How Re-education Has Shaped My Perspective on Life and Community Support
I love Google, don’t you? I mean, gone are the days when you had to take out the dusty encyclopaedias or dictionaries. Alternatively hope you were near someone more knowledgeable than you. Now, you have a query, you just “Google it.”
Anyway, I decided to look up the words educate and re-educate. Per Google, “The process of acquiring general knowledge and developing the powers of reasoning and judgment.” . I like the idea that I can acquire more knowledge and increase my ability to reason. To re-educate, again courtesy of Google, is: “To educate again for new purposes.” This, I assume, can continue into perpetuity.
So, my re-education would mean that I am “acquiring more knowledge and increasing my ability to reason for new purposes!” . I like that! Why my interest in this area, at this particular time? In keeping with my premise to live “eating life with a big spoon,” I am learning and growing. Hence, continuous education, I hope and pray, will be my constant state of being.
Redefining Education and Re-education
In my line of work, I meet a lot of people from all walks of life. I meet the wealthiest, the poorest, and everyone in between. It is, however, in my work with communities where I meet people who challenge and inspire me the most.
These are people who do not share my ideals on wealth and poverty. Peole who do not use material possessions to define themselves or gauge their happiness. People who the world externally would call marginalized, but to me, have the real pulse on the quality of life.
Learning from Kenya’s Communities
I have worked with communities across East Africa, and I am fortunate enough to be embraced by them. While I feel I give something to these communities, they unbeknownst to them, give me much more.
These communities, teach me a different perspective of seeing the world. Introduce me to the simplicity of life, nature, and the wonders of the universe, untainted by modern life. They teach me how to listen to all around me. Reminding me of my childlike wonder at small thing, like sunsets, birds at rest, or a small crab scurrying along a beach. How to be still!
A Driver’s Question That Changed My Thinking
One instance that challenged me was a conversation with one of our company drivers. I was telling him how the hotel we both worked in, was discarding sheets and bedding. Our discard of those items would result in us donating them to the neighbouring community of Shimo La Tewa prison. This was under our corporate social responsibility department, a department I was responsible for.
He looked at me with contempt. He then stated that it was ironic that we were helping the very people who wreaked havoc on society – murderers, and thieves. While some of our hard-working staff slept on the floor without so much as a sheet.
His statement impacted me greatly. I felt ashamed that I had not considered the internal community. His response make me review how we define and decide on the worthiness of a community for donations. What are the broader implications of these decisions?
Balancing Internal and External Community Needs
That conversation changed how I viewed community. I began to analyse how organizations like ours, relate to both its external and internal communities.
Noting that the internal community of an organization is as worthy of consideration as the external and more often than not, more so. I stand corrected and from the most unlikely source.
Continual Growth Through Re-education
I am contentedly re-educated on this matter. World, bring it! I am awakening!
For more updates on my journey of continuous learning and re-education, connect with me on LinkedIn for professional insights and discussions.