Former First Lady Margaret Kenyatta on Monday opened the 55th Annual Round Square International Conference (RSIC), an event involving international schools, with students and teachers paying Ksh189,847 and Ksh221,861, respectively to attend.
The event, launched at Bomas Of Kenya, is being hosted by Brookhouse Schools, an international Kenyan school, and will last for a week. Each year, the event is held by different schools across the world.
This year's edition recorded an attendance of over 1200 student delegates and their teachers coming from 50 countries across six continents.
World Marathon Champion and United Nations Peace Ambassador Tegla Loroupe and long-distance runner Henry also attended the event.
“The theme for the 55th Round Square International Conference "The New Africa '' offers the participants an opportunity to explore many ways in which the continent has evolved and is defining its position in the 21st Century,” a statement from former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office read.
Addressing delegates, the former first lady encouraged learning through participation in community service and exchange programmes.
“We look forward to hearing about the unique perspectives you will bring to this important dialogue,” the Former First Lady said.
“You are a generation willing to take chances; to chart your own paths. You are ready to question, to experiment with new ideas, to innovate, and ultimately, to build a better world.”
Additionally, the hosts, Brookside School, performed the Hummingbird, a story told by Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Wangari Maathai.
The week-long event will be broken down as follows;
The conference will come together for the Opening and Closing days, whilst the Adventure, Service and Democracy days will provide smaller group opportunities on a rotation of activities across the middle three days of the conference, hosted at the two Brookhouse campuses, in Karen and Runda.
The Adventure Day will feature a night under African skies, camping in the Nairobi National Park, with wildlife game drives and an environmental conservation focus.