Main goal / Expectations at IcFEM
We want to share our knowledge that we have picked up in Holland at our course Human Kinetic Technology. Our expectation is that we can make and design rehabilitation aids for disabled people, who are designed for the circumstances in Kenya like the bad roads and the wetter conditions. Our other expectation for the next eleven weeks is to join our knowledge with IcFEM and the local people. We can come to a better result when we are working together. We brought tools from Holland for the orthopedic workshop in Dreamland and hope they can fabricate better and higher qualified rehabilitation aids. We also expect to get a higher vision of the world and see a total different way of living out of Europe. We are very glad about cooperate with IcFEM and we hope that we are useful for your organization and for the disabled people in this district.
Reasons why we have chosen for this internship
Caspar
The reason I choose for an internship period at IcFEM is the love to help people and to combine this with my study. I want to help people who need a lot of help and support, and especially people who can’t solve their own problems or don’t know how to solve it themselves. The reason I choose for a land out of Europe is the fact that the people from Europe can help themselves or have the money to let It solve by another one.
Also the good job IcFEM does was a fact to join to stay here for eleven weeks.
I hope the people in Kenya see me as one of them and hope that we can do a good job.
Marleen
The reason why I have chosen for an internship in a developing country is that I wanted to help people who are needy. I also like to spread my view.
In a developing country there are a lot of needy people who are not getting any help, so there’s enough work to do. I heard some great stories from Pieter and Dirk about their internship at IcFEM and about Kenya. I also read things about IcFEM and I thing you do a great job. I also think Kenya is a beautiful country to explore.
I hope our time with IcFEM is going to be useful and that we have a very nice time together.
Merel
I have chosen for an internship at IcFEM in Kenya because I want to help people who had big problems and can’t help themselves. I can help them with my knowledge and that satisfies me. It’s a challenge for me to help people when I have fewer tools. I want to make the best for them. I have chosen for Kenya and not for a European country, because in Kenya they need my help. In Europe are a lot of people who can make wheelchairs and rehabilitation aids, in Kenya aren’t a lot of people like that.
Eelke
The reason why I have chosen for this internship in Kenya is because I like to help people and to work together with other people. In the Netherlands there are of course also people who need help, but there is enough support for them. In Kenya there are a lot of disabled people who need support and I hope that I can bring that support to them.
I also like it to discover new things of the world. Kenya is a great opportunity to do that, especially with IcFEM. I think that this experience learn me a lot about how things are going in different parts of the world.
Our first week at IcFEM
The first week we have met a lot of people from IcFEM. They are all very kind and helpful.
We have already learnt a lot about the charity. It’s really difficult for us to remember all of their names, but by the end of next week we should have mastered them! We have spoken with Mathew and he had set up a really good program. We also have spoken with Mr Solomon Nabie concerning his expectations of us, and the expectations we have of ourselves. These conversations with Matthew and Solomon have given us a good idea about our internship. On Tuesday we went to Dreamland to meet Jackim and some of the other employees of the hospital. On Thursday we started our project, first with a brainstorm session. We have thought about the difficulties of using hand bikes in Kenya -troubles like the road conditions and different kind of weather aspects. On Friday we went to town to have a look around, to see what we can use for building and designing a hand bike. Mathew and Jackim went with us to show a lot of stores which may be useful for us.
Monday 13th August we started with measuring the patients. Alex and Leonard showed us how to do the measurements, they made it very clear. The reason why we did the measurements is because it allowed us to make ortheses during the rest of the week for those patients. To do this properly we needed to get electricity in the workplace. Wednesday the generator arrived in the workplace. We only needed wires and oil before we could start with working with the generator. On Thursday the generator was working. Thursday morning we checked all tools that we brought with us, and they were all working. In the afternoon we had to mould plastic around a plaster mould for the orthese. This was not really working because we could not heat the whole part of the plastic at one time. So we had to think how we could do it in another way. Friday morning we started with making a raster from heavy steel. We had to cut steel in different lengths, after that we 
welded it together in a raster shape. After that we brought a thin plate of steel on top of the raster. This is because the plastic must not fall through the raster when we heat it. We hope that when we hold the raster above a fire with the plastic on top of it, and that we can heat the plastic in one time, so that we can shape it around the plasterwork. During this week, when we didn’t had much to do, we were thinking about the hand bike project. We have also already bought two cycles to use for the hand bikes. Monday 20th August we are going on field research to look for other disabled people and to measure some more patients. The field research will take the whole week.
