Litotes in Name and Fame
Voi is a short name. Fact. Voi is not that bad. True. Taita Taveta University (Voi) is not the best-known university locally, but its international networking presence and scholarship opportunities are matchless in Kenya. Fact. After all, there is a difference between being the best known and being simply the best.
The mention of Voi, in Taita Taveta, may not ring a bell to many, but this town has shaped many lives and young minds to become global citizens and borderless thought leaders. The V-shaped Voi SGR Train Station is an eponymous architectural masterpiece that immortalises the unaltered message: Voi’s short name, made up of only three letters, carries more ambition and promise than its length can bear. Voi is the only station between Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya’s leading cities, at which both the Madaraka Express 3 pm train and 8 am Inter-county train stop.
The Definitive Role of Taita Taveta University in the Stature of Voi
Voi’s disproportionate stature cannot be divorced from the axis around which this success revolves – Taita Taveta University (TTU), whose slogan is “Home of Ideas”. This young and progressive university, located 8 km from Voi town centre, is Kenya’s university of mining education. Hosting the Kenyan-German Centre of Excellence for Mining, Environmental Engineering and Resource Management (CEMEREM), TTU has made a mark in the international mining and natural resource management biennial CEMEREM conference series and the annual summer schools held at the two CEMEREM partner universities located in the Free State of Saxony, Germany: HTW Dresden and TU Bergakademie Freiberg.
Since 2018, CEMEREM has been offering postgraduate study scholarships for East Africans to study MSc in Mining Engineering, MSc in Environmental Engineering, MSc in Process Engineering, and MBA in Natural Resource Management. CEMEREM scholarship interviews for the candidates of 2024 were scheduled for 4th and 11th April, 2024.
The great Tsavo ecoregion, the Voi Gemstone Value Addition and Marketing Centre (VGVAMC), and the wealth of gemstones and industrial minerals in Taita Taveta, together make the region where Voi is located a distinctive, if not a sleeping, giant. The amazing Voi landscape is an inspiration for budding photographers, a haven for aficionados of the Rule of Thirds in photography. Voi makes such out of students and staff of Taita Taveta University (TTU). I am not the least of those converts. Below, take a look at some of the breathtaking photos I have learnt to take in Voi over the years while working at TTU.
A Mentor’s Final Reflections on the TTU Promise
Having taught and mentored TTU students for almost a decade, I can state unequivocally that the graduates of Taita Taveta University (TTU) exude valour and resilience despite the vicissitudes of life. They are vivid in their appeal and passion. They have a vision.
Reflecting on a recent weekend of reunion in Onga’ta Rongai, Kenya, I can see TTU graduates through the lens of 3Fs with their corresponding 3Vs: Faith for unwavering Vision; Favour in their Vocation; and Fulfilment in the sea of Vicissitudes.
Under the IBD programme, I have trained them to be leaders, hence, to be selfless and not selfish, self-driven and not self-centred.
TTU products know that if the vision is not grander than the level of their normal capacities, then it is not their true life’s assignment, not a wellspring of philosophical persuasion at all. They know only too well that, the three pillars of recolonising institutional cultures for transformational outcomes is what I christened in 2018 as the GCN Triangle: Goodwill from the top; Championship by a few; and Networking for scale with extensive footprints.
Finally, the name of the university may be hard to pronounce and self-effacing, but the products are unique on the market. Therefore, I strongly recommend TTU graduates of engineering, science, technology, agriculture, education, and business to any employer who appreciates the Shakespearean wisdom: A rose, by any other name, smells as sweet.