This past summer, Jesse Jacktone had the opportunity to participate in a three month volunteer assignment with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency. Jesse shared some of his thoughts on the experience and we'd like to share them with you: 

As I finish up my assignment for the three months as a volunteer at ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) Kenya, specifically on Makueni Drought Response project in Kibwezi East Sub-County, I want to thank CMETrust for linking me up with an opportunity that enabled me to learn, work, collaborate and interact with colleagues at ADRA Kenya. 

The opportunity has contributed greatly to both my personal and professional development. For instance, writing reports, captions, and stories were enjoyable things to do. Those moments reminded me of the good old days at CMETrust school break programs where we learnt basic photography and caption-writing skills -- the skills really came in handy.

I was able to assist the project team to oversee and coordinate field activities, facilitate the voucher commodity distributions, create better understanding on the intervention’s objectives and implementing activities among all stakeholders. The other enjoyable thing that I really loved was to seat at the comfort of my office while I was updating the beneficiaries’ database, M&E reports and doing necessary follow-ups related to the project. All these terms of reference made me learn and deliver my assignments accordingly. 

Am proud to say that our determination as a team led to project extension by two months with new beneficiaries identified. However, I regrettably had to turn down the two months additional contract due to other pre-planned commitments. However, I remain in the ADRA Kenya network and continue to receive project updates and share similar opportunities with some of interested scholars.

Thank you again CMETrust for creating the opportunity and for enabling me to serve humanity. I look forward to working with ADRA in future if another opportunity presents itself.