My Experience as a Participant in the CFC International Exchange Programme

My name is Calver Mwando a student at Kenyatta University pursuing a degree in Bachelor of Education Arts specializing in Mathematics and Business Studies about to embark on my second year in September

I have been involved in a lot of leadership activities the basis being the church. I am a youth leader in my church, Kingdom Life Centre. I am

also involved in a youth organization called Bush Culture with a focus of securing the future generation. The objectives of this group are to;

            Help the young people understand the value of God in their life.

            Help the young people understand the value of honest hard work.

            Help the young people understand the value of community and teamwork.

            Help the young people build their character; obedience, love, patience, kindness, time management etc.

I had a desire in me to improve on my leadership skills. A friend of mine was a CFC participant sometimes back and she told me about it and I thought it was a good program to fulfil my desire.

I really appreciate God for helping me qualify for this programme given that it wasn’t a walk in the park to do so, the competition was really stiff. Just spending time to pray and having good people around me brought success. What my friend shared with me about CFC itself gave me an edge in preparing for the interview as I had already known a little bit of what to expect. Having people who have already gone for several interviews and having good brothers and sisters who prayed for with me was also another advantage.

So I was now in the programme and ready to explore what it had to offer.Being my first time to travel outside my home country Kenya on a plane, was an experience of its own kind. The increasing news of planes missing and crashing really terrified me as I prepared to embark on my travel abroad. I asked myself so many questions including whether I would get to my destination safely. However the God who allowed me to qualify for the program was the same God who would protect me. Being served like a king on the plane was another awesome experience. I can remember the question that I was asked, “what will you have sir? Fish or lamb?”

While in Norway we were involved in a lot of activities like talking to young people concerning three main topics; gender justice, climate change and economic justice. The main focus for this year was on climate change, ethical trade and stopping poverty campaign. We worked closely with The Norwegian Church Aid and Young Women/Men Christian Association there. We organized a show to speak about ethical trade and importance of buying fair trade products as well as the importance of stopping poverty. We also did a lot of site seeing and getting to know Norway better, especially for us who were visiting for the first time.

The program has really impacted me a lot. I have become a better leader, I am improving on my time management, fortitude, creativity, flexibility etc. being an exchange program, I met a lot of different people with different cultures, being able understand different people, improving on my communication skills, and also listening skills. Thinking about the other person’s interest before my own interest. I also got work on my confidence and become a better communicator with different people without being offended and without offending others. Getting to know the issues affecting people globally and the list is endless.

All these lessons and experiences will be passed on to the next group and even the groups that will follow. I will be in a position to speak to the young people as well and teach them on the same things that I have learnt. Since I will also be going back to school in September, I will be in a position to pass this experience to my classmates and even when I get older to my family and the people that will come later on.

I thank NCCK for giving me the opportunity to participate in the Communication for Change Programme