Act is our favorite stage of the program. After all, what's more exciting than students getting together to make a difference in their community? Organizing a community action project for students can be challenging, and doing it on a global scale is even more so. For this reason, as well as a few others, Act is always the last part of the program.
While it's tempting to jump in and get started "helping people," we recognize the complications of working for positive change in Africa and try to address that through our program. The philosophy of Comfort the Children (CTC) International, Rafiki Link's parent organization, is Ubuntu—I am because we are. We approach community development work recognizing that we are interdependent. We believe true change happens when everyone is allowed to bring their skills and knowledge to the proverbial table.
Much of Rafiki Link's mission is to utilize technology to defeat stereotypes, to challenge the notion that Africans are passive participants or nameless faces in a charity appeal. For all the great things that we are able to accomplish, the reality is that it is impossible to run a program like Rafiki Link without resources. We operate on the bare minimum, our staff in Kenya travelling from school to school with two laptops in hand, to be shared between 20 students. This clearly does not compare to the ease with which students in North America can participate in our program. We are well aware of the structural barriers of poverty that affect our students in Kenya, but we refuse to make this our students' identity.
We want all of our students to build relationships, see themselves as global citizens, and recognize how interconnected we all are. Through our "Think" activities, students are introduced to each other and learn about the similarities and differences they share. With Link, students learn alongside each other, whether through essay contests, Skype debates, or research projects. By the time we reach Act, the hope is that the students have formed friendships and achieved mutual respect. At this stage, students are cognizant of the many similarities they have, while still recognizing the realities of privilege and inequality.
With Act, we strive to create projects that encourage students to think critically about their roles and responsibilities as global citizens. In the past, students from Bodwell High School in Vancouver, Canada, have traveled to Kenya to work on community projects. This semester, we're having our first Pop-Up Coffee Shop. At the most basic level, it's similar to a bake sale, but with students selling coffee. It's an opportunity for students to get a taste of running their own business, planning an event, and fundraising. What makes it most powerful for us, however, is that it encourages students to be conscious consumers. We've partnered with Ground to Cup Coffee, a coffee producer that gives at least 10 percent of its proceeds to charity. Along with the coffee, students will sell L.I.F.E jackets. The jackets are hand-made, environmentally friendly, reusable coffee sleeves. The jackets offer an income for CTC's Malaika Mums, who are Kenyan women who have children with mental and/or physical disabilities. The funds they raise allow them to enroll their children in Malaika Kids, our school for children with special needs.
Our Kenyan partnering schools will work with the students in North America to plan the Pop-Up Coffee Shop. Students will together plan and execute the necessary elements of a successful event by designing the posters and decorations, picking the music, and more. How exciting will it be for patrons to support Kenyan education by participating in a cross-cultural collaborative business?
We hope that through Act, students will feel the accomplishment of having reached a goal through teamwork, and become aware of the many elements behind a successful fundraising event. More importantly, they'll have the satisfaction of knowing they collaborated with students on the other side of the world to improve education quality for everyone.
If you're interested in learning more about Rafiki Link, check out our blog. To learn more about CTC International's other initiatives, visit our website.
Teesa Bahana is the Rafiki Link coordinator at Comfort the Children (CTC) International.