Rock Facing in Hell's Gate

 Alex Haynie, nicknamed “Aliki” by some of his new Strathmore friends, is an associate at Strathmore University Foundation now in Kenya until December on a three-month exchange assignment to further the collaboration of SUF with Strathmore University.  A 2008 graduate of Princeton University from Pennsylvania, Alex is interning with three of Strathmore’s departments: athletics, community outreach, and alumni development. He is keeping a journal of his experiences and impressions.

Clawing my way up a rock face in Hell’s Gate National Park, I tried not to think about what wouldhappen if I fell.  Right hand up, left foot up, left hand up, right foot up.  Rock crumbled in my fingertips as I checked a hand grip.  Just a few more feet…

Amazing adventure today.  We drove through an incredible rift valley, witnessed exotic animals in their beautiful natural habitats, scaled rock faces–and performed a successful rescue mission.

I went to Hell’s Gate National Park with a group of Strathmore University students on Sunday, November 23, 2008.  Luis Franceschi leads the Mbagathi center next to Strathmore, and he periodically plans excursions for students who want to have a day outside of Nairobi.  Today’s trip began with mass at 8am at the Basilica in Nairobi, called Holy Family Catholic Church, and then we went back to Strathmore briefly before hitting the highway. 

The Hell's Gate Day Trippers of Strathmore

Hell’s Gate National Park is an hour and a half northwest of Nairobi, and it’s located in the Great Rift Valley.  The Great Rift Valley is a 6000km trench in the Earth’s crust that extends from Syria in the Middle East all the way to Mozambique in southern Africa. 

During our drive to the park, we reached an area above the great rift and could see down into the valley, and the spectacular view stretched for miles in front of us.  We descended into the valley around towards a lake called Naivasha, and we entered the national park. 

At very close range, we saw giraffes, zebras, baboons, gazelles, warthogs, buffaloes, a few human beings, and huge rock faces on either side of us. 

A Hell's Gate Resident

We drove around for a while checking out the animals and getting out of the car to get close to them, and then we parked at a picnic area and prepared for a hike into a gorge.  Luis led us at a fast pace through narrow ravines of clay that had been formed by water eroding the surrounding walls, and the walls of the gorge were beautifully sculpted.  The trekking was a bit difficult as there was not great footing, so I had to be careful that I didn’t fall into water or onto rocks below, as the path was often at an angle—nothing like walking down a sidewalk! 

We made our way to a junction that let us choose more difficult climbing instead of heading to some natural hot springs, and so we decided we’d go another few kilometers and then break for lunch, and then swing back around to see the geysers.  

Recent water flow through the canyon had caused lots of erosion, and had even dumped some big rocks

Scaling a ravine

onto the path, which required us to make our way over the boulders (imagine a very narrow path, with a huge boulder dropped onto it—it made climbing over it tough!).  We scaled a few ten-foot walls with some powerful grip strength and a lot of teamwork (lifting each other’s legs and holding onto outstretched arms for dear life), and after a little more hiking, we made our way to “The Wall”.  Fifteen feet stood between us and lunch. 

Imagine one of those movies where people are trying to emerge from a cave, and they’re almost to the top, but they have one last big wall to climb.  We didn’t have the help of narrow walls to assist us with this one—it was a classic climbing wall, with some footholds here and there—and no ropes.  The sunlight was pouring in from above the wall, (though it wasn’t that dark below) and we planned to break for lunch at the top, and then, since we would be out of the gorge, walk around a few km to see the hot springs.  

Climbing The Wall

Sudi jumped onto the wall first, and with some guidance from below about where to put his hands and where good footholds appeared to be, he scraped his stomach over the ledge and smiled down at us, fifteen feet below.  Two more guys made their way up, and then we hurled a few back packs up to make the climbing easier.  

One by one, we slowly made our way up the rock face.  I went about mid-way through, and it was pretty scary.  There were some pretty good holds, but some of the rock crumbled a little bit with a hard tug, and there was no room for error.  Though the guys below could attempt to catch us, an awkwardly-falling, arms-flailing guy might be forced into the rock face if someone tried to catch him, which would maybe even exacerbate the tragedy of a fall.  So we all carefully scaled the face—which didn’t seem that high from below, but from above was a different story—and Anthony was the last one on his way up the wall.  Two guys were helping Anthony as he was near the top, and they were directing him with his last few moves before he pulled himself over, when a misplaced foot and a lost hand grip sent Anthony backwards.  Landing awkwardly on the clay below, Anthony grabbed his leg and called out Luis’s name.  A broken leg for sure.  

