Current Edition Summer 2012 May 22, 2013

Nikki Hodges and her Kenyan school children.

Helping Hands

Collegian Delays Graduation, Puts Helping Hands to Work in Remote Kenyan Villages

Would you delay your college graduation for a year, forgo leadership roles on campus and within Chi Omega, and accept additional time away from your family to continue helping villagers in remote areas of Kenya?

That was the question posed to Nikki Hodges, Chi Kappa/ George Mason U, at the conclusion of her teaching job in Kenya last summer.

Recognizing that she could accomplish more by staying, Nikki accepted the invitation. Today, she is living and working in the remote villages of Shimoni and Mkwiro.

“I work primarily with the village schools,” Nikki reports. “Here, children attend primary school for nine years, graduating with an education equivalent to that of a third- or fourth-grader in the United States. Only a few students will go on to attend secondary school.”

In addition, Nikki is working on a personal fundraising project to benefit the Mkwiro Primary School Library.

“While I knew I would learn a lot, I had no idea how enlightening this experience would be. I see and have been part of the locals’ day-to-day struggles,” she says. Those struggles include poor sanitation and poor water quality, and Nikki finds the lack of electricity a personal challenge.

Working in remote areas of Kenya required Nikki to learn the Swahili language. “After intense study, I am understanding most of it,” she says, “but when a local starts talking quickly I have no idea what’s going on. ‘Pole Pole’ (Slowly . . . slowly!) has become one of my favorite expressions. Coincidentally, just one ‘Pole’ means ‘Sorry,’ which I say too much anyway. So it works nicely.”

Read more about Nikki’s life in Kenya on her blog at http://lifeinkenya2.blogspot.com/.
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