how travel can improve a child’s education

Picture below is of a guy I named “Cameroonian Micheal Jackson”...Your child is likely to see unique and exciting sights like those in the pictures below, if s/he travels and explores beyond the world she already knows.

This enterprising chap was doing an impressive version of Michael Jackson’s moon walk in Douala’s Marché Mokolo (Mokolo market). Hundreds gathered to watch him for over 10 minutes. I’m not a dance expert, but I think he did a great job of it!

Marcel Bich (now late) was the manufacturer and cofounder of the cheap, disposable Bic pens, razors and lighters. I once read an interview in which he revealed that travelling with his father really provided him an education that schools could never have given him. This insight apparently served him well – considering that he built great wealth, by creating cheap but highly desirable products.

1. Travel Helps You Demystify Life In General

In 1982, as a 12 year old, I began playing competitive handball for my secondary school and over time got invited to the state team (but always got dropped before most major competitions!). This was in Ilorin, Kwara state.

Moving to the university in Ibadan in 1987, I secured, from my first year a regular first team shirt on the varsity and hall teams. As you may know, travel to and from competition in different places happens a lot in sports.

It was during these formative years that I developed my passion for taking photographs and traveling.

When I eventually became a brewer in Guinness Nigeria, Benin City, most of my colleagues knew that about me. After completing my 3rd night shift in a row (earning 3 days off), I would take off on a trip to a state I’d never visited before, just to see what it was like. I was restless and hungry to explore and discover and learn. I still am.

At 3.00a.m in the morning I’ve walked the streets in different cities during my crazy travels as bachelor (mostly when I was off shift duty, or when I was on annual leave).

I once travelled by night across the border from Ikom in Nigeria to Ekok in Cameroon. Then I took another bus headed for Douala. But we had to stop (and sleep in the bus!) at 1.00a.m in Kumba. Then at 5.00a.m when the driver said it was safer, we resumed.

While in Cameroon, I moved around Douala and Yaoundé on foot and by car – mixing with the locals, to practice my spoken French, in the hope of becoming fluent. My hosts sent me to stay with a family friend at Mendong – a rural community – where I got a real feel for something close to the village life there. It was exciting (see photos below).

I ate local meals like Bobolo (solidified rubbery cooked starch meal made into long fingers) with roasted fish, as well as Achu (a delicacy made from Cocoyam, popular with the Akum people).

Pix 1: Eating Achu with my host’s wife

(NB: I made these digital copies of the original photos from my 1999 visit to Cameroon using my Blackberry Camera before leaving Lagos last week. The phone’s video and picture recording has been acting funny since then. At the bottom of this post is the ONLY picture I took that I’ve been able to retrieve since getting here. It keeps giving an error message. I’m looking at downloading all my data and formatting the memory card. Gremlins…?)

On my return journey to Nigeria (having no funds) I was forced to travel across the Atlantic Ocean for 12 hours, under heavy rainfall, from 7pm till 7a.m. Along with many others the means of transportation was a large rickety motor powered boat!

2. And It Opens Doors to New Friendships, and Exciting Opportunities

Anytime I run into Cameroonians, we usually hit it off instantly because they are often pleased to hear me speak so knowledgeably about areas some told me they’d never been.

For instance, while in Yaoundé, I went on a trip to a place called “Oballa” where I attended a convention organized by a youth group supporting the Cameroonian president. I did it just on a whim. But it was a journey that took some hours from the city. When I returned at 10pm, my host was amazed to learn I’d gone that far. She’d never been there!

Pix 2: Standing in front of country house in Mendong

Looking back I sometimes wondered if I had not gone too far – but the thrill I felt from seeing what others simply talked about based on hear say, convinced me I had not. That exposure also taught me some people voice opinions about things they do not know.

When you travel – and you stay open minded (especially if you start at a young age) – you develop a flexible view of the world. Your views and opinions become more balanced because travel exposes you to the variety that the world has to offer.

It helps you realize that your small corner of the world is just that – your tiny little corner! Outside it, a much bigger world exists that for the most part operates very differently from the perception you have of your world.

Pix 3: One the road to Kumba – an SUV was stuck in the mud (imagine that!)

