Amsha Africa Foundation

i have been with the Amsha Africa Foundation for a little over a year and i feel that the work they do and the projects that they are involved in are both rewarding and life changing for for me as a volunteer and for the people and community's that they help, my only regret is that i cant do more. they are a wonderful organisation with beautiful warm hearted people striving to give all the people they help a voice, hope, dignity, safety, love and hope.

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I have served on the Amsha Africa Foundation (AAF) board since early 2010, after successfully working with AAF on a holiday card project: For the 2009 holidays, I asked parents and teachers in the U.S. to have their children make holiday cards for children in Kenya. I had met Tony Abuta, AAF's Executive Director, the preceding week by phone, and he agreed that this would be a fantastic initiative. With one week's notice, 150 children in the U.S. made and sent me cards for Kenyan children. On the day Tony received them from me by U.S. Mail, he scanned all of them for future digital presentation, just before hopping on his planes to New York, London, and ultimately Kenya that evening. From that point on, Tony and I have worked together smoothly, without ever meeting in person. Any time I ask Tony for support or information, I receive a phone call or email within the hour. AAF relentlessly seeks to improve conditions wherever suffering exists in Africa, and is generous in giving to those few causes it does not personally take on. Transparency and accountability are founding values, whose refrain I frequently hear directly from Tony. Also, Tony personally travels back to Africa at least a few times per year, to check on projects and further development, while managing a full-time professional career in the U.S. AAF is top in its field in integrity, compassion, professionalism, and efficiency. My board member bias aside, I am a huge fan of AAF, ever thankful for the reminder that good work can be selfless, organized, and fun.

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1 person found this review helpful

Amsha Africa is a great NGO! We are very committed and professional, transparent and the work done is changing the way people and indeed lifting themselves out of poverty. Many orphans are grateful, communities are learning to be self-sustainable. This NGO needs all supppoort and funds, and together we can help the less fortunate communities.

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I have worked as Country Representative-Zambia with Amsha Africa Foundation in Zambia for some 8 months now and i am always heading her activities and keenly work towards empowering the local poor communities in Zambia to lift themselves of poverty with dignity and it is great organization worth supporting to touch more lives in Africa. I am working with some local and international organisations to come on board to support our work in Zambia

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I've worked as a volunteer for AAF's Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect program for 3 years now. AAF's dedication to to support children are abused in Kenya is outstanding. Every instance of possible abuse reported to AAF is thoroughly investigated and assigned a team to follow up. AAF has helped over 500 abused children over the past 2 years by removing them from the abusive environment, and bringing to justice the perpetrators. I am proud to have worked with AAF and looking forward for more years working with them.

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I volunteered with AAF on two occasions, in 2009 and 2010 working on their Health Focused Program geared for International Volunteers.

It was my second time working with an international non profit organization and my first visiting a third world country. I was excited to go to Africa for the very first time, but also concerned about my safety. My parents and colleagues were concerned too since there were travel warnings to Africa from the State department.

I was introduced to Amsha Africa Foundation "AAF" when its staff made a visit to our school to showcase some volunteering opportunities in Africa. They provided us background information on AAF and volunteer opportunities and options that AAF had in Kenya. They also worked with my University's Student Affair's dean on a plan for the logistics, accomodations, and activities for the 4 week duration of the trip.

The schedule AAF provided to the chool for the four weeks volunteering in Kenya was extremely detailed with exactly what was to be done on a day-to-day basis, down to the hours. Contacts were provided, and we had a mandatory pre-trip orientation that focused on safety, travel to and within the project sites, sanitation, visas, health and immunization, etc. I thought the orientation was great, especially for me since I had never been to a third world country. I also liked the way the program details and itinerary was broken down.

After our orientation, I spent about two months preparing for the trip. AAF was always quick and upfront in responding to our questions, concerns, and providing details about everything we requested. Tony, AAF's founder, was awesome since he was easily accessible to answer any questions we had whether through email or phone calls.

We had about 10 volunteers from the U.S. for our flight to Nairobi. I was the team leader. The flights were organized by AAF and we flew using British Airways from Dallas with a 3 hour connection in London at Heathrow airport.

We arrived in Nairobi, Kenya at about 9 p.m. local time after the 9 hour flight from London. At the Nairobi international airport, we were met by AAF director in Kenya (Janet Shali) and 3 other officials. They had a nice brand new 30-seater tour bus that was waiting for us outside our arrival gate. They helped us with our luggage and we were quickly driven to our rented house for rest. The drive was more like a 25 minute drive from the airport in a gated community in Westlands, Nairobi. The house we were staying in Nairobi was gourgeous, it really felt like home. Everyone had a room. we were split into 4 people a room and the beds were full bunker-type beds-very comfortable. We had internet access, and were served a late dinner before we retired to bed.

Over the course of the next few days in Nairobi, we attended a culture program and orientation with swahili language. We had AAF staff provide us with information on what we needed and introduced us to the Kenyan culture. We had a really cool cultural immersion program at a place called Bomas of Kenya and went for sight seeing of Nairobi and the surrounding areas.

We followed our schedule to the book, and I really enjoyed how the AAF staff worked dilligently to make sure we were comfortable and learned as much as we could.

We spent two weeks volunteering at the project site in Voi, Kenya. The project location was a 4 hour drive. We always had a designated driver, two safety officers (more like bodyguards!), a cook, and a project coordinator at all times.

At the project location in Voi, we stayed at a lodge that was really comfortable and had a beautiful view of Mount Kilimanjaro. It had bunker beds, mosquito nets, and all the basic amenities that made our life comfortable. The lodge was fenced off and had a gate with a guard. Bottled water, packed meals, were provided. We were not allowed to drink water from the local taps unless it was boiled and filtered. While working at the project location, our poject coordinator was always with us along with the safety officers. We were encouraged to write journals of our daily activities at the project site and had a supervisor that we reported to at the end of the day.

After finishing our 2 week volunteering gig, we went for a 2 day jungle safari that was awesome. We visited Tsavo national park where we camped for a night before being driven to Nairobi. We also had a day to shop for sourvenirs at Masai market and I bought so much authentic stuff!

The last day before we flew out, we filled out surveys, completed a checklist, and had a farewell dinner before being driven to the airport.

If I'm to have a chance of volunteering again with AAF, I will not hesitate. I had a life changing experience that will forever be with me. I made some really good friends too. AAF did a great job making sure that all the volunteers were catered for and provided the entire team with a sense of security and accomplishment.

When one of our volunteers fell ill at the project location, we had a medical doctor right with us to take care of him. We were always adviced on what to do and what to watch out for. We learned a lot from the cultural immersion program and just by interacting with the locals who came to the hospital that we worked in.

I am looking forward to doing another volunteering gigs with AAF. The only limitation for me is finances now that I have a newborn. The airfare to Kenya is a little pricey for me, but if I had the opportunity and funds. I would be packing my bags right now and going for another adventure.

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4 people found this review helpful

Amsha Africa Foundation works with impoverished communities in Africa, providing life-saving supplies. I've worked with this organization for the past year and been involved in food distribution, water and sanitation projects, educating the rural population on self-sustenance, and working on water and sanitation projects in many areas. The organization has a solid leadership team and background in helping the poor. It does just enough to make a lasting impact on the communities it works with and I'll be volunteering with them for a long time coming.

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