2008 Woodie Awards
'Another world is possible'
University students travel to Africa to discuss social problems
Jillian Bobowicz
Issue date: 3/16/07 Section: Online
Think "The Lion King." Exchange hyenas running across the pride lands with a white Toyota driving into Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya. The Toyota is a taxi.
It's not quite as exotic as the safari vans tourists use in Africa, but it's cheap and accomplishes the same goal. On this particular day, it's also jam-packed with a driver, four passengers and their luggage.
"I think the first disclaimer you should make though, is that any vehicle we have here in the United States - like double the passenger occupancy and that's what they use in Africa," senior Kelly Livingston says. "Like that Toyota Echo holds six to 10 people."
Livingston is one of seven university students who traveled to Kenya this past January for The World Social Forum, a non-profit international forum in which politicians, social activists and people from all over the world come together to discuss social issues.
Senior Amy Vernon-Jones says she arrived in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, on Jan. 3. While traveling solo and seeking exposure to rural life in Africa, Vernon-Jones took public transportation eight hours west, to the Ugunja village. There, she volunteered for a week with a local community organization, the Ugunja Community Resource Center, where she helped fix the organization's computer databases.
"The organization I worked with just has a lot of projects and has made a big impact on the community," Vernon-Jones says. "So I really wanted to learn about what they were doing and how their success is and everything they have going on."
While in Ugunja, Vernon-Jones stayed with a local host family who lived in a typical mud hut, with no running water or electricity.
"I loved it," she says. "There are so many things about life that are very different, like pouring water over you head is not exactly a typical thing. But also I was comfortable to be there and I really like the people. We had fun, we played Scrabble. You know, things that are very typical."
It's not quite as exotic as the safari vans tourists use in Africa, but it's cheap and accomplishes the same goal. On this particular day, it's also jam-packed with a driver, four passengers and their luggage.
"I think the first disclaimer you should make though, is that any vehicle we have here in the United States - like double the passenger occupancy and that's what they use in Africa," senior Kelly Livingston says. "Like that Toyota Echo holds six to 10 people."
Livingston is one of seven university students who traveled to Kenya this past January for The World Social Forum, a non-profit international forum in which politicians, social activists and people from all over the world come together to discuss social issues.
Senior Amy Vernon-Jones says she arrived in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, on Jan. 3. While traveling solo and seeking exposure to rural life in Africa, Vernon-Jones took public transportation eight hours west, to the Ugunja village. There, she volunteered for a week with a local community organization, the Ugunja Community Resource Center, where she helped fix the organization's computer databases.
"The organization I worked with just has a lot of projects and has made a big impact on the community," Vernon-Jones says. "So I really wanted to learn about what they were doing and how their success is and everything they have going on."
While in Ugunja, Vernon-Jones stayed with a local host family who lived in a typical mud hut, with no running water or electricity.
"I loved it," she says. "There are so many things about life that are very different, like pouring water over you head is not exactly a typical thing. But also I was comfortable to be there and I really like the people. We had fun, we played Scrabble. You know, things that are very typical."
Be the first to comment on this story