Briefing in Copenhagen

Pam and I had agreed that I should come over to Copenhagen in order to get to know TaC and its values better. Therefore, I spent a long weekend in Denmark's lovely capital in May. Pam and her husband David were so welcoming, that I felt at home right away. We were constantly talking about TaC: when we made our walk to the Little Mermaid (who was actually in Shanghai!), when we had lunch in one of the cute restaurants at Nyhaven, and even during our boatrides back home. Every day we discussed many issues over and over again, took minutes, planned my mission, drafted forms, and just couldn't stop brainstorming. We all went to bed after midnight every night. After those very intense, yet joyful und happy days I went back to Switzerland, where I come from, and couldn't wait anymore to pack my things and take off for Kenya.

How it all began

My first encounter with "Teach a Child - Africa" took place in Oxford, U.K. I must say, back then I didn't quite grasp the greatness and impact of the project. My kenyan flatmate Njeri took me to the launch of TaC at New Road Baptist Church in Oxford on December 1st, 2007. There, I met Pamela Steele, Executive Director of TaC, for the first time. I was truly impressed by her authenticity, energy, and strong will to change the destiny of the less fortunate. Back then, I understood that education is the key to everything. By giving underprivileged talented youth the chance of going to secondary school and reaching their intellectual potential, we can actually make a true difference.

After leaving Oxford and moving to Heidelberg, Germany, for further academic research, I didn't quite follow TaC's activities and got busy with other things. Two years later, my former flatmate Njeri had moved back to Nairobi and kept saying that I should come over and work in Kenya for a while. After finishing my Ph.D. at the University of Bern, Switzerland, I started considering Kenya as an actual option. And this is when TaC came into the picture again. Eventually, Pam offered me to work for TaC as an evaluation and monitoring volunteer. I agreed immediately as I clearly felt, that this is what I wanted to do: leaving the academic ivory tower, getting involved with the real life out there, and addressing urgent issues.

Preparations for Kenya

After the briefing in Copenhagen I had set myself a clear agenda: I wanted to raise all the technical equipment needed for the mission by myself and bring it to Kenya. Since I knew I would quit my job at university, I started with an event for my working colleagues, baking cakes and selling a few of my books I no longer needed. My colleagues liked TaC and the project so much, that they suggested to throw money together for a laptop. Nine colleagues from the faculty of humanities eventually joined and raised 400 Swiss Francs. With that money I purchased a very smart notebook that will serve me as mobile office during the field mission. Because I was in a very good mood that day, I told the sellers of the notebook, a nice Swiss couple, where their notebook would travel and which task it would fulfill. And then the unbelievable thing happened: they gave me a second notebook for free! Just like that! I will gladly hand it over to the project coordinator in Kisumu, who urgently needs a computer in order to write all his documents for TaC.

After the successfull funding of the computers, the word about TaC spread: two friends and their mother enabled me to purchase a camcorder, which means that I can actually document on site the work TaC has done - and I will also interview the sponsored students during my visit! Four friends gave me their mobile phones they no longer needed, others gave money for laptop cases, surge protectors and even a solar charger - surely a smart thing to have in such a remote province like Nyanza! The cutest action though was carried out by my 74 year old dad. I told him that some of the children are so poor, that they don't even have a pen to fill out the form and apply for TaC's sponsorhip. He frowned and said: "No pen??!" Then he walked straight into his bank, told them about TaC and walked out with a hundred pens. With the biggest smile on his face. That was really the most heartwarming thing ever.

Four days before take-off I had everything together I needed for my mission. Dear friends and family - you were great!