by John Prince
Two sixth-form students are organising a pub quiz to help fund a volunteering trip to Kenya, where they hope to make a difference to children’s lives and gain a new perspective on their own.
Freya Grubb and Chloe Bennett from Hornsea School and Language College will travel to Nakuru in March with 22 other students and four staff, returning to schools that were supported by a group from HSLC earlier this year.
The eight-night trip costs £2,200 per person, plus expenses including vaccinations, and the pair are hoping the community will help them reach their fundraising targets.
For Freya, 17, the chance to witness inequalities first-hand is her main motivation.
She said: “The way we live our lives in a high-income country is completely different, and you’d never be able to comprehend how different it is to live in a low-income country like Kenya if you never experience it.
“I think it’ll allow you to comprehend the differences. It makes you look at your own life in a different perspective.”
She is particularly looking forward to working with the children.
“I know how much of an impact it’s going to have on them, and how much it’s going to benefit their lives,” she said.
“I think it makes you quite proud, like knowing you’re in a position to be able to go and support children like that.”
Chloe, who has just turned 18, said they decided on a quiz at the Rose and Crown as a way of raising money while bringing people together.
She said: “We have to raise quite a lot, so we’ve been coming up with different ways that we can fundraise. We thought that a pub quiz would be a good idea to get everyone together, socialise and fundraise.
“It will make more people aware of what we’re doing, and how they can help.”
The pair will host the evening themselves, with rounds on sport, film and TV, music, general knowledge and random facts, and are hoping to attract families and groups of friends to support their efforts.
There will also be prizes, with the students hoping to put together an African-themed hamper.
Chloe added: “We’re going to find some Kenyan or African wine. Maybe some chocolate, sweets and some different bits.”
They are appealing to local businesses for prize donations and hope to use the evening to explain more about the trip, the communities they will visit and the work they intend to carry out.
Both Freya and Chloe were clear about one rule for the quiz – no mobile phones.
The group is due to leave on March 19, travelling via Paris and Nairobi before the lengthy road journey to Nakuru.
Teacher Keane Naylor (pictured above left), who went on the previous trip in April, said the volunteering involved teaching children aged two to six, helping prepare meals and building tables and chairs for two schools.
It was the schools’ feeding programmes that made the biggest impression.
He said: “What we learned when we were there was that the education for them is a feeding programme rather than an education. For lots of them – 90 percent plus – it’s the only time they’ll ever eat in the day.
“They have a feeding programme, then they have to look forward to the next day coming back to school for their next meal.”
The students and teachers helped the local cook prepare simple meals and supplied a stove and cooking oil so the Kenyan children could enjoy chapatis, something many had never eaten before.
Keane added: “It’s quite amazing that you’re giving them their first ever experience of something that we take for granted as well.
“What we see in the students was just incredible. The raw emotion. For us, it was hard hitting.
“It’s not as if we’ve gone and just forgotten about it. We’re going back to see those same kids, and those same teachers.”
He also praised Freya and Chloe for their determination to fundraise for the trip themselves.
One of the students who also travelled in April, 17-year-old Kate Richardson, said the experience had changed the way she looked at everyday life.
Before leaving, Kate (pictured below) spent a month making 35 teddy bears for the children, filling half her suitcase with them.
She said: “Before I went, I decided to make the teddy bears for the school because I heard there were 35 children there. I used my textile skills to make them all a little something.
“Customs were a bit shocked to see that.”
But it was meeting the children that had a lasting impression.
She added: “The real star of the show was going to the school and meeting the children. It was so incredible.
“It was such a surreal experience because I didn’t know what to expect before I went in.
“It’s just not the same out there. They just do not have the same luxuries, experiences or opportunities, but they are so grateful for everything they’ve got.”
She recalled seeing one child playing happily with a piece of wood attached to a string, while the school’s entire playground was a patch of grass with a flat football.
The group had brought donations including books, toys and footballs, and Kate said the children’s reaction was unforgettable.
“The pure joy that came from those children was something I will never forget.
“I would definitely say it changed me coming from Hornsea. We don’t experience many hardships really. We have our own challenges but it’s nothing compared to what they go through day-to-day.
“It made me look at things with a different approach. It’s changed my mindset.”
The quiz is being held at the Rose and Crown on Market Place in Hornsea on Friday, November 13 from 6.30pm. It’s £10 to enter for a team of up to four people.
All the money will go towards the trip with African Adventures.
