GEMBA Legacy Project Kenya: Fighting for a Future in Education as an Opportunity for All

"We can change the world one person at a time, and the GEMBA Legacy offers each member of the cohort an opportunity to be part of this change"

The GEMBA Legacy was launched in July 2015 by the 7th cohort of the GEMBA at Georgetown University and ESADE Business School. It is an initiative that aims to raise awareness of social issues and create projects that offer creative and lasting solutions. The GEMBA Legacy nurtures social programmes throughout the world, acting as a channel for the global social commitment of current and future GEMBA Alumni.

There are currently two projects underway. The first, launched by the 7th GEMBA cohort, is called Project Colombia. This project, which offers educational childcare programmes in Colombia, will equip 22 educational centres in Bogotá, Cali, Barranquilla, Cucuta, Bello and Medellín. The second project – Project Kenya – was launched by the 8th GEMBA cohort and is still underway. Through this project, GEMBA 8 students hope to raise $50,000 to build a facility that will house the music programme of the St. Aloysious Gonzaga High School for AIDS Orphans in Nairobi, Kenya.

We spoke first-hand with Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator and Sherifah Munis, ESADE and Georgetown University GEMBA 8 Legacy members who are currently working on the project in Kenya. Sherifah Munis, driver of this project and leader of the Legacy Steering Committee, explained her reason for joining this initiative: “I wanted to use the unique 14-month experience of the GEMBA programme to do something that was bigger than our individual selves and make a difference in some small way that would not only leave a legacy but also have some sort of global implication.”

According to Orobator and Munis, the music building will be a much-needed sanctuary and learning environment for Kenyan children who have struggled and gone without for most of their lives. It will afford these children an opportunity – to make music and learn in a safe, conducive environment – that would have otherwise passed  them by. With this project, the GEMBA 8 Legacy’s contribution to St. Aloysious (St. Al’s) offers a generation of kids the opportunity to be productive members of their communities and the world at large – kids who otherwise would never have had the chance to attend the school.

Social impacts after Project Kenya

"Hopefully this project will contribute to the formation of competent, conscientious, and principled Kenyan citizens and future leaders"

 Munis strongly believes that this project will have an impact not only on the children of St. Al’s but also on Kenyan society as a whole. “This project highlights the fact that there are still children impacted by the AIDS epidemic that ravaged sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s,” she comments. “Many of these AIDS orphans would have been written off as insignificant members of Kenyan society, but thanks to the efforts of St. Al’s and the GEMBA Legacy project, many of them have gone to college and will become important members and future leaders in their communities. The project will hopefully encourage more openness and tolerance of these vulnerable youths and encourage more assistance to give them a chance to rise above their current predicament.”

Orobator describes the GEMBA 8 Legacy  as a modest project with a significant symbolic value. “Hopefully this project will contribute to the formation of competent, conscientious, and principled Kenyan citizens and future leaders. Besides, music is one of the finest manifestations of the human spirit; the GEMBA Legacy will help form more well-rounded human beings.”

GEMBA Legacy’s future

"The programme is intensive, and time is limited, but pulling together to do something bigger than any single individual - that's a reward in itself"

Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator and Sherifah Munis agree that GEMBA Legacy has a long future ahead. Orobator commented: “The GEMBA Legacy contributes to the overall experience of the GEMBA. Being a part of it is a reminder that the GEMBA serves a larger purpose, the impact of which transcends the limits of our personal goals and objectives. We can change the world one person at a time, and the GEMBA Legacy offers each member of the cohort an opportunity to be a part of this change.”

Munis noted that each cohort is unique, adding that she would encourage future GEMBA cohorts to discover what unifies them and focus an initiative on that. “The programme is intensive, and time is limited, but by pulling together to do something bigger than any single individual – that’s a reward in itself.”