It’s a nursery “singsong” in these parts.
It rings in our minds whenever we are instilling good manners to our children.
“Sharing is Caring”.
Indeed, in these times where life is a blur, peoples heads are stuck in their phones… There is perhaps no purer virtue than the act of giving back to society.
The world cannot have enough of people who reach out with “no strings attached” to just take a moment out of their lives and help either with their own hard earned money, skills, knowledge or even lend a hand to someone who may need help.
So a few months back, a great youthful- emerging enterpreneur-like TV show was airing on one of the Kenyan local channels and I happen to have been following the weekly episodes.
What struck me at the end of the series (it was an exclusive live-screening grand finale which I attended) was that most of the young contestant had such great ideas. One in particular stood out. The young man is called David Kimani, his was an idea that really stood out for me simply because of its nobleness. He wanted to start a school in his home town for those people, young or old, who had missed out on both primary and secondary education. What was impressive about this chap was how he articulated his model. He also had a candid way of explaining his vision and as you listened to him you could tell that the idea was an issue that he deeply felt for. Anyone watching was convinced that his was a solid business idea and he would surely emerge the winner. What endeared him to views was that it was clear, his idea was more than just a business for self – profiteering. But rather one that was bigger than him, one that would make a difference in his community.
According to the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform: SDG Goal 4:
“Despite progress, the world failed to meet the Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education by 2015. In 2013, the latest year for which data are available, 59 million children of primary-school age were out of school. Estimates show that, among those 59 million children, 1 in 5 of those children had dropped out and recent trends suggest that 2 in 5 of out-of-school children will never set foot in a classroom. The Sustainable Development Goals clearly recognize that this gap must be closed, even as the international community more explicitly addresses the challenges of quality and equity…” https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg4
If the above statement is anything to go by, I think Kimani and his group of teachers have actually taken on a mammoth challenge to close the education gap and achieve inclusive and equitable quality education for people in their community. For this very reason, I too just felt that though I may not be able to help directly as a teacher (I’m unqualified for one, two is that in fact they school is set up in Kilifi, a coastal town in Kenya – a very long way off from where I live.)
However, I was able to offer my skills as a designer, to help him market his brand beautifully and at least ensure that he has the basic communication materials in his school for anyone who wishes to know more about his brand.
So of course a month ago, I personally met him when he was in Nairobi and I asked him if he was interested in me helping him out pro-bono to market his social enterprise in a gainful way.
He obliged.
A pretty decent logo and a simpleton brochure that was clearly generated in-house using Word was presented to me. We had a small brainstorm session and I took the liberty to give him suggestions of what his immediate communication needs were, considering, his was still a start up. We ended up with 4 items, a poster, a flyer, a t-shirt design and roller banners. To view the range of designed applications for Second Chance Adult Learning Centre, click and view here
Let’s just say that, once I completed this project, I was not only proud about being a part of something life changing, I felt the power of volunteering my services to be very fulfilling. However small the contribution was, I felt I had scored huge in seeing the value of using my talent. That, my work matters 🙂
Kudos to Second Chance Adult Learning Centre, as the late Mandela stated ” Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” The people of Kilifi and the rest of us applaud you.
Nursery singsong or not, caring is what makes us humans, humane.