We were in trouble.  Anthony lay with a broken leg, below a fifteen foot wall, and above three km of tough hiking interspersed with ten foot drops.  And no cell phone service.  Sudi, another guy named Anthony, and Luis made their way precariously back down the cliff face to help Anthony, who was in the pit by himself, as he had been the last one to attempt to come over the wall.  Anthony felt okay just lying there, but any movement sent pain through his body.  We kept him immobilized for a while, and strange thoughts raced through my mind—this seemed like the situation I had read about in books and watched on TV—man down out in the wild, with no help anywhere close, and no easy solution in sight.  

After seeing that Anthony was not in an immediate emergency (he felt okay just sitting there), Johnny,

Cutting The Tent Canvass

Reward, Eric and I headed the rest of the way out of the gorge and found a nearby road.  We ran about half a mile down the road that we thought would lead us to the nearest ranger station (and where our van was) and after a few minutes we got picked up by some guys in a jeep who were also touring the park.  Back at the ranger station, we asked in English (but since that didn’t yield immediate results, the guys spoke in Swahili) if they had a stretcher and rope.  They had neither, and said that the park’s stretcher was broken—we knew we needed rope though, so we sped the 7km back to the main gate at the entrance to the park.  We got a lot of strong rope, and we managed to get part of a tent—strong canvass—that we hacked down to a manageable size with a nearby machete.  We raced back across the park to the gorge and parked the van as close as we could to the spot where we had emerged. 

When we got to The Wall, no one was around.  We scrambled back to the van, a little confused that they had left, especially since we thought we had a full proof plan—strong rope and strong canvass would enable us to put Anthony inside, and while having his leg immobilized as best as possible, we could easily pull him up the short distance of flat rock face without bumping his leg.  We found one of the guys along the road, and he led us down to a spot where park rangers had told the group to try to climb out. 

Hoisting Anthony Up With Ropes

The rangers wanted to pull Anthony up out of the gorge on a sixty foot, almost vertical, trail that led up from the bottom, using the canvass and rope we had gotten.  (Park rangers from the first and nearest station that we had gone to had beaten us down to the gorge, and they took charge of how to get Anthony out.)  This new path that the park rangers planned to use to get Anthony out was steep and dangerous, but, different from The Wall, someone could guide Anthony up the gorge.  This path was incredibly dangerous not only for Anthony because of the amount his leg would get jostled, but also for all the people carrying and pulling Anthony out, as the footing was exceptionally slippery, even without carrying anything.  Despite the steep incline of this path, it wasn’t possible to simply hoist Anthony up and out—the pitch of the hill required that everyone pull and drag Anthony slowly and incrementally, and unfortunately for Anthony, more painfully, along the dirt wall up out of the gorge.  

Johnny, Reward, Eric, and I (along with a few others) tried to tell the park rangers that we should take Anthony back to The Wall (on a stretcher we were making out of the canvass and nearby solid tree branches) but they disregarded our advice, even when I persisted, and they worked on their own plan.  The now-large group of park rangers was in control, and so we had to yield to them as we all helped guide Anthony up the steep hill.  

After an hour of grunting from the lifters and moaning from Anthony as his leg was bumped, the rangers got Anthony onto grass sixty feet above, at the top of the ravine.  Perhaps not the easiest way to get Anthony out of the canyon, at least he was safely at the top, and we didn’t have any other injuries during the process.  We carried Anthony to the van a few hundred yards away, and then got ready to head back to Nairobi.  Anthony was extremely tough throughout the whole thing, and didn’t complain once, but rather said sorry for holding us up!  What courage! 

We left the park and with some skillful driving by Luis on the highway back to the city, (around abandoned trucks that were parked ON the road, away from oncoming matatus (buses) that drove towards us at dusk with no headlights on unlined roads, and around the huge potholes in the road) we made it back to Nairobi safely.  Everyone was in pretty good spirits, even Anthony, and it had been a wild day.  Luis took Anthony to the hospital after we got back, so we’ll know more about his status soon.  

Another day in Kenya, another adventure.  We saw incredible beauty today and nearly managed a tough hike.  We also saw distinctive Kenyan courage and cooperation.  I’m praying for a quick recovery for Anthony.  

Note: I have since learned that Anthony suffered a broken femur and underwent surgery today, Monday, November 24th.  One of the other students reported that he’s doing ok. 

 Alex Haynie, nicknamed “Aliki” by some of his new Strathmore friends, is an associate at Strathmore University Foundation now in Kenya until December on a three-month exchange assignment to further the collaboration of SUF with Strathmore University.  A 2008 graduate of Princeton University from Pennsylvania, Alex is interning with three of Strathmore’s departments: athletics, community outreach, and alumni development. He is keeping a journal of his experiences and impressions.

