Amani for Persons with Albinism (APWA) Youth Summit 2018, What I Have Learned

John Brown
Sep 7, 2018 · 16 min read

To say that I learned a lot in this summit would completely be an understatement. This is because indeed I really learned more than you can imagine, in a peroxide of a single week. This week was full of fun, adventure and a network of great minds I will miss for the rest of my life. Yes, truly the people around me were very nice.

I also experienced a healing. This enabled me to not only view the world in a different perspective but also understand things in a different scope altogether.

Traveling

I am no fan of traveling. Actually, I underestimated the time we could take thus the drive to Meru was quite a rough one.

The travel back to Nairobi was easier and very enjoyable as we had a good expectation of what the journey could be. Thanks to planning I could proudly say that I traveled in style.

Working in a Team

The moment I arrived I understood the only way we could work things out was on a team. We were new to the area and we could not manage to become lone rangers as we could easily get lost and distracted.

The activities too promoted being on a team of friends to work them out. Hehe, this was really a powerful experience.

Although at the beginning of the summit I was afraid of some personalities, I ended up making friends with almost everybody in the summit.

Yes, even unintended children at the home and yeah, this was a good opportunity for me to learn about how different people behave, their strengths as well as weaknesses. I really also enjoyed all the conversations that I made this week.

Some of the important lessons I got from working in a team include coordination, listening as well as understanding others to achieve great results.

I got managerial skills too

I was pretty excited about the walking activity that we got tied our feet and required to walk for about 5 meters. While other teams struggled with this for 30 while others 20 seconds our team only used 18. Kudos to group 4. I devised a command where for 1, our team could move the right foot and 2 for the left. 1, 2 1, 2 off we went and this is how we spent that remarkable amount of time. Hurray.

Yoga with Lizzie

I have never comprehended how powerful yoga can be. I once read a book about vipassana, Mindfulness in plain English but after a few days of practicing, I gave it up. This was quite difficult and I was always feeling like a zombie, Augh.

Starting with Yoga, I always felt having control over my days, I started each day in a calm, and at a great pace that I could do all the required business.

I have also come to incorporate yoga into my routine. This is not easy but I believe with time I will get better and soon maybe smart enough. For Lizzie, I really appreciate and hope we meet soon. Namaste!

Albinism talk with Jane Waithera

In this talk, apart from learning about what albinism is like, I changed my mindset of how I see things. Since now I will accept mzungu, pesa, and albino no more. This was what was created in my mind by the self-awareness to self-advocacy chain created by Jane. I also believe I have changed how I see, by seeing how I changed. Call me mzungu and we will next meet in a court defending my case. Or I give you to the Police (boys) for a thorough beating. Hehehe.

I also got to understand the social fabric around albinism, and how it affects our participation in activities and social mobility. I read about the social misunderstanding of people to Persons with Albinism PWAs and how this affects us from the time we born till after we die. I also understood how to change it.

Self-Confidence and Family Support, a Talk by Leonida Anyoso

I have never struggled to gather self-confidence. This though is very important. I also learned how to gather confidence in real life situations and practical exercises that I could take. I took this a step forward and went to get help from the internet, Dr. Google of course.

I got a TED talk that encourages acquiring a power pose, basically stretching out yourself for two minutes as this increases testosterone and decreases cortisone. A quick good formula to gather the required confidence.

This can be during the interview or any other situation that requires you to be bold. I also do this every morning as an addition to Yoga.

Forgiving

I think am also very good at forgiving, in the real sense I do forget before I even think of forgiveness. When I get offended I feel emotionally embarrassed for a while but I always get distracted by something else then it gets out of my mind.

After reading the article by Desmond Tutu, I also realized that I should be more cautious about my actions as they might end up offending more than I ever imagined in the first place. In this case, Desmond’s father physically abused his wife and this offended Desmond as he was guilty of being weak and helps in such occurrences.

I also learned the benefits of forgiveness to a perpetrator as well as the victim and their relationship as a whole. I now have become more willing to forgive as I now understand the full reparations of not doing so.

The Meaning of My Name and If You really knew me

Wow, this was really amazing. I came to understand how others think about me, how I think about myself and how these affect me. I also came to think of the actions that define me and the values I believe in and how that could determine how I think and behave.

I also learned the meaning of my name, ‘John’, One how was graciously given or grace. This was a good activity by finding my philosophy. This is my sail. Although the wind might blow it I believe the sail I have set is a better one.

