Givology - give to learn, learn to give

Irene is a student in Educate!’s Socially Responsible Leadership Course that focuses on the entrepreneurial and leadership skills students need to find solutions to poverty, violence, disease and environmental degradation. Educate! trains teachers who become mentors to their students (like Irene), building powerful relationships that give youth the confidence to lead change. The mentor also facilitates the Educate! Social Entrepreneurship Club that gives students like Irene practical business skills while aiming to solve a community need. The amount requested covers the cost of training, salary and transportation for the Educate! mentor, as well as all materials/handouts/textbooks provided in the Socially Responsible Leadership Course.

Irene has an infectious smile and it is easy to think of her as not serious at first glance. That is until you are told she is the head prefect at her school. As you wonder how she got there, her teachers tell you she is the most focused and pragmatic female leader they have had in years. They say “if something has to be done, Irene will get it done”. Any doubts that linger in your mind are completely eroded when you see her in action. Her smile and appealing voice compel her fellow students into action, and she advocates on behalf of her peers with the school administration.

As part of her school’s Educate! Social Entrepreneurship Club (SEC), Irene has helped to kick start a pig rearing project. Utilising land donated by the school, the SEC members plan to distribute piglets to vulnerable members of the community, training them in the upkeep of animal rearing and ensuring a sustainable income for their families.

Irene is also bold. An orphan from a young age, Irene has learned to be an independent female. Where other girls at her school opted for soft skills training as part of the required vocational studies, Irene opted for brick-laying. For this, she endured teasing at first but has emerged victorious when everybody watched her beat the boys! Today many more girls have followed in her footsteps and taken up other traditionally male skills such as carpentry.