Jambo! I have completed two days of my orientation. I have had two lessons in Swahili, an intro to Rutooro, seen presentations on risk management and internship possibilities, and I have met and heard from several of the professors who are teaching sessions of the field studies. I have also had more of my itinerary explained, for which I am thankful. However, it is not a complete itinerary and it does not include all the exact dates for how long I will be staying in places. I will explain it as best I can.
We will be flying into Nairobi late on the January 16th and beginning our activities on the 17th. We are spending just less than a week in Nairobi visiting Nairobi National Park, the United Nations, and the Canadian High Commission. We will also have the opportunity to visit one of the slums. During our first week we will also learn more about our context courses the discriptions of which you can find at www.mcgill.ca/africa/courses.
After our time in Nairobi, we are flying out to Entebbe, Uganda, which located just outside Kampala. We will be leaving immediately by truck or bus for Fort Portal, which is in west of Kampala near the border. We will be staying at the Makerere University Biology Field Station in Kibale National Park. The Kibale National Park is a rainforest and will be a stark contrast to the week in Nairobi we will have just experienced. Kibale is famous for its primate population. Monkeys everywhere! That is where we will be starting the first session of courses. As of right now, I am registered in GEOG 493: Health and Environment in Africa. I will find out more about that course Thursday when Prof. Lea Barrang-Ford presents her course. When we leave Kibale I believe we split into two main groups and the Ecology and Primate classes go to Lake Nabugabo while the Health class goes to Kampala. We then have several days to work on a context course module in Jinja, which is a town on the banks of Lake Victoria where the it meets the Victoria Nile. From there, we leave Uganda and return to Kenya en route to Kisumu. We will spend a total of 19 days in Uganda. At least that is how long my Ugandan visa says I am allowed to stay.
We will be working on another module in Kisumu for a couple of days which relates to the Jeffery Sachs Millennium Village and the projects there . From there we go to Mbita which is another town along the banks of Lake Victoria. There we will be working on another module related to health being taught by the medical doctor that is traveling with us, Dr. John Geddes. He is from Queen's University and the module will relate to health and development somehow. The next stop is the Masai Mara where we will officially be beginning session two which we will mean new courses. For session two I am currently registered in GEOG 404: Environmental Management, though this could change. We have four field sites for session two although I only know the rough locations. The first is the Masai Mara, there is another near Mount Kenya, another is south of Nairobi and will include a home stay for one night, and I am unsure of the last one. For this session I am particularly interested in land disputes and tenure theory because land use is such a hot topic for development and politics in East Africa and I do not fully understand it.
At some point around this part of the trip we will be going back to Nairobi I believe to learn in an urban context but this is an area of the trip that is pretty vague. Quite frankly the rest of the itinerary at this point is rather vague because it is a while off, at the end of our trip. For session three I am registered for course ANTH 345: Prehistory of Africa, which is a archeological course on human origins and Stone Age chronology as well as archeological method and theory. I have heard from students who have taken this course in the past that it was the highlight of their trip. For this session we will be traveling out to the coast to Malindi. We are traveling through Tsavo National Park but I do not know if we are stopping anywhere for any length of time there. I have read in some travel guides that Tsavo National Park is a great place to see wildlife and is less touristy than the Masai Mara, which is the infamous place to safari. The ruins of Gedi, which was a thriving Swahili town can be found near the coastal city of Malindi. I am hoping that the prehistory course we be making a field trip to this site. We are ending our expedition in Zanzibar and it is my understanding that we reach the island via a ferry from Malindi but I cannot say for sure. Zanzibar will be really interesting because of the rich blending of cultures. Swahili on the coast has had heavy Arab influences but has maintained much of its African cultures from my understanding. I am looking forward to learning more by visiting the island.
Zanzibar is where our expedition comes to an end. I will be flying from there to Nairobi where I will be taking another flight to Amsterdam to enjoy another adventure in Europe. Although it will be much shorter and less academically intensive.
The expedition is going to be a 24/7 intensive learning experience. It will be challenging at times, I have no doubt, but it is the kind of personal and academic challenge that I have been looking for. Learning through experience and field research is a kind of learning that I have lacked so far in my academic career but it is a form of learning that I believe is vital to understanding any field of study. The interdisciplinary nature of the expedition is also an asset that I believe I will benefit from. Global Development Studies is an Arts course on paper but I believe that development studies incorporates disciplines that range across the arts and the sciences. For this particular field study I am looking forward to learning more about the ecology and environmental determinants of development in East Africa. Plus, as Calvin's dad would say, it builds character! I believe that stepping outside one's field of study will certainly build character.
I realize that I have now spent an hour writing and I still have to review both my Swahili and Rutooro lessons from today. I will leave you with several links that I hope will can provide you with further information about some of the sites I will be visiting. I have tried to upload the map we were given online but it does not seem to be working. If you are interested in tracing my route on a map, I would suggest looking at Google Maps if you do not have a good atlas on hand because it has all the destinations mentioned above. Until next time, lala salama!
http://www.kibaleforestnationalpark.com/
http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/mv/index.htm -- Millennium Village in Kenya
http://www.masaimara.org/
http://www.africanmeccasafaris.com/kenya/mombasa/excursions/gediruins.asp
http://zanzibar.net/
Thanks for the update Allison! It all looks exciting even though a bit daunting as well I'm sure. Good luck! xoxo
ReplyDeleteYour blog looks great!