Have you ever interacted with an unschooled, but widely traveled person? Stop for a moment and think about any such person you know. They often come across as knowledgeable, and self-confident don’t they?
Now, consider an unschooled person whose soccer skills earned him a high paying pro career, in clubs around the world for years.
We know real soccer legends alive today, who went from rags to riches doing just that. So it’s not like my analogy is far fetched.
By the time these people retire, and move on to other endeavours, it is often very difficult to detect that they did not have formal schooling or were poor.
Why?
Because during their careers, they mix and relate closely with high profile people from all walks of life, and it rubs off.
Those who start out unable to speak English or French or whatever other language is spoken where they play, gradually pick it up, and eventually become fluent.
The club(s) may arrange private coaching to help with learning to use a bank account, adult education classes in language, or any other area s/he needs.
His greatest education will however come from the regular traveling that will happen.
The posh hotels, round the clock access to cable TV, PC enabled Internet, telecom gadgets he’ll use to communicate while travelling. He’ll quickly learn to use them. And that process can rapidly transform a person, such that even his/her immediate family will marvel at how much he’s changed compared to them.
They’ll suddenly find he knows so much about many things because of the wide ranging experiences.
This is the reason a street soccer player/bus conductor, who left his country to play pro soccer, could retire and return to run for ELECTION into the office of President in his country!
He did not come brandishing a university degree or other qualifications.
Instead, he offered himself based on the achievements he’d recorded as a world class pro soccer star, and the work he’d done via his NGO.
I refer here to none other than George Opong Weah, of Liberia.
It goes without saying that many well schooled persons that could have been considered more "competent" were in his country.
But Weah’s exposure, experiences, and financial success, made him believe (rightly or wrongly) that he could be president!
He had traveled widely and related at topmost levels with world leaders. And it was his soccer skills that earned him those opportunities, not formal schooling.
George knew he’d gotten valuable exposure, and he wanted to use it to help his people.
That’s what travel based education does:
It exposes people to ideas, information, and confidence-building experiences that willing persons can use to make a difference wherever they find themselves.
New Ideas That Result In Progress & Development, Are Sometimes Inspired By Exposure to Travel
Many of us do this: You visit a place and discover they do something in a way that you know can be usefully applied where you’re from.
So when you get back home, you share that idea or solution with others, and it’s adopted.
Without travelling, that idea or solution may have remained unknown to you – and your people!
But not all ideas one encounters during travel, will be "attractive" enough for adoption!
One example: The Use of Gari (Cassava Flour) in Benin Republic vs. Nigeria…
Gari is grainy flour made from Cassava.
In Nigeria we use it make a popular meal called Eba (by rapid mixing with hot water). Most homes consume Eba with vegetable stews etc.
People sometimes mix Gari with cold water and sugar, and drink for refreshment.
But here in Benin Republic, back in May 2013, I was shocked to hear undergraduates at the University in Calavi explain that only a person who runs out of money chooses to eat Eba!
To them, unless you’re short of money, you would definitely prefer to eat La Patte (a solid paste, made from Maize flour mixed with hot water) with stew.
That was when I understood why I’d been unable to find a restaurant offering Eba!
It was always “Il ya La Patte”. And I did not like it at all at the time. I do now …which shows how adaptable humans are 
Since then however, I’ve discovered a meal called “Agbeni”: a sticky starch paste, a bit similar to Gari in consistency, but NOT the same feel/taste.
But that’s not all that’s different about how people in these 2 neighbouring countries view the same food item…
You see, food sellers in Benin, sprinkle ample amounts of Gari on cooked rice and stew they serve buyers!
When I first saw it, I thought the individual was the one with a "problem".
But later on I many buyers actually requested it.
I must confess that THAT is one "meal" I cannot adapt to!
Gari and Rice simply do not go together…for me anyway.
I explained to my young Beninese friends that in Nigeria where I come from, anyone seen eating such a combination would be seriously laughed at.
They retorted that anyone seen eating Gari as Eba would get severely mocked in their country. Here, they regard it as a poor man’s meal, because they believe it has fewer nutrients than their Maize based meal.
Different strokes for different folks as they say.
The point to note here however is that with travel, you’ll continually encounter different experiences, which will make you more liberal in your views.
We have a proverb in Nigeria, which says:
"Only the child, who has never been to the farm of another person, thinks his father’s farm is the biggest."
This proverb basically points out the "eye-opening" advantages "travel" (i.e. moving OUT to explore areas beyond your familiar environment) can confer.
Now, to even things out, I’ll share a story that illustrates how travelling can also help us discovers similarities between "different" cultures…
An Encounter With a Meal, In Scotland, Which Reminded Me of a Nigerian Delicacy…
During 6 weeks of traveling across the UK on an International Brewing Course (organised by the UK’s Institute and Guild of Brewing in 2000), we were one afternoon treated to a buffet in a Scottish brewery somewhere in Edinburgh, if I recall correctly.
The cooks there served us "Haggis", a meal we were told was made from the internal organs (heart, lungs etc) of animals like goats and sheep.
For those of from Guinness Nigeria and Nigerian Breweries, Haggis was wonderful!
In fact, in my case, it reminded me of a delicacy prepared by my wife’s people – the Igbos – called Isi Ewu (Goat Head pepper soup).