This past Monday, November 17th, I visited Ikumbo with Strathmore graduate and Ikumbo resident Davis

Ikumbo Primary School, with friends from Australia

Karambi, as well as nineteen Australians who are currently in the middle of a work camp, constructing a science laboratory for Ikumbo Secondary School.

Set forty-five minutes away from the nearest paved road, Ikumbo village provides a home to 5,000 people.  Ikumbo is a distant suburb of Meru town, which is located in the Eastern Province of Kenya. Ikumbo Secondary School is a brand-new high school, conceived and realized through Davis’ leadership and help from American supporters and Strathmore University Foundation.

The entire trip to Ikumbo was an incredible adventure which I will discuss below, from getting there to meeting the people at Ikumbo School.  A crazy bus driver, a ten hour trip (that should’ve been four hours) through the rain and mud, sleeping with flies landing on my face the entire night, and pit latrines all made for an extraordinary experience.  The trip was certainly well worth it and I am fortunate to have witnessed a community which has really come together and taken the initiative and bettered the situation for the youth of the town. 

Davis Karambi and his dream

Davis Karambi grew up in Ikumbo, where some of the elderly people only speak the local tribal tongue, called Meru.  Until recently, Ikumbo had only a primary school and no secondary school, and so out of the 40 kids that would graduate from Ikumbo primary school each year, only about 4 would go on to high school.  High schools in Kenya are often boarding schools, and the fees associated with the schools are so high that many kids, especially rural youth, cannot afford to attend.  Davis and his family couldn’t pay his school fees either.

Davis, however, graduated first in his class from primary school, and the village pulled together (in a classic Kenyan harambee) and raised enough money to send Davis to the nearest secondary school, which was a boarding school.  Again graduating at the top of his class, Davis was awarded a scholarship to Strathmore University. In his application to Strathmore, he wrote of his dream someday to build a high school for his village. And so he made it  happen. Davis now works with the Clinton Foundation in Nairobi, but he frequently goes back to Ikumbo to continue the project that he started with the help of donors around the world, including Strathmore University and many individuals in America and Spain. 

Along with community leaders, Davis has seen the building of Ikumbo Secondary School, which now provides over 90 students with an education, and has virtually ended the amazing drop-out rate of Ikumbo Primary students.  Davis is certainly doing his part to repay the generosity of the people in his town. 

The Ikumbo community began to plan a secondary school for their village in 1998, but it wasn’t until nearly nine years later that permanent construction began.  The village members had managed to build two semi-permanent structures out of wood that provide classrooms for forms I and II (ninth and tenth grades in America), and after Davis met American Matt Gartland at the Clinton Foundation in Nairobi, the two mobilized donors in the United States.  The American donors’ generous contributions were channeled

Ikumbo school children and their Australian guests

through Strathmore University Foundation to Ikumbo, and in 2007 a classroom for form III students and an administration building were built.  The construction of the administration building qualifies the school for government funding of staff, supplies and electricity.  With another generous donation, this time from Strathmore University, Ikumbo has been able to construct another classroom, which is used by form IV students and enables kids to go all the way through high school at Ikumbo Secondary School.  Australians from Warrane College of the University of New South Wales have also raised funds for Ikumbo, and 19 Australians are currently building a science laboratory for Ikumbo Secondary School. 

It was amazing for me to visit this remote village and see people like Davis and other community members mobilizing support for a great cause that will educate and empower the people of Ikumbo. 

Kenya’s Rough Roads

Though the school is a worthy cause, it wasn’t the easiest place to travel to. 

We left Nairobi around 2pm on Monday afternoon, and we stopped for supplies at Thika town, which is a distant suburb of Nairobi.  I was traveling up to Ikumbo with the Australian group, and they needed provisions to last them for two and a half weeks (there are definitely no Wal-Marts near Ikumbo, so they

The Road to Ikumbo: still cheerful after 10 hours

stocked up on bottled water, toilet paper, snacks, etc.).  After this stop, we traveled on a bit more, blazing up the highway.  The country roads of Kenya consist of two lanes—one in each direction, and the roads are unlined, which makes depth perception much more difficult—we had some close calls with cars passing us going the opposite direction.  Our bus often got stuck behind vehicles that were moving slower than we were, so our driver would pass the cars, trucks and buses in the oncoming traffic lane—again, we had some close calls!  (Our driver didn’t seem to mind passing trucks when were rounded bends and going over hills and couldn’t see what was coming, so the twenty of us in the bus were on the edges of our seats the entire time!) 

We stopped for some rice at one small outpost, and then the driver wanted to pick up some fish at another small market.  At the fish market, several young guys pressed fresh fish up to our windows trying to sell them to us, but the driver was the only taker.  We drove further, and nightfall came, making the traveling even more dangerous and scary. 

