Habari Gani?
(Swahili for “What’s the news?”)
John Linsley ’04 (KSP fall ’02)
History Department
Stratton Mountain School
World Cup Circle
Stratton Mountain, VT 05155
jlinsley@gmail.com
With 23 participants, St. Lawrence launched the Kenya Summerterm
in June. The program, held at the KSP center in Karen,
offered three courses, in healthcare, conservation, and archaeology. Professors
for the program included Abdelwahab Sinnary, KSP academic director;
Wairimu Ndirangu, KSP administrative director; and Associate
Professor of Anthropology John Barthelme.
Kiernan Mittlefehldt ’06, daughter
of Wendy Anderson Mittlefehldt ’77 (KSP
spring ’77), participated on the inaugural program,
after which she stayed with her mother’s urban homestay
family from three decades earlier, the Ambundos. Wendy
wrote, “I adored them and their four children, and
I corresponded with them regularly until we suddenly lost
touch.” Years later, Wendy spotted a picture
of the Ambundos with one of her sorority sisters in the St.
Lawrence magazine and was able to reconnect with them. With
Kiernan on her way to visit the Ambundos at their home in
western Kenya, Wendy said, “We are really thrilled
that she can do this. These really are the connections
St. Lawrence is providing students which will last a lifetime.”
Brenda Fuller (Vassar College, KSP fall ’83) wrote, “My
semester in Kenya was positively life-altering and, even today,
recollections of my experience are very much part of my regular
discourse. Entering the KSP as a student from Vassar,
I truly valued being embraced into the program by the St. Lawrence
students.”
Brenda went to law school after graduating from Vassar College
and has returned to Africa for travel. She has two boys
and lives on the University of Virginia campus, where her husband
is on the faculty.
Amanda Pearson ’92 (KSP fall ’90) met up with
her college roommates for a mini-reunion in Park City, Utah. Amanda and Kathleen
Fitzgerald ’92 (KSP spring ’91) have signed up for the
Marine Corps marathon in October--the third marathon for both of them this
year. Kathleen also returned to Tanzania this winter to travel with Dorobo
Safaris as part of an Appalachian Mountain Club trip.
Laura Loyola (Amherst College, KSP spring ’97) wrote
that she would be returning to Kenya in May for six months
to assist in doctoral research focusing on the impact of human
encroachment on the behavior and health of Blue and Sykes monkeys
in the Gede region north of Mombasa. Laura’s desire
to study primates was born on the KSP when she spent her IDS
attached to the Institute of Primate Research in Karen. She
added, “I often think of my semester there, the friends
I made and all the wonderful experiences I had. Now,
looking at maps of Nairobi and Karen, memories come flooding
back. I can’t believe we did so much in such a short
time.”
While passing through Canton in June, I bumped into Steve
Alexander ’03 (KSP fall ’02). Most
recently, Steve began his graduate degree while teaching at
the Teton Science School in Wyoming and continues to guide
for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). After
graduation, he was assistant director of St. Lawrence’s
Outdoor Program. Steve is again back in the North Country
as assistant director of the University’s Adirondack
Semester.
Brendan Hayes ’04 (KSP spring ’03) continues his
life in Swaziland as associate program coordinator of Young Heroes, a program
operated through NERCHA, the National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS
of the government of Swaziland. The Young Heroes program gathers funds
from sponsors to distribute to orphaned Swazi children whose parents have died
of AIDS. The goal of the program is to keep young families, often headed
by an elder child, together on their homesteads. Brendan wrote, “Swaziland
has 1.2 million people and is set to reach 120,000 AIDS orphans over the next
four years. Our outfit is a small stopgap measure. We are hoping
to reach as many families as possible with a little direct relief to avoid
disaster.” You can explore Young Heroes at www.youngheroes.org.sz.
