Internship Info

As I have mentioned before, my study abroad trip has both an academic and internship component. I will be with a host family in Nairobi until October 24th while I take classes. The last week of October I will be moving to Kisumu which is in the far western part of Kenya on Lake Victoria. Here I will be living with another host family. The Kisumu host family is comprised of a mom, a dad who works primarily in a rural part of the country, a university student and the house help. The university student studies Public Health (the program chose to pair me with this family because of this).

For my internship, I will be working with the OGRA Foundation. They have a health clinic that I will spend some time at but I will primarily be doing community outreach health education. The OGRA Foundation does a lot of work with educating people about nutrition, HIV/AIDS and water sanitation. They receive some funding from U.S. government programs like PEPFAR and the USAID. The OGRA Foundation also works with OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children) and works towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals that were set by the United Nations. Another large component of the OGRA Foundations work is using sports to promote health. I was very excited to hear this since during my time in Belize during high school, I helped organize a soccer and music camp for the young people in the community to promote structured activities and healthy alternatives.

I will be working with the OGRA Foundation until December 5th before returning to Nairobi for finals and debrief. I will return to the internship on January 19th following a weeklong research seminar in Nairobi where I will plan out my second semester's research.