Guest Post - Mentoring

“Boys Mentoring Day - PwC men of all grades are encouraged to be part of this rewarding experience”

That’s what the email read.  I agreed it would probably be a rewarding experience.  But, you know, there’s an obvious difference that may limit my ability to “mentor.” 

“Dan, how come I haven’t gotten your confirmation?” said the Partner.

“Are you sure?  I don’t really know how much I have to offer in terms of experience to the teenagers.  Do they really care what some white guy says?”

“Sure, it’ll be fine”

Turns out that whether or not the kids actually cared what I said, they couldn’t understand me anyway. 

The itinerary was as follows:

·       Approximately 150 “high school” students.

·       3-5PM

·       45 minutes – 60 minutes of a couple of PwC people sharing their experiences with Q&A.

·       60 minutes break-out session in small groups led by a PwC person.  Expect them to ask lots of questions.

Despite the fact that my hair is entering its Clooney years, I don’t think I’m that far removed from high schoolers.  But, now I have to battle the cultural difference as well with a group of 10-12 high schoolers.  I started to feel a little bad for the guys who would get stuck with me.

As per usual, Africa time applied and we didn’t actually start until 3:30PM, so as we were waiting, I was given a few “fun facts” about Ghanaian culture.  Most interesting is that children are generally raised to not look elders/those-who-deserve-your-respect in the eye.  So, if you find yourself speaking to them and they’re looking down, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ignoring you. Good to know.

The speeches went on and a few questions popped up, no big deal.  Time to split up into groups, but at this point we really only have 20 minutes with the kids before they need to leave at 5PM.  When it comes to getting the hell out of an after school program, Africa time doesn’t exist.

Thankfully I get paired with another PwC’er and we start chatting to our group.  I’m constantly reminded that I need to slow down my speaking because I’m hard to understand.  It’s later explained to me that outside of TV, there’s a good chance it was the first time they spoke face to face with an American. 

I didn’t really know what sort of questions to expect, but the few that we did have time to answer were all over the board.  From “How can I succeed in school if my parents cannot afford the books or supplies?” to “What do I need to do to become a journalist?” to “What’s the minimum grade I need to get into the University of Ghana?”  Other groups had questions about girls.  Good to know teenage girls are just as annoying frustrating troublesome awesome in Ghana as they are in the States.

Overall it was a good experience and I’m looking forward to the next time we get to interact with them.