How the Wezesha Education Foundation creates meaningful opportunities for students.
By Lynda Kuhn, Purpose Advisor and Chair, Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security
In 2004, I was at a fundraiser in Hamilton for a local charity when I struck up a conversation with a young woman who had just returned from Kenya, where she had spent a month volunteering at an orphanage. She told me about how desperately these kids wanted to go to school, but how school fees were prohibitive. After eighth grade, this meant many children dropped out of school, got pregnant, or lived day-to-day on manual labour. It assigned them a life of grinding poverty.
I wanted to learn more, so she put me in touch with the founder of the orphanage. Within a year, I went to Kenya for three weeks to spend time at the home and see a bit of the country. I thought I had seen poverty before, but this was a whole new level. I had never seen children who hungered so deeply for education and the chance it could provide. They talked about wanting to be pilots and doctors and teachers. To me, their goals were in sharp contract with their culture and community. But one of my biggest epiphanies was how much these kids were like our kids. Despite their situation, they had huge energy and dreams for their lives.
Sometimes in life, you just can’t turn your back. I knew that I had the means and relationships to make a difference for some of these children. So, I jumped in.
Right: Lynda with Peter, one of the first Wezesha students, who is an MD now specializing in obstetrics and gynecology.
Empowering youth in Kenya with the Wezesha Education Foundation
It’s been 20 years since I first began this volunteer journey. Over the years and with the support of Maple Leaf Foods, the McCain family, and many other wonderful big-hearted people, we’ve helped educate hundreds of young people in Kenya.
In 2013, I later co-founded the Wezesha Education Foundation, which helps destitute, bright young people complete high school and university and become leaders in their communities. Annually, we support between 60 to 100 young people with tuition, books, and some living expenses. For $1,800, we cover the costs of university for a student for one full year, which delivers a huge return on investment.
This isn’t “charity”, it is providing more equal opportunity and enabling these bright young people to make a difference in their families and communities. And it has a big multiplier effect — once they get jobs, they help their siblings go to school and their parents to live better lives. They see it as an important family obligation and that ladders up to a big collective impact.
Equal opportunities and meaningful futures for alumni
In January 2024, I travelled to Kenya to visit with some of our alumni and meet our new students. Now a decade since Wezesha was founded, we see how Wezesha has transformed their lives. Some of our first students are now doctors, teachers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. One works at Oxfam, a global charity, where he advances their equity research and reporting. The vast majority come from single parent families led by moms who work as casual labourers and housekeepers to support their children. These are the proudest, fiercest, strongest women I have ever met. Their gratitude to see their bright, talented children go to university and move on to meaningful careers is gut wrenching. I always come away from these visits feeling humbled and privileged to be welcomed into these families and communities and to see and experience Kenya from the inside.
Right: Fancy, a friend for over 15 years, with her children. She works at a home for street children where she is a primary caregiver.
Volunteering is an essential part of who I am. It has opened my eyes, shaped my values, and hugely enriched my life with new friends and experiences. It may seem cliché, but the effort I make is always exceeded by what I get back. A big, warm, happy feeling of having made this world a little more equal.
I feel blessed to be part of a company that cares about making a difference in society. Maple Leaf Foods has helped my work in Kenya. We are a long time supporter of UNICEF and their emergency relief efforts globally. We also make a very big difference here in Canada through the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security. I’ve been able to see the impact on people and families through our efforts and investments to reduce food insecurity. You don’t need to travel the world to find injustice and need.
Right: Pauline, who is receiving a Wezesha scholarship to study law.
I believe this quote by Ruth Bader Ginsburg holds much truth:
“If you want to be a true professional, you will do something outside yourself. Something to repair tears in your community. Something to make life a little better for people less fortunate than you. That’s what I think a meaningful life is — living not for oneself, but for one’s community.”
I hope you can find your personal path to making a difference. Maple Leaf is here to help!
