CLASS NOTES
FALL 2012 | St. Lawrence University Magazine 63
KSP Co-Director Wairimu Ndirangu reports that Mary Shimenga, who
recently retired after 26 years as a member of the support staff in Karen,
is busy farming a variety of crops on her family farm where she lives with
her mother and extended family. Thank you to all who contributed to the
collection to assist Mary in her retirement. She is very grateful for your gen-
erosity. While in western Kenya completing her independent study project
with the Kakamega Environmental Education Program, Emilie Wetzel ’13
(
KSP spring ’12) visited with Mary (pictured).
Professor of Anthropology Emerita Celia Nyamweru recently had an arti-
cle published in the
Journal of Eastern African Studies
titled“Natural cultural
sites of Kenya: Changing contexts, changing meanings.”
Joost de Laat ’98
(
KSP spring ’97) and his wife,
CarolineArchambault ’98
(
KSP fall ’96), continue to be active with Africa SOMA
(www.africasoma.org
),
an organization they founded in 2005 that focuses on educational initiatives
in Kenya. They have been supporting the Elangata Wuas Resource Center
(
EWRC) and community programming including the Mama-Mtoto Story
Time Program. They explain, “In partnership with another volunteer organi-
zation, Maria's Libraries, and with mothers from four communities in Kenya,
four children's books were created based on local stories.”They also say “Af-
rica SOMA earned a spot on the Global Giving website following a campaign
to equip the EWRC with a solar-powered computer lab.”
JayWashburn ’81
wrote that he and his wife, Ashley, met with
KenOkoth ’01
,
founder of the Children of Kibera Foundation in Nairobi. They founded As-
ante Sana for Education (
www.asantesanaforeducation.com
) in 2009. Jay
said it’s“building schools in Tanzania and connecting children with students
fromwithin their community and from other countries and cultures.” Jay is a
history teacher at Glastonbury High School in Connecticut.
Valerie Foster Githinji ’98
(
KSP spring ’97) wrote, “I am busy raising my
two daughters, Ayden Grace Nyambura, 3
1/2
,
and AnabelleWambui, 1
1/2.
I also
work part-time as a manuscript specialist at Ohio University and amworking
on completing my Ph.D. dissertation. My husband is Kenyan and a linguist,
and he teaches Kiswahili at Ohio University.”
Greg Bagnato ’93
(
KSP fall ’91) is a middle-school science teacher at Carol
Morgan School in the Dominican Republic. Previously, he was a teacher and
experiential education coordinator at The American International School of
Muscat in Oman. “While we lived in Oman, my family and I visited Kenya and
I was able to share a little of my previous life in the Masaai Mara with them,”
he wrote. Greg and his family will move to Thailand this fall; there he will
begin work at The International School of Bangkok.
Tristan Statler ’04
(
KSP fall ’02) wrote in April from Hangzhou, China,
where he was traveling with work. He also visited Beijing and Ningbo.
Brett Harvey ’02
(
KSP fall ’00) and
Hattie Shelton Harvey ’02
are the
proud parents of a baby boy, Baxter, last spring. They live in Alaska where
they recently bought a home.
On a visit to Canton in May, I went to a cookout at the home of Assis-
tant Professor of History and Coordinator of African Studies Matt Carotenuto
(
SUNY Cortland, KSP ’98). Also there were
Lyndsay LaBarge
and
JacobMal-
comb
(
both Class of ’10 and KSP spring ’09) and Professor of African History
Emeritus David Lloyd and his wife, Mary, formerly senior secretary inmodern
languages. Lyndsay is assistant director of admissions at St. Lawrence.
As always, contact me with news, updates and photos. I look forward to
hearing from you. Tutaonana!
John Linsley ’04 (KSP fall ’02)
605
W. Olive St. Bozeman, MT 59715 |
jlinsley@gmail.com
| 978-500-6342
Swahili for "What's the News?"
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