A welcoming place to learn to fly planes

Gideon Karinga, 20, never dreamed of coming to America.

Yet three months ago, he relocated to Spokane for school.

Sitting in a hangar next to Felts Field, where an occasional small plane zips by, Karinga explained how he had ambitions of leaving Kenya’s capital of Nairobi for Sweden, Britain or Japan. None of those plans worked out.

His parents – Dad’s a banker and Mom’s an administrator – invested their money into good educations for their children. Most people invest their money into land, Karinga said.

Karinga was educated at British-run schools in Kenya.

He speaks Swahili and his native language, Kikuyu, from the country’s largest ethnic group. Karinga also speaks his third language of English with a touch of a British accent.

“I love my country,” Karinga said.

A friend told him about an aviation program in the United States. A few Internet searches and talks with his family secured his future.

He hopes to return to Kenya as a trained aviation mechanic and bush pilot.

In Kenya, there aren’t very many pilots so everyone’s overworked. A lot of planes crash due to poor maintenance, he said. One day he’ll be able to help his country.

“I try to have this view of what I want,” he said. “I just keep my hope shining and smile every day. That helps a lot.”

Karinga is in Spokane for a two-year aviation maintenance program at Spokane Community College. Currently, about 94 students are enrolled in the program. In the spring of 2003, a company called Moody Aviation, which trains missionary bush pilots, relocated their program to Spokane and joined up with SCC.

Moody’s program takes five years. The first year is Bible study, which Karinga did in Chicago. The second and third years are with the SCC aviation program. That’s where they learn to repair an aircraft’s structure and power-plant systems like propellers, engine electrical systems and fuel systems. And the last two years are pilot training. This summer, Moody begins pilot training in Spokane.

Karinga did his first year in Chicago, where he met about six other guys from Kenya.

“I haven’t met any Kenyans here,” Karinga said.

He opened his eyes in awe when he learned there was a small but notable Kenyan community in Spokane.

“Tell him to call us,” said Karen Morrison, coordinator for Precious Life International, a Spokane-based mission that reaches out to countries like Kenya.

The organization was started three years ago by Stephen Kaputa, a Maasai Kenyan.

“We’re trying to get more of the Maasai girls that are graduating high school to come and go to schools here,” Morrison said.

Morrison’s leaving Thursday for Kenya. She’s delivering 500 Christmas stockings made by Camp Fire USA. She’s looking for $2,400 to fund the shipping of the stockings in suitcases with her flight. A financial supporter backed out and left them scrambling.

Precious Life International can be reached at 489-7900.

The number of Kenyans in Spokane can vary from 25 to a handful, depending on how many attend area colleges.

In recent years, Whitworth College had a few Kenyan students. This year there are none. Eastern Washington University has one Kenyan student, but that’s at a branch program in Bellevue.

Last April, as Bloomsday approached, a group of Maasai tribe members from Kenya came to The Spokesman-Review building to meet an entertainment reporter. Dressed in their traditional regalia and jewelry, the Sironka Dance Troupe performed a number of songs. Their leader, Nicholas Sironka, is a Fulbright scholar who has been known to share his culture in Spokane.

Of course, there are a number of top Kenyan athletes who appear each year at Bloomsday.

Karinga, dressed in warm clothes, seemed surprised to hear Spokane had such an exposure to Kenyans. And for some reason, it made me happy to think that our town can be a welcoming and not-so-strange place to a man who lives almost 8,000 miles away.