Clashing goals in service learning : Hong Kong university students in Kenya

Abstract

This research investigates the clash of stakeholders’ goals and their implications in a Hong Kong-Kenya university service learning project. My service learning journey (emphasizing co-learning and collaborative partnership) in Homa Bay, Kenya, started in 2013. As an organizer and a participant for the first four years, I discovered how some Hong Kong students saw Kenya negatively. The (Hong Kong-based) university’s impact and productivity were the trips’ focus, although the problems and the projects were addressed in the (Kenyan) community. There was thus a skewed university-community relationship in this project, and a lack of community voice in collaboration. Past literature similarly shows that the hierarchical power relationship among stakeholders with different goals contributes to skewed university-community relationships in service learning. I had an additional role as a researcher for the project since 2016. As a researcher I used observation notes, interviews, and reflections to demonstrate and analyse how different stakeholders in the project were partnering based on different (Confucian and Ubuntu-based) partnership philosophies. The different partnership philosophies led to several conflicts during the trips. To address the resulting skewed relationship and to achieve the spirit of co-learning and collaborative partnership in university-community service learning, this thesis ends with a discussion of recommendations for future international service learning.