2011 Scholarship Entry #79: Kari Konynenbelt

When I was 19 I spent eight months teaching English, World History and Music at a small school in South India. The students who came were so excited and happy to learn English so that they could provide for their families and get better jobs. They were also predominantly male. The few female students that I had kept telling me that I should come back to their villages with them and start schools and train them how to be teachers, so that together we could teach their whole village how to read and write and speak English. Their passion for learning ignited a passion in me for teaching and when I came back to Canada I applied to go to university as a History major so that I can get my teaching degree and go back overseas to teach in rural villages.

My dream is to tackle the challenge of literacy in third world nations, particularly among women. Not only that, I want to train them to be teachers themselves, so that they have the ability to continue to pass on their knowledge to their children and communities without relying on out-of-country organizations. I want to start schools and equip them with everything they need -skills, materials, contacts and self-assurance-to keep going on their own. I want to then leave those schools in the hands of the more-than-capable people within the community, and let them change their world for the better.

I believe that the best way to affect change in our world is by giving every individual the chance to believe in themselves and make a difference in their own communities. Everyone is a leader; often, they just don't believe they are capable of fulfilling their potential. By enabling people and communities through the power of knowledge and learning, we can change the world and begin to eradicate problems like poverty, disease and violence. This means enabling those who are often neglected and in many places, the neglected are women. I want to change that. I believe that everyone can contribute to making the world a better place, and I want to make it possible for each person to have a chance to do that.