Chogira is actually HUGE! Chogoria has over 28,000 people in it. That is much more than I was expecting.
Chogoria is 140 miles away from Nairobi. Chris informed us that this relatively short journey will actually take up to three hours. Something about giant speed bumps?
Chogoria was created around the Clive Irvine Hospital. Some of our fellow travelers will be working in that hospital, including Cindy Ault who is very excited to check out some diseases.
Chogoria is an education hub. It houses public primary boarding schools, girls schools and secondary schools as well as private establishments. The town also has the Clive Irvine Nursing College.
Isn't all of that stuff neat? Chogoria is going to be a very neat place to visit and I can't wait to have that experience. :)
Look forward to a post about our last class where we sampled Kenyan foods and heard from Dr. Coyle who was very informed on Kenyan wildlife. All this time, I had never thought of Kenyan wildlife. How could I forget!
In my hear, I am more than a child of war. I am talented. I am a musician. I am Acholi. I am the future of our tribe. --Dominic
Our last class was Thursday, February 2nd.
It was movie night, and after handing in our journals we watched "Wardance."
This documentary follows three children living in a displacement camp in northern Uganda compete in their country's national music and dance festival.
This documentary was an incredibly moving hour and a half. We were able to see the way children live in their culture in Africa. Of course, the movie took place in Uganda and we will be in Kenya, but society is very similar.
We will see families that interact like the ones in this documentary when we travel to Chogoria, but we won't see families in the same situations.
In the documentary, people are afraid of being killed and abducted. They are protected by men with guns and must live close together because there is danger in the areas around them. Chris assured us that where we will be in Chogoria is much safer and people there have not gone through as much loss because of war and unrest.
"Wardance" showed the three children triumphing over their circumstances. It showed them working hard to do well nationally with their music. It made us laugh, cry and think about our own lives and what you we working towards. What are our goals? What are we willing to work to achieve and overcome?
Listening to the discussion during and after the movie, I think the biggest thing the class took away from the movie was the immense strength the children had. They came from fragmented families, poverty and extremely sad and challenging backgrounds and yet they were able to find happiness and success. Do we have that kind of strength? Could we find that emotion and perseverance inside of ourselves? We will never know, but understanding how those circumstances change a person and change the culture is important for us to know before we travel there.
Next class, we will have speakers who lived in Africa for several year.
The Journey continues and we continue to learn things about Africa and things about ourselves.
Check out the video! I highly recommend this video to any one looking for a good watch.
Hello readers, whoever you may be, My name is Beth Ryan. I am a freshman mass communications major at Jamestown College in Jamestown, North Dakota, and I have exciting news...I am going to Africa.
Well, not just me. A group from this college is making the trip to Chogoria, Kenya in May of 2012. I have been given the job of the journalist for this group. Starting today, December 2nd, I will be telling the story of our trip and bringing everyone out there reading along for the ride.
I will be posting pictures, writing update, making videos and sharing stories of our Journey to Chogoria.
After Christmas break, I and my fellow travelers will be starting a night class to help us prepare for the trip. That class will teach us a lot about where we are going, what we are doing, what could happen and who we could meet. Our guide and main leader is Chris Hoke. Chris has already been to Africa, so he knows his way around the place and makes us all feel a little bit more comfortable about starting this journey. We will also be accompanied by Cindy Ault, a science professor here at Jamestown College.
On this journey we will grow closer to one another, learn a lot about ourselves and each other, experience other cultures and learn more about the world around us.
Next week, the other girls and I will be meeting to put together a letter to send out. This letter will be sent out to our families and friends as part of our fundraising to pay for the trip.
Hopefully soon I will be able to post a picture of the group and tell you a little more about the people I will be traveling with.
