TRU participates in a program called Leave for Change, which “matches the needs of partners in developing countries with the skills of Canadian partner organizations to build capacity at both ends”. Essentially, employees donate vacation time toward volunteer assignments managed by the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) and TRU covers additional expenses.

I know a few people who’d done LfC assignments in the past and heard nothing but good things. A few months back there was an announcement to staff that this year’s deadline for applications was impending, so I took a look at the available postings and saw that a couple of them involved e-learning skills, and impulsively tossed in an application.

Flash forward a few months and I find myself in Nairobi, Kenya, on a three week assignment as an E-learning Development Advisor with a truly inspiring organization called RefuSHE. It was quite an involved process by a lot of people to get me here. Hours of asynchronous and live online training for WUSC’s “flagship international volunteer cooperation initiative”, IGNI+E, which is intended “to help address the root causes of youth unemployment in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Jordan and Côte d’Ivoire – particularly for young women.” I took courses on intercultural sensitivity, gender equality and social inclusion, environmental sustainability and climate action. There was a lot of training on the more direct requirements of an international assignment, such as maintaining physical and mental health, and various elements of safety and security.

Even if my engagement had ended before I came to Kenya, the training would have been a worthwhile learning experience. For some reason I expected the live online session participants would be in a similar place to myself, working professionals in Leave for Change programs. But in fact the vast majority of participants were young and passionate people looking to build experience in international aid and development careers. Most of their assignments were of much longer duration (up to a year) than the few weeks of a LfC stint, and they were already living all over the world. I was the only white male in my cohort of about thirty, and I’m fairly sure I was also the oldest person by a fair margin. The sessions were well-structured and allowed for a lot of time for conversation in breakout groups, and it was fascinating to learn from such an impressive collection of young people who had already accumulated a wealth of life experience.

I have to express my gratitude and admiration for how WUSC has arranged this stay. The administrative requirements of acquiring work visas, etc… are significant, involving a lot of documentation, medical exams, vaccinations, background checks, etc… and I found it intimidating at times. My Canadian case manager was patient and understanding. I am particularly thankful for the efforts of my WUSC contacts here in Nairobi. From the moment I was picked up at the airport I’ve been well supported, the accommodations are more than comfortable, and the in-country orientation and assistance I’ve received here has been exceptional.

I’ve been at work at RefuSHE for about a week now, working on their online platform SHElearns, which was first put together during the COVID pandemic.

SHElearns was created by refugees for refugees. The eLearning platform helps refugee women develop the entrepreneurial and wellness toolkits they need to invest in their talents and create financial stability for themselves and their families. Through customized skill-building video content and digital tutorials led by refugee entrepreneurs, SHElearns is paving the way for urban refugee business development and wellness.

Working with RefuSHE, the hope is to take the existing SHElearns platform and to make some updates to improve the user experience, the instructional effectiveness, and the means for determining how learners are benefiting from the experience. The system is built on LearnPress, a plugin for WordPress with a lot of LMS-like functionality. So far I have mostly been getting to know the system and trying various adjustments and experiments on a cloned dev environment that I’ve set up via Reclaim Hosting. I’ve made some recommendations to my hosts, gotten excellent feedback, and now we are moving into the phase of collaboratively implementing and documenting them. I hope to share more details on this work as it moves along.

The videos on the platform are really impressive, and often moving:

By far, the most impactful part of the experience has been learning more about RefuSHE, and spending time at their location in Nairobi:

RefuSHE serves one of the world’s most vulnerable populations – refugee girls. Our programs prioritize the needs of young refugee women and girls living in urban and peri-urban Nairobi who have been separated or orphaned due to war, conflict, violence, and drought. They have fled instability and persecution in their home countries across East Africa in search of protection and essential needs like clean water, food, shelter, and health care.

Urban refugees who live outside of designated refugee camps have less access to resources and face unique risks. Unaccompanied refugee girls and young women are particularly vulnerable to sexual and emotional violence, physical abuse, domestic servitude, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, illiteracy, forced or early marriage, early pregnancy, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)/Female Genital Cutting (FGC), xenophobia, extortion, human trafficking, and persecution from host communities.

The RefuSHE space feels like a small campus, with a lively and diverse set of refugees and staff engaged in a range of services and activities including case work, mental health work, learning spaces and workshops providing hands-on vocational training, childcare and food services. I’ve taken some photos, but since I should not be photographing the refugees (or anyone, without permission) they don’t really capture the vibe, which is lively, upbeat and very welcoming. A lot of smiles.

I’ve mostly been working with Peter and Loise, who among other things work in the information and communication technology department. There is a classroom that seems to always be full of girls learning applications like MS Office, but also having fun playing Kahoot games or making digital art. It can get delightfully loud at times. I can’t get over how kindly I’ve been hosted, not least with delicious meals.

So far it has been an overwhelming, humbling and enlightening experience. Nairobi is one of the more energetic and at times disorienting places I’ve been, and I am perpetually a little confused and frequently exhausted. But so many people have gone far out of their way to make me feel welcome. I hope I can make a contribution that justifies the effort in bringing me here, not to mention the honour of working alongside and amongst these incredible people.