Global Partners 2003
East Africa Travel Grant Report

Rexton Lynn, Coe College

Fax number: 1-319-399-8721

I undertook this trip as a formative evaluation of the possibility of taking a group of Coe College students to Kenya in May of 2005. The purpose of the trip would be cross-curricular experience with other majors from Coe and building an appreciation for cultural and linguistic diversity within Kenya.

As a result of my trip, I made contact with several people in various professional and occupational areas. My idea to bring students to Kenya to study in a variety of fields could be realized, given the right prices for travel and lodging, as the people with whom I met were excited about the possibility of hosting students from the U.S. Possible majors to attract, based on the results of this trip, are Computer Science, Business, Business Administration, Marketing, Management, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Science, Biology, Geology, Nursing, Sociology, Political Science, and Education (both Secondary and Elementary).

Education majors would most likely be placed in a variety of school settings, from harambee schools in rural villages to business training schools in Nairobi. To this end, I made initial contact with the Teacher Service Commission (TSC) and with the Ministry of Education (MOE). I was informed at both places that it would probably be easier to make my own arrangements with schools in various areas than to try to coordinate such an effort through the TSC or the MOE Because I served as an English teacher in Kenya with the Peace Corps from 1993-1995, I decided to begin with my local village schools and the schools in the surrounding area. I am most comfortable and knowledgeable about this area and feel it would be relatively easy to find home stays for students as well…so that they get a sense of daily life of rural Kenyans in Nyanza Province. Schools contacted and yet to contact include Nduru Mixed Secondary School, Withur Boys’ School and Migingo Girls’ School.

In addition to these schools, I also connected with the head teacher at Kisumu International School and she informed me that she would gladly work with me and the college to provide some sort of experience to education majors. I would like to have students have a broad range of experiences in a variety of school settings, and I feel KIS would be beneficial to this end. In addition, the school is located adjacent to the Sunset Hotel in Kisumu, where I stayed and have begun initial deal-making for group rates on rooms. In an effort to keep costs down as much as possible for students, having them located in relatively close proximity to the places they will be working/observing would be most desirable.

Other contacts/possibilities for places to observe for education majors includes ELCK ATP Youth Training Centre in Mambaleo and The Springboard Centre in Nairobi (a business school).

Possibilities for placements for other majors include work at The Daily Nation, one of Kenya’s daily newspapers; Kabage and Mwingi, an insurance company headquartered in Nairobi; KenGen, the Kenya Electricity Generating Company, Ltd, where students could learn about geothermal energy sources and environmental degradation in Kenya; Nyaluo Women’s Group, an HIV/AIDS education and activism organization located in Kisumu; Agape Streetchildren’s Rehabilitation Centre, located in Kisumu; VISPA, an HIV/AIDS orphanage in Rabuor, near Kisumu.

I feel that this visit to Kenya was a success in that it allowed me to meet with a variety of people from multiple and disparate areas. I will submit a proposal to the Academic Planning Committee regarding a possible May 2005 class. If anyone is interested in assisting with logistics or joining to bring a class along, I am certainly more than willing to collaborate.

For additional information, please contact Matt Horstman at horstman@glca.org or 1-734-761-4833.