By Anita Deeg-Carlin
On Jumamosi (Saturday) morning, eight students in the Global Engagement Minor (GEM) will pile into a bus headed to JFK – ready to begin their long awaited 10-day journey to Nairobi, Kenya! Accompanied by Anita Deeg-Carlin (Director for Intercultural Learning and Coordinator of the GEM) and co-organizers Iddrisu Saaka (West African Dance professor), and Dr. Willette Burnham-Williams (VP Equity and Inclusion), these eight students have been preparing for this trip all spring.
Their preparatory course, “CGST 206: Global Engagement in Practice,” has dedicated half of the sessions to learning Kiswahili with Yale Professor Kiarie Wa’Njogu. Kiswahili is the ancient East African trade language that united merchants and their languages all the way from East Asia to southeastern Africa for centuries. The other half of the course weaves together guest speakers and content experts with films and discussions, as the group expands their collective knowledge of the region, building curiosity and wonder. (They are also working on memorizing the entire map of Africa – all 54 nations!)
In Nairobi, Lois Amponsah ’27, Ry De Guzman ’28, Anna Li ’28, Isaias Pagan ’26, Aubrey Piton ’28, Ama Tuffour ’26, Kaya Waltzer ’26, and Molly Volker ’26 will partner with Kenyan mentors and the Kenya Education Fund staff to host 100+ high school graduates from around the country in a university/career preparatory workshop. During the afternoons and weekend days, these students will also pursue personal microprojects to gain an understanding of their academic interests in the Kenyan context. Microprojects range from a partnership with a Sudanese filmmaker in exile to a non-profit dance program in a resettlement area. These partnerships will immerse students in urgent global issues of decolonizing, health care, gender rights, urban planning, and ethical international development.
Thanks to a generous gift from trustee Andy Fairbanks ’90, this is the first of two spring semesters that this course will run. Stay tuned for more stories from Nairobi! @WES_GEM