Bonfire Manenoz! (Activity)

At his juncture, I cannot narrate how we danced and celebrated. I felt very awesome. This was a long day and I could not hold but let all go. We also made some funny stories about how Hyenas can eat you in a desert. We shared experiences in people’s endeavors and who we forgave and for what. Thanks to the fire we could keep warm though irritated by the smoke. Mmmmh. A cough.

Impact on Our Identity by Naomi Mwangi

It was fund knowing who impacts your identity, I was happy to know that mine was positively violated. I wish we could make strong and better institutions to create better lives and identities for all of us.

It was fun blowing up balloons until we realized the impacts of our reactions instead of our responses on other people’s dreams (balloons). I really go fascinated by how we allow our reactions instead of thinking a response. I also try to learn to respond after thinking instead of allowing my mind to override what is human and acting from the heart.

I ask myself every time whether I live in the present or in the past. Do I live experiencing life or do I just associate things with past experiences? Infect I do also change the perception I have on people and things around me.

I also learned that the results we have derived from the expectations we have for ourselves. By having a perception of something we do not expect anything different thus we always get what we have.

RECLAIM Variables

This variable stands for:

Responsibility: Being Accountable

Empowerdness: what we do with people

Courage: Being Bold

Love and Light: Known how to let love and light to oneself

Addictiveness: doing what a river does when going from a mountain to the ocean

Intuition: Device wisdom, balance thoughts

Mindfulness: Being present in my thoughts.

I also figured out the chain on how we learn through the spiral of learning and growth.

Who I am? — — — — — - What stops me and what enhances my journey — — — — —  What is my new story — — — — — — — —  Who is my friend in this — — — — — — — — — — -how are we doing our actions — — — — — — Reflections, what can we do, change or learn.

I also learned about some of the few things about

Who people say I am!

Who God says I am!

Who I really say I am!

What stops me from being who I am!

What I’m doing to that which stops me from being who I am.

Opportunities from Our Challenges

Mr. Anthony, though funny explained how being a DJ gave him a distinct identity, that set his pace while working at World Vision and Handicap international in Daadab. He also advised on how to change our challenges into opportunities.

I came into the realization of what school does, and the environment that is around us in terms of our values and our direction in life. This really touched my heart, I came to notice what we can do to make our schooling and education as a whole more beneficial and better to our children.

Personality

Learning about our personality forms a major part of how we achieve our goals. This is because we discover our strengths and potentials, as well as consider our weaknesses. By having a concept of our personality we also discover how we can tap into our potentials and get the best out of them.

Career Mapping

For a career, is not just about a job opportunity, but a lifetime of experience. We thus need to figure out what job we want, the skills required and knowledge and lustily connections or mentors. These are the basic and fundamentals of building a successful career, in whatever field you need.

Communication Principles

Communication, communication, communication. This is the basics of life. We all need to communicate after all, don’t we? It thus goes without saying that we need to communicate well for a success in all our endeavors whether professionally or personally.

Here are some of the principles of good communication:

Match your language according to your audience, don’t address an audience with a formality informally and vice versa. Be aware of mixing languages, doesn’t sound professional, hehe.

Do not address people without knowing the correct titles they have, a Doctor or a Professor? They have earned it, you can burn out your chances at anything by under-addressing someone. Recognise them.

Be confidential and have courtesy, do not let the cat out of the bag for every conversation to every communication. Address things in a respectful manner and avoid being the weak link.

Maximize on face to face communication to enable you to gain its advantage. You can explain yourself better, talk more, get instant feedback and even correct what was misunderstood.

Do not mistake emotions for reason. Actually, do not promise while exited and do not resolve to do something while sad. This can prevent over-promising and ending up under-delivering, not good at all, right?

Better yourself at listening, as this makes you a better communicator.

Grammar, I can’t stress how this can show how uneducated you’re. Don’t confuse you’re for your, and your message will be on point. Punctuation as this too counts. A good example is,

No, Communications allowed. And: No communications allowed. As you may notice this are positive and negative statements varied by the comma.

Am no good at grammar and I am not trying to teach you the same but as you can see it matters.

Communication via Mail

When communicating on mail you need to:

Be concise, short and directly to the point.

Imagine yourself as the receiver, this will enable you to create a better-customized message for your audience.

