From August 1-26, ARI staff members, Steven and Kai traveled to Zambia and Malawi, Africa, to visit a total of 23 ARI graduates.
We would like to share with you a series of travelogues written by Steven Cutting.
We hope that through his writings, you will be able to feel the atmosphere, smells, tastes, and people of Africa, and know more about ARI graduates who live and work in their community!
In this first article, I’d like to explain about their purpose of the trip and its overview.
【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Vol.0 Prologue】
August 1-18 – Travel through Zambia and Malawi to meet ARI graduates
August 19-24 – Regional Convening of ARI graduates (sponsored by the American Friends of ARI); this took place in Mponela, Malawi in tandem with an agricultural conference organized by ECHO East Africa
This is a travel log of two intrepid ARI staff members who spent over three weeks traveling through Zambia and Malawi to meet ARI graduates in their local contexts.
We went there to see, and better understand, the communities our graduates work with, in all their beauty as well as their struggles. We wanted to see how our graduates engage with their people, and learn how they are bringing their ARI training back home.
This is crucial in keeping our curriculum relevant to the needs of grassroots rural leaders and ensuring we are fulfilling our mission of preparing these leaders to serve their communities.
I think you will agree that the best way to learn the intricate details of a people and a culture, is by being there, spending time in conversation over a meal of stewed goat or on a long car journey across the African landscape. These personal interactions build strong relationships between ARI and its alumni, and also strengthen networks among graduates throughout the region. Also, they are super motivating! Seeing what comes “after ARI” energizes us in our work and hopefully you, whoever you are reading this travel log, will get that same sense of excitement, that what ARI is doing in this world is truly something good.
Written by Steven Cutting (Graduate Outreach Coordinator)
Travelling with Kai Shinoda (Admissions and Recruitment Coordinator)
