ORIGINAL PAPER Meeting a New Me: An Autoethnographic Journey into Kenya and Back Miranda Gilmore • Rajeswari Natrajan-Tyagi Published online: 12 June 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 Abstract In this article the first author (MG) examines her experiences, reflections, and questions after traveling to Kenya and then attempting to integrate those experiences into her Western life. Using an autoethnographic format, different implications for the author are explored as she becomes more culturally aware both of other ways of being as well as of her own identity. MG publically shared her experiences on three different occasions, and then used a reflective stance to consider the implications of the questions posed for her personally, for the therapy field, and for the meaning of maintaining multicultural competencies. Keywords Autoethnography Á Kenya Á Marriage and family therapy Á Multicultural competency Á Cultural immersion Introduction This is my ‘‘story’’ (MG). This is research. I had meant to embark on a journey that would examine and acknowledge lives that some would say are marginalized and taken for granted. Little did I know that I would become the subject of the research. I thought research was what one did as an assignment, as a way to make a name for him/her, or as a job. Research for me has now found several purposes and meanings. First, research is not always a process in which one finds him/herself far removed. I was not just an outside, objective observer. Instead, I was a curious listener, a therapist, a friend, and even a participant. Research, after it is written down in a journal article, appears clean, concise, and final. I found this research to be messy and ever-changing (and it still continues to transform). M. Gilmore (&) Children’s Institute Inc., 21810 Normandie Ave., Torrance, CA 90502, USA e-mail: drmirandagilmore@hotmail.com R. Natrajan-Tyagi The Marriage and Family Therapy Program, Alliant International University, Irvine, CA, USA 123 Contemp Fam Ther (2011) 33:324–332 DOI 10.1007/s10591-011-9160-8