Fiona Saunders was a pupil at King’s High School Warwick from 1995-2002. She is currently working in Birmingham as a Specialist in Poisons Information.

Fiona with Talkiwa who wants to be an astronaut when she grows up!

Fiona Saunders’ first experience of Africa was in 2000, when she took part in a World Challenge Expedition with other girls from King’s High School, Warwick. They travelled around South Africa and Swaziland over the course of four weeks, and this was the beginning of Fiona’s fascination and love affair with this beautiful continent.

Since then, Fiona has visited Africa on a number of occasions volunteering, and has always been particularly drawn to Kenya. In March 2009, she returned to the Kenyan coast on a family holiday, staying on Diani Beach. She realised how much she had missed Africa and knew she had to return to do more volunteer work. With that in mind, she booked a three week volunteer placement on the coast for October 2009 through IVHQ and their partner Kenyan organisation Fadhili Community.

Onesmas from the Njuguna Project

In October 2009, while staying with an amazing host family in Ukunda, she spent her time teaching at a local orphanage, Born Again. It broke her heart having to leave when her placement was over.

It was then that Fiona decided that Kenya is where she was meant to be, and she set about researching the possibility of starting her own project on the Kenyan coast.

Fiona is returning to Kenya in March 2010 for three weeks to complete some in-country research into the possibilities of starting up her own small children's home. She plans to move to Kenya for approximately one year in July 2010 to fully set up the Njuguna Children’s Project. During that time she will be living with the same host family that she lived with in her two previous volunteering visits to Ukunda.

Njuguna Project - Chillin' at Lunchtime

Fiona would love to have volunteers once the project is established. If you want any further information on the project, volunteering, donating or anything else then please email Fiona at information@njugunachildrensproject.org. You can also visit Fiona’s website at www.njugunachildrensproject.org/

This project is in memory of James Njuguna, founder and director of Fadhili Community in Kenya.

HMRC Gift Aid Charity Reference: XT22809