Become a Mentor
Mentors are matched with a sponsored student for the duration of their college term, typically one to four years. Each mentor has a direct relationship with the sponsored student.
We strive to support our sponsored students through more than just scholarships, as we have found that our students who are able to build a trusted relationship with a mentor from outside their community are better able to confidently complete their higher education.
Mentors are often transformed by sharing their own lives and experiences and learning more about themselves in the process—all in the context of building a trusted relationship and becoming a source of support for a college student in another country.
Our mentorship program encourages mentors and mentees to communicate via email. Many mentor-mentee pairs exchange WhatsApp numbers and/or Facebook accounts to message more frequently as they build their relationship and gain more trust. Some keep it strictly over email, and others enjoy Skype calls every now and then. It's entirely up to what the mentor and mentee feel comfortable with.
The required time commitment is just a few hours a month to exchange communication. Anything above that is exclusively up to the mentor & mentee if they are enjoying more frequent communications.
There is no financial obligation associated with being a mentor. We encourage all educated individuals, regardless of their income level, to become a KEF mentor.
“I like the respectful approach of supporting people in their own culture and country. And I liked the chance to be in a relationship with the person doing the hard work. The relationship part is unusual for a nonprofit.”
-Ricka Kohnstamm
Ricka has mentored a half-dozen East African students,
staying in touch with them via email.
We believe that mentoring is a partnership of mutual benefit to both the mentee and yourself, the mentor. While we will do our best to match our mentors with mentees who share professional interests, we have found that our successful mentor-mentee relationships begin with a foundation of trust and friendship. We don’t expect our mentors to have all the answers for our students. Post-secondary education is a stressful and overwhelming time of transition for any student from any culture in any country. Having someone who the students know will encourage them and support them regardless of other stresses they may be facing at school or in their home communities is often times the key to their long-term success.
KEF mentors have gone on to visit their students, planned vacations around traveling to new countries they mentor in and have become donors as well. We hope that this can be the start of a life-changing relationship for you and your mentee.
If you'd like to become a mentor to a KEF student, please complete the form below.
Once we hear from you, we will follow up with one to three students available for matching. After you are matched, we will introduce the two of you via email and we'll let you take it from there. You do what you feel is right to mentor and to develop your own relationship with your sponsored student. You experience the excitement — and sometimes setbacks — of their college career.