We finally arrived at the turn-off to Ikumbo, and we only had to drive thirteen more kilometers on a dirt road until we reached the town, dinner, and bed.  It was 9pm.  After waiting for a while, we were told that we couldn’t drive on the dirt road, because it had recently rained and the bus would get stuck in the mud.  So we would arrange for some four-wheel drive trucks to pick us up.  At about 11:15pm, three tiny trucks approached us, and we transferred our gear to the trucks, just as it started to pour.  One truck-bed was packed with luggage, and the twenty of us crowded into the backs of the other two trucks.  Huddled together under a canvass flap, breathing in lots of exhaust from the truck, we collided around in the back of the truck bed for what seemed like two hours, but in fact was only thirty five minutes.  The adventure continued!

Kenyan Hospitality and Visiting Ikumbo’s Schools

At midnight, we finally arrived to the Nyagas house in Ikumbo, and we were warmly welcomed with hot food and one of the few buildings in town with electricity and flushing toilets.  We all sat in the Nyagas living room and ate and talked and thanked them for having us, but were outdone as the Nyagas praised the Australians for donating so much time, money and effort to help the village. 

By 2:30am, I settled into a room in Davis’ grandmother’s house up the road from the Nyagas.  I was

Just outside Mama Nyaga's front door

fortunate to get a bed, and passed out quickly, despite the creepy crawlers that surrounded me in the room.  I woke up to flies and mosquitoes buzzing over my body, but I just put a shirt over my head and passed out again.

I woke up in the middle of the night again and had to use the bathroom, er, pit latrine.  I passed through some corn fields and by some banana trees and flashed my torch (the word for flash light) onto the pit to find my way.  Peering down the latrine, I shrunk back as my flashlight exposed hundreds of cockroaches a few feet away. 

The next morning the whole group met up and walked down the dirt road a few minutes to the Ikumbo Schools—the primary and secondary schools are very close to each other.  It was an orientation and relaxation day for the Aussies, so we were all introduced and shown around the place, and I got well acquainted with the area.  Beside the schools, fields of crops occupied the space, and people travel around via bicycles—there are almost no cars in town.  The narrow dirt roads and huge number of machetes carried around all the time (for farming) were also part of the introduction to very rural Kenya.

Back at the schools, hundreds of primary school kids ran around a big open field and chased soccer balls, and then some of the students made their way over to us.  Fascinated by wazungus (white people), the children felt my arm hair and wanted to touch the soft hair on my head.  I was delighted to be able to practice my Swahili with them.

We toured the school and the site where the Aussies would be working, and while the buildings aren’t the same as American classrooms, the progress that has been made in such a short time is remarkable, and the students can now continue their learning!

Thanks to many benefactors around the world, Ikumbo village can offer its youth education.  The Kenyan government should even bring electricity to the village soon, as a result of the great investments being made into the town.  Irish students are scheduled to visit Ikumbo in July 2009, so the village can be sure to experience continued assistance.  I’m very blessed to have been able to make the trip to Ikumbo, and I’m glad I got to meet the people of the town and see all the good work of some very motivated supporters.

[Editor's note: see a related article about the Irish students' planned 2009 visit here.]

On September 17 Strathmore University, in conjunction wtih the Hills Program on Governance of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, celebrated the inauguration of the Strathmore Governance Center. Special Guest at the inauguration ceremonies was the Government of Kenya’s Minister for Medical Services, Prof Anyang Nyongo.

The Strathmore Governance Center seeks to promote good governance in the public, private and civic

Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o, Minister for Medical Services (right) with Celestine Otunga (left), Director of Procurement, Ministry of Finance at the launch of Strathmore Governance Center

sectors in East Africa by carrying out research and analysis on governance issues, facilitating dialogue within and across those sectors, and identifying educational needs and developing appropriate tools and programmes to meet those needs. One of the objectives of SGC is to start a Masters degree in Governance and Ethics.

SGC is part of Hills Program on Governance which was founded by former US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Roderick Hills. The Hills Program brings together Governance Centers at universities in China, South Korea, the Philippines, Argentina, Indonesia and Mexico. The Strathmore Goverance Center is the first such center in Africa for the Hills Program.

The Center hit the ground running with a health care governance workshop which the minister opened at the launch ceremony. The theme of the workshop was “Risk Management in the Domestic Supply Chain for Health Commodities”.  In his keynote address, Minister Nyongo decried the present management practices in government especially on procurement. He said tendering is an archaic way of doing procurement. “Tendering relies on suppliers determining the price of commodities. For specialized equipment like CT scanners, our purchasing officers should be researching the prices on the internet and then liaising with manufacturers instead of placing expensive tender announcements in the press,” the Minister said.

