Mentorship is one of our core mandates at GeoPsy Research. We see mentorship as the only way of ensuring the sustainability of our work. In keeping with this goal, we decided to bring in two young but enthusiastic pupils, Asher and Alma. Asher is 11 and is in grade 6 while Alma is 8 and in grade 3. Both of them are pupils at Bishop Mahiani Academy.

The goal was to introduce them to the professional aspects of  work, including contracts, time management and reporting. After signing a one-day contract as junior office assistants, we agreed that their roles for the day would include, filing of receipts and drawing a map of the office. They were excited to sign the contract and to embark on the work.

The first task took them a while as we were training them on document organization, reading, transcribing and typing. The second task was however fun for them as it was a way of expression what they were seeing. At the end of the day they were both happy. Alma in her final comments said, “My feeling was good about the work and I learned about work and receipting”. Asher on the other hand said “It was good day at work, I liked it. I learnt that maps are drwaings of the earth on a flat surface. I particularly liked the extra time that we are given to finish tasks and the short breaks.”

For both tasks they both did their best and produced the required output and  concise reports. Their maps were particularly interesting as Asher was able to produce a planimetric view of the area of our office and included a legend for the map. Alma on the other hand include her ’emotions’ on the different locations of the map.

To us, it was also a good experience to see the young energy and the excitement. At the end of the day, they both left happy after receiving a dollar each for the day’s tasks. We hope to explore of these kinds of mentorship activities in the future.

By. Francis Oloo (oloo@geopsyresearch.org)