In February of 2007, iMentor will launch a new beta program, iMentor Kenya, matching high school students from remote villages in Kenya with American mentors in New York City. The program is designed to test the limits of iMentor’s mentoring model and to investigate the power of email and the internet to build relationships that span the globe, between individuals from extraordinarily diverse life experiences.
Students from the two schools participating in iMentor Kenya are like the majority of students attending school in Kenya, with little or no connection to life outside the villages in which they live. An exciting experiment in the growing “global village,” this program will provide these students with an introduction to perspectives and technological resources that are now staples of the western world (and that have begun to flourish in Kenya’s major cities and universities) but have in large part yet to penetrate the rural areas of the country. 2007 will be a fascinating year in Kenya’s long history, as the country strives to achieve ambitious goals for educational, cultural and economic development. iMentor Kenya will provide an important counterpoint to news reports of Kenya’s progress, giving students a glimpse into life outside their community and providing mentors with access to the personal stories beyond the Kenya’s headlines.
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