Table of Contents
Comings and Goings: Class of 2000
Comings and Goings: Class of 2004
The Kenya Connection
A Lifetime of Discovery
Amanda Pearson '92
KSP fall '90
204 Lakeview Avenue
Cambridge , MA 02138Contributed by Michele Pinard '81, who recently interned for six months at St. Lawrence's Center for International and Intercultural Studies (CIIS) as part of the Master's in International and Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management Program at the School for International Training—a "mid-life" endeavor, she says, that was largely inspired by her 1981 Kenya Program experience.
"He just wouldn't take "NO!" for an answer," exclaimed Cliff Moskow '89 ( Kenya [KSP] '87).
"He" is Tom (Mpeti) Ole Surum, with whom Cliff cultivated a long and enduring relationship. A full Maasai warrior at age 20, Tom had also learned English, although he was formally educated only to about the fifth grade level. When they met on the streets of Nairobi by chance several years after Cliff studied in Kenya, Tom pressed Cliff to document Maasai life and, although it was a filmmaking project Cliff didn't really want to get into, Tom wouldn't relent.
So Cliff raised $250,000 and returned with Tom to Kenya to produce and distribute the autobiographical film, "Wandering Warrior," which aired on PBS and the National Geographic channel. Meanwhile, in his role as international goodwill ambassador, Tom lectured on the Maasai Mara until he was killed in a car accident. An estimated 10,000 people attended his funeral, including many political dignitaries. Cliff gave the eulogy.
Cliff and Ian Grant '84 (KSP '83) continue to be involved with Maasai communities that they were first exposed to on the St. Lawrence program. Serving on the Board of the Maasai Education Discovery Foundation (www.maasaieducation.org), they advance a multifold mission: to increase education opportunities for Maasai, build bicultural understanding between Maasai and the world's peoples, and increase health resources and education for Maasai. The foundation is in the early stages of creating sister school relationships between U.S. and Maasai schools to increase mutual understanding. Grant became more of a risk-taker and says that, as an entrepreneur, he has continued to "stretch" himself by taking business risks.
They are not the only alumni who have been influenced by their Kenya experiences. Approximately 1500 St. Lawrence students have participated in the Kenya Semester Program (KSP) since its inception in 1974. I posed the following question to eight of them recently: "How has participating in the KSP affected your personal and professional life choices?" (Long-term impact of the program on their lives is being examined in closer detail as part of an ongoing outcomes assessment project at the CIIS.) Each recounted a unique story.
The findings were highlighted at a conference for international educators in Bolton Landing, N.Y., in November 2003. One c ontributor was Matt Meyer (KSP '92), who demonstrated how he has extended his learning by "giving back" to the people of Kenya in a unique way, through the award-winning Ecosandals.com Web site. Matt recounted standing on a hill overlooking several of Nairobi 's slum neighborhoods as he approached the site of his month-long independent study project. He returned to Brown University and, with a Kenyan partner, created a community-based sandal-making project that now sells enhanced used-tire sandals online. Since the site's launch in 2001, it has employed 30 Korogocho residents.
Of the areas of their lives most affected, the interviewees rated careers most significantly. Ned Breslin (KSP '87) has been working in international development in Africa for over 13 years. Annmarie Terraciano (KSP '87), an environmental corporate lawyer, recalls sitting with the Samburu on a cliff learning about boreholes when "a light went on": She realized that "these resources and the arrangements that gave people access (to water) were critical to people's lives." In law school, Annemarie volunteered with Rights Link and provided pro bono legal advice to international organizations and individuals in Africa.
As a Peace Corps volunteer, John McPeak '88 (KSP '87) was placed in Senegal, where he developed an interest in agricultural economics. This led to a master's in agricultural economics and Ph.D. in applied economics; his dissertation topic was related to fieldwork initially done on his KSP independent study in northern Kenya. He now travels annually to conduct ongoing research in Marsabit, where he can also visit his Samburu in-laws.
Fran Rulon-Miller '77 (KSP '75) related how the semester in Kenya "empowered" her to become a firefighter at a time when that occupation was a "man's world." Carol Bushberg N'78 (KSP '75) described how she is considering switching careers because she wants her son to have an international experience at an early age.
In each category that the eight were asked to rate and discuss, anecdotes were related with deep conviction, indicating that the process of discovering exactly how study abroad influences individuals is ongoing—as will be St. Lawrence's efforts to chronicle them.
If you are among the KSP alumni willing to tell a story, contact Amanda Pearson '92 (KSP '92), founder and coordinator of this column, who says she "doesn't know where she'd be today" without her experience in Kenya , and let her know how you have been affected by studying abroad in Kenya .
Summer 2003 Entry
Fall 2003 Entry
Winter 2004 Entry