Education without Borders' (EwB) mentoring program connects adult mentors in North America with mentees in South Africa. The goal of this mentorship program is for each mentor-mentee pairing to develop bonds, exchange ideas, and together navigate the challenges students face now, and will encounter, when the mentees leave school.
We asked one of our mentors who lives in Toronto to share their experience.
"I am a retired psychotherapist and South African expat living in Toronto. I readily volunteered to mentor a young senior high school student, but was linked with a 25-year-old Masters student in South Africa, a graduate of the Education Without Borders program. She also has ambitions to do a PhD in future.
We have been meeting now for 3 months, conversing weekly on WhatsApp.
At the outset, my mentee stated that her goals were to be more motivated in her studies and less anxious about a future job in her field.
After our initial get-to-know-you meeting it became obvious that the mentee had a myriad underlying family, interpersonal and social issues that had never been addressed. This was due mainly to enmeshed family dynamics and a lack of resources. She initially needed a therapist more than a mentor and serendipitously we were an excellent match at this moment in her life. She also needed someone to help her with her resume which I was able to delegate to a family member – an expert in the field!
Over our time together I have noticed remarkable change and improvement. My mentee has resolved some challenging family issues and as a consequence has more energy and motivation to tackle her schoolwork and career challenges.
My mentee has been very open and keen to talk about her issues and to work hard at trying to resolve them. She is a pleasure to work with. At her request we will be speaking less often and more on an as-needed basis." If you’re interested in supporting EwB, click here donate today.