Renovating a school in Kenya: A Q&A with GW’s Benjamin Griffiths

From building IT to solutions to building new school buildings in Kenya, the GW team are never short of initiative when it comes to helping communities. Read how one Associate Engineer at GW is making a difference outside of the workplace.  

Ben Griffiths is an Associate Engineer at GW, but IT isn’t his only skillset. This Summer, Ben put his practical skills to the test when he joined a team of Scouts in Kenya as they refurbished a school, helping to create a space where local children can learn and thrive. We caught up with Ben to talk about the importance of community work and the role of organisations like Scouts in youth development. 

Ben, can you tell us a bit about your role at GW? 

I’m an Associate Engineer here at GW. I started a couple months ago, working on both API and UI development, but I recently finished a 12-month placement here that I did while I was at university. When I finished my studies, I came back to join the team.   

There’s a great team at GW, how are you finding being a part of it?

It’s brilliant. I think the technical ability, but also the personalities of everybody here, is what really makes GW unique. The people here are so welcoming. Everyone is happy to help you, to train you and nurture you, which is especially good for younger developers like me.  

That community mindset is really important to GW, which brings us to our next question. You recently did some volunteering work in Kenya, can you tell us more about it?  

So, I've been part of a scout group for around 12 years now, and once I graduated, I took on a supporting role to help the group. We recently travelled to Kenya to help refurbish a school there, which was incredible. The school is supported, completely voluntarily, by a group of Girl Guides based in the Midlands, led by a wonderful woman called Maureen. She is completely dedicated to these children, this school, and helping it thrive in such a poor economic area. Her goal is to provide the children with the best they can, and she brings a group of Girl Guides or Scouts out four or five times a year to help regenerate the school and maintain it. There’s around 350 children educated there, and it’s great to provide a space where they can really thrive. 

It sounds like an amazing initiative; it must be great to see the impact you are making. 

Yes, for around the last 20 years Guide groups have been going out to this school, and it has boosted that school to be really high in the league rankings in the area. This was the first time a Scout group has joined, but it’s great to see the voluntary things our organisations do really have an impact.  

How long were you there for, and what kind of renovations were you doing? 

We were at the school for about two weeks, working but also exploring the beautiful country around it. We sourced building materials, we designed, we painted, we refurbished classrooms, laid a new floor…there was a lot going on. The classroom we were working on is for preschool children, so we built a new outdoor area for them that they didn’t have before. We also did some conservation work as well, in a local conservation park, planting fifty new trees. In the afternoons, we took some time to go on Safari, which was amazing.  

Sounds like a busy two weeks, and a chance to develop a totally different skillset to the one you use at GW. 

Yes, definitely different, but I also still got to use a lot of interpersonal skills. While we were there, we also met with local Scout groups, working with the children directly. We had that opportunity to play games with them and teach them new things, which was really nice.  

How has GW supported you to go and do these community projects? 

They have been brilliant. Obviously, firstly by allowing me to take the time off, but also the training and skillset they have given me. I don't think I could do what I do for my Scout group if I didn't have the training and continual support that GW has provided. 

Scouts is a great organisation, what difference do you think it makes to young people today? 

A lot of people think Scouts is all about camping and tying knots and things like that, but there’s much more to it. You meet new people, you learn a lot of new things, you basically learn to become an adult. You see children come through at a really young age, all the way through to 18. It’s that one constant they have throughout, and I think it’s a great organisation to be part of.  

At GW, we’re always impressed when one of our team takes the initiative to support communities – whether that’s here in Birmingham or, as in Ben’s case, further afield – and offer as much support as we can to enable them to do so. You can find out more about Griffiths Waite, from our history to our people and our values, here: https://www.griffiths-waite.co.uk/about.