Jessie Davie ’04 (KSP fall ’02) and Sarah
Ellis ’04 (KSP fall ’02) visited Brendan in Swaziland
last spring. The two also traveled to Mozambique’s capital, Maputo,
where they happened to drop into some peculiar circumstances. Sarah wrote, “While
walking down a side street, we came upon a crowd of people and two charred,
smoldering cars which had been roped off. We looked down the street and
saw smoke coming out of a building, and before we had time to react, we heard
a voice yell ‘Don’t walk on that side of the street, people have
just been shot.’” Jessie and Sarah hightailed it out of the
area, ducked into a nearby café and asked the proprietor what was happening.
He smiled and said, “You know, they are shooting a Leonardo DiCaprio
movie down there today; maybe you mistakenly walked onto the set.” While
there was no violence in Maputo that day, you might see two St. Lawrence
Jessie and Sarah spent much of this past year working in the
West African country of Ghana at the Kopeyia Bloomfield Local
Authority School (see photo). Their work focused on
fundraising and spearheading the drafting of a new school constitution
which the Ghana Education System will inevitably implement
in schools across the country. You can explore the Kopeyia
School at www.kgsf.org/index.html.
Jon Angus ’07 and Barrett Miles ’07 (both
KSP spring ’06) wrote many e-mails telling of their adventures. Jon
spent his urban homestay with the Mwangi family in Karen; Barrett stayed with
the Kapur family. Both families have hosted countless St. Lawrence students
over the years. As part of a newly created component in Amboseli National
Park, Barrett and Jon lived with a Maasai family. They wrote, “This
two-night, all-inclusive stay included a full day of camel riding, herding,
fence repairs, and the castration of not one, but two goats. We really
enjoyed speaking through our interpreter to the mzee who killed two
lions as a morani.”
Jon assisted with a topical field study in Nairobi National
Park for his IDS while Barrett headed to Mombasa to work with
the Kenya Marine Research Institute. Along with several
other students, Jon and Barrett kept up with the popular St.
Lawrence tradition of climbing Mt. Kenya before returning stateside.
Derek Hackmann ’04 (KSP fall ’02) was stationed
in China for six months this past year as part of his work with General Electric. He
attributes the assignment largely to his experiences abroad while at St. Lawrence. He
e-mailed, “I thought I had covered a lot of cultural rarities in Europe
and Kenya, but the culture in China was very different from anything I had
yet experienced.” He also visited Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore
and Thailand. Not that the KSP offered enough opportunity for experimenting
with new foods, but Derek added a few new items to the list: pig ear, intestine
and kidney, and cow stomach and tongue.
Jonathan King ’96 (KSP spring ’95) and his wife,
Elizabeth Trenchard ’97, are expecting a sibling for their son Ethan
this fall. On behalf of the KSP alumni, the best as they begin yet another
adventure!
Katie Gauthier ’04 (KSP fall ’02) and I co-led
one of two high school service programs offered this summer in Arusha, Tanzania,
by Putney Student Travel. The other Putney program was led by Hope
Thornton ’01 (KSP fall ’99) and Lee Rosberg ’05 (KSP
spring ’04). Both programs finished with a week-long safari to
Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire National Parks with Dorobo Safaris.
Staying in Touch
All KSP alumni are invited to join the Kenya Program Yahoo
Group, an online forum that was launched this spring. The
intent of the chat group is to provide a means for alumni
from across the years to share stories and experiences. If
you would like an invitation to join the Yahoo Group, please
send an e-mail to me at jlinsley@gmail.com or Heather
Elizabeth Patt ’96 (KSP spring ’95)
at pattheat@msu.edu.
Send Your Updates
If you are willing to tell a story from your KSP semester, or
provide an update on your current doings, please contact me using
the information above (note my new address). Thanks to the many
alumni who contributed to this column. Tutaonana!
Summer 2003 Entry
Fall 2003 Entry
Winter 2004 Entry
Spring 2004 Entry
Summer 2004 Entry
Fall 2005 Entry
Spring 2006 Entry
