Coast to Coast Program

Tex Wambui Start Date: Dec 20, 2021 - End Date: Jun 19, 2022
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Leadership/Training Program
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Kenya
  • Tanzania

My Travel Story

by: Tex Wambui Start Date: Dec 20, 2021 - End Date: Jun 19, 2022
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Leadership/Training Program
  • Cultural Exchange
Hello everyone. My name is Tex Wambui. I am 24 years old. I am from California. I started S I T T Y - STAY IN TRUE TO YOURSELF with the aim of facilitating the necessary discussion of how to stay true to yourself. The vison is to establish a theme of self and commnity to assist individuals in finding their niche and understanding their worth as individuals through conversations. 

I have a vision of connecting Californians and Americans to the East African Region. The vision was influenced by the dynamic structures of culture, people, and language. 

I am launching this fundraising campaign for the Coast to Coast program, a trip to the East African Region for individuals that reside in California or the United States. I am beyond excited. This trip means so much to me because I belive that it is important for people to explore and experience the world, especially connecting diverse cultures and people. 

The region of East Africa highlights economic stability, cultural diversity, and historical significance. Cultural understanding offered by S I T T Y will facilitate the necessary discussion of the significance in East Africa, specifically Kenya and Tanzania, to bring uplift and enlightenment on the dynamics of culture, wildlife, politics and relevance to the globe. S I T T Y investment into education empowerment, culture enrichment and social diversity in awareness will facilitate the necessary discussion of how to value self and community parallel to practicing social-responsible measures of tourism and wildlife conservation. This a trip to East Africa, Kenya and Tanzania to create a social impact and capital investment into communities of historical significance. S I T T Y will establish a social impact through Adumu Safari's social impact movement of responsible tourism, voluntourism, and stewards of the planet. Adumu Safaris is dedicated to cross-cultural awareness, contributing to economic development in East Africa, and enriching the land of the Maasai people. This program between S I T T Y and Adumus Safaris will facilitate responsible ecotourism, educational empowerment and most importantly, a socially responsible motive of highlighting Maasai land and culture. 

Participants of this program will develop a thrilling experience of living close to game parks and East African land. The opportunities offered by Adumu Safaris develop social consciousness, responsibility, and an intimate knowledge of people and culture. With that, S I T T Y facilitates the necessary discussion of how to value self and community. Supporting local communities through tourism, volunteering, and dialogues, participants of this program will delve into understanding the ideology of Pan-Africanism. 

This program will run for two-three weeks focusing on the importance of Maasai culture, and their people, wildlife and conservation, and the Pan-African movement.

These experiences allow for the human society to have a common experience, but with a splash of difference in how the experience is perceived. It is important to value our communities by understanding the dynamics of what makes that society flow as it does. It is essential to increase our sense of appreciating nature by interacting and associating with multifaceted personalities and cultures. More importantly, as we strive to exist and push for better days of greatness, the importance of studying, appreciating, and understanding species biodiversity calls for the development and enrichment of preserving our global culture. Establishing self and community evolves into finding the why, the how and the who makes what we are today. It is important to foster discussions that relate to the development and enrichment of self by valuing the individuals that make up the world we live in. 

By studying the relationships among various individuals, and groups, S I T T Y hopes to reach out to communities in rural areas within the African continent to understand how they live, what they eat and what they do that makes them who they are. The interaction with tribes in Kenya and Tanzania will provide a glimpse into how some communities within the African continent have drastically decreased in size, and the traditions that are passed on from generation to generation. In addition, the environment the tribes live in may include endangered and vulnerable animal species; thus, it will be significant to understand the complexity of each species and what steps we can take to avoid their extinction. S I T T Y will raise awareness on the importance of species preservation, language preservation, and cultural preservation,  and in maintaining and sustaining biodiversity. 

The problem facing our society is the lack of appreciating natural forces. With this lack, it leads to eradication of culture and the importance of maintaining connectivity. Historical forces have influenced the dynamics of culture within the African continent. For over centuries, trading relationships have been developed to create sustainable environments and traditions that allow for the matriculation of knowledge and durability. Specifically, the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 partitioned Africa between European nations resulting in bilateral agreements. Thus, this period of imperialism exposed Africa to its resources and raw materials, but did not allow for the revitalization of culture. As a matter of fact, the dividing of the continent derailed the development of African tribes and allowed for European hostilities to take advantage of the opportunity, by depriving Africa of its traditions and ability to be self-governed. It is to say that Europeans play a huge role in the modern slow growth of African countries' economy, and it is essential to consider the value of African traditions. Issues such as deforestation have become a problem to hidden tribes that have little contact with modern society. Countries forcing these tribes to move into “civilization” and participate in politics that they are ignorant to.

