Naturally and unnaturally migrating people

Part of our work in Kenya will be connected to the Maasai, the traditionally nomadic people whose grazing land occupies parts of Kenya and Tanzania. Our host, Joseph Lekuton, wrote eloquently about his life as a young Maasai boy and student navigating between the life of his family and the life connected to his government school. At present, Joseph continues his work on behalf of the Maasai as a member of the Kenyan Parliament. The challenges facing peoples for whom the need to traverse great tracts of land is vital to their cultural sustainability seem well documented. I want to keep my heart and mind open to what we will experience when we are there.

Thinking about the impact of the restrictions on the migrations of the Maasai led me to contemplate another concept closely associated with Africa -- that of refugees or people who migrate unnaturally or against their will due to war and other civil unrest. The most well known situation now centers on Darfur in western Sudan with a current estimate of around 2.5 million displaced persons. The impact of the Darfur situation is felt by all surrounding countries, including Kenya. It will be interesting to know if we will come to a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by the refugees when we travel to the north of Kenya.

As a teacher, my thoughts naturally turn to the effect on the children in these situations. How are they impacted? What will their future be? How can their stories be known and their voices heard? How do we tell their stories to the children in our schools for whom concepts of war, poverty, hunger and homelessness represent an otherness as to make them nearly unreal?

Recently I had the pleasure of viewing Brownstones to Red Dirt, a documentary about a project which connected children in an elementary public school in the Bronx with children living in an orphanage in Sierra Leone. Through a Canadian organization called Respect Refugees, the children in Bed-Stuy undertook both a pen pal project and a fund raising effort for the students in Salone, all beautifully chronicled throughout the year of their relationship in the film. It reminded me that it is possible for the stories to be told. Who better to do that than the children themselves! Across continents and across cultures, they shared stories and interests and ultimately broadened their understanding in real and relevant ways.

I remain ever hopeful that our journey to Kenya enables us to deepen our human understanding and think about the ways in which we can bring meaningful experiences back to our schools and our students. We hope you follow along with us on our blog!

Laurel Seid


Map credit: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/map_sites/country_sites.html
Image credit: http://brownstonestoreddirt.blogspot.com/