"TERVETULOA SUOMEEN"
Finland, the home of Nokia and one of the world's most
peaceful, competitive and livable countries, humbled Tofauti by sending us one
of their very best in the name of Kat Ainamo.
Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialization, remaining a
largely agrarian country until the 1950s. Thereafter, economic development was
rapid and it’s now one of the world's wealthiest nations with per-capita income
of $49,349; and with a population of around 5.4 million people, pretty much the
population of Nairobi alone!! Hope that slight info has made a difference in
your paradigm already. Adding to the paradigm shift, Finland was one of the
first countries to embrace a woman president (and for two terms) and due to its
adept technological superiority and advancements they also have implemented
e-voting and tallying system in their electoral process!?
Katariina Ainamo as we preferred to call her Kat due to our
obvious heavy tongue pronunciation issues, was an immediate inspiration to the
won’t stop can’t stop movement, first by her genuine affection and care for the
destitute disadvantaged kids. Her philosophy being “Together Forever” she has
vowed to always carry the Tofauti spirit with her and if not come to visit occasionally
and possibly even do her masters at
Strathmore University. Now how’s that for inspiration!! Here’s a brief peak at
her experience with the Tofauti on the move la familia.
Expectations and how
they were met:
My expectations were not big since I have learned not to
expect too much to avoid disappointment. I did expect what I’m sure everyone
does which is meeting new people, learning about the Kenyan culture and
enjoying the warm weather of Kenya (in July…). I definitely didn’t expect to
have the best 2 and a half months of my life meeting the most amazing people,
eating the awesome Swahili food, traveling to different gorgeous places and working with the coolest kids ever. But all
the above happened and I could not be happier that I ended up in Kenya and
especially with Tofauti.
Work wise I had the amazing opportunity to work with the
cutest, nicest, smartest and best- humored kids I’ve ever met at Vijito Primary
where I fell in love with more boys that I never thought possible. Those kids I
will always remember and hope to be part of their life also in the future.
What did u get from
the Tofauti Internship experience? What value did we add to your life?
I got an endless list of new and different experiences
starting with working with Scream kids, getting friends that will surely last
for the lifetime and trips that I will never forget.
Value-wise I feel like I now have a stronger connection to
the continent that my heart belongs to and, like most of us interns surely feel
after working with these children, an appreciation to life and what we have and
the willingness to help the ones that are not as fortunate. Shall I ever
complain about my radiator not heating my room enough or my pillow not being
soft enough (okay, definitely not my usual complaints but u get the point),
anyone is welcome to come and give me a proper slap on the face.
But yes, what I got from Tofauti is more than I can even put
into words. I got something that changed me as a person, changed my
perspectives towards life and made me see things in a complete new way.
What other ways could
we have engaged you in the field?
The thing that I loved about Tofauti (and especially about
Ryan of course) was that I felt free to go and do what ever I felt like doing
in the field, this meaning that if I wanted to visit another project, there was
no problem and if I wanted to go and wonder in the slums, also,hakunamatata.
So, I have zero complaints about this part.
How was the food in
the house?
One word, no two: Mathew and love. Loved both and always
felt the food was made with love by Mathew (very poetic, I know). Mathew made
the house to be what it was and also always prepared me my special food if
there was meat for dinner. Missing that chapatti and mandazi…
What can we do to make
the Tofauti Internship experience better?
Seriously nothing comes to my mind. Just keep doing what
you’re doing, worked out great for me.
Have your say:
Oh boy, where to start..
Like I said above I had the MOST amazing experience in
Kenya. What made it what it was, was Tofauti. I got to work in a place that I
truly loved with kids that literally changed my life and made me understand
that even small kids can be extremely cool. I met friends that actually became
my family including Kenyans, Bots and my little dada from Brazil. Because of
the perfect location of the house and friendly neighborhood, I met the nicest
guys aka O-boys and with all these mentioned above we had the most fun, most
craziest and definitely the most epic adventures ever, both inside Nairobi and
outside. One person that made me feel like home probably the most was Mathew.
He was there laughing, listening to my complaints, making me laugh when I was
pissed about something and in a time of loss comforting me. So a massive
asante sana to Mathew, he had a huge part of my experience. Also I could have
not hoped for a better boss, or like I’ve put it “boss”. Ryan was the most
encouraging and supporting boss that a girl can hope for and made me feel like
I actually made a difference, which is a credit that I have a hard time giving
to myself. On top of that he was a great
friend hence the “” on boss. So thank you for everything and don’t get too used
for me being gone ‘cause I’ll be back!
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