Last year, I travelled with the Sauder Africa team to Kenya to teach the local youth about writing business plans. This year, due to work commitments, I am unable to travel again. Instead, I am staying on the ground team.
There were so many times I got asked why I joined Sauder Africa Initiative (SAI). My reasons have included the passion for travelling and meeting new people, the goal of making a difference, and the idea of diversifying my experiences, etc.
After I decided to stay with SAI after last year, a lot of people asked me why staying? The answers to this questions really cannot be as simple as my answer to the question of why joining SAI at the beginning. There are just many reasons why I chose to stay:
The Kibera class was composed of eleven students and of the eleven students, only four of them are girls. The average age of the class was around 20 years old with the youngest aged 19. Almost all of them have not completed a high school education, so the learning ability of the class really varied. Out of all students, there was a young guy name Augustine. He was a really sharp student with a great working habit. Although students were late for classes most of the times, he was the one who came to class early compared to the rest. He was one of the few students who always completed homework on time. Because we had to ensure the whole class was at the same pace, at the beginning of every class, we would spent time helping those who did not have their work done. A always finished his work before coming to class, so he was always willingly helping the others. In class, when I introduced new materials, he would be the first one who understood the concepts. Because he looks like a "cool" kid, he does not usually raise up his hand to answer questions. However, when I asked him questions, he was able to answer correctly.
There were so many times I got asked why I joined Sauder Africa Initiative (SAI). My reasons have included the passion for travelling and meeting new people, the goal of making a difference, and the idea of diversifying my experiences, etc.
After I decided to stay with SAI after last year, a lot of people asked me why staying? The answers to this questions really cannot be as simple as my answer to the question of why joining SAI at the beginning. There are just many reasons why I chose to stay:
- I enjoyed working with a team of awesome and enthusiastic people
- I learned so much during my stay in Kenya, way more than what I could learn in a month here in Canada
- I met great and generous people in Kenya, and the three-week stay was just eye-opening
- The most significantly, I was truly inspired by some of the students I taught in Kibera
The Kibera class was composed of eleven students and of the eleven students, only four of them are girls. The average age of the class was around 20 years old with the youngest aged 19. Almost all of them have not completed a high school education, so the learning ability of the class really varied. Out of all students, there was a young guy name Augustine. He was a really sharp student with a great working habit. Although students were late for classes most of the times, he was the one who came to class early compared to the rest. He was one of the few students who always completed homework on time. Because we had to ensure the whole class was at the same pace, at the beginning of every class, we would spent time helping those who did not have their work done. A always finished his work before coming to class, so he was always willingly helping the others. In class, when I introduced new materials, he would be the first one who understood the concepts. Because he looks like a "cool" kid, he does not usually raise up his hand to answer questions. However, when I asked him questions, he was able to answer correctly.
After talking with Augustine several times after class, I learned that he only finished high school, and because he had no money to pursue a further education, he is still very far away from his goal of becoming a lawyer. Looking at students like A, who really had the potential to become successful make me think how we, those who live in such privileged environment should really utilize the resources we have to make a difference.
After I left Kenya, I still maintained a connection with several of my students via Facebook, which was unsurprisingly the most popular "entertainment" among Kenyan youth. These are just some of the examples of the feedback we got from the students, and these feedback is really what keeps all of us motivated...
and
I cannot wait to see the students again, it is truly an amazing experience!
ReplyDelete