Gettin' Ready!

So here I am on the east coast of the US ready (almost) to head to the east coast of Africa for the summer. I am preparing to work as an intern with SOTENI, an organization dedicated to mitigating the AIDS/HIV crisis through education, treatment and community development in Kenya. I was lucky enough to receive a grant from Bowdoin's Preston Public Interest Career Fund that's helping me cover the costs of this trip, and I am very thankful for that support.

Today's my last full day in Maine before I take off to begin this adventure. Tomorrow I'll fly to Cincinnati, where SOTENI's US office is located. On Sunday morning I'll head to the SOTENI director's house to begin orientation with another intern. After three days of learning about the organization, our projects and Kenyan culture and history, we'll head to Nairobi. Once there, we'll go through our Kenyan orientation and begin our work. There are various ongoing projects now, and I will travel to different "Villages of Hope" to work on them.

To learn more about the organization and its goals, check out its website at http://www.soteni.org/.

Feel free to post messages here - I'll be sure to read them (assuming I have internet/battery power/electricity...)!