CESCED Leadership: friendship, trust and support
Patricia Makori enjoys a hike through a Southern Ontario forest, on a recent visit to Canada
An exciting event took place July 18 in Kakamega KENYA, where the current group of eight Leadership students joined the eight ‘newbies’, the next cohort of leadership participants. It was a day of seminars, workshops, team building and sharing the challenges our youth face when transitioning from secondary to college and university studies. There were lots of laughs over ‘tea and mandazi’ (a note from the Chair: mandazi are a Kenyan food staple, the local equivalent of a donut, but without the same sugar spike).
Some students knew each other as they were a year apart, also graduates of the same secondary school. The best part of the day was to see the smiles and hear how our students were doing, and see them face to face.
I say that because the CESCED Leadership program is largely a ‘school without walls’, where online communication and feedback through a ten-unit, 110-hour study program is delivered via the internet. Our two annual get togethers are for orientation, delivery of needed computers, and for the final graduation celebration. In between, I visit students who are studying nearby in western Kenya. Most however, are further away and Kenya is a big country with some 64 universities and hundreds of colleges spread throughout the nation. Technology makes the CESCED program possible. Continuous feedback and evaluation of assignments on-line keeps the Leadership Group together and talking to one another.
Designed for CES Kenyan students pursuing higher learning, the leadership program introduces key leadership concepts including Leadership and Teamwork, Communication, Gender, Ethics, Culture, and Financial Management. The curriculum integrates ‘news blasts’ based on self-awareness, relationship-building, and healthy living practices. The program encourages students to see themselves as “nation builders,” embodying values of justice, integrity, and trust. They explore ideas about intellectual imagination, personal initiative, high achievement, leadership and resilience in overcoming adversity.
During the Leadership Conference, students openly and candidly shared their concerns about leaving their village schools to live in an urban campus. The older students were able to bring clarity and a sense of calm for those just about to embark on first year studies. Discussions focused finding accommodation, living on a meagre budget, dealing with peer pressure, and how to seek help for academic and personal matters. Some were worried about younger siblings they were leaving behind, loved ones they had been caring for themselves. Leaving the comforts of their home community and school for the unknown can be lonely and frightening.
CES Kenya continues to work with our students through mentorship, counselling and scholarship programs. As Principal of the CES School of Continuing Education, I am aware of the need for contact with our students. At some point our CES Alumni will be on their own; but in the interim, we remain ready to support them.
One student from St. Patrick Ikonyero Secondary School told the group, “I walk four kilometers to school daily, but I still dream of becoming a science teacher.”
Another from Kakamega Muslim SS, “Sometimes I do all the house chores before I even open a book. But I try, because I want to be someone.
Imagine a student being so open as to say, “I don’t ask questions in class. I’m afraid the teacher will think I’m slow. I am so thankful that CES has accepted me, and I can speak freely with my colleagues here.”
That demonstrates the trust that is built within the CES Family. Supporting each other through Leadership Studies, mentoring and being available for consultation is how our students will succeed.
CESCED is now entering its 6th cohort of students beginning in the Fall of 2025. Over the past, we have had the privilege of working with young people who now have become teachers, doctors, scientists, nurses, engineers - some who are in positions of leadership in their chosen field and others who have gone on to study at the Masters level.
At CESCED, our mentoring philosophy is rooted in dignity, ethics, and contextual awareness. We understand that nurturing leadership in rural Kenya requires empathy, structure, and support, not just instruction.
“Each student is unique, and each family carries its own constellation of challenges.”
“When you fund these students, you fund future civic leaders.”
— Patricia Makori, Principal – CESCED
