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The CM&T co-op has gained a new partner in preparing students for the real world: Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture
and Technology (JKUAT) in Kenya, Africa.
Through a partnership with JKUAT, Ashley Medina, Brett Boyte and Nick Douce, all CM&T majors, spent last summer building a
health clinic, elementary school addition and basic housing for residents of Kitale and Kitui.
“This was definitely hands-on experience,” says Medina. “Without any running water or electricity, everything was manual labor
digging, sawing, using a sledgehammer to break aggregate which was hauled down from a nearby mountain, carrying water from
a small watering hole to mix with the broken aggregate for a cement-like substance and building a rudimentary scaffolding
system. The sheer amount of physical labor needed to build the most basic structures was staggering.”
Despite the amount of work, Medina hopes to return to Kenya. “Living in Africa for 13 weeks made me much more humble and appreciative
of what I have. I feel a responsibility to look beyond my own corner of the world to the needs of the global community.”
Travis Chapin, CM&T program leader, says that same sentiment took him to Africa in 2003 as a Habitat for Humanity volunteer
and in 2004-05 as a Fulbright Scholar. “After 15 years of teaching, I wondered what else I could do that would have lasting
effect. I knew I could use my construction skills to help in African communities plagued by poverty and disease,” explains
Chapin. “I also wanted to find a way to build a partnership with a Kenyan university so our students and faculty could work
together and learn from one another.”
With an international partnership firmly established, Chapin’s vision of a global connection is a reality. “It is one thing
to say we are one global community, it is quite another to actually get out there and do something beyond your own backyard,”
he says. “Our students returned from Africa knowing they had done a good thing and eager to do more. I can’t think of a better
lesson to teach.”
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