Raising awareness in Africa

This summer, senior Kunal Desai didn't think about sleeping in or slacking off. He forgot about homework; finding a job was the last of his priorities and preparing for MCATs seemed a distant task. \nInstead, for three months, the biochemistry major committed himself to the task of helping others in a totally unfamiliar place.\nWhile some of his contemporaries rose at about 11 a.m. each day, Desai woke daily at 7 a.m. to begin teaching at a tiny Kenyan preschool. For three hours a day, his patience was tested, his spirit tried. But for Desai, it was all worth it.\nDesai is part of Outreach Kenya Development Volunteers, a group of IU students and faculty who travel to Africa to assist Inter-Community Development Involvement, a grassroots Kenyan non-governmental organization. Volunteers arrive in mid-May and work closely with residents of the Western Province of Kenya to implement community development projects throughout the summer.\nThe brainchild of alumnus Hank Selke, the group strives to increase AIDS awareness in the Western Province. Founded in 1999 by Selke and fellow student Philip Roessler, Outreach Kenya lets volunteers witness first hand the "corruption and greed that can inhibit progress," according to the group's Web site. \nSuch circumstances distinguish the group from other traditional non-for-profit organizations. Outreach Kenya works not from the top, but with the "common people," -- those not usually reached by conventional educational methods.\nBut it makes financing the groups' endeavors difficult. Because of limited funds, volunteers at the group's conception were unable to shoulder expensive start-up costs, placing restrictions of the sort of work OKDV can perform.\nOperating with what directors Beth Messersmith and Martine Miller call a "shoe-string budget," Outreach Kenya is incapable of raising funds necessary to implement entirely new programs. \nYet volunteers don't see financial hindrances as setbacks; instead, they work throughout the year to garner support from the IU community, as well as from the IU Medical School in Indianapolis.\nSurfing the IUB Web site during his senior year of high school, Desai, a Wells Scholar, stumbled upon the OKDV Web page and contacted then-director Roessler for more information. \nThe pair "hit it off well," Desai said, and upon coming to campus, Desai immersed himself in learning the ropes, attending planning meetings and discovering what it took to coordinate a mission like theirs. \nHis interest piqued, Desai was prepped for takeoff -- but his parents weren't quite sure. \n"Initially my parents did not want me to go," Desai said. "They were very adamant about that and they told me I had to fund myself for the trip."\nSo Desai got a job and applied for an Honors College study abroad grant. He also used the summer stipend awarded by the Wells Scholars Program. \n "They just didn't like the idea of going to a far away place with so many dangers such as malaria, road accidents, and all those horrible stories they've heard about Africa," Desai said. \nThey began to come around, however, upon receiving e-mails from their son in Kenya. \n"After I told them how safe I felt in Bungoma and in Kenya in general, they realized how wrong they were in their perception of Africa," Desai said. \nOutreach Kenya kicked off this summer's program with a stay at the IU Medical School's housing facility at the Moi University Medical School in Eldoret, Kenya. Following a two-night stint in Eldoret, students were transported to Kabula, a village about 10 kilometers from the town of Bungoma, where most volunteer efforts took place.\nVolunteers were housed in what Desai termed a "huge family farm" with Kenyan volunteer Reuben Lubagnga.\nThroughout the course of three months, OKDV volunteers reached over 7,000 Kenyans through AIDS education presentations. The basic presentation used posters to introduce native Kenyans to traditional AIDS terminology. Several Swahili AIDS prevention films were screened as well. Swahili translators were on hand if needed as well, Desai said.\nOKDV volunteers also constructed a library in Bungoma. A system of borrowing and lending was devised by graduate student Tracy Lassiter, who organized a makeshift library in a volunteers' home until the final facility was ready. \nThe group also specifically targets women's groups with ideas for sustainable living projects. Graduate student Elke Jahns met with several groups over the course of the summer and assisted three women in implementing their own sewing business and a teaching school for other would-be entrepreneurs. \nBut for Desai, the most stirring part of his experience was interaction with Kenyan children.\n"Even though we spoke different languages and had no idea what the other was saying, they totally opened up to me and the other volunteers," Desai said. "They were constantly laughing and playing with us with open hearts. When they were sad, I felt sad, and oftentimes, I cheered them up by making funny faces."\nProjects for next year include a construction of Health Information Center and maintenance work on the library and preschool in Bungoma.\nThe group's efforts extend far beyond the African continent, as well. Outreach Kenya has, and continues to, impact students and administrators alike on the IU campus. \n"I have found the activities of the Outreach Kenya Development Volunteers to be quite extraordinary," said former Bloomington Chancellor Kenneth Gros Louis. "The two leaders of the volunteer group are deeply committed to helping the people of Western Kenya and have demonstrated that by spending summers there, collecting books for Kenyans, and sending materials as they have collected them from a variety of organizations in the community."\nThe group so deeply impacted Gros Louis that he alluded to its achievements in his 1999 Commencement address. He also obtained a laptop computer for them to use in Kenya. \n"In brief, anyone who speaks to the leaders of this organization could not help but be positively moved by what it is they are attempting to do," he said.\nDesai will succeed Roessler this year as director, along with senior Alanna Galati.