Towards the end of summer 2009, I joined the World Computer Exchange as part of a two man team to teach multimedia at a new university in Kisumu, Kenya. The university is called The Victoria Institute of Science and Technology. Kisumu is the third largest city in Kenya and is located on the shores of Lake Victoria. We taught there for three weeks. I taught digital video in the mornings and my partner, Bryan, taught digital audio in the afternoons.

I have been asked a few times why I volunteered there. I went to Africa for a number of reasons: it’s the fabled 6th of the 7 continents that I was intent on seeing, it’s the place where the wild things are: lions, elephants, and great herds of wildebeest. But mostly, I went there because no other continent has suffered the pall of the colonial yoke more. It’s a continent where the few natural resources are squandered by petty kleptocracies. I felt it is the place where my effort could be more keenly felt and where I could make the greatest difference. However, no place is exactly as one imagines it. The students there were far more tech savvy than I thought and although poor by most standards, they seemed to get along fairly well.

My time in Kenya spanned the gambit between magical and miserable -but it was always memorable.

At then end of our commitment, I was joined by my wife, Janice, in Nairobi and we toured Kenya for another three weeks.

Please click on the link for the slideshow of the trip: Kenya 2009