I was a young child ten years ago and the story of a terrorist attack on American soil though distant shocked me to the core. Because I was still young I may not have been able to comprehend how such an attack could have happened or why it happened, but one thing is for sure tough I was 14 at the time I still remember the Moment I received the news on Radio, I was preparing to go on a school tour to Lake Bogoria and I remember Cursing Osama for the whole of this.
The reason 9/11 is special for me in 2011 is because of what the American youth have done for me this year.
in my earlier post Being an alumna of egerton University , I mentioned about the connection to friends in the US. This are the people who are doing so much to change the world and improve the image of America outside of their homeland.I may not have learned much from 9/11 itself but I have learned more from the events that have happened after 9/11,
"I am a beneficiary of online mentorship from American youth and I am who I am today thanks to them"
These are youth who take up their time to teach mentor the their counter parts in other parts of the world online, many of whom we have not met face to face.They have taught me so many lessons in life regarding my professional career and development, as we Commemorate the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, one Question is on everybody's mind, what has America learned in the last ten years? Many will agree with me that some of the decisions that the Ameerican goverment made in reaction to the attack may not have been the best, e.g the war in Iraq and the detention centers.
The greatest lesson I have learnt is that it really is possible to unite and heal the world, the interaction with the Americans has helped me learn more about them and I am lucky to be among the ones who have seen the good side of America that sadly the media do not tell the world about. I have encoutered dozens of wonderful American youth who are now my mentors and life long friends and who are doing wonderful projects both in Africa and their home land to make the world a better place. People like Katharine Bierce of Opera solutions , Jacob Geller of MCN Partners, Ted Gonder and Sashin of Moneythink, Jessie wild of Wikimedia, and Vijaya Thakur of Resolve Network
As we commemorate 9/11, I want to salute these wonderful Americans who have sown a seed that will definitely produce the best fruits. their collective effort will surely unite the world, heal the divide, good ways to relieve suspicion and enhance our trust in each other.
It is so unfortunate the the American Embassy in Nairobi denied me a US Visa to attend Millenium campus Conference at Harvard University where I had been invited as a speaker.
This post is part of the what I planned to share at Harvard and I want to Say "God bless America"
This year's anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in America is special anniversary to me. I followed the proceeding via BBC world service and was touched by the messages Read by the US leaders and the for the first time in the ten Years I observed a moment of silence to mark the anniversary of commemorating a bottomless evil of what happened on 9/11,
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| Ground Zero Photo Courtesy of twitpic |
The reason 9/11 is special for me in 2011 is because of what the American youth have done for me this year.
in my earlier post Being an alumna of egerton University , I mentioned about the connection to friends in the US. This are the people who are doing so much to change the world and improve the image of America outside of their homeland.I may not have learned much from 9/11 itself but I have learned more from the events that have happened after 9/11,
"I am a beneficiary of online mentorship from American youth and I am who I am today thanks to them"
These are youth who take up their time to teach mentor the their counter parts in other parts of the world online, many of whom we have not met face to face.They have taught me so many lessons in life regarding my professional career and development, as we Commemorate the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, one Question is on everybody's mind, what has America learned in the last ten years? Many will agree with me that some of the decisions that the Ameerican goverment made in reaction to the attack may not have been the best, e.g the war in Iraq and the detention centers.
The greatest lesson I have learnt is that it really is possible to unite and heal the world, the interaction with the Americans has helped me learn more about them and I am lucky to be among the ones who have seen the good side of America that sadly the media do not tell the world about. I have encoutered dozens of wonderful American youth who are now my mentors and life long friends and who are doing wonderful projects both in Africa and their home land to make the world a better place. People like Katharine Bierce of Opera solutions , Jacob Geller of MCN Partners, Ted Gonder and Sashin of Moneythink, Jessie wild of Wikimedia, and Vijaya Thakur of Resolve Network
As we commemorate 9/11, I want to salute these wonderful Americans who have sown a seed that will definitely produce the best fruits. their collective effort will surely unite the world, heal the divide, good ways to relieve suspicion and enhance our trust in each other.
It is so unfortunate the the American Embassy in Nairobi denied me a US Visa to attend Millenium campus Conference at Harvard University where I had been invited as a speaker.
This post is part of the what I planned to share at Harvard and I want to Say "God bless America"
There is a saying: A person who put his finger in boiling water is careful about ice water too. This is probably the reason why you weren't allowed into the US, though this trend must change. Paranoia is what the terrorist wish to produce, and they must not be successful. 9/11 events came when my country was amid its hardest time with many attacks against civilians. At first it seemed as if this kind of attacks spread beyond the Middle East to New York too, but then I realized that this is a bigger, much more concerning event. I remember calling people I know who stayed at the US to check if they were okay. The past ten years were not easy. Let's hope for a better decade ahead.
ReplyDeleteAnduraru-I really feel for Israel and the best thing we can do is to accept the fact that we are all different and have different opinions about things in life, and to live harmoniously we must reject the divisions brought about by extremist views, we must have mutual trust and unite for a better decade. I thing this is a generation that is going to bring that change, the Social media generation
ReplyDeleteSocial media technology can bring people together, but it can also be used as a lethal weapon. I saw with my own eyes how people use social media tools to plan deadly attacks on civilians around the world (in nearly all continents). Our job is not only to promote the social media technology, but also to set models of positive productive use of it.
ReplyDeleteThe good thing about social media tools is that they are rather open, so on the one hand, lethal ideas and plans spread more quickly, and yet on the other, one can fairly easiliy follow the people who spread them and stop them.
I think we should learn from this youth who are committed to making a positive use of the resources that they have at their disposal- The social media -and using it for the betterment and advancement of society
ReplyDelete