“This past week, I spent Thanksgiving with the Hutus and the Tutsis’, which was a real surprise to me because I live in Philadelphia and I thought that kind of prejudice based on class differences only happened in undeveloped countries. What I discovered that even in my very own civilized country people can be just as undeveloped and just as cruel but more importantly and the thing that gives me hope is that as long as the children are educated about the dangers of prejudice and intolerance than perhaps there will be a reason for Thanksgiving in the future.”
-Rider Strong as Shawn Hunter. “Turkey Day.” Boy Meets World. By Michael Jacobs and April Kelly. Ben Savage, Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel. Michael Jacobs Producations, Touchstone Television and Buena Vista Television. American Broadcasting Company. 22 November 1996.
“Snider explained they needed $20 000 to build a school and armed with that information von Teichman was delighted to discover that on average, his hotel attracted 20 000 guests per year…”
Hill, Valerie. “Giving Back: Owner of Kitchener’s Walper Terrace Hotel Helps build school in Uganda through Waterloo-based Agency.” Waterloo Regional Record. 29. January 2011: C1.
So I’m going to a developing country to volunteer. It sounds like a noble cause. Doesn’t it? For those of you that don’t know as of yet, I will be going to Kariobangi, Kenya where I will be working with Education for Life (http://www.eflkenya.org/). My placement will be in education and teaching. It has been described to me as working with adolescent youth (15-18) that are at a very basic primary level of education. My organization’s vision is centered around fullness of life amidst and beyond the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
This posting is not about my placement although those posts will come later. My beginning sentence asked you to make a judgment about whether or not I was doing something good, worthy, exciting, repulsing, not necessary etc… Beyond Borders teaches its students that the response we are going to receive will not always be a positive one. This has already happened to me when people close to me did not give me the response I was looking for about my placement or to others in the program that have tried to speak to donors that were not interested. This makes us realize that we have to be doing this for ourselves- for us to achieve the self transformation that we are looking for by going out to the world and helping, learning and doing.
This brings me to another point, the Beyond Borders students of 2011 have a wide range of skill sets and abilities and we will be using those this summer teaching, working in microfinance, physiotherapy, counseling and in science. We are all doing what we can with the skills and resources we have to help. None of us believe we are going to vanquish poverty in a developing country but we do believe we are going to help create sustainable change by developing businesses, developing curriculum or making personal impact to individuals by leading by example: We will be embracing all people no matter their socio-economic status or their HIV status. These are the projects we will be working on. I am looking forward to teaching adolescents who have been written off and saying, yes you can do this no matter the level you are at now, no matter what anyone believes and no matter your HIV status. I am doing what I can which brings me to the article “Giving Back” in the Waterloo Region Record on January 29th.
In the article, Valerie Hill writes about the Walper Terrace Hotel Owner who found out that it costs $20 000 to build a school in Uganda. To any person who brings in an average Canadian income, this seems like a huge amount of money and not an amount that is easy to donate. Von Teichman thought the same thing until he thought about his business and realized that he receives approximately 20 000 guests a year at the Walper hotel and it wouldn’t require room rate raises or a lot of hard work to donate $20 000. Von Teichman found something within his reach and did some remarkable even though he was 6000km away. Von Teichman is quoted as saying “I believe in children,” this fundamental belief along with his belief in education made him search out GIVE international and do what he could to help.
In our lives we are always given a choice. We can take the call to action or we can choose to live sheltered lives. It doesn’t matter whether you live in the developped or developing world; you can make a choice to be cruel or you can make a choice to be good. I use the word cruel because [brace yourselves I’m about to date myself and use a 90’s teen show to prove a point] Rider Strong as Sean Hunter in the show Boy Meets World uses that word in his school report describing the parallel between a trailer park, the suburbs and Thanksgiving Dinner. In the essay, Sean Hunter describes what prejudice can lead to in the developed world and compares that prejudice to indigenous tribes in the developing world.
