We need 3 volunteers
Hello!
My name is Nixon and would love to invite you to stay with me and my family for a while, in my family home in Homa Bay, Kenya.
2025
English
I'm very interested in learning German, French of Spanish. I'd be happy to exchange the language skills with you.
Hello!
My name is Nixon and would love to invite you to stay with me and my family for a while, in my family home in Homa Bay, Kenya.
I have a wonderful wife and three amazing children. My daughters are 17 and 12 years old and my son is 7.
For the past 20 years I have persevered through times of struggle to support the local community.
My home is very modest, but can welcome 3 volunteers at the time.
We welcome any type of skill, from helping me building my home, to fundraising to help commuty projects, to going out to town to assist teachers in the local schools.
Your help, will be of great impact in the progress of our community.
Every little help really makes a difference here, you'd be surprised of the impact you can make!
We ask a small fee from our volunteers which I use to buy essential items for our house and for the people of the local community, so that everyone is looked after and no one feels cut out from the benefit of welcoming volunteers like you!
You'll be able to see this with your own eyes once you're here with me.
To put my words into context, if you only stayed one week and paid me a total of 4707.5 ks (equivalent to 34.87 US Dollars) I can feed and provide for our family (including you) and I can also help with home essentials and food for our neighbours.
Our community suffers from the combined pressures of climate change, an inefficient medical system, underfunded education system and poor waste and sanitation infrastructure. There are many different projects we are hoping to implement as soon as we are able to raise funds to support them.
This is why we also ask help with fundraising for an organisation that worked incredibly well and I would love to start up again.
In 2004, I started an organisation with the mission to create and promote opportunities for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of our community.
Our first initiative was a tailoring project run by my wife, which proved to be an empowering and successful income-generating opportunity for these women. Through participation in the tailoring project, the women were able to earn a stable income and provide for themselves and their children.
From parts of their profits, we can finance new projects and trainings to have a continuous growth and increase the number of people we support, including school fees, which are rising in Kenya.
Education means growth, but with no money for fees, means children lack the basic right of having an opportunity.
We have partnered with peer counsellors with the aim to deliver outreach mentorship to youth groups and local educational institutions.
Another partnership has been made with the local community clinic which offers courses about female hygiene, distributes reusable pads and informs about precautions for early pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has a significant socio-economic impact. Our partners at the community clinic, situated in the slum of Homa Bay, offer testing and treatment for free in the community. We assist in terms of awareness campaigns and counselling.
Everything has worked well, until in 2019 a building fire tore through the centre of downtown Homabay, destroying the town market, stores, and shops, including the site of the tailoring project. All was lost.
Fortunately, no one was injured, but the snowball effect was devastating:
No money coming from the tailoring project means there is no possibility to help with the rest of the projects we partnered with.
Bringing me and the rest of the community back to square 0.
It's with great courage that out of the ashes of the previous project I am now trying to start a new organisation: Community Growth Network.
The place strongly seeks to revive the tailoring project but for now it struggles to obtain sufficient funding to purchase the necessary equipment.
Here is why we need you!
What we ask from our volunteers is to really feel into the great opportunities that their presence and support can provide to this community.
I've taken it upon me to help this community which would otherwise be lost, and I am asking your help to make this happen.
I'm doing this with a dream in my heart to give dignity to my family, a future to my children and to provide an opportunity for my neighbours and the community, here in this part of the world where there aren't many and no there is no other choice but to get by with no hope otherwise.
In return you'll make an incredibly affectionate family away from home, you will experience real African culture and by helping growth for children and women, you will feel a part of something bigger than you could ever imagine!
Help required now:
Fundraising for tailoring project to kick start again
Home building
Help with the garden
Help with the animals
Teaching assistant
April 26, 2025
The Gates Academy is one of our most successful partners in education, consistently recording the highest results in their local area. Dedicated to providing a ‘gateway’ for rural children to achieve their highest academic potential, The Gates Academy has recently suffered a colossal setback and is in desperate need of assistance.PreviousNextIn rural areas like Homa Bay county, many families are struggling to keep up with the rising costs of secondary and high school fees. The only route available for talented children from poorer backgrounds is to try and attain a scholarship to assist them in paying their school fees. However, with the current state of government-funded public schools, children must struggle to learn in highly congested environments with up to 90 children in a single class.As someone who worked as a teacher in the public school system for many years, Richard Awino has first-hand experience of how difficult it is to identify and nurture talented children in such congested classrooms. This is why he decided to found The Gates Academy, to create a space where teachers are able to connect with learners on a closer level, to identify their talent and nurture it towards its maximum potential.We sat down with some of the wonderful members of staff from The Gates Academy and gave them the chance to share their stories.Read the full interview here.The service we give is a service to humanity. It is not a project which we have started so that we [can gain]. It is to assist the young learners, who are unable to get quality education.Richard Awino – the Gates AcademyAlthough they started out small, with just a single classroom for young children, the dedication of the teaching staff to quality and high academic standards proved successful. By 2023, The Gates Academy had expanded up to grade 8, where their children must go through national exams, and established a reputation for itself in the local area as one of the top performing schools. The compound where they started had now developed into a comprehensive facility with several well-built classrooms complete with cement floors and working electricity to offer the older children education in computer technology. Their cohort had grown up to over 400 learners, with a team of 13 teachers plus other subordinates and the administrative staff. They had even managed to save enough to purchase the neighbouring plot of land to use as a playing field, and constructed latrines and a water point there.But their success was not to be smooth sailing, and the landlord who had initially donated the land for the school now demanded that they begin paying high rents in order to remain there. While they had originally agreed to a payment to purchase the land from the landowner, they had never received the title deed, and as he refused to cooperate, they were forced to leave.After being forced to demolish their school buildings, they reconstructed them on the adjacent playing field. Thankfully, the title deed to this new plot is in the possession of the school, and they will not have to move again. But their classrooms are in a poor state compared with their previous facilities, with dirt floors and no electricity. They have also lost a high number of students, and thus are struggling to cover their teachers’ wages with the reduced income.The school is in desperate need of support to ensure that these children are able to continue achieving their absolute best. If you think you can support,please head to our donation page.
Volunteers stay with my family at our home. You will be part of our family and experience the local life and culture. The volunteer will share everyday life with the host family, spend time together, cook, have meals, exchange ideas, discuss and laugh, etc..
During your stay you will share the room with one of my kids in a bunk bed. The beddings (bed, blanket, bed sheet, mosquito nets, etc.) are provided.
We have a big compound; therefore, you are also free to camp in our garden.
Life in rural Kenya may lack many of the luxuries of western life, but you will have no trouble adapting. If there are any questions or concerns around how we run our household, all you need to do is ask and we will find a solution for you. Once you embrace our way of life you will soon begin to enjoy the simple joys in life.
Volunteers shall be provided with a flexible work pattern to enable them to do other things like reading story books/novels or make visits to other places.
We provide breakfast, lunch and supper to the volunteer. Since we are mostly in town over day, you can take a lunch package. Meals include ugali, fish, vegetables, meat, tea, bread, e.t.c.
To cover the costs of food, water and gas we kindly ask for 5 US Dollars per day on arrival.
