Making a difference

Regardless of their field of study or their heritage, YCA scholars all share a strong desire to leave their mark on the world and give back to their community.

For Jili, this means returning home, to South Africa, to apply the knowledge he acquired during his time at the YCA and seek innovative ways to knock down barriers that hinder access to education. “I wish to work in the South African education ministry in the skills development branch,” he said, adding that “solving South Africa’s educational equity issues is a must in the pursuit of social justice and human development.”

Kariuki, for her part, wants to join Kenya’s diplomatic corps with an aim of strengthening friendly relations between Kenya and China. To this end, the YCA program will prove priceless, because it not only allows graduates to build a large and diverse network of global connections among future world leaders and policy makers, but also allows them to deeply understand China’s complexity and intricacies. “If a diplomat has a deep understanding of the Chinese culture and has mastered the language, it deepens the trust and builds great inter-personal relationships, and as a result strengthens the ties between two countries,” Kariuki told Chinafrica.

The willingness of these two young scholars to use their experience at the YCA to bring about positive change back in their home countries echoes Peking University Council Chairman Zhu’s remarks on the underlying mission of YCA and Peking University for China and the world: “We aim to groom talents, but more than this, we aim to inculcate a noble spirit in our students,” he said. “One’s heart must find the right direction, it must seek truth, virtue, and beauty, and only through education can we achieve this.” Comments to 9585078@gmail.com