Arizona and Tanzania are separated by continental masses and oceans, cultures and economies, but the principles of supporting children are essentially the same in both places.
Sedona Red Rock High School graduate Adam Rubin and Tanzanian Uswege Mwakapango founded Renew in Tanzania three years ago — as, in Rubin’s words, “a response to the gap in the education system.”
According to Rubin, schools are too often focused on academics and fail to prepare students with necessary skills to overcome personal challenges and grow as human beings. Renew has helped hundreds of Tanzanian secondary and high school students.
“Renew workshops provide young people with the social and emotional skills they need to overcome their limiting beliefs and start living in their greatness,” Rubin said. “They get to see their genius come to life as they create projects to address issues threatening their communities.”
Since 2013, Rubin and Mwakapango have reached more than 1,000 students in Tanzania. In April, the two brought the program to Arizona.
From April 15 to 17, Renew ran a three-day workshop with 17 high school students at Verde Valley School in the Village of Oak Creek, taking them through self-reflection, including a gratitude meditation and a group activity to explore the “rivers of their lives.”
“We redefined personal leadership, led students through a ‘Peace Line’ activity and ended with the Three Most Important Questions,” Rubin said. “There were breakthroughs and really touching moments with these students.”
On May 11 and 12, Renew conducted a two-day workshop with nearly 90 middle-schoolers at Mountain View Preparatory School in Cottonwood.
“The students did body maps and activities to dive into their self-esteem,” Rubin explained. “We discussed self-confidence and took the students through exercises to map out loving yourself first in order to live in your greatness …. The experience at Mountain View Prep was beautiful, and we can’t wait to return.”
It’s been a year of growth for Renew, Rubin said. In addition to establishing itself in Arizona, the organization launched its first workshop with university students in Tanzania. With the support of the Tanzania Institute of Community Development, Renew gave 25 young leaders the chance to discover their potential.
“The workshop explored topics like understanding the influence of your past and building the future you have been dreaming about, the power of positive habits, building and living your vision, the power of no and building courage and personal resilience,” Rubin said.
For Rubin, the experience of founding and growing Renew has been transformative.
“Building this organization has been my focus for the last three years, and it has taught me not just lessons in leadership, but also life lessons that have shaped the person that I have become. There is no such thing as failure, because every challenge we go through is simply preparing us for what’s to come.
“With every child that goes through our program, I see how crucial this personal development is for kids all around the world. I believe that personal growth and development shouldn’t just be a treatment for adults to overcome the pain of their past. It should be a preventative care for children all around the world.”
For more information, visit renewchange.org.