It surprises me how selfish, conceited and cruel I can be. Overall, I consider myself a good person but how often do I complain (about this blog or other schoolwork), rummage through my fridge just looking not actually eating something and I know I could try a lot harder. We all could be better and strive to be better. These are the choices that we make on a daily basis. The Millennium Development Goals focus on the ‘big issues’ including maternal health, abolishing poverty, primary education among other areas. One day I hope to be able to talk and education and provide solutions to at least one of these challenges but for now I am off to Kariobangi, Kenya where I will teach and immerse myself into the culture and life of this vibrant neighbourhood. Notice, how I used the word neighbourhood and not slum? Think about that!
The choice you are presented with is being better. Choose to be better. Always choose to be better. Find ways to be better. This does not mean you have to do what I am doing and go to a developing country, it doesn’t mean solving poverty. It means using your skill set and your resources like the characters in Boy meets World did or the real life example von Teichman provided. I have a friend who chose to be better, she committed to doing 101 compassionate things like giving a homeless man a blanket and volunteering for a day at a soup kitchen. She used her resources and skills and told me about it everyday for about a year; I am better off because of her example and I hope that you can feel the same way.
To learn more about the Millennium Development Goals, please visit: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
Hill, Valerie. “Giving Back: Owner of Kitchener’s Walper Terrace Hotel Helps build school in Uganda through Waterloo-based Agency.” Waterloo Regional Record. 29. January 2011: C1.
http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/479261--walper-s-new-owner-giving-back
Boy Meets World Clip:
“Turkey Day.” Boy Meets World. By Michael Jacobs and April Kelly. Ben Savage, Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel. Michael Jacobs Producations, Touchstone Television and Buena Vista Television. American Broadcasting Company. 22 November 1996.
The first clip of the Episode can be found at http://youtu.be/_OFDLoKXzSo
The second clip of the Episode can be found at http://youtu.be/p7TqPo5pIjU
The Premise...
- Sebastien
- Kitchener, ON, Canada
- After completing a 3-month intensive placement in Nairobi, Kenya teaching grades 5-11 in 2011 and completing a post-grad degree in Education in 2012; Sebastien (Me!) is embarking on a new exciting challenge #teachingawesome ... The Journey begins soon!
1.31.2011
1.23.2011
A Random Act of Kindness?
"Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the and the blind can see."
~Mark Twain
This week I did something that fascinated me! A Random Act of Kindness can make someone’s day that much brighter and if you’re an optimist, you know its going to be passed on. Now I’ve done the Tim Horton’s drive through, talked to a stranger, picked up litter and held doors open but I thought I would tackle a ‘real student issue.’ Grand River Transit is something that everyone likes to complain about but it is a service that so many students use and in any type of service, the patrons according to proper etiquette are to be overly kind.
The following is a direct transcript of my conversation going onto the bus:
Me: Good Afternoon
Bus Driver: Hello, How are you?
In a way, this was a way for the bus driver to test if I was being an active listener, and truth be told I was not expecting it, I replied: ‘Alright How are you?’ and he said to me, ‘excellent.’
A little later on the bus drive, an elderly woman got on, there were empty seats at the front of the bus and no one was standing, the bus driver joked with the woman that she would have to fight around university students to get a seat, and the elderly woman walked to the second level to grab a seat beside one of these students.
Honestly, I don’t quite know what the bus driver meant. Was he joking? Does he feel disenfranchised because of the amount of university students on the bus and our overall perception?
On my way out, I took the front door exit and told the bus driver to have a good afternoon. His sincerity in his ‘thank you’ had a certain amount of genuine surprise as if a student had never been nicer.
True, I was trying to be extra nice but this was a lesson. The reality is the bus is always packed especially the rush hour student buses. Like our lives, the bus can appear to be over crowded and we don’t have the space we need in our lives but manners go a long way in our society and as Mark Twain believed, Kindness is a universal language. What I liked about my Random Act of Kindness is that it didn’t cost money, it wasn’t hard and it was more than worth it. Try the Random Act of Kindness sometime, I dare you; It will be more than worth it. Post your stories in the comment section ~ don't worry it doesn't need to be as long as this blog entry...
