Welcome to Chaaria - 2015

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 service, 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.

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 for the people who are interested. 

Of course it is not compulsory to attend any prayer and we respect the personal opinion on faith of each and everyone. At the same time we humbly request to be respected in what we believe and practice.

The volunteers usually eat their meals in a separate dining room. This is in order to provide them with more freedom, 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 to 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:

Whenever in doubts, feel free to ask them.

We propose some indications in order to assure mutual respect:

1. 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.
2. So as to avoid unexpected unpleasant events in the everyday work, we ask you to respect the schedule of your timetable. We usually expect the volunteers to work from Monday to Friday, 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 and even in the week ends. At night we will call only the people who avail themselves personally.
3. 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 available treatments.
4. Apart from the TV you have in the apartment, you can use the TV of the Brothers, but, being the community room of the Brothers, we kindly ask you to inform when you plan to use it in the evening: some Brothers non working in hospital may watch the news after supper.
5. If you want to wash your clothes, you can use the laundry of the Brothers, where you’ll find all the necessary devices. 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).
6. If you’d like to take a picture or film to 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 here are very sensitive to it and they feel their privacy has been infringed whenever a photo is taken without their consent.
7. Usually every Sunday the volunteers can go out. On Saturdays, in the afternoon, the volunteers may also arrange some trip. Of course, because we live together, we appreciate if the volunteers inform us when they go out.
8. If you’re interested in outings to game parks, we can help you find an agency which organizes them for tourists.  If you want to rent a car to be taken to Meru or elsewhere, we can help you find one.
9. You can take a walk outside of the hospital whenever you want, but please inform one of the Brothers when you go out. We prefer you to be back in the mission before dark, because of security concerns. We discourage being out of the mission after nightfall and above all at late hours.  
10. 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.
11. For internet please buy a safaricom sim-card and use your telephone. Even whatsap works well. If you have a laptop, you can buy a safaricom modem. The wireless connection is not yet complete and doesn’t work

The water from the taps of the mission is not drinkable. We ask you to use the bottles with boiled water which you can find in the fridge. But remember that every drop of water is precious. When you can, remember to put off the lights (electricity is very expensive).

Remember to give your tickets to Bro Giancarlo at least 1 week before your going back to your country, because from Kenya it is compulsory to confirm the return flight.

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