IMMERSION TRIP 10th – 20th April 2019 – KENYA

April 10th -April 20th 2019
Travelling
A year and a half of planning and fund raising the day had finally arrived. We met in Dublin airport at
3am and first stop was Paris. We were all very excited!!After a 2hour layover in Paris, we boarded
the flight to Nairobi. The flight was 7 and a half hours long and it was definitely the furthest and the
longest that most of us had ever been on before. We arrived in Nairobi International Airport at
midnight and were met by Martin and Ben who were to be our bus driver and guides for the week.
Martin told us some cool facts about Kenya like, “Nairobi was the only capital to have a national park
in it” and that “Kenya has a total of 43 different tribes”. We arrived in Embulbul at the Brothers
house where we were greeted by Brother Ismail who showed us where we would be staying. We
were tired but really looking forward to the week ahead.
School
Brother Beausang School was the main place we were based during our visit. It was brilliant there,
we had so much fun every day! Principal Peter Shanahan gave us a tour and told us the history of the
school on the first day. Some of the older students showed us around the local area, including where
the old primary and secondary schools had been, as well as where the local church and mosque
were, which was really nice of them. We also went on home visits one day which was a really moving
experience. Six of the students brought us to their homes where we had the opportunity to meet
some of their family members and to see what their houses were like. It made us realise how much
we all have at home ourselves that we sometimes take for granted.
Every morning Teacher Winnie told us what our activities were and we split into mixed groups of us
and the students from the school to do them. We played loads of different sports like football,
handball and basketball and then did a lot of music, singing and dancing in the afternoons. It was
great fun being taught the African dances even if we couldn’t always do them right! We taught the
African students some Irish songs like “Molly Malone” and “Ireland’s Call”, plus the “Siege of Ennis”
céilí dance. One of our favourite things we learnt was the Swahili song “Jambo” which became our
theme song for the week. When we performed it for the Maasai tribe and again back at the school a
few days later everyone was very impressed with us!
On the Sunday morning we got up to head to where the locals we gathering for palm sunday, they
gathered in an old school that was used for kids to go to when there were school holidays. Many
people of all ages showed up for the religious event. After they were done at the school they all
walked back to the parish. There were so many people…hundreds of them walking down the road
towards the parish, the road was packed. To supervise the crowd there was only one soldier and
he/she was holding an ak. After we were done there we went the principle of brother beusangs
home. He lived in a very nice apartment and from his balcony we could see the windmils on a
mountain. We ate well there and we had a good day.
The Ruben Centre
We visited the Ruben centre which was one of the slums that we visited. It is a is a non-profit, faith-
based organization striving for an empowered and just Mukuru community by providing quality
education, health, financial and social services to children and families in the area. We had a tour
around the area and the nearby primary school and health facilities. We had a chat with the
students and shared our stories and experiences we even did activities with them such as dancing it
was a blast. We've learned a lot about their culture and their lifestyle and what they want to be
when they grow up. What amazes me is they know what they want and their lust for knowledge is so
unreal and they don’t take education for granted they've really inspired us. They have a decent
health care there the hospital is big enough and they've professional doctors some of their medical
teams are from different countries mostly from Australia. HIV is a huge problem in the area and
cholera.  What shocked me the most was how polluted the nearby river is its more of waste than
water and its contaminated by factory waste,  so it's definitely not safe to drink unfortunately and
people would bathe in it too and you can imagine all the bacteria that's in there its really shocking
and upsetting because no one deserves to live like that. Water is a must and it's not fair for them to
have water that'll make them sick.
In the light side the locals are really creative when it comes to art in the school, they also have an
area where they design clothes and baskets using exquisite designs. And they're also creative with
making resources such as coal they make it by hand, and they would sell them. They’re also
passionate about farming they have a mini garden in their school and students would stay after
school to help with the farming, after school students would usually stay at school and hang out they
wouldn’t go home especially at school days off they' hang out in the school. It was a really great and
amazing and unforgettable experience that we will never forget and that we are really thankful to
have it. A real eye opener of the cold reality that we live in but we have great hopes that things will
get better in future.
Safari
We spent two days in Amboseli National Park. It was an unbelievable experience. The views of
Mount Kilimanjaro were breath-taking. We also got to see loads of elephants, zebras, a lion and her
cubs, warthogs, gazelles and giraffes. It was amazing to see the animals in their national habitat. We
weren’t allowed get out of our Jeep but it had an open top roof and we could see the animals
clearly. Our driver told us of some stories of people getting killed because they didn’t listen to their
driver. We weren’t taking any chances. We also got to spend some time with the Massai tribe and
they showed us their houses and the jewellery that they make. They taught us the jumping dance
and we sang songs for them. They were so friendly!!
Our Immersion trip has been one of the best trips we have ever done. It has taught us to be thankful
for what we have in life and also opened our eyes to the big world out there. We would recommend
it to every student. It is a lot of hard work but worth every minute and it wouldn’t have been
possible without the help and support of our parents and teachers so thank you!!