In my master's thesis, I made a connection between the perceptions that students have of Africa and how the local population in the village of Runyenjes (Kenya) would like the world to perceive Africa. In the theoretical part, I wrote about colonization, poverty, and racism. I also presented stereotypes, prejudices, and perceptions of Africa in the media. I continued with a definition of decolonization and the connection of this topic to social work. Finally, I presented the photovoice method. I conducted qualitative research, during which I carried out semi-structured interviews and introduced the photovoice method into the research. I interviewed students from the Faculty of Social Work who had never been to Africa and local residents from the village of Runyenjes in Kenya, with whom I had established contact during a study visit in January 2025. Through the interviews, I learned what ideas students have about Africa, where these ideas come from, what skills they would need for professional work in an international context, and how these ideas influence their professional work. In Kenya, I learned how local residents view the students' products, how they feel about this, and how they would describe Africa themselves. We also talked about social work in Kenya, foreigners entering the local communities, the potential challenges of this, and their view of Europe. The results showed that the most common associations of Slovenian students are community, larger cities, heat, culture, tourism, poverty, rituals, and a diverse population, with which the residents of Runyenjes agree and view these perceptions positively. Ideas about Africa come mainly from the media, books, parental upbringing, advertisements, education, and acquaintances. The residents of the village of Runyenjes would like the world to imagine Africa as a home of culture, community, diversity, natural resources, and they would love more tourist visits. Despite the official end of colonialism, a colonial mindset still persists in »our« perceptions, manifesting itself in generalized stereotypes, the invisibility of researchers and activists from Africa, and the portrayal of Africa solely from a Western, one-dimensional perspective. When working in an international context, social workers must take the cultural context into account, recognize their own stereotypes, act in an anti-racist manner, and foster a culture of dialogue through a decolonial perspective with a high degree of self-reflection and cultural competence. Collaboration with the community must be based on respect, welcoming, mutual cooperation with the community, cultural acceptance, and language learning.
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