Kenya

In early February, Nayab and I chaperoned a school trip to Kenya. We, along with Tiffany and Teddy, brought 10 freshman delegates to a Round Square conference and safari adventure. The Brookhouse International School, just outside of Nairobi, hosted the conference. Schools from all over Africa, Canada and the UK that are apart of the Round Square association attended. King’s Academy was the only school representing an Arab nation, which proved to be a difficult, educational and highly enlightening experience for all of us.

Round Square is an organization dedicated to experiential learning. Member schools share very similar philosophies and pride themselves on adhering to and promoting the Round Square IDEALS: internationalism, democracy, education, adventure, leadership and service, as a part of their curriculum.

King’s Academy gained acceptance into the Round Square community earlier this fall- a process that Nayab and I became heavily involved and invested in. After working tirelessly on the application, and then more recently in preparing for the trip- choosing students, booking flights, registering, getting everyone squared away with vaccinations and such- Kenya became the light at the end of what seemed like a very, very long tunnel. This trip was truly a perfect culmination to our efforts.

We left early in the morning and flew to Cairo, where we had a 12-hour layover. We were lucky enough to spend this time exploring the ancient, mysterious marks of a distant and foreign civilization. We visited the pyramids and sphinx- absolutely massive and wondrous edifices I never expected to lay eyes on. This ancient splendor mixed with the grimy, overcrowded and industrious urbanity that is Cairo posed an interesting juxtaposition. A history book lesson set against a cityscape background. Perhaps the most bizarre part was eating in a Pizza Hut restaurant while looking out at the antediluvian Sphinx statue.

Between the marvels of Egyptian culture and infamous Cairo traffic, we had no trouble filling up our long layover.

We arrived in Nairobi at about 5 am and headed straight to Brookhouse. From plane to bus to breakfast, our students were troopers. The settled in, mingled with the other students and dove head first into a full day of conference.

Each day was dedicated to an IDEAL. The first day was about Service and Environmentalism. We visited a slum in Nairobi where students interacted with the locals and helped with various community projects- cooking, painting, cleaning, picking-up litter, and playing with children. We were working in conjunction with a missionary group, which cast a positive but odd light on the impoverished community and its future.

We spent the afternoon in Nairobi National Park where we saw the aftermath of a lion hunt, planted trees and interacted with giraffes.

The next day was about Adventure and Democracy. The whole day was spent at Brackenhurst, an outdoor conference center, where our students were presented with various team challenges. Activities included conquering a ropes course and rock climbing.

The evening brought tension and confusion with a very controversial debate topic.
All of the students were split up and asked to represent different countries. They discussed the issue and then presented their country’s stance based on how their country would respond to such a scenario. It focused on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict with an obvious bias towards Israel in its phrasing, which accused Syria of taking Ban Ki-Moon, Secrtary-General of the UN, hostage and threatening an attack of biological warfare. Our student delegates were mostly Palestinian, and it was a shocking scenario to hear. As can be imagined and expected, tension ran high and emotions flared. We asked our students to wait outside as we spoke to the administration. They were extremely regretful and embarrassed. They admitted not having realized the presence of a group for which the topic was so close to reality. We gave our students the choice to participate or to sit out. At the end of the debate, our students made an impromptu speech about the conflict and how it has affected them and their families. They spoke about the history and the current conditions of the region and really educated their peers who knew very little about the issue. Everyone was extremely open to learning and it turned out to be a very positive and enlightening experience for all. The King’s Academy group became quite popular and distinguished as especially promising leaders of the world. I was filled with pride for Jordan, my new home, King’s Academy, my new family and our students for inspiring both kids and adults at the conference.

The third day of the conference was dedicated to Internationalism. We visited a traditional market abounded with wooden masks, rich textiles and local crafts. At Brookhouse, Students cooked meals of all different ethnicities, which were featured in a sprawling buffet dinner. We delighted our taste buds with cuisine from around the work- Kenyan, Chinese, American, French, etc. Each school wore their national dress to dinner, making the clothing as colorful and diverse as the meal on our plates.

The closing ceremony took place after dinner. Each school group made some kind of cultural presentation- skits, dances, readings, songs and more. Ours took the form of the traditional dubkah dance and a PowerPoint presentation, which served as another opportunity for our students to educate their international peers about Jordan and the Middle East.

The next leg of our visit to Kenya was not amongst students and teachers, but among wild animals. En route to our lodge, we stopped to take in the view of the Great Valley Rift. The rift was the most vast and infinite landscape I have ever seen. It was like watching the opening scene of The Lion King come to life.

Next, we took a boat ride around a lake infested with hippopotami. The soft late afternoon sunlight, green-rolling mountains, exotic plant life and cool, blue water spelled out perfection. We were only feet away from multiple families of hippopotami in our skimpy little motor boats!

We first spent time at Lake Nukuru where we saw rinos, enormous flocks of flamingos and pelicans, a hollowed out buffalo carcass and lioness licking her lips, and a baby baboon kidnapping.
The next two days were at the Masi Mara game reserve. We drove around for hours spotting cheetahs and other rare animals. At one point we were completely caught in the middle of a stampede of about 80 elephants. On another occasion we observed a pride of 15 lions. We were also given the chance to walk beside a river filled with crocodiles.

I never imagined I would be on a safari in Africa! My experience in Kenya was a wonderful introduction to Africa and I hope that my future is filled with visits to many more of its incredible countries.