Some students spend the summer working long hours, taking classes or lying in the sun. Others get to do all three – in Africa.

From May 12 to June 15, sixteen students earned six credits studying Swahili, building a cow shed and distributing textbooks as participants in the “Experience Kenya 2002” program.

“To learn more about the culture and how the Kenyans live, [Kenyan] students become hosts to our students and expose them to all different levels of the culture and economy for world understanding,” said Donna Cowan, program director.

One participant in the program, David Stember, decided to stay in the country for several more weeks. In an e-mail, he said his experiences in Africa are eye-opening.

“Everything in Kenya is so different than back home,” said Stember, junior in anthropology. “I am not experiencing culture shock, but it is very different here than even I could imagine.”

Stember’s adjustment to life in Kenya is a typical one, Cowan said.

“About the third week [students] seem to transform into being so much a part of the college because they interact with the local culture,” Cowan said. “They look forward to going back.”

She said a highlight of the program is the book-exchange program. ISU students bring textbooks collected on campus and present them to the Egerton University president and officials.

Cowan said the participants packed suitcases purchased at Goodwill with 80-100 textbooks on various subjects and hand-carried them aboard the plane.

“That was a very valuable gift, because their libraries are always wanting,” Cowan said.

Program participants attend a class to learn about Kenya during the spring semester before leaving for Africa in the summer, Cowan said. They then pay $1,800 and the cost of airfare to take two three-credit classes at Egerton University. The fee includes all expenses within the country, and costs the same as taking six credits at Iowa State, Cowan said.

Besides academic work, Cowan said program participants do field work, perform service projects, and participate in local cultural affairs. One project involves moving young boys off urban streets and into school. Participants help as many as 125 boys regain health, find shelter and return to school.

Last year’s, participants built fences and planted trees at western Kenyan boarding schools. This year participants built a shed to house a cow so students could drink milk.

The program began in 1999, and was developed in collaboration with Kenya’s Egerton University, which enrolls about 8,000 students and offers programs similar to Iowa State’s, Cowan said.

Cowan said she helped start the program “so that our students could see the country and also experience it now, in its transition.”