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An Open Mind

By Christina Coco '23

As a recent graduate from Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management, I had taken SOM 354, managing in a global setting, two years ago when the possibility of traveling to Kenya was merely an idea by Professor Wimer. Throughout this experience, I decided to take the approach of being a quieter version of myself. I tended to listen more than I spoke and what I found was the ideas that I had come to understand initially were overshadowed by the stereotypes perpetrated through the media. Educationally, I found that not only business acumen that I had learned throughout my 4 years were vocalized in businesses such as Unilever but were also physically in front of me such as the recent highway built throughout Nairobi (an FDI example). I went into this experience with an open mind, unsure of what I would see or find. Unsure of how it would connect with my career once I left Syracuse, however, what I learned was far more than I could’ve ever asked for or expected.

The first idea I relearned was perspective. While this may be a loaded word, perspective was the first and obvious way to describe Kenya’s impact on me. Why? Because it was wrong. There is a severe lack of cultural understanding in America with some not even able to differentiate the fact that Africa is indeed not one country, let alone point Kenya out on a map. Often, the first couple words that individuals think of when thinking of Africa is “poverty” and “war,” and while there is an element of both of those things in Kenya, the stereotype that gets passed through our education system missed the far more important parts of the beautiful country. Throughout this experience, I have been met with nothing but love. Love from our hosts, love from our partners, and love from unsuspected people along the way. Kenya is a rich culture that never seemed to lose any of its colors.

The second idea I relearned was the true definition of a collectivist society and culture. In the classroom, we learn that America is an individualist culture. We rely on ourselves to move up the ladder to accumulate the most wealth often leaving behind those to get ahead. This experience has furthered my viewpoint of the importance of family both biological and extended. When first arriving, we were met with open arms by everyone and anyone we met. People wanted to get to know us and understand where we came from just as much as we wanted to understand who they were.

The third idea is this perception that what may look like poverty to some, is actually community for others. When visiting places like the Mwelu Foundation and the Child Discovery Center, the students and individuals we met were always excited to show us where they slept, ate, learned and bathed. All of which, from a privileged standpoint, were all far from the Western norm. Julius Mwelu, the founder of The Mwelu Foundation, explained it perfectly to our team when he said that often the children within informal communities only know what they have seen. It’s home for them. It’s all they know.

As I now start a new journey after graduation in New York City, I understand more holistically the importance of not only being a good global citizen and global manager but also the importance of being an informed one. We will come across a variety of information in our life, often not knowing what is right or what is true. Truth, honestly, can be a hard thing to figure out, however, what I have taken out of my four years at Whitman and this experience is the importance of identifying those biases and conducting our own research to truly discover what is right and what is true.

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