An Interview with Rebekah Namachanja 

Rebekah is in her approaching her final year of undergraduate studies here at Duke University. She is originally from Nairobi, Kenya and has 7 brothers.

1.    Why did you initially decide to study in the United States?

Coming to the US wasn’t really an option; I kind of had to. But I think, in terms of deciding to stay here and study, the only other option is Britain, and they’re not that good with scholarships, so the natural choice is the US.

2.    So your whole family moved here before you came to college?

Parts of my family; we’re all over the place.

3.    And within the US, why did you choose Duke?

When we moved to the US, we moved around a lot, and we ended up on the West Coast. The only place we hadn’t been was the East Coast. The North is too cold for me, but here there’s nice weather. And then also, Program II was what brought me to Duke, because I’m really all over the place in terms of what I want to study. Even my major will probably end up being Program II.

4.    Was your family supportive of your choice to attend Duke?

My mom wanted me to stay in Arizona, but my dad was the one who really liked Duke and made me look into it. My choice had actually been the University of Chicago, despite the cold, but when I saw Duke and Program II, I think that just kind of pulled me down here.

5.    How would you say that you’ve changed since you first arrived at Duke?
    
I think I’m a lot more knowledgeable about myself, just because I think when you’re in high school, especially coming from the society I do, it’s very “these are the options you have – pick one”, and that never made sense to me. I think, in coming to Duke, I’ve really been able to cement my perspective of what I can do with my life.

6.    What are you involved in at Duke?

Since freshman year, I’ve been involved with IA and Duke Africa. I was also part of the Student Financial Aid Committee. But I think my participation on campus has waned a bit as I’ve explored Durham and found that there are quite a few options out there that fit me better than what’s on campus.

7.    So normally, if a Kenyan goes to college, where does he/she usually go?

To be honest, the preferable choice is always to go outside of the country. If it’s in Africa, then people usually go to South Africa or Egypt. Just given the history of Eastern Africa, there are a lot of parental countries that still have ties to East Africa, so for Kenya, Britain is a big place. Australia is also a big place, as are Russia and the US, too. And recently people have started going to India, because it’s cheap not only in terms of education but also how much you have to spend for the quality of life you can get.

8.    When you came to the US, what were some of the cultural adjustments you had to make?

A few minor things. I think one big thing that stuck with me was that when you cross the street, back home it’s switched. So, when I was little, I would look right-left-right, but here’s it’s the opposite: left-right-left. But, I guess, when we first came, we were in Atlanta, which has a lot of Kenyans, so that wasn’t a big change for me. But when we started moving towards the West Coast, just meeting all these people from different countries was a culture shock. A negative, though, was all the silly questions you get like “How did you get here?”, “Do you eat people in Africa?” – all those silly things.

9.    What do you miss the most about Kenya?

Oh wow. I don’t know if I can pick one thing. I mean, everything from the food to the people to Friday nights to the noise of the city and everything. But I definitely think my family is what I miss most.
 
10.    Growing up, what were some of your favorite things to do?

Just being a kid – you know, climbing a tree to steal fruit from the neighbors. But I think the most fun thing that I can remember was this: You know how everyone lives in the suburbs and you come to town to do business and go to the offices and everything? I mean, as a kid, you don’t get to go to town much. The only time I did was on Sundays when we went to church, and the fun thing was all these different denominations there were. One of them, the Salvation Army, had all these drums and instruments, and they’d go around town making music, so I’d sneak out and go and dance and run around with them.

11.    What do you think about the current unrest in Kenya?

I think the negatives are quite obvious, but that there are also a lot of positives that people aren’t really cognizant of. I remember when it was starting, we all as Kenyans knew it wasn’t going to escalate into the next Rwanda or Sudan, because we know ourselves. For me, it was kind of a disappointment in the sense that what that meant was that we’re the type of people who want to go back to business as usual, and this was a situation that was forcing us to face our issues. We’ve only been a country for forty years, and a Swahili person from the coast has nothing in common with a Masai from the north aside from the fact that, for the past forty years, they’ve been living within the same border. Unlike Tanzania, for example, there’s never been a leader or commonality of culture that has emerged, and the only commonality we have is living within the same border. So everyone was like “We don’t want to become another Rwanda” when, really, we’ve been another Rwanda. The same issues Rwanda has, we also have. The only difference is that Kenya is strategically placed, and our economy is relatively well off compared to the rest of Africa, so we can ignore all those issues. But I think this was a breaking point, and, at the end of the day, given the outcome, I think it’s been a good thing for us. Every other time there’s been fighting, it’s been in little pockets, but this time, every single person was involved. This was something we faced together, and I think it’s a good thing.

12.    What are you looking forward to most in the next 1½ years?

Well, I think graduating itself is the thing I’m looking forward to most. After that, being able to apply myself to the world, because I think sometimes school can be restrictive in that sense, in that I spend my hours here when I could be spending them out there.

13.    What are your plans after graduating?

As a freshman, it was grad school, but now, I think I definitely want to go back home. Honestly, I want to travel around a bit in Africa, for a year at least. Then, I’ll just see where that leads me and follow my curiosity for a little while, as opposed to following someone else’s schedule like here.