St. James Community Orphans School
Code: 1e831b39820841d3bb87df4e1c42bb14 Copied
About the project
St. James Community Orphans School
📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
St. James Community Orphans School is a community owned school whose idea was conceived to the challenges that the community has been with over the years. For a long time, parents have passed on leaving their children to be orphans who are either total or partial. Due to constant and continuous death and other related issues, the number of these orphans grew to an escalating rate which eventually led to call for intervention. It is this regard the school has taken good care of most of these orphans since school opened its doors on the 9th January 2012 hitherto
St. James Community School is located in Mfangano Island, Homabay county in Kenya. It’s one of the many islands in Lake Victoria with several beaches. Being an island with many fishing beaches, it’s prone to a unique lifestyle that contributes to high prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS which leads to many orphans
St. James School is addressing three major problems
1. Free education for these orphans
2. Poor nutrition
3. Alarming low levels of domestic income among caregivers households
In 2014, the school started with a population of 45 orphans represented in three kindergarten classes, with 3 teachers. To date the school is enjoying a population of 112 both total and partial orphans aged between 3 years to 12 years. The school has seven classes with 8 teachers.
💼 What the programme involves
Manual work and Intercultural activities:
• Farming
• Home visits to orphans and caregivers
• Sports with school pupils
• Workshops about children rights to the local community
• Advocacy against teenage pregnancy
• Social work majorly guiding and counseling for the HIV/AIDS program at the health center
• Field visits and face to face meetings with the local people
• Participate in home visits to enhance inter-cultural education and solidarity
🏠 Accommodation on site
• The host community will provide a house to accommodate the volunteers with very basic living conditions.
• Volunteers have an obligation to climb down the level of the people with the aim of exposure to development challenges.
• KVDA will provide foodstuffs and volunteers will cook their own meals in turns. Water is available from springs and it is recommended that drinking water should be boiled or medicated. Mineral water available at supermarkets is also recommended.
• There is no electricity connection at the project but volunteers can charge their electric appliances at the nearest market center.
• Furthermore, we invite you to bring typical food, spices, drinks, games and music from your country (for an intercultural evening) – and a lot of motivation!
📍 About the location
The school is located within Mfangano Island, Waware sub-location, Mfangano north location, Mfangano division, Mbita Sub-county of Homa-bay County.
🎒 Leisure activities
KVDA offers educational tours to spectacular sites including the renowned Maasai Mara Game Reserve at separate fees. Please contact us for specific tour information.
⚠️ Requirements
🤝 Meeting point
Orientation: Will be done on 5th March 2022 at KVDA Residence in Nairobi and the team will leave for the project on the morning of 6th March 2022.
Airport pick-up services:
• This will be done subject to provision of full flight details.
• The port of entry to Kenya is Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.
• Volunteers will stay at KVDA Residence in Nairobi at a subsidized fee
ℹ️ Additional information
Participation FEES: The project participation fees that is all-inclusive for the 3-week work camp is Euro 300
INSURANCE: KVDA does not provide insurance and volunteers should obtain travel insurance cover. It is a good idea to get medicine you are used to from your home country and seek advice from your personal doctor.
WHAT DOES THE PARTICIPATION FEES COVER?
Project preparation cycle, return transfers from the airport and the project, KVDA administration, orientation, certificate of participation, project coordination, facilitation, evaluation and monitoring
WHAT IS NOT COVERED?
Excursion activities, local travel while in the community, personal effects, needs and wants.
Interested in this project? Create your account and apply online.
Sign in to apply📅 Available sessions
KVDA/STV/03A
05/03/2022 → 26/03/2022
ℹ️ Key information
Age required
18–99 years old
Solidarity donation
300.00 EUR
French tax residents may be eligible for a tax reduction of up to 66% of their costs (membership, plane tickets, solidarity donation).
📍 Location
Mfangano Island, Kenya
Kenya
🌍 Location info
Local currency
Kenyan Shilling (KES / KSh)
Exchange rate
1 KES = 0.006892 EUR
Rate as of 31/05/2026
Timezone
East Africa Time
Local time: 20:57 (12/11/2026)
🛡️ Before you leave
✅ Features
🏠 Accommodation
🗣️ Languages spoken