In the early morning of Saturday, May 22nd, a big blue truck will leave Nairobi and head south. On board there will be about twenty teachers and educators from the Kenyan North Rift eLearning Consortium. Their final destination: the fifth eLearning Africa conference in Lusaka, Zambia, about 1200 miles from their home town.
It is a little known fact that education can be a real adventure. Twenty enthusiastic teachers and educators from the North Rift eLearning Consortium, Kenya, now intend to prove this beyond any doubt.
To be able to attend the fifth eLearning Africa conference, which takes place in Lusaka, Zambia, next week, they have pooled their resources and rented a truck to take them 1200 miles through Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia to the Mulungushi International Conference Center in Lusaka.
The Consortium comprises private and public schools, teachers, individuals, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) service providers and NGOs who have come together to focus on the issue of eLearning and the use of ICT in schools and the community at large in the North Rift Valley, Kenya.
“This is a trip of a lifetime and it is hoped it will bring those members making the journey closer together,” says Mathew Kituu, ICT Advisor to the Consortium and one of the organisers of this adventurous ride. “At same time, it will give members the opportunity to see for themselves and appreciate Africa’s diversity and the challenges the continent faces in various landscapes and settings,” says Kituu, commenting on their hopes.
The trip starts in Nairobi early in the morning of May 22nd, from where the group will head south for Eldoret, where another bunch of companions will climb aboard the huge blue vehicle. Eldoret is about three hundred kilometres from Nairobi. The journey then takes the group via Arusha all the way to Morogoro, Tanzania, where they will set up camp in tents and dine at a campsite.
The next stretch takes them to Mbeya on the Zambian border. Before crossing over to Zambia they will spend another night in tents out in the wilderness, camped at the foot of Loleza peak, (2656 metres above sea level) in the Poroto mountains in South Western Tanzania. The following day, May 24th, the final leg of the journey will see their triumphant arrival in Lusaka.
Some of the teachers on the truck will be presenting papers at the conference, so we look forward to hearing presentations packed with real-life experiences!
We wish you all a safe trip and look forward to seeing you in Lusaka.
