FROM WHERE THE LION ROARS
The Hunt for an American Education in Binghamton
Peter N. Kitonyi, Ed.D.
 

Kitonyi has written with a vivid recollection of life situations in colonial Kenya as though it were only yesterday. At about nine years of age, his grandmother took him to the missionary school where he discovered something about Western education and religion. Somehow, he came to realize that only through education would he be able to rise above the misery of immense poverty, primitive life experiences, and exposure to ravaging tropical diseases. Much later, while working in Nairobi, he discovered the U.S. Information Service Library. There he came across many names of influential people in America to whom he chose to write, at random, begging for an educational opportunity. Eventually, his dream was realized when newspapers in Binghamton, New York, picked up on his appeal and plight. By the age of seventeen, Kitonyi was ensconced in public education in America and went on to receive a Masters Degree and an Ed.D., currently serving as Regional Occupational Supervisor for Correctional Education in New York State.