"Education is improving the lives of others and is leaving your community and world better than you found it."
Mentors Without Borders is a perfect embodiment of this quote. I have been associated with MWB since the beginning of 2020 and I have found the program to live up to its promises. It does not aim to complete a goal but rather tries to improve the potential in the mentees as well as the mentor. The focus on developing and harnessing mental processes, as well as cultivating ways to relax and focus are perhaps the reasons for the success that MWB enjoys. It essentially empowered its students to start appreciating learning. MWB instills confidence and a sense of direction in its mentees to grow even beyond the course. Maria Montessori once said, "The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, 'The children are now working as if I did not exist.'". From my time with MWB and my interactions with Edmond, we have always tried to live up to this goal.
I have been teaching Abraham who is a college student from Liberia. Just by following the basics of the course, I can say that I notice a change in his behavior and personality. The way he approaches a hurdle in his path of learning now has improved. He no longer finds himself distracted, or in a self-doubting mode whenever he faces a problem. He tries to trace back his steps to identify possible mistakes and correct them. I do not know if I have been able to teach him the basics of Python. But I can proudly acknowledge that I have managed to help him become a better version of himself. I am almost certain that he himself can continue on the path and one-day master the language on his own, even without anyone's guidance.
My time with MWB has also helped me grow as a person. Along the path, I have realized that I do not teach a subject, but I rather teach a person. The way I communicate, the way I teach has helped me improve in multitudes. I am able to relax better in times of stress, as well as focus on the work at hand rather than getting distracted. I find myself setting small goals along the path to achieving the bigger goal almost intrinsically. This bigger goal sometimes spans over as little as a day's work. This has helped me immensely to improve my productivity. I can certainly vouch that my public speaking capabilities have improved as well. They were never bad to start with. However, I have now started guessing the vibe of the audience and modifying the content and speech on the go to improve engagement. Overall this has been a brilliant engagement for me.
Malala Yousafzai said, "One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world." Well, it certainly can. And along the way can also improve the teacher as well.
I was awestruck during the initial training sessions by Van where I was taught how to efficiently set goals, how to track them and how to execute them effectively. I couldn't believe there exists a process so simple yet so powerful if done in the correct way. The relaxation technique combined with the mental process is an arsenal to achieve anything you want. I have benefitted immensily using these processes both professionally and personally. Now, I tend to get distracted less (even if I do I come back to focus almost immediately) and I am more clear about the goals I want to achieve.
I was also thrilled to share the knowledge that MWB has given me to Saima and I believe she too is getting lucid in what she wants and she is indeed getting closer to her goal. All of this takes time but Mentors Without Borders is a wonderful platform for one to learn this technique as well as impart it to others.
Joining MWB has been really a remarkable experience for me. The training has helped me in carrying out my goals and routine tasks efficiently, increasing focus, confidence and productivity. The whole time period while helping my student from Nigeria has been amazing for me to teach and learn at the same time. It's really exciting how this whole program can have an everlasting impact on both, the student and the mentor, and is simply a message of positivity in the academic world.
Teaching the Malawian students via MWB's platform has been a game changing phenomenon for me because it has allowed me to teach the underprivileged students the skills that I have learnt previously and intend to build my career upon. Therefore, MWB has facilitated the way for me to become a better Programmer and Software Developer. Besides, while teaching I got to figure out the exact topics that I still had not a clear understanding of. In order to teach those topics to students, I had to study those topics again, resulting in me grasping them fully. FInally, the regular weekly meetup with people from a distant location has enabled me to learn about their culture and emotions which is something I love doing. Thanks to MWB for such an opportunity.
I have been a part of Mentors Without Borders for almost 6 months now with plans to be so as long as I can.
Although hesitant at first, I joined MWB just out of curiosity while I was pursuing my undergraduate degree and I'm glad to say it was a right step. Being able to teach the things I have learned and to see my students make progress has been a very fulfilling experience for me. To know how they learn and interact with new challenges has also helped me improve my own learning. I also get to learn new things while teaching and new ways to portray them.
The training provided by MWB initially has been very useful. Being goal oriented, conscious of your thoughts and to be able to focus more clearly are just a few things I learned during the training. These skills are beneficial for life in general and not tied down to any particular domain.
