Our Journey to Kenya
On December 23rd, 2011, seventeen students and two teachers from NJC set out for our Kenyan adventure. Our first stop, Nairobi, was followed by a four-hour drive to the Maasai Mara to work with Marc and Craig Kielburger’s Me to We Social Enterprise. Sixteen years ago the Kielburgers began their involvement to end child labour in the carpet industry of Pakistan. The organization they started, Free the Children, has expanded into a global movement to help all exploited children and those suffering from circumstance. The Me to We Social Enterprise builds on its original goal of helping children by constructing schools and hospitals in areas of need. There are presently projects in Africa, Central America, India and China. In addition, to brick and mortar projects, an important part of Me to We is to educate Canadian students on different cultures, leadership, and what they can do to help others.
In Nairobi we were met by our guides for the next two weeks and began our long drive out to the Me to We centre in the Maasai Mara. At the Great Rift Valley of Kenya we stopped to take in the view. Before trekking the roads that would take us into the Maasai Mara, we transferred from our bus to a surplus British army transport vehicle the kids nicknamed “The Green Machine”. This would be our transportation for the next while on the very bumpy back roads of the Maasai Mara. After another hour’s drive we reached our destination, the Bogani Cottages of the Me to We Centre, close to the Maasai Reserve in the western region. This new facility, designed for large groups, a prettily landscaped area of stone paths, grass, and cozy rustic tents with bunk beds, was reminiscent of the facilities one would find in the camp grounds of a provincial park. The exceptions were the beautiful central common area, which included an open fireplace, and the colony of monkeys and a mongoose family. It was a welcoming and warm environment.
NJC students for the next two weeks alternatively helped build schools, visited other Me to We projects in the area and met with the people of the communities helped by Me to We. They beaded with the mamas, carried water on their backs from the river, cooked local food, and interacted in many other ways with the adults and children. The five people that made the trip the most memorable were our two Me to We guides, Alex and Danny, our local guide Tobiko (aka Toby), and our two Massai warrior guides, Peter and Philippe. Alex, Danny and Toby were great at entertaining everyone with leadership activities and cheerleading at the work site, as well as playing games in the common area with both the students and the teachers. Peter and Philippe gave us demonstrations in spear and club throwing, educated us on the local cultures, taught us some Swahili, and guided us on an exciting safari through the Game Reserve, where we saw cheetahs, giraffes, zebras, gazelles, hippos, African buffalo, and elephants.
We got a wonderful surprise for Christmas and New Years with two spectacular performances by the Kenyan Boys Choir. This same group performed at President Barak Obama’s inauguration ceremony in 2009. All of us – NJC students, teachers, Me to We staff, and the Kenyan Boys Choir – danced non-stop to welcome in 2012.
We ended the trip with a three-day retreat in Kilifi, just north of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean. None of us were prepared for the beautifully set villa overlooking the white sand beach, the ocean, palm trees and pink and purple tropical flowers. We toured the antiquities of the old city of Mombasa, one evening played a memorable beach football match - the locals versus our students and staff - and each night enjoyed a dinner of fresh seafood. Unfortunately we had to say our good-byes to the staff who had done so much to make us feel at home, both at the retreat and the centre. We were certainly going to miss the food that they had been preparing for us throughout the trip, as well as their warmth and kindness.
Trip Supervisors Mr. Szathmary and Ms. Solnicki
For more pictures: http://www.njc.ch/news_and_events/student_photos/our-kenya-journey-pictures
