I recently read an article published by the New York Times that really had a very strong impact on me. It told the story of Justus Uwayesu, a young boy orphaned by the Rwandan genocide in 1994 who spent years living in a garbage dump and was recently admitted to Harvard University. His journey began back in 2001, when he was found by American charity worker, Clare Effiong. She was working for Ester’s Aid, and was on a mission to find impoverished children and eventually feed, educate, and train them. When she first got there, all of the other orphans scattered, but Uwayesu stayed, claiming that he “[wanted] to go to school.” His response made me realize how lucky I have been to have the opportunities to pursue my dreams and how so much of the world is denied the right to an education, among other things.
I believe that it is very important that we try and make a difference and start to brainstorm ideas about how to tackle some of the major issues going on today. I think that social entrepreneurship is an excellent way to start because the non-profit organizations are sometimes hard to sustain, so I strongly believe in businesses that focus not only on profit but also on finding innovative solutions to social problems that are prevalent today.
An example of a social enterprise is Kencada, a school in Mombasa, Kenya started by a group of North Vancouver residents who teamed up with a contact in Kenya, and I am a huge supporter of the project. It was just launched this past year and already is a success. I hope to eventually work for a social enterprise as I genuinely believe that the world needs to shift its focus from only profit to a combination of profit and whatever is in society’s best interest.
New York Times Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/us/from-a-rwandan-dump-to-the-halls-of-harvard.html?_r=0
Kencada Academy: