My name is Jaeda, full name Jaeda Joelle Wanjiru Kihara. My parents were both born and raised in Kenya, but I was born in Canada and have lived here my whole life. I live in Coquitam, British Colombia, and I’m currently attending Charles Best Secondary School as a freshman. I recently turned 14 and my favorite subject at the moment is probably Social Studies.
One interesting thing about my culture, actually has to do with my name. In Kikuyu culture, the Kenyan tribe that my parents are from, first born daughters are named after their paternal grandmother, secondborns after their maternal grandmother. The same goes for boys and their grandfathers. My parents decided to keep the tradition for my middle name, naming me Wanjiru after my paternal grandmother. This also means that one of my cousins has the same name as me! One of the things that brought me to butterfly is the opportunity to learn new things. I have always been a person who like to learn. Every new information I learn, I find, really helps me grow, and change into a better person. I’ll never know if I don’t learn, I like to tell myself. I’ll never know about other cultures, viewpoints, experiences, or concepts if I don’t learn them, and I’d like to think that Social Responsibility is my way of doing that.
If I could have any job right now, I would love to be a kindergarten teacher, or really any other type of early child care provider. I love children, I think their so fun, so full of life and honestly, have so much to teach and share with the rest of us. I volunteer with a sports summer camp over school breaks, I also babysit for some family friends, and just seeing how young, how innocent, how impressionable these little kids are really pushes me to really be the best role model, and teach them the best I can so I can prepare them to be thriving individuals in the future. I especially love the little kids, because every thing is so big and so new to them. Seeing them develop a new skill, or fall in love with a new game warms my heart, and encourages me to keep living life to the fullest and to keep trying new things. In my free time, I love reading. Reading for me, is an escape from reality. When I read I get immersed into this new world, with new people and get to live out a new life. When the real world is stressful, there’s a second one just waiting for me to hop into it. Another part about reading that I enjoy, is seeing the variety of books and authors out there. Even in the same genre, two books by two different authors can have completely different themes, worlds, and appearances. It’s really cool to see the variety.
Right now I am most interested to do an Inquiry, with some area of childhood development as the theme, for my Semester 1 project in Social Responsibility. I really like the Inquiry option because it gives me structure, while still letting me research what I want to, and learn in my own way.
Thank you for reading, an I’m really excited to learn about you guys and your projects too! ❣️
Hello Jaeda, I have really enjoyed reading your post. Its awesome to hear that your parents are born and raised in Kenya. Am also amazed of the naming in our culture. U`v done a great job thank you.
Hi Maurice,
Thank you for the reply! It is really cool to have a connection with the Kenyan students. My parents love being Kikuyu, and sharing the culture with me, and I love learning more about my roots. I try my best to learn more about being Kenyan, and talk about the my culture, to keep that part of me alive so I don’t forget where I came from.
I can’t wait to learn more about you too, and I hope you have great success in whatever you decide to focus on as your project.
Well wishes, Jaeda K
Hello Jaeda. I hope that you are fine and doing great. It sounds good to hear that your were raised in Kenya and your culture is Kikuyu as even me my culture is Kikuyu. I wish you all the best in your research project
Hi James,
Thank you for the well wishes for my research, it’s going pretty good so far, and I’m learning a lot I didn’t know before. I’m researching childhood development, and the factors that affect it, since it’s a interesting topic to me.
It’s super cool that we’re both Kikuyu! I love learning more about my culture, and connecting with others that share the same background as me, since it is a little hard to stay close to my roots, when I live halfway across the world!
I can’t wait to see what you do in your projects and endeavours,
Thanks again, Jaeda K