~Mark Twain
This week I did something that fascinated me! A Random Act of Kindness can make someone’s day that much brighter and if you’re an optimist, you know its going to be passed on. Now I’ve done the Tim Horton’s drive through, talked to a stranger, picked up litter and held doors open but I thought I would tackle a ‘real student issue.’ Grand River Transit is something that everyone likes to complain about but it is a service that so many students use and in any type of service, the patrons according to proper etiquette are to be overly kind.
The following is a direct transcript of my conversation going onto the bus:
Me: Good Afternoon
Bus Driver: Hello, How are you?
In a way, this was a way for the bus driver to test if I was being an active listener, and truth be told I was not expecting it, I replied: ‘Alright How are you?’ and he said to me, ‘excellent.’
A little later on the bus drive, an elderly woman got on, there were empty seats at the front of the bus and no one was standing, the bus driver joked with the woman that she would have to fight around university students to get a seat, and the elderly woman walked to the second level to grab a seat beside one of these students.
Honestly, I don’t quite know what the bus driver meant. Was he joking? Does he feel disenfranchised because of the amount of university students on the bus and our overall perception?
On my way out, I took the front door exit and told the bus driver to have a good afternoon. His sincerity in his ‘thank you’ had a certain amount of genuine surprise as if a student had never been nicer.
True, I was trying to be extra nice but this was a lesson. The reality is the bus is always packed especially the rush hour student buses. Like our lives, the bus can appear to be over crowded and we don’t have the space we need in our lives but manners go a long way in our society and as Mark Twain believed, Kindness is a universal language. What I liked about my Random Act of Kindness is that it didn’t cost money, it wasn’t hard and it was more than worth it. Try the Random Act of Kindness sometime, I dare you; It will be more than worth it. Post your stories in the comment section ~ don't worry it doesn't need to be as long as this blog entry...
Push, Push, Roll, Roll
Consider the most basic chore. Is it easy? How do you do it? Washing the dishes for example involves putting soap to dishes, drying them with your hands and it is very very easy. What if you couldn’t reach the sink because you didn’t have the use of your legs? What if you couldn’t easily move in between your sink and dishwasher? These were just some of my basic reactions to being in a wheelchair. At Pathways this week, I got the opportunity to play wheelchair basketball and it was incredibly difficult for many of the first timers including the mentors and students alike but those that actually play wheelchair basketball appeared to work harder and exert more energy than able bodied athletes. I was in awe.
I learnt that there are certain classifications for strength in the sport:
0 means that you have very little or no strength in any of your major body parts eg. feet, leg, hand, arm, torso, hip
1 means that you have strength in your torso but not your hands and fingers
3 means you have upper body strength but not in your lower body
4.5 means you fit into the category of most people, being able-bodied
The common rule is that the players on a team cannot combined equal 15 points of strength.
Learning for me is a two-way streak. In the role of mentor, I want to teach the students as much as I can but I also have an expectation to learn from them. Encouraging these students to try wheelchair basketball was incredibly difficult because many did not believe they could do it but actually wanted to try the activity. The first five minutes were difficult. The motion of push, push, roll, roll took place, I even tried and it was hard to move around, it almost seemed impossible. It was exerting and difficult but so worth it and so rewarding. By the end of the hour, it was not only possible but it was a competition.
Seeing the students learn that even the most difficult situations was highly rewarding but having the experience myself was a way to remember how challenging other people lives are and how these people acted like everything was completely normal. When thinking about development and going overseas this summer, I’ve been told that the children in particular never think of themselves as challenged but as the happiest children on earth. No matter what our limits are, we have a calling to make the best of our lives and work towards shaping the best possible world.
