The Ternary Volunteer

After graduating from university with a degree in International Law and Diplomacy, I was ready to take on the world. I see myself as a self-acclaimed humanitarian especially as I had memorized chunks of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, so why not?
I worked as the project and operations manager at start-up social enterprise, a content manager for a social media platform for lawyers, and project manager for a women targeted show at the same time over a year. The following year, I went on to work at the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution Abuja for a year as a research assistant doing nothing fulfilling really; I however met a few inspiring
people; but volunteering had never crossed my mind. I would often donate to charities, like and comment on matters that concerned humanity on Facebook, but that wasn’t enough. At the end of 2015, I shaved my natural hair off and decided I was going to throw myself to the universe to do whatever it pleased, dramatic! I know. I found an Ad for International Citizen Service, applied, fundraised and I was off to another country for 3 months. I was suddenly a London based Nigerian volunteer to Kenya. Having a red passport helped!



I packed my 30kg suitcase, 7kg of snacks off to Nakuru Kenya with a group of 10 other people who had the same passion as me! I was extremely terrified, Kenya would not be like Nigeria, I did not have any family there to bring me food. I also hated that my UK counterparts kept saying it would not be different for me as I had lived in Nigeria anyway and  the funky toilets would not be new to me *rolls eyes 360 degree*. Regardless, I was elated to share my knowledge and experience to help local people build small businesses to improve their standard of living; “teach a man how to fish rather than give him 100 fish”. I was also very excited about working with Kenyan Youth, I expected they would be just like me; we are after all African AWOO! (I know I play too much).
helped!


My experience volunteering in Kenya was nothing like I expected. Coming out of it, I would say the people had more impact on me than I on them.The entrepreneurs I worked with taught me market sense – tacit knowledge! Things I could not have learnt in a classroom or at my office desk. My host family was also amazing! I saw Africa like never before. Living in Nigeria made the Africa experience random to me, but in Kenya I had the opportunity to enjoy the show that is Africa from

 the side-line, the overwhelming hospitality of the people, passion and diehard tenacity, the beautiful strangeness of language and ultimately, love extended to strangers. One thing I did not appreciate though was the lack of heat in food! I had to go to two markets before I found some pilipili (pepper)
to bless my food with





International volunteering gave me the opportunity to hear other perspectives and understand that what is right is not always right! Basic understanding you may say. Example! Talking about gender roles, one of the Kenyan volunteers in my team who had been to university and is highly intelligent expressed that her dream is to be a pastor’s wife. Pastor’s wife!! My brain almost knocked. What Millennial, in 2017 wants to be just a pastor’s wife, she could be a pastor herself, she had been to university and could work a white collar job, or run her own business, she was after all empowering other people. Yes! I said all these to her, in my normal fashion, I knew better as was going to help her know and do better too; feminist alert! A few weeks later, it dawned on me that there was nothing wrong with what she wants do with her life, how would I have felt if somebody told me that my vision for my own life was not good enough. That single event was an amazing awakening for me! I found the meaning of empowerment, doing whatever YOU want to do for YOURSELF! i travelled across the globe to learn that.




My hair did not grow much sadly, the struggle is real! But, I picked up a little Swahili; “Momma, I is multilingual now!”; have a place and amazing family to go to if I am ever in Kenya again, got beautiful picture with and of the amazing landscape and wildlife – giraffes, hippos, crocs, gazelles, flamingos; learnt to make some mean chapattis, made lifelong friends in my entrepreneurs, acquired valuable knowledge and a beaded Kenyan flag bracelet which I have found to be a great conversation starter.



kuzungumza hivi karibuni. Asante Sana!

Thank you for taking time to read and share this post. Should you have any questions, comments or suggestions do not hesitate to use the comment box.

Please visit and follow us on our social media accounts:


Facebook: The Nineteen Initiative
Instagram: @thenineteeninitiative.
Twitter: @19_thenineteen.


THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.