Lastly, the fact that one day my students will become confident and passionate professionals and the fact that I had some contribution in their journey brings me great joy. I'm grateful to be part of such an amazing community.
I am really enjoying mentoring Abiodun, Abdul Hamid, and Abdul Halim. They are quick learners and they take part in the sessions really well. They complete the assignments given to them and their dedication towards learning something new in spite of being busy in their daily jobs is commendable.
The mental process goal/steps, relaxation method, and the super-focus method have been really helpful in my daily work. In fact these methods have now become part of my daily routine. These methods help me be more focused, relaxed as well as have increased my productivity.
I have always been passionate about mentoring underprivileged people in tech. MWB helped me connect to the right mentees and I had a great time mentoring them. Hope MWB grows and reaches all people who are in need of such mentoring. The relaxation process helped me greatly in calming my nerves after a long day. Really happy to be associated with MWB.
MWB has been a very helpful platform for me personally. Before joining MWB I was feeling burned out and not very excited. But after trying their training methods and contributing back to the community by teaching others has helped me reignite my passion. MWB gave me an opportunity to share my skills with others who might not be privileged enough to afford to learn these skills. The more I teach others, the better I get at those skills myself. The whole learning and teaching experience is amazing and I am looking forward to continuing on this journey.
I've always wanted to be a mentor and share my knowledge with the ones who need it most. This opportunity was given to me by MWB and it is my first mentoring experience. I would like to highlight the one major challenge behind the idea of MWB which is to motivate the students towards their goal. MWB focuses mainly on this part because sharing your knowledge is not an issue but to keep motivating and encouraging the underprivileged students to achieve their goals is a big challenge and I would like to say thank you MWB for focusing on this part and introducing mental process techniques which also help me focus on my goals.
It has been a great experience with MWB thus far! Mentoring the students has not only made me intellectually richer but given me a sense of purpose as well. The MWB training process is useful not only while teaching the students but in real life also.
There is a huge potential in the youth and I feel MWB is doing a great job of giving this potential a chance to shine. I am grateful for my association with MWB, being able to share the skills that I have acquired over the years is truly an amazing experience.
Mentors Without Borders started for a good cause and that's why it is expanding globally day by day. Ms. Ruke Ejegreh is under my mentorship now. She is very passionate and hardworking and developing her data analysis skills. In the future she will be able to change her industry and get a role as a data analyst which will be a great turn of her career.
The way Mentors Without Borders is helping unprivileged students and professionals is iconic. And the decision of giving MWB training of mental process, relaxation method and super-focus method is really appreciated. I personally do the slow relaxation method every night before sleep which helps me a lot with a better sleep and starting every day with a positive energy.
This all started with a mail I got a few months back, asking me about mentoring students. I came to know about "Mentors Without Borders" and really liked the vision of Edmond. The journey started with one-month training, after completion of that month I realized why it is so important to have calmness and focus during not only teaching but while executing our day to day works as well. The MWB training played a major role throughout this wonderful journey.
While mentoring them, I was not only teaching or guiding students but also learning a lot from them. It was about how to develop something using relevant technology and how one can efficiently implement that. I got some wonderful mentees and they were so keen on learning Android.
Mentoring Meshack has been a wonderful experience so far. We are having discussions regarding everything from his education to career plans and side by side educating him about coding, how to start, Excel... All has been great. Also, practicing the mental process and relaxation method has been by far the most relaxing and focusing method I've ever used. Personally, fast relaxation method is very useful in these times where you are stuck at one place and nowhere to go. I recommend more and more mentors to come forward and join MWB for a good cause.
The experience that I had mentoring with MWB has been really amazing. It wasn't just a one-way road, I learned a lot of things from collaboration to time management to learning relaxation method and practicing it as well.
The relaxation method didn't just help the guys I mentored but it had a lot of positive effects on my everyday life and the super-focus method has helped me achieve goals that I have been planning for 4 years.
So far, my mentoring experience with Victor has been quite a journey. We both have learned from this experience – Victor learned about programming quite well and is able to boost his confidence & energy towards his goal, whereas there are many things that I learned on the aspect of teaching.
The MWB training is something that I had been practicing before unknowingly, but without any conviction. Now, as I am associated with MWB, I am able to tap my potential and believe in the pursuit of my goals.
