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Meru Kenya is a place that the majority of westerners are yet to hear of. It is safe to say that none of our group knew exactly what to expect in the months leading up to our departure to the other side of the globe. After just under three weeks time in this beautiful land a sense of understanding is evident within our group, and conceptions of a world we once thought we knew no longer parallel to the way it will now appear.
Our time here has opened senses to a world that few Americans see, and a people in a chapter of history that our own never experienced. It is inspiring and similarly thought provoking to see; you look at the streets and see people carrying fruit to sell at the market, donkeys pulling carts and assortments of raw goods being sold to support merchants and families alike, while simultaneously wireless connections fly through the airwaves above a population almost universally owning cell phones. Truly a wild sight be behold. This is a place you can read about in text books, but one can only begin to understand through the naked eye.
So how is it that our group found ourselves interacting with the progression of this Eastern African Nation? We came as an eclectic group of four media professionals, a nurse, two teachers and a facilities engineer following a vision to teach young Kenyan students the power of media and information technology. We concentrated our work with schools in the local Meru area, while also aiming to branch out to as many students as we could effectively help. Our main goal was to open possibilities and craft a cultural exchange for everyone involved. This would not be an easy task with so many in need of training and instruction, yet it was a duty we saw fit for the enormous untapped potential that awaited across the sea.
It is without a doubt that the diffusion of our efforts would have had little impact without the selflessness and action of one local Meru teacher by the name of John Kamwara. John is a man who comes from a rural area outside of Meru. Since his childhood John has grown to spread education from his small native village to the city of Meru, and is now a respected public figure awarded as one of the best teachers in the area. He had previously traveled to our nation with the intention of building global partnerships that foster higher education some three years ago. John has been a leader for education and progression in Kenya, and helped built the partnership that brought us here.
From this connection with John we were able to access a population of Kenyan students that would have otherwise remained invisible. In our presentations of the multimedia and graphic design we saw students interest grow. Everywhere we went there was a sense of welcome and interest. Although we came to teach we found it was us that had much to learn, every encounter offered new insight and each day a new promise. After seven different schools and time spent with hundreds of people we can say that it is a joy to have come to Meru and we only wish we our stay could be longer.
So what have we learned through the past several weeks? We gained new insights about life, hard work and the value of sharing with others. We encountered some of the world's friendliest people and hospitality unlike any we could have expected. We have found ourselves learning the real meaning of cultural exchange. We have learned that it is one thing to spread information as you came to see it, but another entirely to watch an individual mind ignite with creativity and provide ability for one to craft their own inspiration. This is something that you cannot measure.
Visual communication is now more than ever a tool that shapes the world in which we live. Our time in Kenya has been marked by an attempt to spread this valuable tool while mutually gaining a perspective we can only hope to share with our own culture back home. In a lunch conversation with John last week we were inspired when he told us, "Haba na haba hujaza kebab", a term which translates as "little by little fills a big container". As we pass our last few days of the project we continue to hope that the students of Meru will help to implement technological growth with the tools we have left them. We can see that haba na haba the world can continue to become a better place.
