One day in early July, I had the chance to visit the home of the late Dr. Gene Sharp, founder of the Albert Einstein Institution (AEI) and life-long scholar of nonviolent action.

This summer, I am working remotely as a Communications and Business Development Consultant for Pezesha Africa, a fintech startup based in Nairobi, Kenya. Pezesha was founded by its CEO, Hilda Moraa (pictured bottom left on the poster), an award-winning entrepreneur and author.

I wish I could say I am a stranger to Kenya. I wish I could describe the country with the awed language of a tourist. But mine is an even better perspective: one of a local boy and seasoned teenager who is a returning sojourner. Maua in Eastern Kenya’s Meru County is a small developing town hidden in Nyambene ridges of Mt Kenya’s slopes.

Last summer, I worked as a Research Assistant to Edward DeMore, a board member for the Institute for Global Leadership, on an incredible project aiming to create a course about how neuroscience and meditation can help to achieve flow in life. The team consisted of four members, including Dr. Lynne Bentley-Kemp, an undergraduate student, and me, a Fletcher student.

Sponsored by the Institute for Global Leadership and The World Peace Foundation, one of the Fletcher School’s most active research centers, the new podcast series “African Voices, African Arguments” explores issues of peace, justice, and democracy.