He added that it is important for Strathmore to be involved in governance issues as the University is spearheading the utilisation of information and communication technology in management. Citing the example of medicines storage and distribution, the Minister said, ”The cost savings made when we purchase medical consumables to last five years are lost when storage costs are considered.  ICTs can help make the supply chain more efficient.”

Also speaking at the launch, the President of the Hills Program on Governance, Dr. Gerald Hyman, spoke of the critical importance of good governance to economic development. Another speaker at the launch, Kristin Penn, who is a Senior Director at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Washington, DC, outlined how MCC works. MCC funding supported the Strathmore workshop on Governance in the Health Sector.

MCC is a United States corporation designed to partner and work with some of the poorest countries in the world. It was established in 2004. It is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom and investments in people.

Links:

CSIS Annoucement about Strathmore Governance Center: http://www.csis.org/index.php?option=com_csis_progj&task=view&id=1363
Strathmore Governance Centre: http://www.strathmore.edu/governance/index.html
Hills Program on Governance: http://www.csis.org/hills/

Center for Strategic and International Studies: http://www.csis.org/index.php

Millennium Challenge Corporation: www.mcc.gov

To see a photo gallery of the launch, click here.

 Alex Haynie, nicknamed “Aliki” by some of his new Strathmore friends, is an associate at Strathmore University Foundation now in Kenya until December on a three-month exchange assignment to further the collaboration of SUF with Strathmore University.  A 2008 graduate of Princeton University from Pennsylvania, Alex is interning with three of Strathmore’s departments: athletics, community outreach, and alumni development. He is keeping a journal of his experiences and impressions.

On Tuesday, November 4th, I saw extreme poverty.  I spent almost four hours in Kibera, which is Africa’s

Kibera: 1 square mile, 1 million people

largest slum.  Over one million people live inside two and a half square kilometers, and many of the people are unemployed and living with AIDS.

I’m ashamed of myself for any complaints I’ve ever made about having it tough or any feelings of self-pitying I’ve indulged in, and I’m embarrassed about my earlier journal entries in Africa when I mentioned some of the challenges that I’ve faced here in Kenya.  The slight inconveniences I’ve spoken about are bountiful blessings compared to the adversity that the people of Kibera face.

Last week I set out on a mission to check out a few high schools in the slum, and I drove through the shanty town with the Strathmore Community Outreach Program (COP) director, Fenuel Kalulu, and with Jose Maria Mara, an intern at Strathmore from Spain who works with me in the University’s development office.  Strathmore has partnered with a few high schools in Kibera with the intent to support these schools both by having Strathmore students visit them and spend time with the high-schoolers, and by assisting the schools financially.

Fenuel, Jose Maria and I left Strathmore at 10:30am, and within ten minutes, we were thumping our way up

A Child of Kibera

and down the mini hills that make up Kibera’s dirt roads.  Bumping over trash and through medium sized streams of filthy water, we made our way deeper into the slum, and I wasn’t so sure our taxi would make it out.

Trash littered much of the ground, and small tin shelters that made up the residents’ homes and stores lined the pseudo-road.  We saw only two other cars inside the slum during our four hour trip.  Despite the fact that tons of people sat along the road and seemed not to be working or doing much of anything but living in poverty, they waved and smiled.  The children especially beamed when they saw us, and they let out big happy shouts of “Wazungu!” when they saw Jose Maria and me (Wazungu means “white people” in Swahili). 

Our first stop was at Soweto Baptist High School.  The school started as a community initiative of the local Baptist church, and 270 students attend classes there, with seven teachers.  Though public schools in Kenya are supposed to be free, the schools don’t receive sufficient funding, so they are forced to charge school fees in order to pay for simple but necessary items such as books and teachers.  Many kids cannot

Soweto Baptist High School in Kibera

pay these fees (which total for one year around 10,000 Kenyan shillings (ksh), which is equivalent to ~145 United States Dollars), as many kids in Kibera are orphans or living with single parents, and many adults in Kibera are unemployed.  When we asked the school principal what the school needed most, he answered that they wished they had scholarship funds so that more local kids could attend, they needed help teaching, they needed desks, lab equipment, and physical labor to help rebuild some of the school’s dilapidated structures.  The principal reported to us that Soweto Baptist High School helps Kibera because it offers local youth an education at a much cheaper price than the government schools. 

After interviewing a few students, a teacher, and the principal at Soweto Baptist High School, we made our

A student at St. Gabriel

way a short distance to St. Gabriel’s High School.  There we found nicer buildings with more space, but learned that the school faces many of the same difficulties that Soweto faces: lack of funds, lack of books, and lack of teachers.  We met a former student at the school named Gabriel, who now teaches there when he is on college break.  It was inspiring and at the same time distressing to hear Gabriel’s story; Gabriel volunteers at the school simply because his heart is in the community, and he wants the students there to have the best opportunity possible.  Gabriel told us, “If you don’t go to school, it’s like the end of the world, the end of me.  So I might as well start doing other things, like drugs, or something else.”  Gabriel’s service to his community in his teaching and acting as a role model are crucial in helping the youth of Kibera, and with some help from others outside the slum, it’s people like Gabriel that can have a big impact to change the climate of Kibera.

