CNN
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Susan Mlabana’s life-changing moment happened at the age of 22, when she looked through a telescope for the first time. Suddenly, Saturn and its yellow-gold rings were no longer just a textbook illustration. They were real and her experiences with them were powerful.
of The opportunity has come when she was a student volunteer activities cosmos educationis a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving science learning in developing countries.By traveling with the organization Her love of astronomy was ignited by traveling to schools and villages in her native Kenya to help teach young children.
“I thought I could give them some inspiration. [the children],” she said. “If anything, I was inspired too.”
In 2006, Mrabana joined a teacher training program called . Global Hands-on Universe, where she led a space education project. Four years later, she completed her master’s degree in astronomy online at James Cook University in Australia, and then she was invited to the University of California as a short-term scholar. Here, she wanted children in Africa to have the same opportunities as children in the United States.
“When I saw all the opportunities kids had access to — planetariums, science centers, festivals — I wanted to bring that back,” she said. “We wanted to create something sustainable and distinctly Kenyan that the Kenyan community would love.”
In 2014, Mlabana and her husband Daniel Chu Owen founded a social enterprise. moving telescope.
Combining Susan’s experience in education and public service with Owen’s passion for astrophotography and knowledge of telescopes, Travel Telescope is an educational program designed for young children in underserved and remote communities. It’s a program. Using only a telescope and a mobile inflatable planetarium, they aim to change lives by giving children the chance to see Saturn, the Moon, and different constellations, and teaching them basic science and astrophysics.
“There’s a sense of satisfaction that comes from going to the school, talking to the kids, seeing their reactions and expectations,” Murabana said. “A 12-year-old boy from eastern Kenya even said, ‘I thought scientists lie, but now he believes in science.'”
Mlabana and Owen want to encourage more Kenyans to join the space industry and dream of seeing the first Kenyan in space. Mr Owen said most Kenyans were unaware of the country’s involvement in space research, but in 2018 the Kenya Space Agency deployed the first satellite into orbit from the International Space Station, in southeastern Kenya. A satellite base was established at Malindi on the coast. Used by the European Space Agency. satellite tracking.
Muravana believes that astronomy, or simply the act of looking up at the sky, establishes an awareness of what needs to be protected. our earth is Creating a “generation of better-informed leaders”.
“They say The first environmental activist was an astronaut” Owen said, “Because these are the first people to see the whole Earth. We’re bringing that back in a sense. By looking into space, we can see our Earth more objectively.” You can see.”
But Muravana’s work also has a more personal motivation: to combat the perception that astronomy is a Western science.
When she volunteered with Cosmos Education, the team included graduate students from the UK and the US; there’s no one else From Africa. Despite Muravana’s passion for astronomy, she felt that: She didn’t belong.
It was several years later when she attended a solar eclipse viewing and related conference in Ghana. Her perception of “African cultural astronomy” has changed. The history of African astronomy can be traced back thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians and the Dogon people of Mali.
“Everything I had access to about astronomy was Western, like the moon landing. There are still no astronomy textbooks that come from African cultures,” she explained.
“It was truly empowering to attend this conference and learn how different African cultures have traditionally looked up to the sky and tried to understand it. I felt like Africans could be a part of this too.”
Mrabana and Owen fund Traveling Telescope by operating an astronomical tourism service that includes camping trips called Star Safaris and astronomy nights for paying tourists.
They are buying land in Kenya, away from light pollution, where they hope to build what they call a “space hill.”
“We want to build an observatory there and invite people to come learn about space and watch special events like meteor showers,” Owen explained. I want a small base where I can sit and enjoy the sky with people I want to share it with. ”
More than 400,000 people have peered through the mobile telescope so far, and the pair hope to expand their impact by reaching more schools. Murabana’s dream is for every child to have the opportunity to take lessons under the night sky at least once in their lifetime.