On May 26, 2022, Dr. Murage Muthui, former Chief Principal of Njoro School, cordially invited me to be the keynote speaker in their Form One Plug-in Programme: Induction and Orientation.
Somehow, he was inspired by a certain story I had written for Saturday Nation in the arts, culture and literature section. After reading the piece, he composed an e-mail message to thank me profusely for using the pen to obey the wise words of Benjamin Franklin: “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
In retrospect, I remember fondly, before I picked the microphone to say this and that, teachers, more so Heads of Departments, were given chances to talk about the on-going activities in the school. The teacher-counselor in charge of Guidance and Counselling, took Form One parents through useful programmes, which acted as robust support system. The fellow teacher explained passionately how by then, the school was committed to transforming boys into men of substance.
Then, she shared something else that made me think deeply, now writing about it while putting my act together to speak in Mombasa. The issue revolved around something the school did to impart values of empathy and altruism in learners.
Straight into it, in Njoro School, they had Benevolence Day where the Chaplaincy together with Guidance and Counselling Departments conferred with the administration to settle on one Sunday per term. All the members of that fraternity were mobilised to show kindness and compassion towards needy students. On that big day, all and sundry expressed love and largesse towards the less-privileged either in cash or kind.
Then, while we were there, as friends of the school, we were looped into the philanthropic programme. Akin to what happens in churches, ushers went round so that those who were touched by the plight of poor students gave generously. For in Matthew 26:11 Jesus observed that there will always be poor people around us. Elsewhere, in line with the aegis of Jesus, in Mathew 9:36 we read that when he saw multitudes in His preaching expeditions, He was moved by compassion. You remember how He was able to wrought a miracle. Then fed plenty of people in the multiplication of bread and fish.
Back to basics, as a peripatetic speaker, I fell in love with what I saw in Njoro School. I felt that apart from taking care of needy students, the generous gesture also taught students values of empathy and altruism.
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Largely, altruism focuses on caring about others. Whereas empathy is an aspect of Emotional Intelligence. Dr. Daniel Goleman writes about it in his page-turner titled Emotional Intelligence. Other areas include: Self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation and social intelligence.
Then, there is Social Intelligence, which I treasure in my rich shelf of self-help books in Nairobi. The putative author talks about social awareness and social facility. The former, focuses on four areas: Primal empathy, attunement, empathic accuracy and social cognition. While the latter puts a premium on synchrony, self-presentation, influence and concern.
Finally, empathy and altruism are very important in human relations. These are values we should impart in children when they are still young so that they will live to love. Charles Darwin, the proponent of Evolution Theory, contended that empathy — the prelude to compassionate action — is a wonderful aid to the survival in nature’s toolkit. He posited that empathy lubricates sociability, which is of essence because human beings are social animals par excellence.
Somehow, the sociability of mere mortals, has been the primary survival strategy. Empathy can become strong to an extent that we can choose to focus on someone, and in turn, form an emotional loop.
© Victor Ochieng’
The writer rolls out talks and training services. vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
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