I am a 23 years old student at the University of St. Gallen, currently completing my degree in business administration. I come from a family that is deeply involved in the field of education. My mother established a Montessori School in Geneva and over the years, I could clearly witness how education played a major role in children’s lives.

Concerning myself, I always felt animated by an unclear desire of helping people and of fighting injustice. The problem is that injustice can be found everywhere and fighting it on all fronts is very difficult. However, I believe that injustice has only a few sources; one of them arises from a lack of compassion for humankind. Indeed, many decisions in our world are taken without consideration for the humans that are directly affected. I believe that if we were able to connect with our world more humanly it would help us take better decisions and make our world a better place. What I would define as “sense of humanity” or “human sense” should be stimulated in our education system. In developing new ways of creating knowledge, we should reflect on elements that are largely missing in our actual learning system, for example artistic, spiritual and emotional aspects. As Trans4m Senior Fellow Dr. Father Anselm Adodo put it: “People are brilliant, but are poor emotionally”.

Our actual western learning system is shaped by a very theoretical and rational approach, neglecting the development of some sort of “emotional intelligence”. As a very rational thinker, I admit that connecting with my emotions and letting them guide me is very difficult. Working with Trans4m provides me with the opportunity to explore this field and derive knowledge from it. Ultimately I hope that I will truly be able to grow this type of intelligence and transmit this knowledge to others.

A lesson I also learned in my life, is that authentic change comes from the bottom of the pyramid. Many people are waiting for the elites or government to make this change, but it will never happen. However, if people are aware and trust their capacity to effect change (whatever the scale), it will contribute to a better world. To make such a contribution, I have come for a Junior Fellowship to SEKEM in Egypt.

SEKEM functions as an extensive ecosystem with a focus on people, environment and economy. It is not only oriented towards economic growth or aligning the organisation’s financial interests with individual objectives, but it truly aims at elevating its community and environment as a whole. Furthermore, it supports the individual development of its community through its own holistic education system.

Our world is now facing great environmental challenges that are interconnected with societal, cultural and economic issues. Therefore, we need to approach these issues with a comprehensive mindset. SESC, as a SEKEM initiative, was designed to offer a holistic learning experience focused on Egypt’s environmental challenges. At SESC I am now facing the challenge to design, together with others, an educational program, which is oriented towards awakening the change makers in new generations and geared to allow people to fulfill their true potential while positively impacting their community and society.

UPDATES
March 2017: Arrival at Sekem