Here are the benefits for this program: 
Community development
Through the efforts of connecting with different cultures, languages and people, professional discipline and a global network of promoting participative democracy, sustainable development, economic opportunity and empowerment of the people within the communities will be achieved. Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people to effect change within their conscious state of being. S I T T Y will be in the field conducting interviews, and researching to formulate an agenda that strives to build stronger and more resilient local communities. The findings will be displayed through video, writing, and oral conversations; thus, acknowledging the significant relevance of a community to the world.
Personal Development
Conducting interviews, interacting with the individuals and groups and devouring the knowledge of the cultures within Kenya and other areas, there will be an improvement in awareness of identity, development of talent and enhancement of the quality of life. Additionally, S I T T Y will navigate through the culture customs to build human capital and facilitate employability. The personal development SITTY is aiming to improve self-awareness, advance self-knowledge, develop strengths or talents, acquire a career, fulfill aspirations, and empower social relations and emotional intelligence. For instance, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, writers, motivators, actors, and developers of their craft are exemplified and given a spotlight to the world through factors of socialization - YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Uniform Resource Locator(URL), articles, research - to educate, promote, and display. This will bring attention to the featured individuals, and communities and as a result, it will increase tourism, provide a clear understanding of the environment, and raise the importance of valuing the rural development in Kenya and Tanzania.
Culture Enrichment
S I T T Y aims to improve the lives of individuals and groups by facilitating necessary discussion of how to stay true to yourself. The benefits that come from such discussions will enable the growth of a particular micro-culture. Cultural enrichment is the idea that art and free expression can benefit a community by exposing them to new ideas and letting the bad ideas be surpassed by good ones. So, S I T T Y will not be spreading new ideas; however, the organization will reach out to communities in rural areas doing interviews on how they live (Lifestyle), their environment, and biodiversity awareness. Moreover, going to national parks, national monuments and historical sites will allow for the development of culture appreciation for S I T T Y and most importantly, for the people that surround the areas of significance. For instance, enrichment culture is a very valuable technique developed by some giants in microbiology in the early 1900s. The essence of the technique is to provide growth conditions that are very favorable for the organism of interest, and as unfavorable as possible for competing organisms. So, with S I T T Y, the organization will provide a platform for individuals indigenious to the land and display the cultural differences and barriers to enhance perspectives and give a competitive advantage.
Global Impact
S I T T Y agenda of facilitating the necessary discussion of how to value self and community moldens a solid understanding of the practical living of the Maasai people. Through vlogs and blogs, long-term impact is to provide a generation of education that highlights the value of the Maasai people, the necessity of preserving and cultivating nature, and enhancement of cross-cultural awareness and understanding.

The structure of the program would allow a team of 12 participants, with 4 team leads. A total of 16 people. The 12 participants' roles will be to engage with the opportunities offered through Adumu Safaris. In addition, the participants will interact with the team leads in facilitating the necessary discussion of how to value self and community. This entails dialogues, vlogging, blogging, and most importantly, developing scenes of a film that displays and promotes the cultural diversity and longevity of economic lifespan of the Maasai people. The role of the team leads is to be a resource, a friend, a peer, and guidance into creating the film's scenery. Specifically, the 4 team leads include a Photographer, Writer, Artist, and Entrepreneur. In each role there are specific responsibilities. The photographer's role is to capture views, scenes and locations of historical significance to create a portfolio that will be used in producing a film. The writer's role is to journal conversations with locals, program participants, opinions on experience, and produce a script that entails the livelihood of the Maasai people, land and culture. The role of the Artist is to develop relationships with locals, program participants, collaborate with the photographer and writer on integration of visual text, audio, and recordings. The role of the entrepreneur is to develop strategies of local economic growth, preservation of wildlife and conservation dialogues to create awareness of the Maasai people in hopes to increase global investment into the Maasai culture, people and land. Each of these team leads will be provided through S I T T Y. In addition, the 12 participants will process into the program through S I T T Y, and the global reach is to create a visual art of perception that will generate awareness of self and community introspection through the exposure of Kenya and Tanzania. 

The Coast to Coast trip is geared to connecting cultures and individuals from Coast to Coast. This will all be possible through your help and support. All funds rasied will be geared towards making the trip possible for participants that have applied. 

Thank you and I appreciate each one of you. 

Much love and peace! 

  • Kenya
  • Tanzania

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