Dr. Yvonne Taylor began a two-year stint with the Peace Corps; she's now added a year to her service and plans to eventually retire there
The loved one
She may not have electricity, might encounter trails of termites in her doorway, and her only instructional resource may be chalk, but for Middleville, NY native Dr. Yvonne Taylor '75, Kenya has become home. In 1995 Taylor began a two-year stint with the Peace Corps; she's now added a year to her service and plans to eventually retire there.
Taylor came to Kenya after several years as a medical researcher at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis. "I got to a point when I wasn't doing what I wanted. I didn't get my Ph.D. to write grant proposals." As a Peace Corps volunteer she relishes the challenge of teaching 27 physics and chemistry classes per week at Kiatineni Secondary School in Iiani.
"My students are fluent in three languages, but are practically illiterate when it comes to maths (that's Kenyan English) and physical sciences." She describes them as absolutely sweet ("well, most of them").
"They have the cutest English accents and expressions," she notes -- asked if the homework assignment is done, a student answers, "Mwalimu (teacher), it defeated me." -- "It's a lot more fun than spending 12 hours a day writing about radiation sensitizers and cell-cycle control genes," she says.
A helper in every sense, Taylor uses her Peace Corps stipend to sponsor students who can't afford tuition, using income from stock investments for her living expenses. Beyond teaching, she has several projects in the works that will be funded in part with dividends from a small business she is connected with in St. Louis, Donna Lee's Honey Mustard, Inc.
Her plan is to develop Ukambani, the part of Kenya inhabited by the Akamba tribe. "Although they usually harvest two crops per year, I witnessed two consecutive failures of the rains, severe draught and famine in my first year." Taylor will build six dams to create a green belt through the area, as well as build water tanks at a higher elevation.
Taylor will also start a public transport business, with her best friend's sons as the driver-mechanics, which will fund solar power and a vocational school. She wants to teach computer applications, train laboratory technicians and establish engineering training programs.
Taylor's experience in Kenya has not been without setback. On April 11, alone in the school compound during a term break, she was assaulted during a robbery and had to be med-evaced to Washington, D.C. Though her attackers have been caught and will be prosecuted, they had beat her with a tree branch and left her with a large gash on her head and a broken hand, for which she required surgery. Despite this ordeal, while recovering she missed her home and was anxious to return to people she loves.
And when she arrived back in early June, her friends visited her daily, bringing gifts of vegetables and fruits, and praying for her, a custom that is part of saying pole (sorry), for her misfortune.
This is what Taylor likes best about Kenya, being loved and appreciated. "While in the States I'm just another Ph.D. scientist struggling to obtain results and publish papers, in Kenya I am a samaki kubwa sana (very big fish)." And her given Kenyan name says it all: Mwende, `The Loved One.'
