The Africa Experience

As the 21st millenium opened, Loyola University Chicago went global, expanding its horizons to include the literally awesome continent of Africa. In a program underwritten by the university and the Jesuit community, the first wave of faculty and staff — ten that first year, more in the following years — boarded a KLM flight from Chicago to Nairobi at the end of the school year in order to see for themselves how Africa is at once "utterly other" and "basically the same" as their own lifeworld. Although they are under no illusions about the difficulty of generalizing from only two weeks in a limited geographical area (Eastern Africa), most if not all of those who have participated in this program over the last five years believe it was enormously growthful for them personally and professionally, stretching their horizons almost to the breaking point. This web page is their effort to tell you why.

• Why Africa? The President's message
  
  
• The University Commitment: How to apply for the next Africa experience (May-June 2006)
  
  
• Looking Back: Loyola faculty and staff share their African experiences with words and images
  
  
• Using Us: Faculty and staff offer themselves as resources
  
  
• The Loyola-Global Alliance for Africa partnership: A beautiful relationship
  
  
• Other: A plea for suggestions