The photo above was taken at the source of the Nile, Jinja, Uganda. I'm on the left and around me are the 25 gifted students (from Uganda, Nigeria and Botswana) who attended the first ever 'African Gifted Foundation' course in January 2011. The 5 days I spent in Uganda; photographing the event, talking and meeting the students, helpers, professors and watching my dad literally change the lives of young people, was probably the 5 most inspirational days of my life and I was so lucky to have this experience.
What is the African Gifted Foundation?
My dad set up this charity to provide stretching and challenging educational courses for young, gifted African students and in short, create a network future leaders for our coming generation and inspire the smartest students to push their studies further. The first course happened in January 2011 and was a complete success.
To apply for a place on this course, each of the students had written an essay on 'The Future of Africa' and before any of them had arrived, I read, re-read and read again each and every essay. They were the most beautiful words I have ever read because although they had never met each other before, each essay sung the same song of hope, patriotism and love of their continent. On the other hand, almost every essay recognized that a failure in education, corruption in governments and poverty needed to be addressed so that Africa could transform into a wonderful place that could be one of the world's greatest continents. Reading the powerful words of these essays made me wonder what 25 16 year olds would write about the 'Future of England'....
The best part of my experience in Uganda was getting to know the students. It was so surreal at first to be whisked from my repetitive life at home in London to spending every night talking till late with people my age from places I had only seen in pictures and spending my days listening to lecturers talk about finance and deep maths. I made such close friends in the 5 days and cried my eyes out when it was time to go. I enjoyed asking about their cultures, what their school day is like, what their aspirations are and anything else I could think of! But, as much as I wanted to know about their lives, they were equally interested to know about life in England - is it really grey and cold all the time? Yes. One boy was shocked and upset when I told him that no, the Queen doesn't actually have any power in government...
Even though we all came from completely different backgrounds and places, we were all still 15/16 year old boys and girls and that was common interest enough. It was lovely to see the Ugandans, Nigerians and Botswanans mixing and mingling, and it was also interesting to see how different the students from each country were. Another thing that united us all was America - American music, American films and American TV. Its crazy how one country can have so much influence around the world.
One thing I noted while I was there was a complete opposite attitude to education than I have witnessed in England. In Africa, it is 'cool' to be smart and these are the ones that people look up to, the ones who people want to be. They have 80+ in a class and the ones who shine academically are the ones who shine outside the classroom. The students love school. They love to learn and the know the importance of an education. Sadly, I don't believe it is the same in England as from secondary onwards, clever people are branded 'neeks' and cool is who can post the most pictures of parties when your 14 (but I'll save this rant for later blog post). All I'm saying is I think that they have the right attitude in Africa and in England, a lot of us don't realise how lucky we are to have smaller classes and free universal education up until 18.
I could write for much longer about this experience but I think I'll stop now. I'm blessed to have had this opportunity and such an amazing dad and I miss every single one of the people I met in Uganda. Each and every one of the students inspired me to see life for all its potential. I also realised that there is a lot more to be done in this world and the future starts here.
*sniff* *sniff* I am actually crying. Very moving post and it is even more inspiring. This AGF programme has really inspired all of us and I couldn't have said it better myself. Nicely written Rhianna.
ReplyDeleteAww don't cry! Thanks Rolake...I'm glad you liked it and I miss you unbelievable amounts. Wish we were back there :)
ReplyDeleteThis is so beautifully written, i am so jealous you had such a wonderful experience. everything you said is completly right hun
ReplyDeleteHello I'm a student currently studying social anthropology at soas university in London. I came across your blog whilst doing research on an essay I have been writing ' Will tomorrows Children of Africa be able to smile at a new Dawn'. In My work I talk several points one of them being about the current Educational standard of many African countries; I believe you raise a very important issue about the mentality adopted by many African students compared to there western counterparts, albeit perhaps for the wrong reasons. One of the main reasons is work ethic. From a very young age many Children of African decent are taught the importance of hard work and diligence in any so activity they proceed in. This results in them having a tendency to be very competitive. This competitiveness creates a multitude of high performers almost like a chain reaction, as one person succeeds the others must follow in pursuit of fear of being left behind. Of course there are other motives behind the different mindsets.
ReplyDeleteAnyway I must get back to work now I rather enjoyed your blog and have saved your link in my favourites I hope to read more of your blogs in the upcoming future.
R.I