GVI Kenya

Left to right: Merijn, Kennedy, Muffadal, Karen, Deepa and James

Merijn has joined us for 5 weeks from the Netherlands, where he usually spends his days designing computer games… he’s started his real-life GVI Kenya adventure with great enthusiasm and being named after a hobbit (in Dutch, of course) we reckon he’ll feel right at home in our coastal forest and the rural communities we live and work with!

Kennedy is volunteering with us for 5 weeks under our National Scholarship Programme, to gain more experience in wildlife research and conservation to compliment his studies. Coming from Nairobi, he is undertaking a degree in Environmental Studies and Community Development at Kenyatta University having already completed his diploma in Environmental Management at Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute.

Muffadal is a student at Moi University in Nairobi pursuing a Tourism Management degree, having also graduated with a diploma in the subject from Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute. He will be with for a total 12 weeks for his industrial attachment under our National Scholarship Programme and is excited to learn about and experience some of Kenya’s finest marine habitats and wildlife during his time with us, particularly the dolphin populations and their relationship with coastal tourism.

Karen joins us for 5 weeks from the UK. Having studied for a biology degree in Glasgow, she has been ’sidetracked’ for the last few years by a job in investment banking in London… but it seems she’s seen the light and is getting back to her biology roots before launching in to a new career. With this in mind she also has an interest in the community education work we do.

Deepa is also from Nairobi, but has been working in investment banking in London as well, having studied in Brighton and Reading in the UK. She joins us for 5 weeks having recently got married and moved back to Kenya where she hopes on moving in to financial management within the NGO sector. We hope that the exposure she will have to a wide range of environmental and community development projects will give her valuable experience and insights.

And finally, James from Hull in the UK will be with us for 5 weeks, while undertaking a BTEC qualification in Supervising Biological Surveys. Having already volunteered in Zimbabwe on lion rehabilitation, James should take to our wildlife research in Kenya with ease.

We hope you’ll get to hear more from them over the next 5 weeks…

 Bye for now, from a particularly wet and windy patch of the Kenyan coast!

 Corti