Search

In 2003, York University awarded an honorary doctorate to Phoebe Asiyo, a former Kenyan member of Parliament, in recognition of her impressive human rights work. The author learned at the time that Ms. Asiyo's family provided major support to Wikondiek School (located near their home in western Kenya), many of whose students were AIDS orphans. Through York's new international internship program, the Faculty of Education sent several students on three-month assignments to Wikondiek. They returned with compelling, life-altering stories about their experiences with the students and families in the Wikondiek community. Determined to see the setting for himself, the author embarked on a "working" trip to an educational site just inside the Masai Mara in Kenya. In this article, he shares his harrowing "voluntourist" experience and provides a fascinating glimpse of the quest for learning among Kenyans, who have been able to overcome overwhelming cultural and socio-economic hurdles to gain access to schooling.