Beyond profit seeking, a number of individuals are delving into social causes that are poised to create a better nurturing environment for the younger generation. One of such individual is Raquel Jacobs, a voracious volunteer and social entrepreneur who has been actively involved in the social space for about four years.

Her unrelenting willingness to always extend a helping hand led to the launch of “Beyond The Classroom”, an organisation that helps margianlised individuals in rural Nigeria obtain a decent education.

Over the years she has volunteered for a number of organisations including AIESEC, the world’s largest student-operated organization, and is currently volunteering for Uturn Africa Concepts to organize their annual Forum in Lagos, Ghana and Cameroon.

Ventures Africa spoke with Raquel on her project and how she is impacting the social life of the African child.

What is the inspiration behind Beyond the Classroom and its primary purpose?

BTC is focused on improving, teaching and learning of less privileged pupils in public schools.

In my first year in the university, I felt the need to mentor and educate young girls about the things that I went through and still going through and I started the Girl Talk Initiative, which was a religious program for teenage girls. It has evolved and it’s now called the Club 31 Girl. I ran that project for a while and alongside teaching girls about Jesus, we also ran another project that provided over 1500 free sanitary pads to girls in slums who couldn’t afford it and taught them basic menstrual and personal hygiene. We later noticed that we needed to engage the community and through the Charity Drive, we distributed free mildly used clothes and donated household items to the poor, old and needy members of the Community.

My team and I did this for a year until one day on my way to school, I saw a young boy walking to school with torn uniform and shoes. Seeing him that morning, drew my attention to the public school system. I quietly followed him to his school and saw the appalling state of the public school and later found out that the school is not only in a bad state but has a lot of uninspired children and children who are demotivated to learn. The Classroom Foundation started a few months after this encounter.

What specific programme(s) do you have for young people in the rural areas?

We have four programs; Inspire Learning, Inspire Teaching, Facilities Renovation and Mentoring. One of the projects of the Inspire Learning Program is the Set4School Project. Through this project, we provide free school supplies to less privileged school children in public school. We also support their learning through extra-curricular activities and after school clubs. We train their teachers to be better educators and help improve the amenities in the school.

How best can the situation of high moral decadence be addressed beyond the four walls of the classroom?

The need for a change in character among young people cannot be over emphasized. One of my favourite quotes is by William Butler Yeats which says: “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire”. I believe strongly in the power of an educated mind and this with many other reasons is why I am doing what I am doing. Beyond just giving school supplies, we educate the children about the environment, good morals, values and patriotism. We teach them to respect one another and look out for each other. This is because the children are watching and are aware of the corruption in the country, they are leaning from us even when we don’t teach or say a word. We hope that this would go a long way to form a child’s character and thus reduce the decadence in the society.

What has been the biggest challenge since the inception of this programme?

Managing the Organization with my schoolwork was a major challenge for me and I must say, that I am grateful that I was an AIESECer while I was in the University. I learnt so much especially “delegation” and trusting people to try, fail and learn on the job. I started delegating to volunteers who were available and needed a little push and before I knew it, a lot was off my plate and I had enough time to focus on building structures.

How do you source for funds?

Right now, we fundraise through social media especially and we get donations from individuals, our Board of Trustees, other NGOs and we also get donations from my church members.

Are there any sustainable structures for the projects you do?

We are currently working on building sustainable structures for our projects. Right now, we are working thin but in another year, we hope to have put finishing touches to our sustainability plan and implement.

From your experience in volunteer work, what is the greatest misconception you have come to notice?

For me it’s a phrase I hear almost all the time. It was shocking at first but I am used to hearing it and it’s “What’s in it for me?” When young people are asked to volunteer, majority of them say this same thing and it baffles me. Volunteers don’t always have to be paid.

Any other side projects?

We have a couple of projects we are working on. We are raising funds and school supplies for the children at our adopted school in Bariga. We are fixing the Sickbay, Library and hand railing of the staircase of the school. We are planning a teacher training workshop and a teenager’s workshop for the older children and finally, we have the one child Campaign and the Christmas party plans.

Our future plan is to scale up and reach out to other schools. In a few years, we want to be able to provide free supplies for the children as many children as possible, train as many teachers as possible, provide mentoring and scholarships to as many children as possible and renovate different public schools to give them the children a conducive learning environment.

What advise do you have for young future leaders?

I have learnt that hard work pays and if you are diligent and determined, you will achieve whatever it is you set your heart to achieve. I believe that volunteering can change a person’s life and I’ll advice every young person reading this to start volunteering.