Preparations

Let me introduce the journey. For the UCU East Africa Trip 2022 we will be going to Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar. Internships are also possible in Rwanda, Ethiopia and Uganda. My flight leaves the 10th of June, Amsterdam to Nairobi. I will be flying back the 24th of August. I was supposed to be going on this journey two years ago but Covid threw a spanner in the works. About a month ago I was asked if I still wanted to go now. Of course! 

Today I will submit my internship preferences. Tuesday I will have my vaccinations. I have a sixteen-day streak on Duolingo, learning Swahili.

I hope this blog can be a way for me to keep interested friends and/or family members updated. I hope it will help me reflect on all the amazing experiences that await.

My summer will consist of a four-week field course, after which the group (almost 40 students) will go off in pairs to their respective internships. The trip is a follow-up to the UCU course called 'The Theory and Practice of Development'. We discussed issues concerning development in the region of East Africa, analysing texts and documentaries on neocolonialism, struggles for land rights and sustainable change. 'East Africa' is of course a large and very diverse region. The organisations we will be working for are mostly small, highly dependent on volunteer work and crucial for the protection and empowerment of local communities, minority groups and their environments. 

I need to figure out where I want to go. Do I want to work for six weeks in sustainable agriculture? In women's micro-enterprises? (Need to figure out what a micro-enterprise os first) Or perhaps for a more politically active organisation, fighting for Maasai land rights? I do know I would like to work in a rural setting. I feel like that will be the most intensely enriching experience, being completely isolated with the organisation and the locals. I think I would like to go to Tanzania, working for Maasai girls' empowerment and education.

PS: I found a beautiful Swahili poem, by a Kenyan poet: https://www.poetrytranslation.org/poems/door . To me, it is about the dilemma of choosing between leaving in search of opportunity, or staying and building your community. Both options mean losing and gaining.

UPDATE 26/04/2022

My internship will be with Enkaina E Retoto (=swahili for Helping Hand)! Here is their website: https://www.massailand.com/cc5/ They work in the Simanjiro district in Tanzania, especially with the Maasai community in Loibersoit. Support they offer comes in the form of financial aid, setting up schools and offering a helping hand in battling hunger and poverty, as well as preserving the ecosystem. The aim is to help Maasai help themselves. The Maasai in the area face several challenges, with droughts and cattle illnesses threatening their pastoral way of life. Another big issue is young pregnancies, preventing girls from completing their education at the local schools. My research will likely be on fostering dialogue with parents on the merits of education and the rights and values of young girls.

I sent my cover letter and CV to the organisation. Next steps in planning are buying visas (I won't bore you with that process), getting to know my internship partners (fellow UCU'ers Aglaë and Suus) and continuing my Duolingo journey. I also bought 'The Perfect Nine' by Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong'O, a Kenyan writer - a great way to pass the time as I am now in isolation with a positive Covid PCR.

PS: as I type this I listen to Omar Sosa's 'An East African Journey' 

Source: Enkaina E Retoto