After St. Gabriel’s High School, we stopped at an HIV clinic nearby that wasn’t more than a bunch of pieces

At the HIV Clinic: The Hope of Kibera

of scrap metal leaned onto a few sticks in the ground.  The clinic serves as a school for 70 children of HIV parents during the day, and as a support group for 72 adults on the weekends.  All 72 adults are HIV positive, 21 of the children are, and the husband and wife running the clinic are HIV positive as well.  The students attend this specific clinic because other people in Kibera alienate themselves from children of HIV parents, and the nasty stigma that others place on the children prohibits them from attending other schools.  When we entered the tiny room where the 70 children were preparing to get a lunch of ugali, all the kids rushed over to us with big smiles, wanting to shake our hands and saying in loud voices the few English words they knew: “How are YOU?! How are YOU?! How are YOU?!”  We spent some time with the children and then spoke with the husband and wife running the clinic, as we gathered details about what they envisioned for the clinic and what they needed.  After the clinic, we drove around the slum a little while longer and then headed back to Strathmore.

After visiting a place like Kibera, one can’t help but be energized to try to help the people living in such miserable conditions.  It’s difficult to know where to start.  Several kids here at Strathmore warn me about corruption that plagues Kenya at all levels, whether it’s the government or even just small individual organizations such as the matatus (the city buses).  Strathmore officials have investigated the high schools in Kibera and followed up on those leading the schools and clinics to ensure that the University pours its resources into the right efforts.  The images of the kids and homes set next to trash will be burned into my mind forever though, and I can’t help but believe that we can do something more to help the kids who are born into such rough situations. 

Fortunately, many Kenyans are taking the initiative on so many of the tough issues facing the country.  Strathmore’s proactive role in community outreach ingrains the spirit of service into students, and other Kenyans understand the need for specifically Kenyan solutions as well. 

For now, it’s heartbreaking to see people in such conditions, where “flying toilets” (excrement voided into plastic bags and cast into the alleys from shanties without proper toilets) and refuse cover the landscape.  I’ll pray for the people we’ve met, hope that intelligent efforts will bear fruit in the near future, and work as best I can to help the Kenyans already leading the charge to continue in their good work. 

[Editor's Note: The images from Kibera are powerful, dramatic, indeed disturbing. Seeing the scale of Kibera’s challenges helps a viewer understand its vast needs and appreciate the important work for health and education undertaken by so many coming to Kibera’s aid. Strathmore’s Community Outreach Program, in which all undergraduates are required to participate, sends Strathmore students to intern in clinics, schools, and other agencies in Kibera and other distressed areas. Strathmore also recruits students from Kibera. Last year Strathmore’s top ranking graduate came from Kibera. To view on YouTube a video called “Kibera Documentary”, one on many YouTube presentations about Kibera, click here.]

Dr. Joseph Kibuye Wadawi, the Dean of the Strathmore School of Tourism and Hospitality, was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Johannesburg on October 6, 2008. Dr. Kibuye’s Ph.D. thesis was on destination marketing.

The thesis examined how hotel product quality can be used to influence a destination’s competitiveness.  It established that hotel quality plays a significant role in attracting tourists to Kenya.

The findings could help formulate an integrated conceptual framework for hotel quality and destination competitiveness. The findings could also be used by destination management organizations to make strategic destination designs.

Dr. Wadawi was born on 15 October 1967.  He graduated cum laude with a B.Sc. in Hospitality Management from Florida International University, USA, in 1998.  He taught hospitality at Kenya Utalii College before joining the industry as Deputy General Manager of a convention center. 

In 2004, he obtained an M.B.A. (Strategic Marketing) from CIM, Cyprus. He then joined Kenyatta University where he taught Strategy and Marketing in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism.

Alex Haynie, nicknamed “Aliki” by some of his new Strathmore friends, is an associate at Strathmore University Foundation now in Kenya until December on a three-month exchange assignment to further the collaboration of SUF with Strathmore University.  A 2008 graduate of Princeton University from Pennsylvania, Alex is interning with three of Strathmore’s departments: athletics, community outreach, and alumni development. He is keeping a journal of his experiences and impressions.

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Ugali, samosas, and mokimu (also called irio) have replaced sandwiches, pizza, and hamburgers in my diet here in Kenya. 