I learnt that there are certain classifications for strength in the sport:
0 means that you have very little or no strength in any of your major body parts eg. feet, leg, hand, arm, torso, hip
1 means that you have strength in your torso but not your hands and fingers
3 means you have upper body strength but not in your lower body
4.5 means you fit into the category of most people, being able-bodied
The common rule is that the players on a team cannot combined equal 15 points of strength.
Learning for me is a two-way streak. In the role of mentor, I want to teach the students as much as I can but I also have an expectation to learn from them. Encouraging these students to try wheelchair basketball was incredibly difficult because many did not believe they could do it but actually wanted to try the activity. The first five minutes were difficult. The motion of push, push, roll, roll took place, I even tried and it was hard to move around, it almost seemed impossible. It was exerting and difficult but so worth it and so rewarding. By the end of the hour, it was not only possible but it was a competition.
Seeing the students learn that even the most difficult situations was highly rewarding but having the experience myself was a way to remember how challenging other people lives are and how these people acted like everything was completely normal. When thinking about development and going overseas this summer, I’ve been told that the children in particular never think of themselves as challenged but as the happiest children on earth. No matter what our limits are, we have a calling to make the best of our lives and work towards shaping the best possible world.
The Work of a Volunteer
“It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference”
-Tom Brokaw
The work of a volunteer is never done. This term my Beyond Border classmates and I are volunteering in the Kitchener community to help make a local impact on some much-deserved projects. I currently volunteer with Mosaic Family and Counselling Services and will continue to volunteer there for my local placement in their Pathways to Education Program.
Pathways to Education’s mission is to ensure that young people from at-risk and/or economically disadvantaged communities achieve their full potential by getting to school, graduating and moving on to post-secondary programs. At Pathways, I mentor high school aged youth by getting them involved in and participating in new challenges and most of all I spend time with them and listen to what is happening in their lives and try to impart a tiny little piece of the very small bit of wisdom I do have.
I was struck to come by a Manulife Financial Survey question that asked why volunteers volunteered. It read:
"I volunteer because…
I get free training in a new field
Its an excuse to travel
I want to meet new people
I like to give back to society
None of the above"
It is an honest question, a striking question that made me ask myself: Why do I volunteer? I’ve never considered volunteering as free training or an excuse to travel. I do enjoy meeting new people and have done that through Pathways but does this make it partially selfish. Can there really be that selfless good deed? It struck me that there are people who probably only volunteer for that resume experience and unfortunately I know people who do just that as a resume buffer and coming to the realization that you are never going to be able to change this is a reality that volunteers and managers must face. But I volunteer because every week, new challenges arise at my placement that make me critically think and work towards creating a better good. I had to come to the realization that the refining of some behaviour or the work to help teenagers solve problems in their lives are not one week cures, it takes time just like Tom Brokaw describes in his quotation.
Sometimes people look down at volunteers because they don’t understand the work that they do but the truth is volunteers work harder then most people can ever think. Volunteers are making a difference in this world and devote a lot of time and energy into work that is never easy. The next time you have time on your hands, consider a volunteer placement- the experience will be worthwhile. I guarantee it!
To learn more about Pathways to Education:
http://www.mosaiconline.ca/wps/portal/cfcc/Pathways
http://www.pathwaystoeducation.ca/home.html
Pathways to Education Promotional Video:
Pathways to Education on Canada AM:
Copyrighted material, so I cannot embed a copy of the interview on this blog without the permission of the copyright holder, instead I have posted a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4st1NDyA0A
-Tom Brokaw
The work of a volunteer is never done. This term my Beyond Border classmates and I are volunteering in the Kitchener community to help make a local impact on some much-deserved projects. I currently volunteer with Mosaic Family and Counselling Services and will continue to volunteer there for my local placement in their Pathways to Education Program.
Pathways to Education’s mission is to ensure that young people from at-risk and/or economically disadvantaged communities achieve their full potential by getting to school, graduating and moving on to post-secondary programs. At Pathways, I mentor high school aged youth by getting them involved in and participating in new challenges and most of all I spend time with them and listen to what is happening in their lives and try to impart a tiny little piece of the very small bit of wisdom I do have.
