A sense of achievement

Posted by: Dan

Last week, I officially finished my VSO placement with Special Education Professionals (SEP). It comes with all the mixed emotions that I’ve experienced (far too often) when leaving jobs in the UK, but with a few major differences. I feel sadder for knowing I’m not just leaving an organisation but a country. Prouder for having achieved a lot in a short, time-bound assignment. Since I always knew I’d be leaving after 12 months, it’s not the same as getting sick of a job and seeking a new one. Instead, I leave with my motivation intact and with a feeling that SEP is a truly worthwhile organisation that, unlike far too many NGOs I know, is actually DOING GOOD, and not just talking a good game.

It’s been a weird month with SEP, since I technically had my ‘leaving do’ a few weeks ago because my boss Karolien, the Chairperson of SEP, was leaving for her summer holidays in Belgium (her home country, from where she raises most of SEP’s funding). In typical Karolien/SEP fashion, my leaving do took place at her fabulous home (she’s the wife of a UN diplomat). She laid on lots of food and drink, and Helen and I enjoyed some serious boogying round her living room surrounded by SEP’s Members – all typically fantastic Kenyan dancers.

I don’t pretend that my placement has been all fun and games, but equally, I know I am fortunate in comparison to many VSO volunteers I know. SEP is a small, ambitious organisation where stuff really does get done. They needed all the ideas and capacity I could give them, and were ready to listen to every crazy idea I threw around. Crucially, they were ready to work in partnership with me. After a year of analysing the VSO experience and listening to other volunteers, this strikes me as probably the most fundamental, and often absent, condition for a successful placement.

The VSO ‘Exit Interview’ form (recently given a make-over by Eddie & Allys) asked for the top achievements that I was most proud of at SEP, and here’s what I listed…


1. Producing SEP’s first written strategic plan – a bulky document covering the next five years, but crucially not just my random ideas churned out in a locked office. Instead, based on a really fun strategic planning day I facilitated with another volunteer, where we argued about our ‘vision’, turned coloured card into a weird and wonderful stakeholder map, and played silly games to keep our spirits high.

Team photo at the strategic planning day

2. Writing a Member Handbook of policies and procedures. I know, sexy right. Not quite the ‘world-changing, poverty-alleviating’ achievement I might have dreamed of. But for SEP, a vital stepping stone to help them feel and act like a true organisation.


3. Funding (via VSO) a ‘training of trainers’ training programme for SEP Interns (young Kenyan special needs professionals) – so that they developed the confidence and skills to facilitate workshops for parents and caregivers of children with special needs. This is a biggie, because SEP currently relies on a tiny number of more experienced professionals to facilitate all its training workshops, and it’s becoming impossible. SEP has big ambitions to be a national if not East Africa-wide training centre of excellence, so by doing this training we helped increase their capacity to do that.

Irene - one of our trainees - facilitates a workshop for mothers
of children with special needs as her final "assignment"

4. Raising lots of money for SEP by running the Kilimanjaro Marathon! I still can’t quite believe that Eddie and I managed to run an entire 26 miles, but we did. And I was so proud to tell SEP that my massively generous family and friends had collectively raised over 66,000 Kenyan Shillings – about £500. In Kenya, that’s a serious amount of money, and I can now report that we’re using that to part-fund the recruitment of a paid, part time Project Coordinator for SEP to carry on the work I've been doing this year. This is massive, and feels like the most sustainable thing I’ve done. With this paid member of staff, SEP will be able to keep momentum on all its work. They’ll be able to focus continuously on finding more funding to expand their projects, they’ll be able to raise their profile throughout Kenya, and ultimately, they’ll be able to reach and support many more children with disabilities in Kenya’s poorest communities. So I know I’ve already said this a few times, but a huge ASANTE SANA from me to everyone who helped make this happen.

Posing by Mount Kilimanjaro with my SEP teeshirt and medal!

Of course, these may be the achievements I’ve been proudest of, but probably the thing I’ll remember most, the thing that will stand out as the most fun I had, will be the many, many, gorgeous, smelly, silly, smiley, awesome children I met. Being the only person in my organisation with no special needs qualification or skills, I was of almost no use whatsoever to them. But they didn’t hold it against me. And I got to spend a lot of my year playing games and avoiding being a grown-up. I’ll miss that...

P.S. This might all sound quite like ‘closure’, but don’t turn off your computer just yet! We’re not done with Kenya yet. We’ve still got a couple of weeks which we’re packing full of trips and fun before we head back home, so stay tuned for a few more tales from our adopted country...

P.P.S. With thanks to Simon Dixon, fellow VSO volunteer and photographer extraordinaire, who came to SEP, took lots of great photos for us to use for publicity, and took most of the pics above. I sincerely recommend his services.