Hi everyone!
My name is Jaaved and I have been invited by the Chief Julius School in Fort McPherson to be their educational assistant. I am incredibly excited for this opportunity to build relationships and assist with tasks identified by this northern community. I have spent a lot of time discussing challenges northern communities face and responsible development with my colleagues. I've done a lot of talking. I think it's about time I actually help these northern communities in ways they want. For them, I'll be helping local youth with their high school education. I hope you will want to support this kind of capacity building work that I will be leading this school year.
If the fundraising page hasn't already given it away, I will be asking you to donate to CUSO International to assist them on their kind of development work. And for every $1 you donate to CUSO, the Canadian Government will provide $9! That means a $100 gift becomes $1000 + you get a Canadian tax receipt. If you would like an American tax receipt, please contact me before donating.
Jaaved's Bio and Motivations
I’m an ecologist, a community leader and an educator. I have a B. Sc in Agriculture and Environmental Sciences from the Macdonald Campus of McGill University. I also did a Masters studying Grizzly Bear movements in the Albertan foothills. I love hiking, being outdoors and talking about the environment. I also have a drive to be active in a community and help others with their solution finding. As far as I know, I’m the first person to ever become President of both the undergraduate and graduate students’ societies at the Macdonald campus. I have done a lot for students such as introducing a free flu shot clinic, improving mental health services access, securing doctor access for MAC students, getting an immigration advisor on campus, protecting student spaces, institutionalizing compost services and much more. You can see my LinkedIn profile for the full list (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaavedsingh). I just enjoy finding ways to help people and navigating bureaucracy in order to find those solutions people want. And that’s what I’ll be in Fort McPherson. I will be using my passion for helping people combined with my technical and education skills to accomplish what the community wants of me. For the community, that is assistance with high school education.
The Work
Your support will allow myself and others to become educational assistants in the Northwest Territories. I will be in the community of Fort McPherson, a hamlet of 800 people. Most of the people are Gwich'in along with some Métis, Inuit, and non-indigenous. I’ll be working with the youth of the community assisting them with their high school education. Their high school education is done remotely, from Inuvik, and I’ll be the on the ground aid assisting both the students and remote teachers. I will not be limiting myself to just that job however. For those that know me, I’ll be finding ways to get involved. This would probably be in the form of after school programs or student clubs. I’ll wait until I’m in the community and get to know everyone. I’ll let the students tell me what they want to do; I’ll support the students as they want. One thing I will be looking out for is any students who want to do my job. CUSO aims to build capacity. That means assisting locals, not only in their solutions, but helping locals in building the skills so they don’t necessarily need foreign assistance. If there is a student that has a passion for teaching, I would like to offer some mentorship for that student so they may take on the role of educational assistant. I would like to build communities as the community has requested, not leave them dependant on aid. CUSO supports that kind of strategy which is why I chose to work with them.
Why CUSO
CUSO International is an international development agency that supports local organizations in their development goals. Local partners develop their own solutions and identify areas where they need help. This includes the identification of people with skills that the community does not have. CUSO finds an ideal candidate for the local agency. CUSO has a rigorous interview process consisting of a telephone interview, an in-person interview, a full day personality and soft skills assessment and an interview given by the local agency. If you pass all these interviews and a medical exam, you can then participate with the community. CUSO is thorough and their main focus is helping the community. This is not voluntourism. CUSO wants the best skilled candidates for the community and someone that will help the community, not help themselves. CUSO also provides the bulk of funding for their candidates, at around $29000 for each candidate. They cover airfare, housing, food, insurance. All they ask for is for the candidate to raise $2000 to assist CUSO operations and help inform more people of the good work that CUSO does. If you have read to the end here, I thank you and I hope you will be willing to donate $50, $100, whatever you can to CUSO international.
Sincerely,
Jaaved Singh
Community Leader, Educator and Ecologist
My Personal Web Log
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The First Week
Hi everyone,
In just one week of fundraising, we have already raised more than $500! I would like to thank all of my donors so far, we are more than 25% of our way to my goal of $2000!!!
Thank you all and I'm looking forward to reaching my goal before I begin my placement in Fort McPherson, NWT!
Best regards,
Jaaved
by Jaaved Singh on Sun, Jul 08, 2018 @ 7:58 PM
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