As I’ve experienced it, Kenyan meals include starches, vegetables, and meats.  I eat my meals at my residence hall (which is a mile from the University) in the mornings and evenings, and at the Strathmore cafeteria during the day.  Breakfast at my residence hall includes bread with jam and tea, and every fourth day we get mandazis—which are pieces of fried bread that are sweet and puffy.  They are sort of like croissants, but darker in color. 

Most people at Strathmore go for tea in the mid-morning, and this has been very enjoyable for me.  Not

Supper at Studyville

only is it nice to have a small bite to eat (usually a mandazi), but I’ve appreciated having the tea time to meet with many of the great personalities here on the faculty and staff at Strathmore.  Sometimes we discuss work, but often I am able to simply enjoy the short break with some of my co-workers.  Today in the cafeteria we got into a debate about Christianity and evolution.  

Lunches, as I’ve experienced them here, are much like the dinners in Kenya.  There are almost no sandwiches—a stark contrast to lunches in the U.S.  Keeping with the theme of starches, veggies and meat, I usually get rice and beef, and occasionally some vegetables (in place of rice, I sometimes get chips—which are the same as American French fries—which here in Kenya will fill an entire plate).  I try to eat only the cooked veggies.  In Kenya, beef is much more prevalent than chicken—I’m told that chicken is much more expensive here, which is another difference from the U.S.  I also occasionally eat a samosa for lunch, which is a triangle-shaped breaded-crust, with minced-meat inside. I enjoy seeing one restaurant’s marketing campaign to sell chicken; since the Swahili word for ‘chicken’ is ‘kuku,’ and Kenyans speak English and Swahili, the marketing slogan is “We’re kuku for chicken!”  Haha. 

Dinners repeat themselves every few days at my residence hall, and we usually get a big plate of rice with veggies poured on top, or occasionally rice with some goat meat (which is usually laden with fat).  If we don’t have rice, we get green mashed potatoes, called mokimu here, or a staple of the Kenyan diet: Ugali. 

Ugali and cabbage: staple fare in Kenya

Ugali is the definition of a starch: it is hardened flour with water, and that’s it.  Sometimes called “Kenyan cake,” ugali is no birthday cake, but it’s good enough and pretty filling. 

Though I’ve been hungry after many meals I’ve had in Kenya, the food is fine.  The food at Studyville (my residence hall) is rationed, in that you get one plate of food, which someone else serves you, and there are no seconds.  I’ve taken to buying a loaf of bread at the local supermarket and chowing down on some slices after dinner.

My stomach has been strong for most of my time here in Kenya, though I often feel like there are tiny razor blades moving around in my belly after meals.  I did have one nasty bout with some bacteria (which rendered me to the bathroom for two days), but fortunately I had several nice friends check on me during that time, and my stomach has been strong since.

All in all, the food in Kenya is okay, and I’m grateful to have enough to eat, especially when I know there are people nearby who are hungry.  

Strathmore fourth-year IT student Hussein Lightwalla (BBIT IV) has been awarded a prize in Google’s East

Gadgetman Hussein Lightwalla

Africa Gadget Competition for his submission of the most technically sophisticated device. The prize was a $350 check from Google East Africa. Husseini’s winning “Add Mad” gadget is a numbers game that tests basic arithmetic (addition) speed.

Students from ten universities in six East African countries competed in creating and developing the “next big thing” in ICT. While there have been several other such competitions around the world, the East Africa contest was the first of its kind in Africa. East African students in computer science and IT seized the opportunity to demonstrate their skill and creativity to develop gadgets with content, feeds, features, looks and languages that reflect the needs of online users of today and tomorrow.

“The winning students combined outstanding creativity and exceptional technical skills,” said Isis Nyong’o, Strategic Partner Development Manager, Google Kenya.

“Throughout the six months of the competition, all participating students received support via a dedicated email contact as well as monthly emails taking them step by step on how to create a gadget. Students kept working hard and submitted 41 fully functioning gadgets. Everyone who submitted a gadget put a lot of time, effort, creativity and care into developing outstanding web applications,” Nyong’o added.

“We’re certain that the high quality of the gadgets and their relevance for local as well as international users will attract a high number of users not only in Africa but around the world. Our East Africa Gadget Team was impressed by the quality and level of creativity of the submissions.”

The Google Gadget prize adds to Husseini’s other recent awards. In August Husseini won the University’s Quality competition for the best entry in the quality award competition. Entries included anecdotes, ideas or short essays. He was also a member of the University’s Celtel Africa Challenge team.

Recognizing Strathmore’s potential to support Kenya’s recovery after the post-election disruption, Mr. Jonathan Auerbach, Managing Director of the investment firm Auerbach Grayson and a New York based Friend of Strathmore, has made a matching grant donation that will double the funds raised by Strathmore from its alumni.

