Transforming Human Rights Education Students Journey from Seattle to Loitokitok, Kenya
Our 2011 Caldwell Fund scholars, Abby Temple and Melanie Robinson, returned from Loitokitok this quarter, after overseeing the construction of the Learning Resource Center (LRC) they had envisioned while studying abroad in Kenya two years ago. Abby, a history major, and Melanie, a philosophy and CHID major, are both seniors at UW Seattle and co-presidents of the Kenya Human Rights Group they helped establish. As a part of their study abroad program in 2010, the UW students were asked to assess the problem of overcrowded dormitories in a Loitokitok primary school that also happened to be the school their instructor, UW Associate Professor of Law Joel Ngugi and UW CHR Steering Committee Member on Leave, attended as a child! After extensive research that included interviews with government officials, faculty members, students, and parents, Abby and Melanie came up with the idea of building the LRC that would include a library, a computer area, and a lounge which, the students hoped, would act as a safe space for conversations about health and well-being. […]