Lions and Hippos and Opportunity, Oh My!
By Torie Klocko, Guest Writer While I’m open to new experiences, as I’ve gotten older, I find myself becoming more discriminating in the risks I’m willing to take. At best, I like to think of myself as “quasi-adventurous.” In fact, before March, I never would have considered Sub-Saharan Africa as a realistic career option. The […]
A Leadership Crisis in Africa
By Bethany-Angel Chijindu, Staff Writer The more things change, the more things stay the same. That I think could be the best way to describe the current leadership crisis on the African continent. In the past few days, we have seen a major change in Zimbabwe, with Robert Mugabe leaving power and office after 37 […]
Why Many Africans Do Not Celebrate Halloween
By Bethany-Angel Chijindu, Staff Writer Growing up in Nigeria and living in both Zambia and Kenya, Halloween was not a commonly celebrated holiday. This is in contrast with Christmas and Easter (the Christian holidays), Eid Al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha (Muslim Holidays), and other traditional festivals that are widely celebrated by the practitioners of each of […]
Telling Our Story: An Alum’s Experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo
By Ken Strange, Guest Writer, ’87 I was happy to be back after several months…happy to return to the winding canyon trails in the Santa Monicas where I could feel the warm California sun on my shoulders. I stopped midway through my run—the hills appeared more like those of Ireland than Agoura Hills—and was comforted […]
Eyes Open: Africa
By Lara Cornelius, Staff Writer There I was. A 6 foot 2 inch tall, 18 year old blonde, and smack dab in the middle of a suburb in Ghana. I was the pink elephant in town. Women and men stared at me with curiosity, the “bruni” (white girl), like I was some sort of alien […]
Regional Night Spring 2016: Ensemble
By Emma Livingston, Co-Editor Thunderbird’s last Regional Night of Spring 2016 took place Saturday April 2nd. The theme was “Ensemble” and the dinner menu impressively managed to incorporate cuisine from four continents: pierogis from Europe, feijoada and empanadas from South America, injera and atkilt wat from Africa and even pepperoni pizza from North America. After […]
Treat No Trick: Feed My Starving Children
By, Gloria Liu Not every child in the world has the privilege to play ‘trick or treat’ on Halloween’s Day. In the underdeveloped countries, children crave for food rather than a candy. Today, China Entrepreneur Network (CEN) volunteered to join the Christian non-profit organization – Feed My Starving Children to help these needy children. Twenty-eight […]
Regional Night
It was another bumping Saturday night in the TEC for this trimester’s last regional night, celebrating the European, Middle Eastern and African cultures. The event tent filled early, as usual, with some varied and delicious dishes waiting for us (and, of course, the free beer). After polishing off my second plate, and leaving little room […]
Nairobi
By Rick Beitman “It’s experiential” was a phrase oft stated by Dr. Babarinde during the 2013 Kenya Summer Interim as a response to the unexpected. This maxim served well in preparing our group for the endless changes in schedule, the extremely fluid time, bartering for artwork at the market, contending with gastro-intestinal issues, and dealing […]
Sustaining Growth in the Gap: The Challenge of African Governance
By Djoudie Etoundi Africa’s Lions are indeed on the move, per McKinsey&Co’s highly successful characterization of Africa’s recent economic performances (the most cited report in history according to Lanre Akinola, editor of “This is Africa”). But although the Lions’ movements have been acknowledged, the route they must travel onward still remains murky to most observers. So […]
