TAKING CARTOGRAPHY TO THE MENTORSHIP ‘ROOMS’
Meet Ms. Catherine Njore– A Cartographer and an active Youth & Children Mentor
"I am a cartographer, a mother and a mentor. As a cartographer, I strive to do more than teach adults in an academic setup; I hope to awaken map use culture in children at an early age which translates to future clients to our Institute here at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology hence I make map use part of my mentorship ice breakers when engaging children. I hope for a better future and environment for my children. I mentor and empower the current generation as they will be the ones doing the same to our children; being a role model to create role models for others.It is my daily wish that many people would rise up to mentor and be role models to our youth and teens. They need people to look up to. They need us.”- Ms. Catherine Njore
Ms. Njore is a Senior Technologist in our Institute of Geomatics, GIS & Remote Sensing. She is a holder of a Higher Diploma in Cartography from the Kenya Institute of Surveying and Mapping and her role at the Institute involves guiding students in map making practical exercises; both analogue and computer assisted. Together with other colleagues in her field, Njore has published two key papers: “Fun with Maps-Road Map Towards Implementing a Learner-Centred Cartographic Training in Kenya” and “Initiative aiming to introduce children to maps in Kenya.”There is more to Njore than cartography though.
When Njore is not busy guiding the esteemed students at our Institute of Geomatics, GIS & Remote Sensing, she is busy mentoring teens and youths under several initiatives that she has founded, nurturing a reading culture in children and taking part in community volunteer work. One of her latest initiative is the Linda Vijana Initiative (LVI) whose mission is “to safeguard and empower the young people in order to enable them to make the right choices in life”. Ms. Njore is an author of children books on maps and life skills; these books can be found here https://intercenbooks.com/product-tag/catherine-njore/. On matters children and maps, she is also the National Organizer of the Barbara Petchenik Children's Map Competition; more information about this competition can be found here https://icaci.org/petchenik/
Ms. Njore is inspired by her children and strives to set the best example for them as she feels that most children follow the “monkey see, monkey do” analogy. She considers some of her achievements as having mentored several young people who have now started their own initiatives to mentor others and they have tremendously grown asindividuals in the various aspects of their lives, the love she is creating in young learners in making and using maps, publication of the map books, the reports she keeps getting fromteachers and parents from different schools on performance improvement of their children and the successful two years celebration of the World Book Day: usually held on the first Thursday of March. As she counts these as her achievements and continues to draw inspiration from the desire to set a great example for her children, she strives to do more and invites more of us to do more.
Check out her self - published profile here https://catherinenjore.com/