For the past five and a half years, I have been operating a for-profit business, Jobs in Education, an employment job board that focuses on the K-12 education sector in Ontario, Canada. In 2005, I realized that as a young entrepreneur I had to acknowledge the reality that small businesses can come and go. Keeping this in the back of my mind, I wanted to be able to operate a for-profit business but leave a legacy that was driven by creating social change that was aligned with what I valued: enabling education. After researching different avenues, I decided that in the following year my company would contribute a percentage of our profits to a Non-Governmental Organization that went directly towards building a primary school in a developing country. This became a central part of our mission, and to date, we have contributed to primary schools in Kenya, Sierra Leone and Ecuador.

Following the decision to contribute to a social cause that I was passionate about, I had the opportunity to visit my first school in Kenya in 2007. On this trip I met Eric Walters and his son Nick who had also contributed to a school building initiative. Being at the ground level in Kenya, I recognized that I had a limited understanding of the access barriers that existed among rural communities. In order to learn more, I decided to apply to the M.Ed. in Higher Education and Leadership Program at OISE, which I am currently completing alongside a collaborative degree in Comparative, International, and Development Education.

In 2008, I travelled to Ecuador on a unique school building initiative whereby I was given permission to conduct interviews with community members to discuss their perceptions on access barriers related to primary education. Following this adventure, I came to learn that access did not always translate into access. Furthermore, access to primary education did not always translate into receiving a quality education. I began to recognize that building the walls of a primary school was a significant step to enabling access, however, it is not the only step that is required. I wanted to explore other variables that impacted access to education in rural communities.

In early 2009, I began a conversation with Eric Walters, whom I had met in Kenya in 2007, regarding his project (Creation of Hope). We explored the topic of access barriers and began discussing the issue of uniforms. Although the infrastructure for a primary school may be present in a community, if a child could not afford a uniform they were not able to attend school. After speaking with a number of professors about this issue, a few friends and I decided to fund uniforms for 53 orphans (thank you DYK, TA, SS), which was another approach to enabling education. However, the issue of providing a quality education still remained in the back of my mind.

I had been thinking about the concept of developing a teachers college that would specifically be situated in a rural community. For an assignment in one of my graduate courses, I wrote about this idea and began speaking about it. What started off as a conversation between Eric and myself, Ruth Kyatha was brought into the discussion and provided valuable feedback. Her experience as a trained teacher in Kenya and living in a rural community with limited access to electricity, water, and higher education, Ruth was able to provide a much needed perspective. She felt that a teachers college would benefit her community, “I think the ideas Rumeet is thinking about could change my community. They would give more education and skills and allow people to find ways to earn a living in the rural areas”. This was the beginning.

I met with Ruth in October 2009 when she travelled to Ontario with her family to begin the process of developing this idea. During the meeting, Ruth advised that the Mbooni community identified an abandoned building and surrounding land that they were willing to donate as the infrastructure for the teachers college. This showed their commitment, support, and faith in the idea of implementing an institution of higher learning. With this donation, we have been able to save time and money by not having to build from the ground up. This was a significant step forward for this special project, and we decided that we would begin renovations right away. The name for the centre was given by the Kyatha family and the Walters family, which I am humbled by.

In December 2009, I travelled to Kenya to be at the site of the building, meet the community, and to be at the ground level. This trip allowed me to meet the people of Mbooni West, and hear about their thoughts and ideas. I was able to see how quickly the building was being renovated and the committee’s commitment to moving forward. We are in the process of putting all of the necessary pieces together, and our anticipated opening is for May 2010. I welcome you to visit the various sections of the website to view our pictures, videos, and to learn more about the community, centre, and program. Thank you – Asante sana!

Sincerely,
Rumeet Toor