A LinkedIn Connection Sparks an Idea

It started with a LinkedIn request. Who was attending the NCDA conference in San Diego this year? Did anybody want to connect? Count me in!  DR. Sonia Robinson and I connected virtually on Zoom and the rest as they say is history. When I asked Sonja about her work in Jamaica for International Samaritan, I wondered if her group might benefit from holding a Youth Leadership Program as part of Toastmasters International. This might also benefit their students when they graduate, belonging to a Toastmasters club and working on their Pathway Programs. I suggested she reach out to a club in her area to see if they would help.  Sonja tried to connect with Toastmasters Clubs in Jamaica, but they seemed unsure about what she was asking.

Understanding Sonia’s Work in Jamaica

Now let’s just pause for a minute and share a little bit more about what Sonia does in Jamaica because it is the people who live and work in her community that Sonja helps. This information is taken from the International Samaritan website. We need to understand about garbage dump communities. A garbage dump is different from a landfill. A landfill has regulations and often burns its garbage. A garbage dump is a place where garbage is dumped illegally, and the garbage is left to rot. What you may not know is that over 15 million people are confirmed to live and work in communities that rely on garbage dumps worldwide. This is thought to be an underestimate and the number is on the rise in these communities. People rely on these garbage dumps either living within or working at them as recyclers or pickers. Many families live on as little as $2.00 a day, well below the United Nations line for extreme poverty. The average life expectancy of people living in these communities is 35 years old. Our scholars in the YLP program are between the ages of 15 and 17.

The Mission of International Samaritan

International Samaritan where Sonia works is a Christ-centred organization built on Catholic social teachings. Their mission is to work hand in hand with people who live and work in the garbage dumps of the developing nations and help them break out of poverty. International Samaritan provides holistic scholarships allowing children to pick future careers instead of picking garbage. These scholarships are important because children will often leave school while they’re in grade 7.

Sonia Robinson is the program director at International Samaritan serving the Riverton Meadows neighborhood next to the dump on the outskirts of Kingston. To learn more about the Riverton city dump in Jamaica click HERE.

Launching a Hybrid Youth Leadership Program

The next time Sonja and I connected, I offered to do a hybrid Youth Leadership Program with her group. I love these types of projects. We are both career professionals, so we understand the value of teaching skills in communication and leadership, especially to youth. As fate would have it, it was also the last requirement needed for my DTM.  it was a win-win.

 I quickly asked YLP gurus Christina Kruis and Geetha Nicodemus if they wanted to help. Before getting in too deep and making sure we were above board in creating this program, I checked in with our district YLP chair, Mary Schoendorfer. She was a great supporter of the project and said yes to helping with one meeting.

Week 1: A Rocky Start but a Strong Finish

On Tuesday, February 11^th, we started Week 1 of our hybrid Youth Leadership Program with 10 scholars, ages 15-17, from the international Samaritan program in Riverton, Jamaica. The scholars attend school outside of Riverton and often need to take public transportation to attend junior/senior high school in other cities. They attend our YLP program after school for the day.

Week 1, we will just be honest, technology was a problem. A big problem. But with help from Taivon, their project coordinator who is their tech guru, and Sonja, we were able to see and hear the scholars speaking. The meeting quality greatly improved by the end of the meeting. The scholars jumped in creating speeches about Jamaican beach activities and Jamaican food. They learned how to do table topics from Geetha, which are short informal speeches, and they received feedback from the facilitators led by Christina.

Week 2: Overcoming New Challenges

In week 2, we had the technology mostly worked out, but then a power outage happened just before the meeting on Tuesday afternoon. No worries, the power was restored by Friday! Something we don’t think much about in Canada.

Our second Week 2 happened on February 25th and Mary Schoendorfer joined us both to see how this hybrid international Youth Leadership Program was going to work and to deliver an educational speech on effective listening. Effective listening is a big part of our meetings and in the roles that the scholars take during the meetings.

Future Plans and Expanding the Program

The scholars are engaged and many more are wanting to join the group. We are in discussions to run another group in July. Also, we are looking at starting an online TM club for career professionals so they can learn more about the program and how Toastmasters can help their clients.

We will keep you posted on our project. Blake Palmer is helping us on March 4th to provide an educational speech on gestures and the week after, Laura Chambers will be doing an educational speech on vocal variety.  We are also hoping that Russ Dantu helps us out as he is a regular Jamaican vacationer!

Ann Nakaska, DTM