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Muhanji speaks about Kenyan peace as part of International Week
By Liz Farquhar
Staff Writer
John Muhanji's Bryan Jr. auditorium
presentation on March 24 started off slow - a
technician performed a sound check before a
small crowd. But soon Muhanji lit up the room
with a strong discussion, accompanied by a
slide presentation, explaining his creation of
a peace-and-conflict curriculum for Kenyan
high schools.
At one point he flipped to a slide showing
an older Kenyan couple whose home had
been soaked by a night's heavy rains. They
both had their hands extended, cupped in
gratitude toward the camera - but this gesture
would only become clear as Muhanji told the
story.
"Something just told me to stop (at their
home)," said Muhanji. "And the tears just
started running down my face. 1 wondered
'how am I spreading peace when these people
are living like this?"'.
His undertaking to promote peace
education is a response to riots that killed 300
people after the 2008 Kenyan elections, where
various tribes lashed out against a decision in
favor of Mwai Kibaki.
The next slide then showed that same
shanty, this time with a clean metal roof and
a row of students standing in the foreground.
The student team had finished their roof.
"This man can go to sleep knowing that
the next day will come," Muhanji said as he
evoked the clearest emotional response of the
evening from his viewers. '" ■ - > ■
A proposed curriculum in Kenyan high
schools could create an abundance of positive
student action and hopefully prevent another
political riot in 2012.
"We (would be) teaching them principles
of integrity, how to be good statesmen so that
when they are the leaders they can actually
make a difference in the African continent,"
said Muhanji.
The program headed by Muhanji and
Friends United Meeting also seeks to bolster
John Muhanji speaks to a group of Quakers at the United Society of Friends Women Interna- his country's reputation as a strong African
tional and Quaker Men International 42nd Triennial Sessions in July, 2007. nation. Muhanji held up neighboring Somalia
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as a counter-example, pointing out that
they lack a functioning central government.
His patriotic intention was also clear in his
rhetoric.
Traditionally, Kenya is politically stable.
It is a popular tourist spot for Westerners,
according to the BBC. However, this
reputation was tarnished during 2008 riots,
enacted mostly by high-school-aged young
men, according to Muhanji
Thus students are the target of his
conflict resolution agenda. They will have
the potential to bring from the proposed
program their new knowledge, experience
and integrity to the universities and beyond,
into society.
Here's how the program will actually
operate in Kenya's 200 Quaker high schools:
A class taught once a week to Quaker students
would employ a transposed American
curriculum, with the participants organizing
service projects communities throughout
Kenya.
Muhanji and his Quaker team are still
researching curriculum and compiling human
resources.
Variables include choosing the kinds of
materials suitable for different grades as
well as the actual programs most effective.
According to Vernie Davis, head of Guilford's
peace and conflict studies department and an
aid to Muhanji, these resources are readily
available. He mentioned, for example, that
Ohio high schools have a strong conflict
resolution curriculum - a potential model for
Muhanji's program
In terms of human resources, Muhanji will
organize an internship program aimed at the
Guilford community where students and
non-students alike would teach in Kenya's
Quaker high schools. The program will allow
students to choose between three- to nine-
month teaching experiences.
His program will affect over 200 Quaker
high schools and approximately 140,000
students. Muhanji suggested the impact of
the proposed program by noting that there
are only approximately 800,000 young people
in Kenya.