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JACARANDA
What's In A Name? |
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A Question Often Asked:
Why the name "Jacaranda"?
Early in his career, the founder and Managing Director of Jacaranda, Brian Howe, a sociologist and economist by training, taught in a prestigious college in Kenya. The incident which eventually led to the foundation of Jacaranda took place one summer evening. The incident? Two students from different tribes, one from the Nilotic Luo tribe and the other from the Bantu speaking Kikuyu tribe, fell out over a small timetabling problem in their study schedules. The misunderstanding escalated quickly.
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A minor disagreement became a heated argument. The heated argument spiralled into the abuse and hostility that can only come from deep rooted, ancestral hatreds. When a weapon was introduced, Brian and his colleagues had to intervene rapidly to prevent catastrophe. And where did this happen? Under the Jacaranda tree - one of Africa's most beautiful trees - in the fullness of its August flowering. For Brian Howe, the shock and paradox of such an incident taking place under such beauty, sowed the seed which, many years later, after he had travelled and worked in many parts of the world, became the Jacaranda Group. |
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