Azma Group

I am writing today because I wish to publicly express my disappointment and concern with Azma group and the representation Anne Kithyo during my stay in Kenya. First and foremost, the communication between Anne Kithyo and myself and other volunteers about our work with Azma was severely lacking. We were told initially that we would be staying in Nairobi and were not informed otherwise until we were dropped off in Maai Mahiu to live during our stay. We were not informed that we would be working with a separate and unrelated organization called Marafiki. We were not informed that upon landing in Kenya, Anne would not be picking us up (as we had been told previously) but two other non-Azma males would be picking us up. Anne only came to check in on us once during our stay, and as a result a volunteer was taken advantage of by his host person. Several thousand shillings were borrowed from him and taken from him. He was with out a phone to contact anyone. If Anne had actually checked in on us as expected, this could have been avoided.

We had a very short and informal 'orientation' with her the sunday after arrival, May 15th, were she simply handed us a packing to read but again, said nothing about where we would actually be working or living during our trip. The packet also did not include this information.

She did not give us receipts or formal information about our Safari through Safe Ride camp. She did not name the camp we would be staying at. She only hand wrote the prices per night. We trusted her, and assumed she gave us the correct prices. We found out later however, that the camp we stayed at was only 80 USD per night, not 125 USD per night as she quoted us. Due to this blatant discrepancy, I am now requiring Azma Group to provide me with a complete and detailed and official report and breakdown of where the 435 USD i payed to Azma has gone to. I need to know where every dollar is. If they cannot provide me with this, further action will be taken. I am already in contact with the US Embassy in Nairobi about the unprofessional behavior of Azma and Anne.

During out last few days in Kenya, Anne disappeared. She was out of cell phone reach, and no one knew where she was. Even the volunteers she escorted to Mombasa, Kenya, did not know where she was. They called members of Marafiki and GVVN back in America expressing concern, fear, and frustration about Anne's disappearance. Later we found out she had gone to a remote village out of cell phone range, but she did not inform anyone of her leaving and to me, that is horribly unprofessional and unforgivable.

My money and time is very important to me. I am very serious about this matter. The first step to rectifying the difficulties I and my fellow volunteers have had with Azma and Anne is to provide me with a spreadsheet, invoice, or report of exactly what my money was used for. Again, I am already talking to the embassy about this issue so hopefully this can be dealt with quickly and professionally.

Let this be a warning for all who wish to travel somewhere to volunteer. This behavior seems to happen more often than not. Please do your research and try to find direct connections between people you know personally and organizations in the country you wish to visit and assist. But do not let this discourage you from traveling, just know there are good people and bad people, and sometimes its hard to tell the difference.