After completing her undergraduate degree in Dramatic writing, and a brief unfulfilling stint as a screen writer, she applied to Columbia where she was drawn to the International Social Welfare program. While in school she sought volunteer experience. She reconnected with contacts in Kenya and decided to work with Abila Creative, making films that document the stories of women and children in Kisumu.

"A friend and I packed everything we could to take back," she says. "People generously sent in donations. We had 350 pounds of camcorders and cameras."

Thus began the highly eventful trip back to Africa. Within two days of landing in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, they were huddled in a matatu, the local public transportation minivan, on the bumpy trip to Kisumu, a small town in Western Kenya.

They focused on finding out what issues were going on the community, from the perspective of people. The answers ranged from lack of role models to poor sanitation, induction into prostitution and young people oppression. The root cause was clear - poverty. Sara understood that lack of resources, not ability or intelligence, was the real reason behind the stunted progress of the people in these communities and vowed to do something about it.

Hence was borne Voices for Umoja.

Voices partnered with community-based organization Abila Creative - providing basic training in video and photography, inviting them to communicate in creative ways about the issues they face, as seen through their own eyes. The photos and videos were shown back to the community and in multiple cities across the US including New York and Los Angeles. Voices for Umoja collected comment sheets which they shared back - creating cross-continental connections.