Kenya is a very impressive country. It has a beautiful nature, which is in big contrast to the chaos in Nairobi. Everyone knows that it is not a really safe country, but I must say that I never felt unsafe. You just have to use your common sense, like don’t take to much valuable things with you and never walk on the street at night.
The Kenyan food is really good. The nice thing of Nairobi though is that it is a big city, so they have fast food and western food aswell, which can be really nice at certain times. Moreover, going out is amazing! The African Music, but even more the African dancers; let’s say that we really cannot dance in The Netherlands.
If you are in Kenya you have to go on a Safari, which I found amazing. Next to that, I have seen a lot of Kenya, which is a beautiful country with his Mountains and not to forget the coast!
The thing I liked the most being in Kenya is that you are living very intense. In the morning, you are working and walking in the slum, and in the evening you do only fun things. A very big contrast, but I learned that that is the life there.
I did my internship at an office in Kibera. With more than 1 million people living there, Kibera is the second largest slum of the world. I worked at Polycom Development Projects, which is a membership organization working for women empowerment and girlchild welfare. Their mission is to empower women and girls in Kibera to manage their lives positively. Polycom Development Projects developed different programs and I helped them starting up a new project, which is called the ‘Talking Boxes’. With this project they want to promote the voices of childeren at the schools in Kibera. Children can write their problems down and put the little papers in a kind of suggestion box. With this, they can get more insight in what bothers those children and start up new projects to help them.
Because the project was in a starting up-phase, we selected 10 schools to look how the Talking Box would work. We found out that children really want to share their problems and the project works very well now at those 10 schools!
Next to this project, I did fund raising and with that money I could help some children personally with uniforms and school fees. Next to that, I could buy books for one school and desks.
This gave my internship something extra, because helping those people changed their lives.
The internship has really changed me, just because I have seen now how the real life is in a slum. Moreover, the feeling of being different is very strange, but a good experience I think.
Going abroad all by myself was a little victory for myself and I cannot put into words what it has done with me. You are learning on professional, social and emotional level, which is an experience I never expected before.
Going on an internship to Kenya was not a very measured decision for me. 4 weeks before I left, I decided that I wanted to do something totally different and went to the AIESEC-office for more information. It really appealed to me that AIESEC is an organization for students, by students and as a result of stories other people told me about AIESEC and the information session, I had faith in this organization and the internships they offered.
I can say now that AIESEC was the right choice. Going abroad was a big happening for me, but the good guidance by my coach, a culture-shock training and the fact that AIESEC organizes many activities next to the internship contributed a lot to this great time.
I have to say that AIESEC in Kenya is something totally different from AIESEC in The Netherlands, but that is of course part of the culture and AIESEC prepared me well to take that into account.
If you are doubting to go on an internship with AIESEC, I can really say that you should do it. Working and living in another country with a complete other culture is an experience you just have to find out yourself.
Mireille Ten Wolde
ICONN
AIESEC Tilburg
MAK Mentorship System
ESN Tilburg
esntilburguni
