During our first week in Eldoret, our international program liaisons and faculty gave us a tour of Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya. We were stunned by the sheer size of the campus, as it is much larger than Western’s at over 3000 acres! Following the tour, we had the huge honour of meeting with the Dean of Business and Economics, who gave us a warm welcome to Kenya and Moi University. In our meeting with the faculty members, we learned that over 100 students signed up for the Ivey Business Decision Making Course! The warm welcome and eagerness from the students made our team all the more excited to teach Business Decision Making at Moi.
For our first excursion, we visited the Poa Place Gardens, where we saw traditional rural housing units and a variety of animals. Since the majority of the population in Kenya lives in rural areas, it was very interesting to see how traditional housing units varied from tribe to tribe. Amid the hot sun, stepping into the cool darkness of the baked clay homes was a welcome break! After touring the homes, we saw the animals at the zoo. Unfortunately, the lions were sleeping when we visited, but we hope to catch them awake on a safari trip in the future!
Our second excursion was visiting Kerio View. At an elevation of 1000 meters, we had a full view of the Great Rift Valley. Taking in the natural beauty of the valley was breathtaking, and our team thoroughly enjoyed the view. However, one of the most memorable moments occured when children from up the mountain screamed “Hello!” to us foreigners below. The children were so excited to see new people, and they were incredibly friendly! Our ears were ringing with their jubilant greetings long after we left. Overall, the Moi team had an amazing first week in Kenya and we are very excited for the rest of our stay!