Chat With Themmy- The Power Of Lifelong Learning _w_ Edwin Olu Bestman_

Thelma Sisi-Ahamba, also known as Temi, welcomes viewers to an episode of Chats with Temi where she will be speaking with Edwin Olubesman, an award-winning poet and education blogger from Monrovia, Liberia. Edwin is a lifelong learner and holds a PhD in civil engineering. He talks about his passion for storytelling and using his pen to share stories about Liberia and his experiences. He believes that learning is a continuous process and that curiosity is the key to learning. Edwin encourages people to step out of their comfort zones and explore different opportunities for learning and growth. He also emphasizes that formal education is not the only path to success, but rather a combination of factors such as networking and personal drive. Hello, hello, hello, good morning, good evening, good afternoon, good night, to you, wherever you may be watching me from today, my name is Thelma Sisi-Ahamba, but I go by Temi, alright? I am a digital marketing consultant, a digital business mentor, and an education influencer. I want to welcome you to today's episode of Chats with Temi. I am going to be talking to an amazing young man from my very own hometown, Monrovia, Liberia. He is a powerhouse, he is the epitome of lifelong learning, and we're going to be digging into his wealth of knowledge on a very interesting topic around lifelong learning. So I hope you sit tight, thanks for supporting this journey so far, if you've been following from LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, wherever you've been following from, thank you so much for being on this journey with me. I hope you're steering your life in the right direction with all these amazing people I get to talk to and all the amazing discussions we get to have, alright? So now we're jumping into it, you know how we do it, before I get my guest on stage, I want you to give me a drumroll, so let's give it up for Mr. Edwin Oluwesman. Okay, let's get him right up here, guys. Hello, hello, Edwin, thank you so much for taking time out to chat with me. Thank you very much. I remember when I put it out there that I wanted to guest feature on Chats with Temi, I was like, who do you want me to talk to? And then someone tagged me, I was like, oh, talk to Edwin, he's an amazing young man. And I'm like, okay, right on that, I'm coming, I'm coming. And thank you so much for giving me your time to sit and spend some time with me and my community to educate us, to inspire us, and empower us with your story. Guys, if you do not know, Edwin is an award-winning poet. Like, the man doesn't only have awards from Liberia, he has an international award-winning poet. He's amazing. He likes to jump at opportunities when he sees it. And he's a lifelong learner. And today we're going to be talking about that. He's a summer engineer as well, by profession. And he's one of Liberia's biggest education bloggers. He's one of Liberia's biggest education bloggers. His blog, y'all, once you get across his blog, the Daily Doze, you just always find something inspiring, something to give you hope and stuff like that. And that's one thing I admire him for. All right. So, Edwin, that was just a snippet of who you are. We want to hear from the rest as well. Okay. Thank you, Selma. My name is Edwin Olubesne, and I'm from Morolia, Liberia. And I'm a poet, civil engineer, and I'm also a blogger. I like to write. Yeah, I think that's all about me. And, yeah, I love to put pen to paper. I love to write things. I see myself as a storyteller. I love to tell stories about Liberia, about things around me, my experiences. Because I believe, you know, people learn from experiences. And so the best thing I can do for myself is to, you know, put my pen to paper and tell my story. You know, the best thing about learning is the fact that, I mean, no one tells their story better than you. So there's always an opportunity when you have, you know, the space to tell your story. So I do believe in telling my story using my pen to tell a story. And the story of the Liberian people, the food we eat, you know, the things that we do, our culture, our ethnicity, and a lot more I can talk about. I'm also a civil engineer by profession. I hold a PhD in civil engineering. And I just completed my master's in engineering management focusing on too many things, too many factors, focusing on financial analysis, you know, and a lot more. So I think that's everything. Guys, a round of applause for this amazing young man. Like, too much of a science student for me. Trust me. When I was in high school, I really did not used to like science students. When I was in high school, I really did not used to like science students. Like, I felt like they were just all up in our faces. And they were, like, behaving like the smart ones. They were behaving like the useless ones. And I'm like, y'all give us a chance and go somewhere. I've always been a business student. And science students, I've always not been. I'm, like, death of bliss. Okay? But it's amazing. And I highly respect science students because that