Meeting with Florence Oloo, vice Rector of Strathmore University.
1)Strathmore University represents nowadays one of the leading universities in Kenya. In Africa where 60% of population is younger than 21 years, which is the role that education can play in the Development process?
Young people in Africa are very eager to receive education. The parents would do anything to send their children to university. It happens they sell their cows or land to support the costs of education. They know that if their children receive a good education they will have more chances to get a better job. And a good job always means a good economic position, the possibility to come out from their difficult condition. Therefore, education is very important, it is the only way to make Africa grow. Not so much aid must come from outside but education. If the international aid comes through education, it would be really a great help for the Country.
2)Strathmore is a centre of academic and professional excellence but it is also very committed in developing programs for the improvement of social conditions of the local and most emarginated communities. Which is the reason of this commitment?
One of the founding principle that Saint Josemaría Escrivá gave to people who went to found Strathmore was that an education institution had to serve the country and to serve in the way the country needs. Therefore, Strathmore always looks at the environment to see which is the particular need to respond to. At the present time we realized that there are a lot of marginalized places –as Kibera for example-, so we are concentrating our efforts to support free schooling, short entrepreneurial courses to learn to start a business; we have a Business incubation centre to teach people how to run a business in order to help people to elevate their life and the environment they belong to.
3)I know it is not so easy to do…but if I asked what are “the main problems” of Africa…what would you answer?
One of the biggest problems is corruption both in the private and public sector. How can you fight that? Not by protests but by education. Educating our students that through their professional position they have the chance “to serve” and corruption is not the way to serve the others. It is impossible to eliminate it completely but it is a long term plan, education itself is a long term plan.
4)According to you which are the points of strength on which African people can count on in order to improve and overcome the big challenges?
The most important value we have is the value for life, the value for the person. In Africa the value of a person does not depend on what he has got, but on what he is and his family is. That is something that we have to protect from the external influences who are opposite to this vision. I don’t want to appear romantic because we have our problems but generally life is considered in his essentiality.
5)What do you think about the Western media polemic arisen after the Pope’s pastoral message from Africa?
I was furious. Because it was clearly an unuseless polemic: all the media focused on the same issue and leave the substance apart. The pope’s message was focused on the respect for life, respect for government, respect for human dignity. It was a message of hope and Africa needs hope.
6)After the big polemic, many underlined the need of a better media coverage of Africa, the widespread ignorance of media towards Africa…according to you, how a deeper knowledge can be achieved? Which is your suggestion?
Come over to Africa and have a personal experience of Africa. It doesn’t cost to much spending a week in Nairobi or in any other African city. They can see by their own eyes and make personal experience, this is the only way. You cannot tell about Africa if you have never come to.
7)2015, the deadline for meeting the Millennium Development Goals, is not so far and the perspectives are not very encouraging…according to you how global community should be committed in order to effectively meet the Goals?
We need support to develop our solutions to the various problems; we need support to make our ideas concrete, to put our solutions into practice. We don’t need to receive solutions: we know our problems and we know how to solve them. According to MDG I have to say that we have reached free primary education and in 2015 the first generations will enter to university and that is an encouraging result and also a big challenge.
8)Which are the most important results Strathmore achieved during the years?
Over the years Strathmore was able to train professionals whose mind are open and who learnt the value of citizenships. Strathmore was able to achieve unity as it has been the first interracial college in the Western Africa at a time when that was a novelty. Last year we had a conflict, all the universities were closed but S. decided to open to let students talk and reflect as Kenyans and not as different ethnic groups, to talk about the positive aspects of unity within the tensions…it was a very positive experience for everybody.