Mark Thoma Reports From Kenya

Where in the world were you?

Nairobi, Kisumu, and Ol Pejeta, Kenya, from June 17-26.

What work were you doing there?

I was with the International Reporting Project. It’s a group of international journalists and bloggers invited to Kenya to learn and report about women’s reproductive health issues. However, my reporting was much broader and focused mainly on Kenyan economic issues.

What does this work mean for your students, peers and/or the university?

I understand the economics of Africa, particularly issues involving Kenya, much better and that will definitely enhance my teaching. I met with a high ranking monetary policy committee member at the Central Bank of Kenya and learned about the similarities and differences with policy in the US. I learned quite a bit about their mobile phone money system and I learned about how social and educations services are allocated. Our visit to the CDC in Kisumu allowed me to get a sense of what the US is doing to help Kenya overcome some of its problems with diseases such as TB, malaria and HIV (e.g., we went on site visits to homes of poor subsistence farmers where they did AIDs testing while we observed and asked questions). We looked at rainwater collection systems – water is a huge health problem, particularly for infant mortality – and we visited many schools to see how the education system is doing (there is plenty of room for improvement; elementary education is supposed to be free, but many, many children from low-income households are excluded because they cannot afford the mandatory uniform and other hidden fees). We also visited maternity wards in hospitals, one in a rural area, and I visited the economists at Strathmore University in Nairobi – the best in Kenya – and began a relationship with the economists there.

Tell our readers something they should do if they ever visit this locale.

For fun, go to either Ol Pejeta or Masai Mara to see African wildlife of all types. For a more serious learning experience, visit the Kibera slum discussed in response to the next question (but be sure to take a “fixer” with you – it can be dangerous to go without one).

What was the most memorable experience on your trip?

The visit to the third biggest slum in the world, the Kibera slum in Nairobi, and other poor areas where we learned about life and the challenges of living under these conditions through visits with residents in their homes.

UO Abroad is a recurring feature in Inside Oregon that spotlights University of Oregon professors, staff and GTFs whose work takes them overseas.