Like I revealed in my article about my journey across the Atlantic Ocean in 1999, I was to reap the rewards for my efforts at learning French the hard way in 2001. Guinness Nigeria selected me along with four senior managers to attend a one week International Coaching Conversations Facilitators’ Workshop held in Hotel Aqua Palace in Douala.

During that week, my colleagues would witness me speaking French with the expatriate Managing Director of Guinness Cameroon, who later announced to them that he was impressed. What’s more, during the course, when the possibility of having facilitators from Nigeria come over to collaborate with those in Cameroon.

The expatriate female course coordinator from the UK noted that if anyone from Nigeria was most prepared to play that role, it was me. I was already familiar with the place, the people and the language.

It goes without saying that going back in Nigeria, my senior colleagues with whom I attended the course regarded me differently. One actually announced that my achievement had made him resolve to learn French as well.

It did not end there. Maurice Diekem, a manager with Guinness Cameroon, would – at the end of the course – invite me over to his home and hosted me from Friday till Sunday. He took me round town in his SUV, to meet friends – and even arranged for me to visit those I’d stayed with when I
visited two years earlier.

And that’s what travel can do for anyone who indulges in it!

3. Your Creativity Is Stimulated By Exposure to a Variety of Worlds

Well travelled people – especially those who did it from when they were young – tend to be open-minded, and creative. My personal experiences indicate that extensive travel offers powerful educational benefits useful for achieving personal advancement.

Indeed many well schooled people who do little or no travel, will often be at an instant disadvantage when pitched against less schooled, but well travelled counterparts. I’ve actually seen this happen repeatedly in real life.

Exposure to a variety of experiences can be most enriching. Human beings learn best from experience. And when you have an opportunity to travel to different places, you get the unique privilege of seeing the way things are done in different climes.

Your brain gets greatly stimulated from discovering that different societies achieve the same goals using different methods. It makes you realize that beyond what the smartest people in your world know or think, there are equally smart (if not smarter) people in other places who know better ways to do the same thing!

The problem is when a society comprises mostly people who know no other ways of living, few, if at all any of them, will believe things can be done differently.

If progress is to happen, it starts with people thinking differently from the way they always have.

You/Your Child Can Travel Through Others – But it’s Best To Do It Yourself!

With the help of Tim Ferris, and others like him, many people are able to fulfill (to some extent) their dreams getting exposure to other worlds. The Internet itself makes that possible in many ways.

You could possibly do that – especially if your work and personal responsibilities leave you little room to do otherwise.

However, for the sake of your kids, you might want to do more.

I say this because ultimately, the best way to really do this would be to get out of your comfort zone and go where you’ve never been. And find ways take your family with you.

Get away from the safety nets you’ve put in place for yourself. You need to be willing become vulnerable all over again – like you once were as a baby – so you can learn to walk (figuratively speaking) all over again.

By the time you’re done, you’ll find you have a totally new, much smarter perspective of life and what it’s really about.

You may not even have to travel far. There are places within your country or region you can explore which will greatly enrich you.

Final Words: Let Your Kids Become Well Rounded Personalities

Some people only know the routes leading to and from their homes, office, church, clubs and other venues in their immediate neighborhood. You can do better than that.

This is especially important for your kids. Let them grow up to be well rounded personalities that others would enjoy interacting with for their balanced perspective and depth of insights.

Travel based education will give them that.

So, why not let them have that in addition to the normal schooling you’re giving them?

One Last Thing…

By way of interest, I still do the travel thing as often as I can. This time as an entrepreneur.

In 2005, I visited Ghana on an exploratory business trip for 2 weeks.

And this month (April) I launched a new plan to do it at a higher level – as a Location Independent Entrepreneur (who earns income from both online and offline activities).

Right now, I’m writing this from my hotel room in Cotonou, Benin Republic. I arrived here Monday 1st April 2013, and will be exploring opportunities to travel slowly across West Africa, over the months that follow.

Click here to read full details of what I’m offering to do to help Africa based professionals and business owners improve their ability to succeed.

Who knows…if you’re a decision maker in West Africa, you may wish to invite me to give one of my No-Fee talks to members of your group or organisation (?) I already have exciting stories of my experiences to share with audiences. I’d love to hear from you(click)!