2024-09-18
KUCI STUDENTS WINS A PRESTIGIOUS AWARD IN THE INTERNATIONAL CHINESE BRIDGE STORY TELLING COMPETITION!!!
On the morning of Tuesday November 22, students and staff of Confucius Institute Kenyatta University woke up to great news of the award of ‘Excellence Award’ of one of their own, Mr. Mwai Nyongesa in the international Chinese Bridge Story Telling Competition. Mr. Mwai submitted a video of a Kenyan hunter, adorned in Maasai regalia and told the story of how despite many failures of the day, he simply refused to give up. His creativity in merging African and Chinese culture in his dressing and even choice of activity, ‘hunting’ earned him the award. Mr. Mwai expressed himself in flawless Chinese even attempting words on the script that are beyond his scope of learning as he is a new student of the language. His classmates who also helped vote for him, were elated and praised him for his hard work.
The Institute continues to place great importance in exposing students to such competitions from where students can be able to compare their level of proficiency with students form other Universities and make contacts and networks. Through winning such competitions, students have in the past even earned prestigious fully funded scholarships to go study they language further in China. Mr. Mwai is a student of English Literature from the School of Education Kenyatta University, who takes Chinese language under the Beginner’s programme. We wish him the best in his journey of learning Chinese language and culture. This is what Mr. Mwai had to say after his win,
‘I'm still flattered and carried away in this winning atmosphere. It has been barely three months of learning Chinese and winning the Excellence Award in the Bridge Storytelling competition is an inspiration to me. A better way to put it is that I'm motivated to give my best in learning Chinese. My story, The Hunter, was simply a poem I scripted, translated, voiced over and acted it out. It is about a Kenyan hunter who fails in all his attempts of that day. Despite this failure, his hopeful attitude and positivity gives him energy to hope for the best in his hunt episodes to come. It is a story of hope, an admission that failure is inevitable and that hope should firmly remain rooted in our hearts. I ascribe my win to my teacher and mentor in the competition, Ms. Lorna Duoduo, she is the best! To my adorable classmates who supported the storytelling, I cherish you all. Actually, every individual in the entire Kenyatta University Confucius Institute has been a positive encouragement. Script writing, filmmaking, acting, poetry and singing are among my abilities that have continued to shine through the platforms afforded by Kenyatta University Confucius Institute. I'm grateful for such precious opportunities. God bless KUCI! ‘
Mwai Nyongesa sings in Chinese and plays guitar in a past Institute event.