Table of Contents
Habari Gani
Amanda Pearson '92
KSP fall '90
204 Lakeview Avenue
Cambridge , MA 02138
apearson@wcfia.harvard.eduYou'll see a new Swahili headline for this column. It's a common way to greet people in Kenya , and means, “What's the news?”
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Associate Professor of Anthropology Celia Nyamweru, interim director of the Kenya Semester Program, wrote in September, “Here I am with only nine students - but they are a delightful bunch and it is fun to be able to give them lots of attention. We had a great trip to the Lake Victoria basin and are now going into the first two weeks of classes before leaving for Tanzania.”
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Eric Johnson '92 , KSP spring '90, wrote in March 2002: “[My wife] Heide and I have done our best at putting some roots down in central New Hampshire . We have two girls—Annika will be 4 in May and Britta is 16 months. The have done a most excellent job at helping us to redefining our role in life...in a very good way.” Eric left his high school teaching position at Proctor Academy four years ago to learn some carpentry skills and build their house, “a cozy timberframe/strawbale house about 10 minutes from Proctor.” While at Proctor, Eric taught African studies as part of the school's non-Western curriculum, as well as American history, government, and environmental studies. Last spring Eric started his own small, forestry-related business; he works with landowners who want a less environmentally damaging alternative to traditional logging. *** John Linsley '04, KSP fall '02, wrote from campus last spring: “ All of us from last fall's KSP have been missing Kenya . A lot of us have been in touch with our homestay families, Samburu, and the teachers at Hekima. We got together as a group a lot over the semester and everyone agrees that they wish they could go back this coming fall and be KSP TAs.” John spent two weeks in Canada on a whitewater kayaking trip, and last I heard was hoping to secure a summer (2003) internship at Harvard. ***“I will not forget the impact that the Kenya Program has had on my life,” wrote Ian Grant '84 , KSP spring '83. “While I have been back to Kenya four times since '83 (including an eight-month stay in '93-94 with my wife, a portion of the time living with the Maasai in the Narok area), I am passionately focused on (a) bringing Kenya into the lives of my two children (they are learning basic Swahili and we have Kenyan friends over for nyama choma (beef and chapati stew); (b) working to help the Maasai by serving on the board of a Boston-based foundation, Maasai Education Discovery, www.maasaieducation.org , with Cliff Moskow '89 (KSP spring '87) (we have built an education center in Narok with over 25 computers and Internet access, have raised money to create a distance learning program with the University of Massachusetts, and have created a scholarship fund for Maasai girls to be able to attend primary and secondary schools, among several other initiatives) and (c) the “sister school” program with an elementary/junior high school in Boston, plus one on the coast of New Hampshire, with Maasai primary schools to help further the mutual understanding of cultures and contribute to students' growth in both countries.”
Ian continued, “I received a nice e-mail from Tom French '85 (KSP spring'83). He was our guitar music man on the semester. Tom recalled that 20 years ago that the day he e-mailed me we were all flat on our backs on the Rainey lorries in Samburu with 105° temperatures, sick as death! Tom lives in Potsdam with his wife and two children. He tracked down David Bowen '85 , who is a plastic surgeon in California . With some nimble ‘google fingers' he found that Neva Hassanein '85 is a professor at the University of Wisconsin in environmental studies. (I remember a great post-Kenya trip to Egypt with her, Susan Allen-Gil '84 and Deirdre Moloney '84 with Neva 's family there). Susan teaches biology at Ithaca College and has two or three children.”
Ian said, “[Former KSP Director] Paul Robison 's daughter, Rachel, is finishing up her senior year at college and we were able to see Paul and his whole family at graduation. As you can imagine, they are doing very well and all successfully focused on giving back to Africa .”
***“Greetings from the last frontier ( Alaska ),” wrote Jonathan King '96 , KSP spring '95. “The topics that you touched on in your column came at a time when I was thinking of the need to organize the KSP alumni in an effort to broaden and deepen program support,” he said. Jonathon and his wife, Betsy, donated a new night vision scope to the KSP; it has been well received by the students in the field. John continues to brainstorm great KSP fundraising ideas, such as offering NPR-style ‘Citizen of the World Tours' during the summer. “Many Kenya alumni love the KSP and care about the employees and the program,” Jonathon noted. “Along with many other alumni, the KSP was a life-changing experience for me. It was the highlight of my time at SLU and I want to help ensure its continued growth and success.”
** Zach Green '00, KSP spring '99, continues to hop-scotch across the globe as an associate producer for the reality-TV show “Survivor.” “I just wrapped up the post-production of ‘Survivor Brazil ,' and soon leave for ‘Survivor Panama ,' he wrote. “I'll be there for about 6-7 weeks, and then it is back to LA to cut the show.” **“I just picked up my first copy of the St. Lawrence Magazine in 20 years to discover that there is an effort to bring KSP alumni together,” writes Jared Crawford '84 , KSP fa ll '83, from his home in Nairobi . “I've been living here for most of the past two decades working for wildlife conservation organizations and the UN. I'm afraid that I fell out of touch with the KSP once Paul [Robinson, former KSP director] left, but I would love to get back into the fold. Obviously, the KSP greatly changed my life and I have a few stories to tell. My wife and I own and operate a luxury safari company, Mathews Safaris and Geocartographics , based in Karen whilst maintaining our careers in elephant monitoring and environmental communications, respectively. We have a 4-year-old boy, Christian, who is already aspiring to be a game tracker. The big blue Bedford lorry still flies along Ngong road and Laurentians are often sighted at the duka….”
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In other news, Jolaine Roycewicz '03 , KSP fall '02, is enrolled in the University of Minnesota 's veterinary medicine program. And former KSP Director Mwenda Ntarangwi has taken an appointment in the department of sociology, anthropology and social work at Augustana College in Rock Island , Ill.