Even though I was with a couple of hours sleep, and generally not the greatest morning person, today’s early start had me in good spirit and in a mood to make the very most out of today’s first session of workshops at Kenyatta university. We gathered and checked all our equipment, loaded it into the minivan with us and headed off and just under an hour later we arrived at Kenyatta university.
I really didn’t know what to expect of our first day, especially meeting the Kenyan students and how they would respond and collaborate with us in the workshops, as I never properly engaged with any African youth before and had no idea as to what kind of personalities I would come across – but I kept an open mind and prepared for any scenario.

To familiarize ourselves and sort of break the ice between all of us, I initiated a seating arrangement with us all sitting on the floor in a big circle and everyone introducing ourselves in turns. I think this was vital to the rest of the workshop as we all had eye to eye communication and could speak to each other without having to raise our voice to be heard, as everyone was in audible range of each other.
The workshop shaped up pretty quickly, and I realized from the first hour of the workshop that they Kenyan students we are working with are actually very intelligent people that absolutely feed off knowledge and education. I was blown away by how eager they were to engage and express ideas and, in general, stimulate a discussion with us from UoB, as well as discussing various ideas and issues about their community amongst themselves. Specifically, a small discussion debate rose between two Kenyan students about the messages that Kenyan entertainment television transmits to its audiences, and what I was really happy to see was each person respecting each other’s view.

The rest of the first part of the workshop ran smoothly and according to plan, with us splitting into smaller groups in order to focus on the Zoom microphone and give them an opportunity to have a hands on experience with how it works. By the time we finished the lunch break and began the 2nd part of the workshop we had established a pleasantly friendly bond and could communicate on a comfortable level with the students, which resulted in the Audacity introduction being successful.

By the end of the day, although really happy with all the work we had done and what achieved, we were desperate to get back to the flat and relax…but the return journey odyssey that was in store with us consisted of encountering crazy cd-selling babyman, traffic police enforcement and horrendous Nairobi traffic.
Expected return journey time: ~1 hour
Final return journey time: 3.5 hours

Time for a couple o’ Heinees and Casa Del Lads shenanigans !