Intern Introduction - Sarah

Hamjambo? My name is Sarah and I'll be one of the interns working in Kibera this summer at the new computer lab! I met Ken Okoth this past year at Georgetown where I was enrolled in his Intermediate Swahili class. I have studied Swahili for three years, including spending a summer in Tanzania two years ago, and I knew I wanted to return to East Africa after graduation. Upon hearing more about the Children of Kibera Foundation and the work my mwalimu (teacher) was doing in Kenya, I knew I wanted to get involved. The new computer project we'll be working on this summer can really benefit the community and help motivate and excite students. That alone is a big achievement, so I hope we can get a lot of teachers trained on the computers and establish a good model to run the center.

This past spring myself and another Georgetown senior applied for a grant with the 'One Laptop Per Child' project to try to get many more laptops for CoKF. Unfortunately, our grant application was not successful (they only choose 15 of over 200 applications), but you can see our proposal here for more information and our ideas. Doing the application process was a big motivator for us and for Mwalimu Okoth and I decided that not getting the grant couldn't stop me from coming to work in Kibera!

A bit more about myself - I grew up in Pennsylvania as an only child, making my constant desires to live/work abroad for longer that much harder for my parents. I just graduated from Georgetown this May with a degree in International Politics/African Studies. I also studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa for six months where I made many good friends from East Africa too. I really LOVE working with children and I'm so excited to be in Nairobi for two months. I'm leaving this Monday (June 16th) for Dar es Salaam where I'll be visiting friends and my old host family for three weeks before I make my trip to Nairobi.

After helping Mwalimu Okoth with an email archive organization project this past week to formalize the organization's historical record, I have learned much more about its history, goals and future. CoKF has certainly grown fast and accomplished some big things in the past year - HS scholarships, a successful teacher exchange to the US, helping organize a young girl from Kibera's exchange to the US, and of course, continued support of the Red Rose school through a major political crisis in Kenya. As CoKF continues to expand, I certainly forsee great things! I think this summer will be a really productive time and myself and the other interns will be sure to keep you posted on our experiences and accomplishments in Kibera!