thing is not for play. Honestly speaking. The thing that you guys need to understand is not for play. And I give you kudos for that. You're an amazing young man. Science B.S. is science, but I'm not so serious. You like science that much? Oh, boy. We're going places. Is that kind of brain you have? But definitely, it's an honor to have you on the show today. And I love this topic that we're going to talk about, the power of life-long learning. Because you, Edwin, are a definition of what a life-long learning is. You're a writer. You're a blogger. You're a poet. You're a civil engineer. Like, what else are you learning? What else are you up to? So many things. For me, you know, particularly, I think I'm very passionate and curious about everything around me. You know? I love to take chances of anything that I find to learn, whether from the business side, whether from the civil engineering side, from the literature side. I think I just like to make use of the opportunity that I have at hand. You know? So I write poems. I do literature. I love to solve mathematics. You know, I love to solve complex problems. I think that was one of the reasons for which I decided to do civil engineering. And, yeah, I also love to read. I love books. And I also love business, you know? I did engineering management for my master's degree. It's all about leadership, communication, and decision-making, and also marketing. So I think it's really good. What would you say for someone? There's this famous quote that says, the day you stop learning is the day you die. Can you give me your perspective to that quote? Yeah, I think learning is a process. The only time it stops is when you die. Because when you die, you don't have the ability to communicate. You don't have the ability to do something, you know? So while you are alive, I think it's the best time to utilize every opportunity that you have to learn. I mean, the only way people get to learn when you are curious, you know, takes people in to learn. If you're not curious, you cannot learn. If you're not curious, you cannot learn. How can we balance that? Because there's this one thing, this one adage that says, the day you stop learning is the day you die. And then there's another adage that says, curiosity kills the cat. So where do we start to balance? For me, for the curiosity kills the cat, I don't want to believe that, you know? For me, I subscribe to Albert Einstein, you know? Because, I mean, Albert Einstein was, I mean, he did a lot for science, you know? And I believe in so many things that he did. And today he changed the world. We can see the world around us. So many things that he brought, you know, for people to learn and all that stuff. So one of the things that he talks about doing his time on Earth, he talks about curiosity. So the best way to learn is to be curious. When you are curious, you'll be willing to learn. You will have the passion to learn. So I believe when you are passionate, you are willing, and you are curious. I mean, it's very easy to learn. Because you don't force people to learn. It's based on your willingness, you know? So I believe when you are curious, you will learn. That's amazing. Alright, so, you know, sometimes people think about education, maybe the first thing that comes to their head is the former side of education, or former type of education. And with you being a very curious person, I'm sure you don't only have your hands on former education. You probably have dipped your hands in a lot of other places and experience, and just you exploring life in general. And would you share on how not keeping yourself in a box of former education, would you want to share with us on how that can elevate someone? You know, usually when I talk to people, you don't, I mean, it's not always, you don't need education always to become successful. In fact, education is not a guarantee that you'll become successful. You know? Are you looking at that person in the back? I say education is not a guarantee that you'll become successful. It's not a guarantee. We want to go to school because we want to make everything right. We want to make, I mean, we want to work on our decisions and make sure our decisions are right in certain things. But it doesn't guarantee us, I mean, it doesn't give us, you know, the idea that we'll become successful. You know? So, for us to become successful, there are so many factors included. There are so many things that we need to do. We have to connect with people. We have to network. We have to build our own cycle, you know, of friends, of people that we can work with. So, for me, I don't think it's always the case of you going to school to become successful. No. You can even be a market person once you are focused, once you know what you want to achieve and the things that you want to achieve and you continue to participate in different, different programs and continue to push your dream forward at the least. I mean, it's just about moving yourself out of your comfort zone. Most French people, because I tell people nothing goes in your comfort zone. When you're still in your