This week, we got an unbelievable opportunity to see Mount Kilimanjaro, twice! Once in the morning and once as the sun was setting. What a wonderful way to begin and end a good day. As a geography major and political science major who aspires to become an urban planner someday, the past two days have been incredibly interesting to me. On both days, meetings have been held between our team, villagers, village leaders, community organizers, and government employees. We got to witness and be a large part of community planning; and how completely different it was from the planning I have witnessed back in the States. Still there are parallels. When planning projects like we are doing as we plan out the future of the canal, there will be those who get what they want and there will be others who do not. The goal is simply to do the most good for the most people; and still every person is going to have a different vision of what this looks like. However, today, as the community debated on the future of the canal’s funding sources things were looking up. Those at the meeting tended to agree on certain aspects, people still voiced their opinion, but progress was being made towards the future of the canal. This whole process of planning was just fascinating; there were heated moments, applause for the great work that has already been done, different ideas being presented, and even a bit of Cubs-Sox rivalry. Just looking forward to the great days still to come!
Taylor sitting on the canal wall at the river source
I am excited and emotionally moved by the the students’ postings and the resulting posted comments from followers. As an alumnus of Valparaiso University, it makes me very happy to see our students selflessly helping others, witnessing their professional growth via this experience, and seeing the love for their Brothers and Sisters in another land.
I want to give a special “shout-out” to Drs. H and Cory for the tremendous amount of time and effort that they have devoted to their students in all phases of this trip!
Taylor great to hear your story of how things work in a different country. Although working on the canal is a big part of your teams efforts, it is the relationships that you develop that will become the most important. Have a super fantastic 2nd week.