Check, Counter-check, Re-counter-check, Check the re-countered-checked and continue the chain as necessary to ensure you communicate just what you want and not anything else.

The Art of Networking

Did you know that networking is a powerful tool that everyone can achiieve? This has been taken a notch higher with the introduction of LinkedIn. Here you can just network in a professional manner and actually increase you employability chances to at least 60%.

Here are a few tips to get you started

Create a plan to guide you and start filling it with the connections you need. This will be a benchmark that will be helpful to meet.

Since networking is a give and take kind of a game, always appear as a powerful resource and not as a dependant. Let people see you as a bridge to the next level. In this, anything you ask will be gladly given, as an appreciation to what you bring to the table.

Focus on building a relationship made of loyalty rather than impressing someone, this can ruin your identity later.

Don’t expect instant gratification, let the friendship last for some time good things are yet to come!

Always keep in contact after some time. This can be a call in less than 24 hours or periodic emails. To sound relevant, give some few recent achievements and challenges if any and how you are navigating through them.

Be respectful. Oh, I don’t think you need to a remind, but you cannot disrespect a stranger and expect any help, right?

Finally listen more and utter less, to all our friends with good oratory skill, I repeat talk less. Moreover, have fun in networking, after all, you are in this game for a short while, so don’t handle it as if you are a bot.

What To Avoid

Interruptions, augh! Do not intrude in a talk, have manners and let them say what they feel or know, after all, this is an opportunity to learn, not to teach.

Closed-end questions. To gain more insight into the person, their values and philosophies and life in general, don’t ask ‘yes,’ ‘no’ questions. Let the whole story flow, you might realize if they have recourses to help or not.

Don’t talk too much, heh, doesn’t sound good, and also, don’t ask straight away for something. You make the whole networking look fabricated and unnatural.

Stick to your promises and in case of anything, do not apologize much, it looks so sorry.

To sum this up, keep it professional.

CV Writing by Grace Nzomo

In a world of today, we really need to adapt and Grace showed us how CV’s from school are different from those required in the job market. Today when writing a CV only a few details matters and it is always powerful to deliver them in the shortest and most presentable way. Actually, your CV should be, ‘Short and Sweet.’ Literally.

A stunning CV needs to be very neat and detail yourself in the most concise and attractive way possible. Let us have a look.

Name

Phone and email

Career Objective

Outline your summary shortly with your skills in form of keywords, remember to keep it, ‘short and sweet’.

Relevant skills

Example:

 Teamwork

 Communication skills

 creative writing

 Ability to Learn

Education Background

Start with the most recent one, list the time, the course is taken, the institution then the grade achieved or the current grade.

Work Experience

Achievements

 list your achievements

 remember to list three to four and begin with the most important and relevant according to the job

Responsibilities

 list some of your responsibilities

 more important ones first and be clear about them

 be sure you can explain them in the interview

Hobbies and interests

 Remember to write interesting and valuable hobbies

 Be sure you know about them and why you like doing them

 Do not list any hobby a bad example below

 resting and sleeping

Referees

Give at least two to three names

Name

Position

Organisation

Phone

Preparing For an Interview

When preparing for the interview it is important you research the company. Get to know the skills required, work ethics and general company culture. This will save you a great deal

When going for an interview it is advisable you keep time. Be early, be official and prepare for the interview questions and be physically jovial and positive.

The Interview

During the interview be as kind and as polite as possible and ensure you project a good impression to the panel.

Ask as many questions when given turn, and make sure you confirm the time frame in which they should get back to you, in case you are hired. If given a date and this passes, understand that things went south and don’t go back to the panel asking why you did not get the job. Not professional.

Skin Care Protection: Vanessa Chelimo

As a person with Albinism, it is very vital you protect yourself from the harmful UVA/UVB rays of the sun that can cause skin cancer, this can be done by;

1. Wearing protective clothing, wide broad hat, at least 3 inches, and long sleeved clothes and covering apparels.

2. Use of a sunscreen with at least 30 SPF or up to 50 SPF, this should be used according to the amount of time you are expecting to be exposed in the sun. Lotions should also contain either oxybenzone or any other chemical blocking the sun rays.

When using sunscreen make sure you are comfortable using it and have no allergies, consider the chemical composition and the overall smell and feel of it. Also, bear in mind the cost if you are to purchase it.

Another important factor is the date of manufacture and expiry, the more recent the better as expired cream or cream near expire might be dangerous and have very little sun protecting effect.