comfort zone, you just remain augmented and you don't move. So, I mean, the only way you can do something is when you move away from your comfort zone. So, I mean, this goes for both the formal education and the non-formal education. If you want to do something, you have to move from your comfort zone. You know, it applies to both sides. So, I believe that anyone can explore it based on on yourself. Where do you want to see yourself? How do you want to see yourself? You know, these are all things that you should pay attention to. But I believe you just have to leave your comfort zone and make yourself ready for the challenges ahead and face your fears and try to do what you want to do. As you were talking, something just came to mind. How can we ensure that whatever we're participating in, right, in our effort to learn something, how can we reinforce the fact that, okay, to get comfortable by saying what I've taken time to spend time doing or to spend time working on, I can confidently say that I'm good at it or that I have learned it. How can we marry the process of learning and our action in execution? Can you speak to that? So, I think it takes time. You know, as I said previously, learning is a process. You know, everything takes time. But I can tell you everything that you learn, it doesn't go easy. I mean, it doesn't go easy. Yeah, it just happens. So, if you learn something, let's say for an example, you go to a public speaking class or maybe you attend a communication class or writing class. I mean, at the first moment, you won't understand the essence of going to that class or going to that program. But, I mean, over time, you'll get to understand that, oh, this was very profitable, you know, this was good, this was that. Like, when I was in Nigeria, you know, I never knew that all of the programs that I went for were building me to come to Malaysia for study because the education system is actually different from what we have in Nigeria. This is, on the side, very competitive, it's challenging. So, you have to do yourself in a way that you don't want to be up there, you don't want to be at the back when your friends are moving. So, you have to prepare yourself. So, all of the things that I learned in Liberia, like solving complex problems, you know, doing critical thinking, I learned critical thinking in Stella Marie, solving complex problems, critical thinking, all of these things prepared me to come here to Malaysia and it was very, I can say, it was not really hard for me because I already had, you know, I think if, we wouldn't know if we're doing it now. We think, oh, because we are going for a corporate speaking class or because we are attending digital marketing class, oh, this is not really helpful. But, who knows, you might go somewhere one day and they will be looking for somebody and you can tell them to say, oh, yes. And you will see, without something that is hidden, if you can do something, I mean, you will see it within yourself. I mean, in a case of Liberia, you don't even need to go to college or go to a common school to be able to have critical thinking. The environment forces you to think on your feet. The environment forces you to think on your feet because of your daily experience and the thing is, I like to tell people that we don't just learn from a particular space, right? We learn from our everyday interactions. We learn from our everyday experiences because, say, for instance, if you are, let's take the pesky trader, for example, right? You come across a kid, I'll share this story. I came across a kid one time when I was in Liberia and he was selling his bananas, all right, in the trade. He was selling his bananas and then I think he had like the last bunch or something or he had like the last two bunches and then I had come out of the supermarket and he was like, Auntie, buy the banana. I didn't feel like it. I was like, $150 or so for a bunch and he was like, you can take the two for $250 instead of $300, right? And just looking at the fact that that kid, he wouldn't be more than 12 years old, right? As young as he is, he's probably the age of someone in elementary school or even lower, right? At that age, he already has learned through business how to negotiate, how to sell and how to put himself out there. And I had that experience as a child. As a child, I was someone for my mom, right? And then growing up, I mean, I liked someone for my mom. I was someone for my sisters at the time because of our circumstances. But then what that taught me in that time, right? And like you said, it's about lifelong learning. I wasn't in college. I was in elementary school and I was someone for my mom. And what that experience at that time taught me was I knew how to talk to people. I knew how to approach people. I knew how to have a conversation with people irrespective of what their age, their status or whatever. Bro, I'm selling cornbread and shortbread. Everybody eats cornbread and shortbread. It doesn't matter whether you have money or you don't have money. It doesn't matter. 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