Welcome to the Marine Mammal and wildlife Research and Community Development Expedition blog where you can keep up to date with all the happenings and information from Kenya

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Meet The New Arrivals At The GVI Kenya Team

Half-way through our expedition already and at the weekend we welcomed 6 new members to our research and community development teams.





Left to right: Merijn, Kennedy, Muffadal, Karen, Deepa and James



Merijn has joined us for 5 weeks from the Netherlands, where he usually spends his days at a computer designing computer games... he's started his real-life GVI adventure with great enthusiasm and being named after a hobbit (in Dutch, of course) we reckon he'll feel right at home in our forests and rural communities!



Kennedy is volunteering with us for 5 weeks under our National Scholarship Programme, to gain more experience in wildlife research and conservation to compliment his studies. Coming from Nairobi, he is undertaking a degree in Environmental Studies and Community Development at Kenyatta University having already completed his diploma in Environmental Management at Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute.



Muffadal is a student at Moi University in Nairobi pursuing a Tourism Management degree, having also graduated with a diploma in the subject from Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute. He will be with for a total 12 weeks for his industrial attachment under our National Scholarship Programme and is excited to learn about and experience some of Kenya's finest marine habitats and wildlife during his time with us. For those of you who my remember Nigel, our NSP volunteer at the end of 2007 and intern in 2008, Muffadal has been described as Nigel the Second by each of our staff independently!



Karen joins us for 5 weeks from the UK. Having studied for a biology degree in Glasgow, she has been 'sidetracked' for the last few years by a job in investment banking in London... but it seems she's seen the light and is getting back to her biology roots!



Deepa is also from Nairobi, but has been working in investment banking in London as well, having studied in Brighton and Reading in the UK. She joins us for 5 weeks having recently got married and moved back to Kenya where she plans on moving in to financial management within the NGO sector.



And finally, James will be with us for 5 weeks, also undertaking our BTEC qualification in Supervising Biological Surveys. Having already undertaken a project in Zimbabwe on lion rehabilitation, James should take to our wildlife research in Kenya with ease.



We hope you'll get to hear more from them over the next 5 weeks.
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