SE101~ IN RETROSPECT...

I am back in Vancouver, having spent atleast a month of my 2007 summer in Nairobi participating in the Sauder SE101 project. SE101, a great project through which I met many new fantastic people and learnt alot; about myself and certain aspects of life and society. Alot can be said of the project and Kenya in general. The project is a great opportunity for all participants offering alot of learning experiences with potential for more growth in terms of ideas and delivery.

Fortunately, this year we had two sites that we facilitated and I would not be wrong to conclude that these two different groups of people had had different experiences and challenges. The background information, we (Bahati team) received from KIC-our facilitators on the ground, about our (Bahati) participants was immensely helpful. It also provided the Bahati participants a chance to reflect and comprehend the task that lay ahead of them for the next three weeks. Our participants as already mentioned were really great students who actively participated in the activities we prepared for them. However, I feel a greater emphasis needs to be made to enable participants understand their responsibilities as students. Of course, this being a voluntary project that might be hard to enforce!

All participants, more so those from Canada will/would benefit from fully understanding all cultural issues, interactions and differences. Above all, facilitators need to try and grasp the problems and challenges of the participants to make the lessons more meaningful and effective. For, how can one provide a 'solution' to a problem one does not fully comprehend! Above all, this aids and minimises misunderstanding which can greatly affect efficient project delivery. We carried out a class survey midway through the project and I am sure these will be beneficial to future participants. I also feel this project would benefit magnanimously by having a reliable partner on the ground. This partner would play role similar to that played by KIC or Henry i.e follow up, initiation and coordination of the project before and after facilitators arrive and leave.
More sponsorship and support from student associations(e.g CUS, AUC, AMS, SUC, African Awareness etc) Sauder, UBC, family and friends will/would be a big boost to preparations for a succesful implementation of the project.

It was great being part of the second SE101 team to Nairobi and I look forward to contributing my humble two cents to the project. Business, in my opinion is a great self-empowering activity that has great positive externalities and spill over effects. It is my hope that this project rolls outs to different countries and regions and that Sauder continues to facilitate similar projects.

Posted by Jim Atamba