Are we so different?

After a one year hiatus from teaching, I was at it again, this time in Kenya. Prior to beginning the MBA I was a secondary school teacher. I chose to leave teaching, not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because I wanted to do more. I wanted to have a broader reach beyond the classroom and implement positive change in our world. I feel that the SE101 experience has signaled the start of that challenge for me.

On the first day of class, I was amazed how much it felt like the beginning of a new school year at home. I think this is because people have the same basic wants, desires and dreams and that spans across cultures. The students were eager to meet us and to learn new concepts. They were motivated to improve and better themselves and their community. They have a desire to succeed and recognize the need for education and effective tools to meets their goals. These motivations are not unique to slums in Africa.

Halfway through the trip, Nancy asked if I was experiencing culture shock. I thought about it, and responded, “no, I don’t think so, but I think I will when I return home”. This was partially true. I actually began to feel the culture shock in the days before I left. I began to really conceptualize many of the differences between the students and their lives in Kibera, and my life, as I know it in Canada. It is true we have the same desires to learn, provide for our families, and to achieve success in life. The difference is how do we define it and how do we achieve it?

In Kibera there is tremendous opportunity for improvement and what we consider to be very little in Canada has the opportunity to go a long way in Kenya. But it is not as easy as just providing the capital or the resources to implement change. This type of aid has proven largely unsuccessful in Africa over many decades. The people who are going to change the slums are the people who live in the slums. It was Barlet, the director of the St. Aloysius School and a profoundly dedicated and inspiring community leader, who said to me one day, “It is not you or I that will change Kibera and make it a better place. It is these students. They live in the community, it is their life and they are the ones that will change it.”

The value of the SE101 program is that it provides the education and the tools to facilitate the participants to achieving their own goals. I saw first hand the power of education to provide not only the tools, but also the confidence to utilize their knowledge to pursue their goals. Their success is ultimately their own responsibility and within their hands. But we have the opportunity through programs like SE101 to support, educate and facilitate participants to achieve their own their successes. And in helping others find success’s I too have begun to find the success I’m looking for.

Thank you to the wonderful team of instructors at St.Al’s. Brian, Marvin, Jason, Nadia, Mike and Christy for your commitment and passion to deliver the best program possible and to share your own education with others. It was a joy to work with you.

Thanks to the participants at St. Aloysius School for inviting us into your community, sharing your dreams and aspirations and allowing us to learn together with you.

Thank you to Nancy for the support on the ground and of course providing such an amazing and inspiring opportunity for us at Sauder. I look forward to seeing many great successes from SE101 as the program moves forward.

And…. Special thanks to Barlet Jaji, for sharing your passion and tireless commitment to youth and community development. You are an inspiration.