Take a moment to read this piece I wrote for the VICDA website about my dear friend and inspiration, Annie Copley. I first met Annie in Nairobi in 2006 and had the pleasure of reconnecting with her back in Kenya in 2009. Since her first volunteer stint with VICDA Annie has raised over $100,000 to [...]
Most of you who either know me personally or who have read this blog for a while know about my connection with Kenya. Seven years ago I left my marketing job, packed my bags and journeyed to Nairobi where I volunteered with VICDA for the better half of a year. Since that time I've stayed [...]
Amboseli National Park in Kenya was my first ever safari experience, back in November 2006. Weyn, a fellow volunteer, was planning a solo visit to Amboseli before heading home and when I got a call over breakfast letting me know that the school where I was volunteering would be closed for the next three days [...]
Most of today was spent copying my very first set of Kenya images over into Lightroom in order to back them up and to look through them with fresh eyes. When I journeyed to Lamu with Karen, Emma and Tessa in October of 2006 I was a baby traveler. Completely in awe and overwhelmed by [...]
Tuesday night found me boarding a taxi at the tail end of a blizzard, shedding my winter coat, and double checking to see that I’d packed enough SPF 45. My destination, you wonder? No, not a beach somewhere exotic - not even a poolside in Florida. Two Turkish Airline flights later I found myself in a [...]
National Geographic Traveler recently shared a photo essay through their Intelligent Travel blog, depicting various passport stamps from some of their contributors and the stories behind them. This got me thinking about my own passport and how much I treasure the stamps inside. The US State Department must realize that travelers tend to get sentimental [...]
I just did a write up about Hidden Baby on the VICDA website and wanted to share it with all of my readers. This is an admirable project to support a truly remarkable program. I’ve had the honor of visiting Happy Life several times and am so impressed with the work that is done there!
The mission of Hidden Baby is simple. They believe that “fashion should be about creating beauty and social change. Every Hidden Baby product has a baby hidden within the design to represent babies hidden from society’s sight.” A portion of the profits from all Hidden Baby sales is, then, donated to an organization that helps abandoned and forgotten children around the world. The Hidden Baby story is one of sisters coming together and merging their talents to create a fashion line that isn’t only unique and beautiful, but also sheds light on real life Hidden Babies. Founders Kelsey the artist and Courtney the activist, the sisters behind the line, were first inspired after visiting Happy Life Orphanage, in Kenya.
.
Happy Life Children’s Home is an orphanage located on the outskirts of Nairobi. VICDA has been supporting this incredible project for several years by placing GVN Volunteers at the project…
View original post 232 more words
As many of you know, I'm involved with VICDA, an organization in Kenya that I first volunteered with in 2006. Irene, VICDA's founder and executive directory, and I have worked together to plan a new volunteer opportunity - the Voluntourism Trip! This trip is designed for travelers who may not have a lot of time, [...]
Jenn Winter 