As I stood in line waiting for my name to be called out
during AUP’s Commencement Ceremony on May 24, 2007 it was
hard to believe that it was all over. During this critical
moment, words and images rushed through my mind as I
attempted to recollect my four years at AUP: the UNESCO
Study Abroad Guide, FirstBridge, student workers, study
trips, The Planet, Grenelle, diversity, friends,
Combes, papers, Bosquet, the Kenyan economy, and of course,
earning a scholarship award that made it all possible. Like
every student at AUP, I had a story about how I discovered
The American University of Paris and the ensuing experience
as a student at this institution.
My memories of high school are of long stays in a rather
stringent and studious Catholic boarding school in Nairobi.
Instead of going on to university after graduation from high
school, as many of my peers did, I came to France on a
cultural and linguistic exchange program. Being in France
would help me gain a very much desired mastery of the French
language, which I had always been keen on. Nonetheless, at
the heart of my decision to move to France was an
unrelenting urge to break from the mold. In a word, I was
searching for a different path. Towards the end of my
exchange year in France I stumbled upon a copy of the UNESCO
Study Abroad Guide and came across AUP on the first page. My
university search came to a halt: I had found what I was
looking for.
Being a Kenyan citizen, coming to AUP in 2003 proved to be
tricky. Kenya’s economy had steadily plummeted since 1997
following gross corruption on the part of the government,
political violence, and terrorist attacks that dealt a big
blow to our then flourishing tourism industry. By 2003, the
year I enrolled at AUP, a slow recovery was underway.
Nonetheless, it would take a few more years before the
Kenyan economy reached full recovery and before its citizens
would feel the spill-over effects. A year after I joined AUP,
it became apparent that I could not afford to continue my
studies at AUP, and that I would have to look for another
alternative.
Just as I had resigned myself to the fact that I would be
leaving AUP, I found out about the Center for the Study of
International Communications (Centre d’Etudes de la
Communication Internationale-CECI) scholarship program. The
application process for the scholarship entailed a series of
rigorous interviews with CECI’s board of directors. Thanks
to my strong academic record, study of journalism, and
involvement with The Planet, I received the Annenberg
scholarship award that allowed me to continue my studies
here.
When I graduated from AUP, I took a lot with me: four years
of academic and extra-curricular challenges, cordial
relationships with my professors and great friendships with
my multicultural cohorts. It was at AUP that I first tried
my hand at writing and gradually became one of the editors
of The Planet, the University’s student-run
newspaper. It is also here that I witnessed the dynamics of
cultural diversity at work and understood the
indispensability of cross-cultural communication in our day
and age. Though I am yet to fully understand the satire of
Le Canard Enchainé, I’m confident in the level of
French that I have attained over the years. All in all, I
feel fulfilled when I look back at the four years I have
spent at AUP. Not only did I seize every opportunity that
the University and Paris had to offer, but I have also put
my abilities to work, and acquired new ones.
Currently living in Juba in Southern Sudan, I am now
managing CHF International’s Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
program. The program’s key objective is to raise awareness
of GBV using radio programs, and to build the capacity of
key sectors such as law enforcement, legal affairs, health,
and the psychosocial sector, enabling them to prevent and
respond to gender-based violence more efficiently. Indeed,
I’m putting my AUP degrees in Comparative Literature
and International Affairs to good use!
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