I was struck to come by a Manulife Financial Survey question that asked why volunteers volunteered. It read:
"I volunteer because…
I get free training in a new field
Its an excuse to travel
I want to meet new people
I like to give back to society
None of the above"
It is an honest question, a striking question that made me ask myself: Why do I volunteer? I’ve never considered volunteering as free training or an excuse to travel. I do enjoy meeting new people and have done that through Pathways but does this make it partially selfish. Can there really be that selfless good deed? It struck me that there are people who probably only volunteer for that resume experience and unfortunately I know people who do just that as a resume buffer and coming to the realization that you are never going to be able to change this is a reality that volunteers and managers must face. But I volunteer because every week, new challenges arise at my placement that make me critically think and work towards creating a better good. I had to come to the realization that the refining of some behaviour or the work to help teenagers solve problems in their lives are not one week cures, it takes time just like Tom Brokaw describes in his quotation.
Sometimes people look down at volunteers because they don’t understand the work that they do but the truth is volunteers work harder then most people can ever think. Volunteers are making a difference in this world and devote a lot of time and energy into work that is never easy. The next time you have time on your hands, consider a volunteer placement- the experience will be worthwhile. I guarantee it!
To learn more about Pathways to Education:
http://www.mosaiconline.ca/wps/portal/cfcc/Pathways
http://www.pathwaystoeducation.ca/home.html
Pathways to Education Promotional Video:
Pathways to Education on Canada AM:
Copyrighted material, so I cannot embed a copy of the interview on this blog without the permission of the copyright holder, instead I have posted a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4st1NDyA0A
1.16.2011
Where I'm at and Where I am Going...
Many of us have been on this journey for a year already. We are halfway up the mountain, all of us are gripping tight. A little too tightly. Our fingers wedged firmly in the friendships, volunteering, readings, fundraising and now blogging. But we need to loosen our grips and take a breath as we wait to find out our summer destinations and placements.
And then, Joanne, the Beyond Borders Director at St. Jerome’s University gives us a little tidbit about where we are going. She has placed the fourteen of us all over the world sending four students to Kenya, three to Uganda, three to the Dominican Republic and two to Ukraine and India respectively.
The fourteen students in the Beyond Borders program are like little children waiting for Santa Claus as soon as anyone mentions our summer placements. It is both exciting and exhilarating but also creates angst and nervousness within us. In many cases, people are always looking towards the end…
the end of the movie
the end of their workday
the end of their school term
the end of their night…
The Beyond Borders students including myself are waiting for the end of this term to embark on a journey that we hope and have been told will change us forever. We will be working with feral children in the Dominican Republic, working with people with disabilities in Ukraine and Uganda, developing soccer leagues for children in Uganda or micro financing in Kenya along with a collection of other placements in the countries mentioned above. For me, each end is a new beginning to something bigger and better. The end of my undergraduate education means beginning to engage in a global society to really learn and put our focus towards larger issues like universal education and maternal health.
Thinking about my placement drives me crazy in the best way possible. The Beyond Borders program has allowed me to gain a greater perspective on the reality or our perception of reality in Canada. I always knew that I have it easy compared to other parts of the world but this program with all of its facets has exploited my vices and habits 10 fold and I feel that my placement this summer will exploit those vices 100, 1000 or even 1 million times more then they already are.
When we think of devastation, we think about our hand sanitizer exploding in our backpacks, purses or pockets. Our worst day is a traffic jam or not meeting a deadline. For some Beyond Borders students, our worst day will be finishing a blog. But lets think about this: we have hand sanitizer to stay clean and prevent the spread of germs, we have roads and cars and we have jobs that provide us money to provide us shelter, clothing and food. I am getting a world-class education and I probably don’t go to think about it when I am at home at 3:00am finishing an essay that I can print off of my computer. Real devastation is discovering your pregnant, being diagnosed with AIDS and loosing your mud hut to a flood only to have unclean water and not enough food to nourish your children.
