corals; swollen green bumps filled with water, which I took to be some sort of anemone or polyp; hundreds upon thousands of burgundy brittle stars; and more crabs than I thought even existed in the world. There were fist-sized crabs the colour of wine, tiny transparent crabs that blended so well with the sand that I never noticed them until they moved, and green crabs that folded up so tightly and seamlessly, I couldn't tell them apart from a mossy rock.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Bird surveys on the shelf </i></td></tr>
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If I managed to tear my eyes off the water for more than a few seconds, I saw birds: egrets, sandpipers, storks, and (farther up in the sky) African Fish Eagles and Black Kites so common to the area. It was the most incredible thing I have experienced yet in Africa, and by far the best time I've ever had at the beach. Those still waters swept me away.<br />
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<i>Shelbi Johnston- Combination volunteer</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xV64K7ratBs/UdKT9EnhKTI/AAAAAAAAC4A/kP58a3uytZQ/s1532/Crab-plover-flying.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xV64K7ratBs/UdKT9EnhKTI/AAAAAAAAC4A/kP58a3uytZQ/s400/Crab-plover-flying.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Crab plover </i></td></tr>
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