Mr. Auerbach’s matching grant donation will help Strathmore serve Kenya through its distinctive alumni network. An alumnus of Yale University in the  USA, and thus a member of one of the leading alumni networks in America, Mr. Auerbach through his donation will be supporting the expansion of Strathmore’s network and to leveraging Strathmore’s alumni support for the university–and, ultimately, for Kenya. Mr. Auerbach’s contribution is intended to encourage widespread Strathmore alumni participation and support, especially through the smaller donations by many alumni.

What’s a “matching grant?”  This Friend will match dollar for dollar, shilling for shilling every donation any Strathmore alumnus makes this year to the Strathmore New Kenya Annual Fund. How does this work?  For each $10 donation from a Strath alumnus, this matching grant will donate $10. If a Strath alumnus donates $100, the grant will provide another $100. Or if a Kenyan based alumnus contributes KSh 1000, the grant will provide the equivalent of KSh1000. Such a matching grant effectively doubles the donating capacity of each Strathmore alumnus participating in the Annual Fund.

What do we need to do?  We need to connect with more Strathmore Alumni. And we need to get them to participate in the Annual Fund, in whatever amount large or small. Participation in the key. The more who participate, the more we can benefit from this matching grant.

How can Strath alumni help?  In three ways: 

1. Send to SUF your updated contact details, including mailing address, telephone, and email. This will let us send you our newsletter and contact you in your area when Strathmore alumni events are scheduled. Or call SUF at 609-688-1022.

2. Send to SUF the names and contacts of other Strathmore alumni you know. Or forward this message to them. The more alumni we can contact, the better for Strathmore and Kenya. Or call SUF at 609-688-1022.  

3. Donate to the Strathmore Annual Fund. (Or call SUF at 609-688-1022.) In Kenya, you can send a donation to: Strathmore University, Office of Advancement, PO Box 59857, 00200 Nairobi, Kenya attn. Mr. Louis Borrallo. In North America, send a donation to: Strathmore University Foundation, 20 Nassau St., Suite 232, Princeton, NJ 08542, USA. Or to donate now online, click here.

Alex Haynie, nicknamed “Aliki” by some of his new Strathmore friends, is an associate at Strathmore University Foundation now in Kenya until December on a three-month exchange assignment to further the collaboration of SUF with Strathmore University.  A 2008 graduate of Princeton University from North Wales, PA, Alex is interning with three of Strathmore’s departments: athletics, community outreach, and alumni development. He is keeping a journal of his experiences and impressions. [Editor's note: Mr Kevin O’Byrne, a member of Strathmore University Council and a lecturer in the Faculty of Information Technology passed away on the night of Thursday, 29th May at Nairobi Hospital. Kevin was a founding trustee of Strathmore Education Registered Trustees, the holding agency of Strathmore University.].

Strathmore alumni and friends honored Kevin O’Byrne at a memorial dinner on Friday, October 31st, 2008, and I attended the event and helped register over one hundred guests.  Kevin O’Byrne, along with David Sperling and Silvano Borruso, founded Strathmore College back in 1958.  O’Byrne, who was born in Ireland, moved to Kenya and dedicated his life to seeing that Strathmore would provide an education to Kenyans and help the country move forward.  O’Byrne passed away in May of this year, and the dinner on Friday night was held to commemorate his life and work, but also to launch a memorial fund in his name that will provide scholarships to low-income students with high intellect, strong character, athletic prowess, and a spirit of service.

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Friday’s dinner brought together scores of Strathmore old boys, many of whom are leading Kenya in the fields of politics, medicine, and business.  The dinner was held at the Nairobi Serena Hotel, which accommodates many of Kenya’s wealthiest visitors.  Minister of Parliament and Strathmore Alumnus Dalmas Otieno spoke to the guests about uniting to improve Strathmore and Kenya, and mentioned that Kenyans always need to tap into the good in people.  Professor David Sperling, one of Strathmore’s founders, also spoke, and recounted the early days at Strathmore with O’Byrne.

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I enjoyed meeting all of the guests at the dinner as I registered them and dealt with the administrative tasks of the evening.  I was happy to help out the alumni office and the launching of the fund, and I’m glad the Strathmore alumni connections are strong and continue to drive the University forward. 

More students will now gain access to a Strathmore education, thanks to a new

University Secretary Charles Sotz (c) signs agreement with officials of IFC and Commercial Bank of Africa

student loan finance program inaugurated at Strathmore University in conjunction with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and local partner Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA). Based on a successfully implemented in other countries, the Strathmore Loan Program is the first private-sector education credit program of its kind in East Africa. Secured by a first-loss fund offered by Strathmore, IFC and CBA will offer loans repaid from better salaries usually arising from a Strathmore University education.