Watch the video and learn about ARC Initiative!

This volunteer opportunity hits very close to home for me. Growing up in China, Korea, Cambodia and Kenya, I witnessed first-handedly real poverty around me. It is a major reason that motivated me to attend Sauder School of Business. A few years ago I participated in a humanity effort in my home, Nairobi, Kenya. In this project a group of people and I provided over 1,000 residents with meal rations. It was far from the perfect project, but it budded into my hopes of creating skill-based entrepreneurship opportunities in Africa.

This all came about when our group was distraught to find that we could not make as concrete an impact as we had hoped. The food subsidies only fed the residents for about one or two days, while they starved for the rest of week. Moreover, the food recipients excessively depended on the feeding program, which did not eventually motivate them to improve their lives on their own.

I realized that the program, along with countless others, only temporarily relieved the real source of the problem and was not a long-term solution. This experience allowed me to reflect how to assist the poor in a more effective and sustainable manner. In my opinion, the poor need to be equipped with knowledge and skills, in order to become productive members of the society.

One of the many reasons I chose Sauder School of Business is that I feel my education can equip me with knowledge and skill to accomplish my goal. The business courses will allow me to get in touch with the practical side of setting up and running a training program. Discussing about social entrepreneurship in COMM101 class allowed me to further develop my ideas. My dedication can only grow at this point, and I cannot wait for what ARC initiative has to offer.

Source:
http://arcinitiative.com/story/