It’s made by crushing and cooking a goat’s head with vegetable, spices and pepper, which is served in a bowl, with the eyes, tongue, ears etc.
We’d been moaning about not having enough meat in our meals.
For some of the delegates from companies in Europe and America who were vegetarians, it was not as exciting as they would have wanted.
Thankfully, they were offered alternatives they liked.
Again, the experience carried lessons for each person who was willing to take them.
I discovered, for instance, that not everyone in the UK ate mainly plant based meals.
…and that some people in the UK also eat internal parts of animals like we do in Nigeria!
Your Child Can Do Formal Schooling, AND Simultaneously Acquire Travel Based Education
Interestingly, one can actually start by traveling within one’s neighborhood, local government/county, state, or country.
So what I propose is not necessarily something you’ll have to put major funds aside for – at least not right away.
Many people live in areas they have never explored. And so when asked, do not even know what people do or how they live around them!
Yet, choosing to take long leisurely walks around, can open your eyes to new discoveries that would elude you, if you stuck to your daily routine to/from work.
If doing that can be so enriching for you, think how beneficial doing it could be for your child!
If you fear for his/her safety, go out together.
Take pictures. Make notes. Point out useful sights, and discuss what you discover.
When you have more time and money, take trips further away from home.
You could go, for instance, to the next town or city.
See if you can stay over at a friend’s, to save money.
If time is short to cover all possible areas you’d like to see on one visit, plan to do return visits.
That way you can even avoid incurring hotel or motel accommodation bills.
After all you won’t be in a hurry as if competing with anyone. It would be just you and your child, spouse or family.
While on the road keep looking and learning. There’s often a lot of useful things to see!
Sometimes you may find it wise to drop your car, and go by local transportation e.g. bus, train or subway, hired taxi etc.
That way you retain energy, and stay refreshed to make the most of the journey.
The best part is, apart from the useful education s/he will pick up. You and your child would forge a stronger emotional bond in the process!
Years later, s/he could build on what you started – and would most likely do it for his/her kids too.
The multidimensional perspective from travel experiences will enable him/her pursue success more effectively.
By the way, there’s historical proof to back up the above claim…
One example: Marcel Bic credited the travel experiences he had with his father, as having given him the creative base on which to invent his revolutionary cheap and popular Bic biro (and other products).
The lives of many other great achievers distinctly reflect a similar trend.
You Can Work With Your Child (or Family) To Develop a Plan and Implement It
I’m working on such a plan for my kids
And a fortunate turn of events here in Cotonou, has helped me start earlier than I thought I would.
Have you noticed, for example, that English speaking who aspire to speak a foreign language, like French, are often drawn to anyone they discover speaks the latter?
I’ve experienced both worlds, as one who speaks French, and is from an English speaking society.
I travel to and from Anglophone/Francophone African nations, and often get approached by people (usually self-employed professionals and working class persons) who say:
“Hi. I noticed you speaking English (or French) and I ‘d like to improve my fluency by chatting with you whenever you have time.”
Usually, they would have over heard me speaking either language on phone, or with someone.
This frequent occurrence led me to produce my Quick and Dirty Guide to English and French.
I realized I could not cope with the requests, so I developed a solution that ensured I could still help people even if I did not have time.
And the solution happens to be one that earns me income at the same time, and also boosts my credibility and name recognition!
My first buyer was a Beninese medical doctor who met me in a Cotonou Cyber Café, and took my mobile number so we could “chat”.
Both of us ended up being too busy to do that, so I told him to buy my guide.
When he discovered he was to travel to an English speaking country, he got in touch, and purchased it!
One day it occurred to me that my audio recordings of 27 common greetings in English and French, on my CDROM guide, could help my kids learn French faster.
Which would better prepare them to join me here in Benin Republic as planned!
So I bought each child an MP3 player, with memory cards, and copied all the audio files to each child’s.
As stated in my Proven 5 Step Formula for Learning ANY Language in 3 Months or LESS, this strategy rapidly improved my French when I started out.
Final Words: Travel Opens People’s Eyes to Opportunities They Probably Would Not See, If They Stayed "Home"!
And that’s why I say it can be so powerfully educative!
What is considered impossible in one society is probably being done and taken for granted in another.
Just today, I sent email to a catfish farm business CEO in Nigeria’s South-South, that illustrates the above point perfectly.
The email shared details of how another catfish farm owner in the South Western city of Ibadan says he’s using lower cost balanced rations formulated, using Gari and Palm Kernel Cakes at higher inclusion levels.
According to him, he’s getting up to 15% weight increases in his table sized catfish.
If I’d not reached out to the man in Ibadan on phone, the CEO in Uyo would not know of this potentially useful idea.
Now the latter can also get across on phone to the former. Or he could even travel down to Ibadan to learn more and possibly put a similar strategy to use on his farm!
In the same way, when a child from a society where something is considered impossible, travels to one where it’s being done, s/he may realize the TRUTH that people’s achievements are shaped, primarily, by their beliefs and their environment.
If s/he remembers that important lesson AFTER returning to his/her society, it could help him/her become a useful exception in society.
S/he would consequently reject limitations accepted by others around her.
As a result impossibilities would NOT exist for him/her, and success would be inevitable!
