Hays Senior Finance sponsors 'Project Kenya'
Hays Senior Finance recruitment team has partnered with Marie Curie Cancer Care to fund 4,100 hours of nursing care in Kenya.
A 20-strong team of Hays employees travelled to Kenya to spend twelve days in the Rift Valley, trekking across dormant volcanoes and stopping only to take part in a gruelling community project with the local Maasai people.
Each Hays employee had to raise a minimum of £3,250 in sponsorship to cover their costs and still have enough left over to support additional funding. Claire Turner, Hays Senior Finance Business Director, has so far raised a total of £4,700 and this figure is still rising! An impressive £80,000 has already been raised by the trip in total.
In the UK Marie Curie raise money for terminally ill cancer patients. The money raised by Project Kenya has paid for four nurses in the local area for a year. Marie Curie operators in Kenya work with Western organisations like Hays in order to support the local people surrounding Mount Suswa where resources are sparse.
Hays supported the team with matched fundraising, and paid the employees as normal over the twelve days. Hays Senior Finance Director, Paul Thomas, encourages his team to get behind initiatives like Project Kenya: "It’s important that we continue to recognise the value of projects like this. We want to do more than just give money to charity; we want our employees to get stuck in, really appreciate what we are doing and play an active role in supporting our charity of choice. Project Kenya did exactly this."
For the majority of those that took part, the Marie Curie project was close to their hearts. Like others Claire Turner had her own reasons for taking part: "My partners mother died of lung cancer some years ago, and I think these days most of us know someone who has suffered with the disease. This trip was important to me as it was something I wanted to do for myself, my partner and all of the others that have suffered with their own experiences."
Being able to trek through the Rift Valley meant the Hays team had to be at the peak of physical fitness. Claire Turner described it as exhausting: "The trek itself proved very challenging; long days spent trekking sometimes in 30° heat were coupled with a lack of sleep thanks to the hyenas that circled the campsites at night! It was all made worthwhile when we finally reached the peak of Mount Longonot.
"It was an overwhelming and amazing feeling – although it was probably fuelled with relief! The only thing I really missed ended up being my bed. I am quite a girly-girl and at first it was hard not having the access to all the niceties that I am used to, but what is surprising is how quickly you do get used to it!"
These projects greatly enhance the standard of living for the local Maasai people. By linking a number of projects, such as this school project, it means that rather than one group’s work being a drop in the ocean, the contribution of a number of groups will be making a real difference to the local people and in particular the Maasai children.
Claire found the conditions of the School the most shocking: "I was horrified to learn that in some cases six children were sharing desks meant for four, that they had no guttering system and drank dirty water.
"The conditions they worked in were squalid and dingy. We worked for several days, painting, building new desks and putting up a guttering system to collect fresh rainwater to drink. It was frustrating at times, realising we were short of materials and having to do eight hour round trips to pick up something as small as nails.
"By the end of the three days we had built 36 desks from scratch, painted three classrooms, the headmasters office and the staffroom, and constructed a new guttering system. The end result was thoroughly worth the pain. We received incredible gratitude from the children who paid us an emotional tribute and dance to thank us for the work we had done."
Claire’s advice to anyone considering doing something like this is to go for it: "The project was a huge reality-check for me. We all live in a cocoon of comfort, in a country where we can get what we want when we want. It is humbling to be reminded that elsewhere other people struggle every day just to get by, and a reminder that most of us are in a position to help these people improve the quality of their lives."
Alison Dagger, Regional Events Manager for Marie Curiereiterates the value of this project: "The communities that receive help from Project Kenya are poor, rural communities where the schools are lacking in the most basic resources – they do not even have enough tables and chairs for the children – let alone books and learning aids.
"By helping to build and renovate classrooms Project Kenya participants are making a practical investment in the future of Kenyan children. Project Kenya is also a fantastic team-building activity, pulling participants together to achieve a joint goal – the sense of achievement is what makes the project so rewarding and enjoyable."
Hays has partnered with Marie Curie since Aug 2006. Research has shown that 75% of people who are seriously ill with cancer would like to be cared for at home. Marie Curie Nurses make that wish possible for thousands of cancer patients in cities, towns and villages across the UK every single year.
Go to our senior finance jobs and qualified accountant jobs homepage for more information.
Notes to Editor
Hays Senior Finance has been developed from Hays’s established Accountancy & Financebusiness to provide a specialist service for qualified accountants and recruiters. Hays has a national network of experienced Senior Finance consultants. Hays Senior Finance recruits qualifieds accountants across commerce and industry, financial services, practice firms, public services and not for profit organisations at all levels, up to finance directors and partners in practice firms.
Hays Senior Finance team is a subdivision of Hays Plc, the FTSE 250 Company which employs 7,753 staff operating from 376 offices in 25 countries across 17 specialisms. Hays Plc placed circa 68,000 candidates into permanent jobs and paid circa 46,000 temporary workers weekly during the year ending 30 June 07.
For further press information, please contact:
Sarah Swailes
PR Executive
Hays Senior Finance
e: sarah.swailes@hays.com
