“Kwaheri!! Come again… Have a safe journey!!” This is a sign post that I pass every evening as I head home, an indication of how far I live. What I enjoy most about living far from the city, is all the drama that I encounter along the road, some of which can be found in this article, my blog.
Working at World Youth Alliance – Africa as an intern has been and still is a wonderful experience. Some of my highlights have been making visits to various schools to share our joy, spread our knowledge and to start World Youth Alliance clubs. The Aga Khan Academy has been our constant stop every Monday afternoon, and the students there are very unique. This applies to Itaaga Secondary School and Strathmore School as well here in Kenya, which have been our most recent schools to visit.
The students from these schools amaze me with their curiosity, which is evident in the kind of questions that they ask, and their inquisitive minds make me so happy. This is because I personally believe that it is in asking deep questions that we start communicating.
Strathmore School, a boys-only-school made me challenged talking to a group of young energetic gentlemen. I enjoyed sharing World Youth Alliance principles with them, and at the end of our presentation, I was glad that we could answer a few questions related to the human person.
I bet Alexander (my other fellow intern) and Elton were not happy with all the attention the boys gave me, but it was payback for all the attention they got from the ladies at Aga Khan Academy. But all in all, it is a wonderful feeling to witness young people signing the WYA Charter, and come up to us to ask how we can work together to implement dignity projects.
Lunch time is one of my favorite moments at the office, because it is the time we get together, look for what to eat, sometimes cook together, and talk and laugh a lot. It is the time we get to know each other better, and for the last three weeks, I am proud to say that I have found a new family at WYA. There is more joy and laughter than any place I have gone to, it is a family that looks out for you, does not judge you whatsoever, and that I look forward to seeing every day.
There is self-development in the advocacy talks that we hold, and we all have the freedom to share ideas and crack our heads together when planning events. It is a wonderful feeling to wake up every morning, and not ask for what the world will do for me, but instead ask what I can do for the world. There is more joy in self-giving, in planning camps, community projects, conferences, barbeques parties, and talks that will foster development in the youth. It is such initiatives that make me look forward to each sunrise, because I know that tomorrow holds more hope, more joy, more laughter, more friendships and networks to create, a lot to learn and in the short period I have learnt that everyone has an interesting story to tell.
By Joan Gichomo, a current intern at the WYA Africa Regional Office. If you would like to know more about how to become an intern at WYA Africa, click here.