Be careful when using sunscreen for children as they consume all the chemicals and this might not be good for them, ensure you make protection from clothing rather than from cream. Also, reduce the time for sun exposure.

Entrepreneurship talk with Violet Mbiti

At this practical talk, I was able to carefully analyze my ideas. I was touched by how we valued different business and how we also had a chance to present or pitch our ideas to the whole team. This gave us an idea of how Lion’s den and Shark Tank works.

When thinking of a business idea you need to ask yourself these three critical questions.

The Idea, How unique is the idea? What is your value proposition? What is it that you are bringing to the society?

1. Product Development: Product, market and vehicle: This requires you to know exactly how you are going to make your product and how you are going to sell it to the world. From Peter Thiel’s Zero To One if you create an awesome product but lack a good marketing strategy to sell it, it is as well as not creating one.

2. Revenue Development:

a. How will you generate revenue, thus your business model.

b. How many streams of revenue you have

c. Methods and terms of payment

d. Expenses incurred to make the product and what you can do to reduce the expenses required

e. Recourses and connections needed to create the business

3. Team Development:

a. Skills required

b. Sale how to turn potential customers into sales

c. funding

Here is just a few of all we learned, we also experienced an atmosphere of relaxation and goodness that aided our healing and inspiration.

Books I am reading from the insights of the Summit.

Of course, I love reading books and the summit fostered that by promoting a learning spirit. I am embarking on Looters and Grabbers, I will have to check this book in the library, I will also read the Prince.

Now let me give special Thanks To:

Meron Benti

Being a Co-Founder, She did a very nice job to organize this summit, to say the least. The destination for the summit was also a real inspiration.

Being a person with Albinism, she inspired me to do better than my best. Sincere thanks and may she succeed in her career. All the best.

Philitricia Were

Another great personality out there. I love how she is passionate about Persons with albinism as much she has melanin. I am also proud of the time we had together and the inspiration she shared.

Alyne

This summit could not have been complete without her support. She documented and shared great memories from the summit making it more lively and memorable event. I also look forward to a stunning linked in profile. Cheers.

Pat Larry King

Ohhh, what a nice experience covering the whole event and creating awareness about PWAs? I believe God will bless him for his commitment to ensuring we create a new story for Persons with Albinism. Good Job.

I cannot write enough of this, I also want to thank all who attended this summit for making it a great experience. Surely alone I can speak but together we can Converse. This goes to Violet Mbithi, Mwalimu Jackson, Grace Nzomo and Dr. Venessa, Thank you for your inspiring personalities.

Side Bar

I consider myself a better me after the summit. This is because I not only learned a lot about myself but also about other people, challenges in life, and how to turn them into opportunities. I also have a better view of the world and more confidence in myself and ambitions about the future.

I also made a few resolutions that I will implement in life. This is a plus. One of the resolutions is to team up with my PWA colleagues and others to create our own sunscreen product. I hope you will see one of these at a store near you. I am also available for communication in case you want to team up with me, you can always reach out to me via email: jbshamala@gmail.com

Here is a summary of what we have learned in the summit:

What I learned about myself.

I learned about my creativity and good networking personality. I am sure that I can excel well in the corporate world and also got a good motivation to go for my entrepreneurial dreams.

Strengths and Weaknesses

I do not think I have a lot of weaknesses, but I have now known how to spot them and how to turn them into strengths. This has proven to be beneficial as it helps me to reduce what can be lethal to my success.

What I will do to develop my career

It goes without saying that we need education for success, mark you I did not say schooling but education. This calls for acquiring the relevant skills I need, to become more than myself. I am reading books and also thinking of enrolling in educational courses online and in school. I will not ignore school too, I am still pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Special Needs Education and am thinking of taking courses in other fields too.

I am also networking with friends to ensure that I get the best out of the work. This can be through forums or Spaces such as Social media and LinkedIn.

Finally, I want to address actions that I will take to be an advocate for myself and others in the community. I do not know a better action to take more powerful than sharing information and knowledge thus educating others. Information is power, and I too subscribe to this belief.

Now it is up to you? I believe you have learned something small from my very long conversation, have you? Please let me know! I will be happy to hear from you. Do you have any idea you would like to share? Let us know by commenting below!

John Brown

Written by

Marketing and IT copywriter. Get superb and unique quality content timely at a reasonable price. Check blog: jbshamala.wixsite.com/john-brown

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