East African Playgrounds - The Charity.

Volunteering for a charity had never been something I’d taken great time to consider as I ventured from childhood to adulthood. I’d always been too preoccupied by the immediate problems of my own life – such as what to watch on television, what to wear to university on a day-to-day basis that would look chic yet effortless, and how to convince my friends to come and get drunk with me on a Wednesday afternoon. This is slightly embarrassing to admit, but true nonetheless. As my time at university was coming to a close though, things like what I was going to do afterwards started to become more important. I knew that I wouldn’t be satisfied going straight into a boring 9-5 job, and I knew that I wanted to experience something that would put me a thousand miles out of my comfort zone. Which is when the idea occurred to me, as I was scrolling through the jobs and opportunities page of York St John and saw an advertisement for a meeting happening later that night to attend an East African Playgrounds event, that volunteering might be exactly what I needed.

It’s funny looking back on that moment now. Half an hour before the meeting was scheduled to take place, it had started to rain, and the thought of walking through it (despite the fact that I only lived a few minutes from campus) had almost made me cancel my plans and crawl into bed. It was only my determination not to be a lazy slob for the third day running that forced me out of the house and toward the meeting that would convince me that East African Playgrounds was definitely a charity worth my time.

When I arrived I was ushered into a room with about twenty other eager-looking students, all patiently awaiting the arrival of the volunteer coordinator Laura Dove. I remember thinking when she arrived in the room with her neon-bright EAP t-shirt and baggy looking harems that if that’s how people dressed in Africa on a day-to-day basis then I could definitely get on board. Her clothes were so bright and wonderful, and counteracted so forcefully with the otherwise miserable and completely predictable British gloom that I felt immediately comforted. It sounds kind of strange, I realise, that somebody’s outfit could have such an impact on my feelings, but I’m a peculiar individual who places far too much emphasis on aesthetics. It’s both a blessing and a curse.  

As the meeting got underway, and I began to learn more about what exactly this charity did, my positive feelings regarding my choice not to stay in bed were confirmed.

Sometimes it’s difficult to know whether you’re devoting your time and money to the right cause. At the end of the day, it’s a personal choice and a reflection of the causes you care about. To some, building a playground might not seem like a worthy cause. The people that think this might justify those feelings with the argument that food and money are more important than “playing”. To those people, I will allow that you are entitled to your beliefs. I will not share those beliefs though. It became obvious to me as Laura explained the importance of play in that first meeting that this charity wasn’t just about rainbows and happiness. What East African Playgrounds is about is offering children and communities a chance to live and feel entitled to a life that we first world citizens take for granted. It offers children a safe environment in which to develop essential social skills which impact their academic careers and shape the people they will become.

The charity might not give food or build wells or provide the amenities which some deem most urgent, but they do something which in my opinion is far more important – they impact a child’s future. Play is so important to children, and it took listening to Laura and hearing her own experiences to fully understand this. It made me look back on my own childhood with a different perspective. I’m an introvert, yes. I love being social, being with other people and exploring new places and experiencing new things, but I’m a naturally quiet person. And I realised that it was my formative experiences that allowed me the freedom to be this way without fear of judgement.

That is the beautiful thing about this charity – it allows children to discover themselves, which is something they deserve to do, beyond the hard environments in which they live. I couldn’t recommend working with this charity more, because, on a rather more selfish note, it had a massive impact on me as well. I remember on our last day living in the school, during the open day where the children finally got to play on their hard-earned playground, many people making speeches about how grateful they were to us, the headmaster included, but it was one of the founders of the charity – Carla Powell – who really reminded me of what a powerful thing we had done. Her speech talked about the hope we had given to the children of that community, and how that hope was a long-term effect, because the playground we spent a mere 30 days constructing would last and be cherished by generations of children. By working with East African Playgrounds, I and the other volunteers made a difference to children who hadn’t even been born yet. This fact hadn’t actually occurred to me until Carla pointed it out, but realising it turned me into a bit of a soppy mess.

So yes, East African Playgrounds makes a massive difference and if you’re reading this because you want to volunteer then I couldn’t recommend anything more. You can volunteer for whatever cause you choose, because there are many worthy ones, but to me the affects that EAP have are immediately tangible, and are one of the best.  

Visit the EAP website to find out more about its ethos and general awesomeness... http://eastafricanplaygrounds.org/