How was your summer? Was it life changing? Well, it was for a recent CWC graduate Febe, who spent her summer in a remote Kenyan community volunteering with the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).

Raising money for her placement was literally a walk in the park as Febe took up dog walking to raise the funds. But her entrepreneurial spirit didn’t end there as she also carried out bucket collections and used social media to get the remaining money.

Febe, was delighted to get placed in a school for deaf students in a rural community in Nandi, Kenya. She quickly learnt how to sign the alphabet and was able to spell out any keywords so that she could make her meaning clear to the students. Whilst there she also worked with street children and young people with mental health issues. In addition, she helped people in rural communities get registered so that they could receive the disability support that they were entitled too.

Whilst she was there she lived with a Kenyan family who treated her like one of their own. She quickly adapted to drop toilets, bucket showers, an outside kitchen and even having no internet! She says, ‘The hardest thing to get used to was the gender inequality. Men and women just weren’t offered the same opportunities.’

‘I’d recommend the VSO placement to anyone. I’ve 100% grown from the experience. I feel like a different person since I’ve returned.'

Febe will be putting her experiences to good use as she starts her degree in International Development and Economics at the University of East Anglia in two weeks time. She is also looking to do voluntary work with young homeless people here in and the UK and is working towards being fluent in sign language.