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Seniors Andrew Estep, Christopher Pray, and junior Juliana Scherer are spending winter term teaching and doing community service work for four weeks in the village of Tchundwa on Pate Island in Kenya.
This is the second journey to Kenya for Estep, a Bonner scholar. The trio raised nearly $10,000 for the trip from various sources, including the Bonner Foundation and Rotary International. Of all the places to work abroad, why Kenya?
The idea came from a dialogue two years ago with Oberlin graduate Umra Omar ’06, a Kenya native. “Umra asked me how rural I wanted to go, and I said all the way,” says Estep. That led him and seniors Helena Vonk, James O’Hare, and recent graduate John Woods ’07 to Omar’s hometown of Tchundwa during the 2007 winter term, where the four taught students at the primary and secondary levels.
Estep says he was blown away by the cultural experience and by the Kenyans’ hospitality.
“The schools were excited to have us there,” he says. “In every village we went to, the locals asked if we could bring more people in to talk to them. It’s very important to them to share their culture and, at the same time, find out what we’re all about.”
The local residents took the students on fishing boats and on hiking tours of coconut and cassava farms. Estep says he also learned to cook with native foods. “People went out of their way to take care of us and offer us food,” he says.
The group had free rein to teach whatever subjects they wanted. Estep and O’Hare taught English and science to high school sophomores, while Vonk taught a primary school curriculum to fourth graders. Woods taught the same at an all-girls’ school in a neighboring village.
This time around, Estep says, the group’s work will be split between teaching and community service-related projects, such as building and repairing homes and schools. In a nation that relies on wind energy—which provides just enough to power a single light bulb at nighttime—Estep envisions setting up a community e-mail station at one of the schools. The e-mail station would use minimal electricity and help connect locals with extended family members and friends, and maybe even spawn pen-pal relationships.
While many Oberlin students choose community service winter-term projects, Estep’s service-oriented mission stands out from the traditional study away program, says Bonner Scholars Director Donna Russell, adviser to the Kenya trip.
Oberlin’s Bonner Center for Service and Learning is collaborating with the Study Away office to post a list of community service-based trips on both departments’ web sites, says Beth Blissman, director of the CSL. “There are multiple pathways students can take for international winter-term projects that are community-based or focused on civic engagement,” she says.
An outgrowth of a student-organized winter term experience in El Salvador last year is the new student group Oberlin in Solidarity with El Salvador. Last winter, about a dozen students traveled to the country to teach, work with youth, and promote AIDS awareness. Other civic engagement trips are led by faculty or alumni, Blissman says. Former classmate Omar, now a graduate student at the School for International Training in Vermont, says the two-way experience is one of the biggest rewards.
“From the feedback I got, the (Kenyan) students are really excited to have the Oberlin students there,” Omar says. “One of the key things is that both parties are really benefiting from the experience. It’s about pure interaction, not just authority. It really opened up a new world for both.”
Omar says she hopes Oberlin will build a permanent relationship with the village in Kenya. Estep hopes to do the same with an organization he helped create, Immerse Yourself in Service, along with senior Brendan Morris. A student charter is pending.
“Our goal is to make this a sustainable program,” Estep says. “Students really want these opportunities. It’s a great way to help people in the long run, and two cultures get to share their experiences.”
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