‘Is it necessary to give back to Gambia?’
This was the question someone posed to me.
I calmly replied, ‘It’s not a must…but if your question is: Is it necessary? Of course it is!’
I keep coming back to this question: Has our generation really identified its struggle? Every generation is called to something.
For those before us, the struggle was often visible: independence, access to education, building institutions, creating opportunities where almost none existed. They fought to open doors that many walked through. Our parents sacrificed so we could have the best education abroad, travel, experience the world and access opportunities. What have we done with that?
A year ago, reflecting on Fred Swaniker‘s call to “do the hard things,” I wrote about sacrifice — about the responsibility of those who are educated, healthy and fortunate enough to have the opportunity to use it to create change for others.
I understand that message even more deeply today. Perhaps our generation’s struggle is not access. It is responsibility!
The struggle to choose contribution over comfort. To choose to build when it is easier to criticise. To choose to stay engaged when systems frustrate us.
To bring our knowledge, networks, resources and experience to the difficult work of nation-building — even when there is little recognition and much easier success elsewhere.
We cannot inherit the sacrifices of others, enjoy the opportunities they created, and define success only by how well we escape the problems they were trying to solve.
Returning and giving back is necessary…returning does not necessarily mean boarding a plane home, but something must return: Knowledge, Capital, Networks, Mentorship, Ideas, Service, Sacrifice.
Our parents made sacrifices so we could have opportunities. Perhaps our struggle is deciding what those opportunities will mean for everyone else.
What does being educated mean for our communities? Our education should not only change the trajectory of the person who receives it. It should change the trajectory of the society that invested in them.
Pondering on the question again, I believe this is our hard thing. The struggle of our generation is not to simply succeed, but to make our success useful. It is our RESPONSIBILITY.
It is to ensure that opportunity does not end with us.
So perhaps the question is no longer whether we are obligated to give back. The question is: what will we do with what we have been given? If education, opportunity and exposure have opened doors for us, then let us hold those doors open for someone else.
At the Tertiary and Higher Education Trust (THET) Fund in The Gambia, we are creating a platform for exactly that — for Gambians at home and abroad, institutions, businesses and friends of The Gambia to invest in the education, skills and opportunities of the next generation.
Reach out to the THET Fund. Find your way to contribute.