Our summer placements will be fascinating and hopefully open the door to the world of possibilities. Joanne called the world our oyster and this will hopefully be completely true of each and every one of us in the class. I also hope that we are able to educate, teach and inspire others to think about the world we live in and challenge others to make a difference.
These are thoughts on how I am feeling and what I think I can expect out of the journey ahead. Alberta Lee Cox said that “It’s not enough to be good if you have the ability to be better.” I sincerely believe that this is one of the many mantras that the Beyond Borders Class of 2011 is living and I encourage you to do the same. Every day we should challenge one another to be better than we were the day before. This does not mean going to another country or even to a soup kitchen like some of our students will be doing before they go on their international experience. Doing better means making a conscious effort to improve self, friends, family, your community and eventually your world. Never doubt what one small act can do to transform the world around you. I vow to continue to try and I hope you will follow with me on this journey.
And then, Joanne, the Beyond Borders Director at St. Jerome’s University gives us a little tidbit about where we are going. She has placed the fourteen of us all over the world sending four students to Kenya, three to Uganda, three to the Dominican Republic and two to Ukraine and India respectively.
The fourteen students in the Beyond Borders program are like little children waiting for Santa Claus as soon as anyone mentions our summer placements. It is both exciting and exhilarating but also creates angst and nervousness within us. In many cases, people are always looking towards the end…
the end of the movie
the end of their workday
the end of their school term
the end of their night…
The Beyond Borders students including myself are waiting for the end of this term to embark on a journey that we hope and have been told will change us forever. We will be working with feral children in the Dominican Republic, working with people with disabilities in Ukraine and Uganda, developing soccer leagues for children in Uganda or micro financing in Kenya along with a collection of other placements in the countries mentioned above. For me, each end is a new beginning to something bigger and better. The end of my undergraduate education means beginning to engage in a global society to really learn and put our focus towards larger issues like universal education and maternal health.
Thinking about my placement drives me crazy in the best way possible. The Beyond Borders program has allowed me to gain a greater perspective on the reality or our perception of reality in Canada. I always knew that I have it easy compared to other parts of the world but this program with all of its facets has exploited my vices and habits 10 fold and I feel that my placement this summer will exploit those vices 100, 1000 or even 1 million times more then they already are.
When we think of devastation, we think about our hand sanitizer exploding in our backpacks, purses or pockets. Our worst day is a traffic jam or not meeting a deadline. For some Beyond Borders students, our worst day will be finishing a blog. But lets think about this: we have hand sanitizer to stay clean and prevent the spread of germs, we have roads and cars and we have jobs that provide us money to provide us shelter, clothing and food. I am getting a world-class education and I probably don’t go to think about it when I am at home at 3:00am finishing an essay that I can print off of my computer. Real devastation is discovering your pregnant, being diagnosed with AIDS and loosing your mud hut to a flood only to have unclean water and not enough food to nourish your children.
Our summer placements will be fascinating and hopefully open the door to the world of possibilities. Joanne called the world our oyster and this will hopefully be completely true of each and every one of us in the class. I also hope that we are able to educate, teach and inspire others to think about the world we live in and challenge others to make a difference.
These are thoughts on how I am feeling and what I think I can expect out of the journey ahead. Alberta Lee Cox said that “It’s not enough to be good if you have the ability to be better.” I sincerely believe that this is one of the many mantras that the Beyond Borders Class of 2011 is living and I encourage you to do the same. Every day we should challenge one another to be better than we were the day before. This does not mean going to another country or even to a soup kitchen like some of our students will be doing before they go on their international experience. Doing better means making a conscious effort to improve self, friends, family, your community and eventually your world. Never doubt what one small act can do to transform the world around you. I vow to continue to try and I hope you will follow with me on this journey.
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