Still More African Adventures
Faculty Meet New Student & Visit Alum

Faculty members Andrew and Kate Sykes and Heather and Mike Eckert recently returned from a six-week trip across southern Africa where they met up with Chris Kramer ’01 and Sean Moyo ’11 (pictured, center) from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Andrew reports the following:

“Chris (pictured below, second from right) is finishing a two-year Peace Corps stint in northern Namibia where he developed and teaches a computer skills course. He lives and works at the Divindu Youth Center, a government-funded trade school of sorts, where students ranging from 16-30 years old learn basic skills that can help them get a job and earn a living – from animal husbandry to sewing, and, of course, Chris’s specialty, computer skills. Chris showed us the lab/classroom that he put together and talked us through the curriculum that he has developed over the last 18 months. In that time, he has trained and placed dozens of students in jobs in the area. If not for the youth center, Chris’s students would have virtually zero chance of finding a job, and, instead, would continue the lifestyle of subsistence farming that so many in the area still practice.”

Andrew added, “Towards the end of our trip, we detoured into Zimbabwe to meet up with Sean, who is coming to Blair in September. We were able to get in touch with him through Grassroots Soccer (http://www.grassrootsoccer.org), an organization in Zimbabwe that uses soccer as a means to teach essential life skills to kids and to provide them with opportunities that they would not otherwise have. We spent part of the morning with Sean at the Grassroots office in Bulawayo, and then returned him to his school where his teachers and soccer coach showed us the typical African hospitality, interrupting their schedules to give us a tour and tell us all about him and the school. We look forward to welcoming Sean to Blair in September.” Another group of faculty and students also traveled to Africa this summer. Click here to read more.

Posted 7/29/09

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