Krissi Bucholtz

Is making is a difference by starting her own foundation to send youth from Sierra Leone through university

“I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn and to receive an education, no matter where they live. The youth I work with in Sierra Leone constantly inspire me with their talent and potential, and serve as a reminder that everyone has the ability to change their world – all they need is a little opportunity, and someone to believe in them.”

At 20 years of age, Krissi Bucholtz of Surrey is the Executive Director of the People's Foundation for Sierra Leone, an organization she founded in 2009 to provide youth from the West African country with an opportunity to attend university.

The Foundation targets youth at risk in Sierra Leone – often victims of HIV AIDS and sexual abuse – and provides them with more than just potential funds, by offering sustainable mentoring and counseling programs that help them to identify and develop their own goals: “I wanted to do more than just give ‘handouts’ to these youth – I wanted to inspire them, encourage them, and give them the resources and mentoring needed to become the best they could be.”

Krissi first became involved in international development during the last few years of her high school, Fraser Valley Christian High, which undertook a fundraising campaign to build a primary school in Sierra Leone. After taking part in the fundraising efforts, she was selected to go to Sierra Leone in March of 2008 as a volunteer student teacher. This experience sparked Krissy’s passion for access to good education throughout the world. “I witnessed the incredible talent, desire, and love for learning that these kids had. And I became very passionate not only about giving children and youth the opportunity to go through primary and secondary school, but also about enabling them to pursue their career dreams, change their standard of living, and escape the poverty cycle through receiving a university education.”

As a direct result of that first visit to Sierra Leone when she was 17, Krissi started The People’s Foundation for Sierra Leone in 2009 with her colleague Katie Jenkins. In the very first year of the Foundation’s operation, Krissi was able to raise $4,000, which she allotted to four youth in Sierra Leone in the form of university scholarships.

Since her return from Sierra Leone in September 2010, Krissi has raised an additional $6,000 through her foundation, and she is aiming to reach $10,000 by May of 2011, so that she can travel back to Sierra Leone and enable more youth to become catalysts for change in their own communities.

In addition to the work of her Foundation, which she is currently registering as a non-profit in Canada, Krissi has been pursuing post-secondary education. In 2010, she graduated from Capilano University with an Associate of Arts in Global Stewardship. She is currently studying world literature and pursuing a teaching degree at Simon Fraser University. She hopes to spend a semester studying in Ghana, which neighbours Sierra Leone, so that she can get some hands-on experience of what university in Africa is actually like, and strengthen her abilities and resources to mentor the youth that she works with. She plans to eventually move to Sierra Leone, run her foundation, and teach at the elementary school where she first started working.

To other Canadian youth who are trying to make a difference, she has this to say: “Making a difference is not as hard as you think it is. We’re talking about international development, but I think international development even starts at home. One of my favourite quotes is from Mother Theresa and it says ‘The hunger for love is much greater than the hunger for bread,’ and I really think that’s so true. If you’re part of a charity or an NGO that just gives out bread, or gives out money to people, you’re not really helping them improve their lives. But in the work that you’re doing, if your passion comes through in your work, and your love for others comes through in that work, then that’s the most important.”

Want to share your thoughts? Go to 'how are YOU making a difference?' to comment!

For more information:

http://s2.webstarts.com/thepeoplesfoundation/

http://www2.capilanou.ca/programs/global-stewardship/program.html

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Thanks to Kaitlyn Braybrooke for the graphic design, to Veronika Klaptocz for the written profiles, to Trevor O'Rourke for the French translation, to Scott Nelson for the website and to Reel Youth for the video profiles.