As I have mentioned in my plans to connect with people in my "Networking" post, I have been very busy with 1-to-1s. (1-to-1s are relationship building conversations used as a framework for connecting individual interest and passions within public work)
Here is a synopses of some of my conversations:
Dennis Donovan
I met with Dennis on a very special day - "One day without shoes" (www.toms.com). I walked to campus barefoot as a way to experience what life is like without shoes and to understand the challenges people in this world face because they do not have the ability to afford shoes of their own. From this activism and the brief conversations with curious onlookers as I walked, I was already feeling energized. My conversation with Dennis heightened my mood and consciousness, even more. He could see my excitement radiating as I began to share my story and reciprocated with support and advice. Guidance from him as a globally prominent community organizer and a veteran advisor for similar projects gave me a great start to my networking journey. He stresses the listening and looking into other cultures instead of assuming and analyzing which has helped me understand the role I need to take in a culture when I am abroad. So often third world countries and organizations are told what they need from outsiders trying to "fix" problems. My challenge from Dennis is to look beyond these assumption models and facilitate myself in a way that can sustain locally fostered capacity of the people.
Sherry Gray
Sherry is the coordinator of the global policy area at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs (the hopeful future site of my education). This woman has such a warm heart and supportive attitude. I received her name from a coworker and wrote to her on a whim, in hopes that she could assist me in my efforts throughout the internship experience. Though she has little experience with Kenya, her travel wisdom could be put into a series of encyclopedias. She gave me invaluable advice as well as comprehensive travel information to save myself time and money while ensuring my safety and livelihood. Beyond her advice, she has been supporting my efforts to arrange a directed study contract for this internship. This contract is important because it would give me funding through the university as well as credits and field experience towards my graduate education. She has even gotten me thinking about enrolling in the Master of Development Practice instead of the Master of Public Policy.
Paul Walters
Paul is a second year Public Policy student and the Humphrey Center who did an internship in Nairobi last summer. We met to discuss working in Kenya and ended up connecting on multiple levels. I am not sure I have ever met someone with such a similar path and goals as my own. Our professional drives and personal ambitions were extremely parallel which allowed us to communicate well. There are some real chances for collaboration between our work in the future. The conversation was uplifting as he gave me very honest insights of working in Nairobi. I am planning to be in contact with the agency that he interned for as they have a youth program every Saturday. I am definitely interested in working with children and Paul is going to connect me with the director. I love children and often find them inspiring to my work and amazing resources of information when learning a new culture. Their innocence and love for simple adventure help to eliminate negative feelings about my life and offer a lighter time than some of the daunting work entailed in this "real world" people talk about. I look forward to that community while I am there.
Basil Mahayni
This semester I took a course that turned out to be a chance of destiny. The class title is a mouth full - Environmental and Economic Development of the Third World, but basically it has been a preparatory class for international work. I have learned the history of British Colonization all the way through to current agricultural consumption systems and everything in between. We analyze the economic and environmental interconnections that have been created, manifested in or eliminated by the push for development. Basil is my TA and as he so delicately put, I am a "blank page" for this information and completely fell in love with the holistic systems approach to understanding international livelihoods. He is such an intelligent person and I have learned so much from this course and through our conversations outside of the classroom. Basil has done work in Bolivia but beyond that his extended family lives in Syria and he is focusing his PHD work within their environmental and economic systems. His academic focus and personal experiences with working and traveling back and forth between cultures opened my eyes to the emotional journey that I will be exposed to, soon. On the other side of that coin he made me very aware of the ideal mindset for entering this kind of work - It is not about me. This will be especially challenging as I am very analytical about my world as I see it. I must now put my mind in a place ready to listen and discover what I do not experience. This advice is priceless as I have the time to prepare my outlook and inner-motivations of my work with KNCHR and the people of Kenya. I must, again, find a way to make my skills useful to build the human capacity that can be sustained locally.
