My first job for Save the Children

It’s always with some nostalgia that everyone refers to their firsts in life. I got my first ever interview with Save the Children in early September this year for the post of information and communication intern which runs until the 10^th of December 2009. The news of my new post gave me great excitement since it had been three very boring months at home since I completed my degree. In Kenya where the rates of unemployment are at a record high three months is not worth complaining about. I’m vey happy because this gives me an opportunity to meet and interact with lots of new people, have fun and the exposure to the humanitarian world is tremendous. Having been trained in a different field in college makes this position very refreshing.

I joined Save the Children UK at a very important time when the organisation is responding to one of the worst drought situations to hit Kenya in many years. Children are acutely malnourished above the UN’s emergency standards and livestock are dying in the millions. This crisis is being compounded by the coming of the El Niño rains whose expected devastation on already weak families, children and livestock is beyond explanation. With the increase in the extent of the crisis this has brought with it a greater need for information about our work and this has created a great opportunity for me to learn more about information coordination in an emergency situation and also in preparation of situation reports.

I’m greatly anticipating my first ever field visit. We have planned for this to start on 16^th up to the 18^th of November this year. My line manager and I will be visiting the world’s largest refugee camp, located in the north eastern province, where we are running both the child protection and livelihoods programmes. In this media visit we will be documenting our work and also getting some case studies from the community benefiting from the programmes. We know this visit will create more media awareness of the situation of children in Dadaab and consequently could generate more help for them from the world.