Welcome to Chaaria

Dear volunteer,

Thank you for coming here to Chaaria in order to participate in our service. We would like to help you accustom to the new reality and provide you with some indications.

We are a religious community of Brothers working for the sake of the poor.

There is also a community of  Sisters with us who help us in our charity service.

General workers, nurses, cooks and watchmen are employed by the mission in order to assist the inmates in various sectors.

The daily activities of the community are concentrated on prayer and work, which entirely fill most of the days. If you wish, you can share with us some moments of prayer: 6.30 Morning Prayer, 6.50 Holy Mass in the nearby parish or in our Chapel, 19.30 Vespers, 20.45 night prayer (the prayer at the end of the day).

Every Sunday, as well as on Solemnities, there is a Mass at 7 a.m. in the parish or at 9 a.m. in the laundry of the hospital.

The volunteers usually eat their meals in a separate room. This is in order to provide them with more liberty, as well as to allow some time for the Brothers to discuss the everyday issues of the community.

However, we have supper together on Sundays and when greeting the volunteers going back their countries after they finish the service in Chaaria.

As we all share the space in the same house, we ask you to always keep open the channel of communication with the Brothers:

Brother Beppe - Director of the Mission and the Hospital

Brother Roberto - Superior of the Community and in-charge of the volunteers.

Brother Giancarlo - Administrator of the mission

Whenever in doubts, feel free to ask them.

We propose some indications in order to assure mutual respect:

1.    The hours of the meals for volunteers: 7.30-8.00 breakfast, 13.00 lunch, 20.00 supper.

2.    You will be given a timetable for your service. For example, the surgeons are going to have a different timetable compared to the nurses, and the volunteers working in the Buoni Figli Center will follow the daily schedule of the boys.

3.    So as to avoid unexpected unpleasant events in the everyday work, we ask you to respect the schedule of your work. We usually expect the volunteers to work from Monday to Friday (8.00 a.m.- 6 p.m.) and Saturday (until 2 p.m.)… but of course we do not put limitations to the generosity of the volunteers who wish to work longer.

4.    Volunteers working in hospital, or anybody else interested, may attend weekly lectures on tropical diseases for the staff of the hospital. The content of these lectures (every Thursday, 8.00 a.m., in the out-patient department of the hospital) refers to our local conditions and availability of treatment.

5.    You are going to be shown a room where you can take a snack or hot drink during the day.

6.    At 11 p.m. we ask you to turn the TV off and respect silence.

7.    If you want to wash your clothes, you can use the laundry of the Brothers, where you’ll find all the necessary devices. The use of the washing machine is moderated and the volunteers’ day for using it is Tuesday. The washing machine is only for personal use. Any uniform you use in the hospital must be washed in the laundry of the hospital (for obvious hygienic reasons).

8.    If you’d like to take a picture or film the patients in the hospital, first talk to the Brothers about it. Do not film nor take pictures of the patients without previously having talked to the Brothers. The people are very sensitive to it and they feel their privacy has been infringed whenever a photo is taken without their consent.

9.    Usually every Sunday the volunteers can go out. On Saturdays, in the afternoon, the volunteers may also arrange some trip.

10.We do not organize safaris. If you’re interested in such excursions, we can help you find an agency which organizes them for tourists. The up-to-date price of hiring the car for the trip to one of the national parks is 16 000 KSH (around 185 USD, divided by the number of people participating).

11.You can take a walk outside of the hospital whenever you want, but please inform one of the Brothers whenever you go out.

12.Do not give money, clothes or other gifts to the patients or other individuals before talking it over with one of the Brothers. If you’d like to give alms to the poor, we will arrange it in a way it goes to the most in need.

The water from the taps of the mission is not drinkable. We ask you to serve yourself with the bottles with boiled water which you can find in the fridge. But remember that every drop of water is precious.

Once again we thank you for being here with us in Chaaria. We wish you a fruitful experience in the professional, human and spiritual dimension.

The community of Chaaria