by Annan Moddy Juma, Form IV (2025), Naki Secondary School, Kisumu, KENYA
In the third term, my teacher of Geography, Mr. Ober Macready, advised me to work hard, get good grades, join a better university and pursue Geospatial Engineering. I did not like the idea wholly because I could not understand what it was all about. Soon after, the school closed for the December holidays; though this holiday was the most complicated and busy one I have ever had in life, I luckily got a chance to visit my aunt who lives in the Karen neighbourhood of Nairobi. It was a nice experience together as an extended family in a comfortable, happy, sometimes loud, warm, cosy, full of love, and fun-filled home.
One night after dinner, my aunt’s husband, the Impact Borderless Digital (IBD) Founder, was very busy on his computer. I keenly followed the implementation of the seemingly complex drawings of Kenya’s map showing specific mineral deposits all over the country which was transformed into a presentable map that can be printed on paper.
The geospatial engineer being my in-law, he allowed me to not only study the drawings but also ask questions. I was amazed at how the drawings came to life once the labelling, insertion of the key, scale, major roads, county boundaries, and county headquarters were completed. Given that I was in Form Three, it was my first interaction with geospatial work of any kind.
The Mapping Project
One afternoon, I went to him forthright and vulnerable and asked him to show me how to make such maps. Uncommonly, he took me to the Galleria Mall in Karen, Nairobi. I was very excited because I managed through his experience to construct my thematic map showing major rivers, roads, and public health centres in Kisumu County, Kenya. This experience fuelled my career ambition to be a Geospatial Engineer. Initially, I had thought of being a Mechanical Engineer but my interest shifted after interacting with an engineer who could model maps and share them with his partners in the field of mining all over the world. I highly appreciate him for allowing me to follow his project, ask questions and learn first-hand what it entails to be an engineer.
Whenever I am travelling or visiting a new place, I check out for geographical features, different types of minerals, and the mode in which they occur, and I ask about the value of their ores and methods of extraction. Sometimes I just imagine the kind of hotels and countries my in-law visits, the type of lifestyle, the kind of family and popularity he has with other engineers from other countries, I smile to myself thinking, “One day I will be a Geospatial Engineer.”
I hope to learn more about this dream career before joining The University of Nairobi. Perhaps, I will get to interact with more engineers, see their tools and learn how they come up with new ideas to improve the world’s field of mining.
Meanwhile, I am working hard in class with a vision of scoring good grades and making it to the university where I will study Geospatial Engineering.
Bridging Gaps, Building Futures: IBD Founder’s Message
For the short-term interaction with the IBD Founder, I have learnt that he decries what he terms “drops of skills in an ocean of academic qualifications”. IBD conducts regular youth career development activities, talent talks, international scholarship forums, mentorship engagements, and research consultancies modelled to empower the youth for career security through targeted exposure and skills development. With a lot of enthusiasm, I would like to advise youths that there is something that has been made for us. If we subscribe to the Impact Borderless Digital YouTube channel, we will be able to meet most of the things young graduates fail in interviews, not because they don’t know but because of ignorance.
I’ve seen and witnessed youths spending most of their time on things which don’t add any value to their life on social media yet there are other useful important channels like the Impact Borderless Digital (IBD) resources. When we subscribe to this YouTube channel, we get the appropriate tools (answers & responses) to fight crises when they emerge. If you have access to the IBD resources, it is easier to respond to any impromptu questions any time you are summoned to address them. When we have the right tools in place, they will help us reorganise, revolutionise, and move fast with the ‘new revolving world.’
As we are thriving to the new year 2025, let’s be creative, and innovative and have a changed mind of changing our homes, neighbourhoods, countries, continents and the whole world for a better future. And let’s keep in mind that IBD is keen on mentoring youths and offering career development fora. IBD empowers youths with the knowledge, international exposure, and digital fluency they need to be emancipated as global citizens with borderless influence for sustainable development.