Help Gboko Complete His Quest

Hello,

My name is Gboko Stewart. I am a journalist currently on asylum in Canada, living in Montreal.

I am doing this fundraiser to see Quest University before it shuts its doors indefinitely to the public. The news of Quest University Canada folding up is coming at a really sad time.

A time when the world needs to veer from rote learning and regurgitation to experiential learning.

Nine years ago, I was accepted to study at Quest University Canada, a liberal art and science college nestled in the mountainous area of Squamish, a little town outside Vancouver.

I was drawn to Quest due to its out-of-the-box method of imparting knowledge to students. Curious about the existential questions I had about the world and life, I realized must be the passageway to finding out the whys.

That dream became blurry when the deadliest Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in history hit Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Reacting instantly, the Canadian government slapped a visa ban on the three countries that were the hardest hit by the virus.

Out of options and hopeless at the time, I fired a petition to the then Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, calling on him to lift the ban on the three countries.

Racking signatures from across the world, it brought an enormous spotlight to a policy many at the time deemed was a smack of discrimination as it was not backed by science and data.

It did not help my plight as I was denied a study permit a few months later. However, it showed that in times of crisis, we must all come together and band against forces (laws and policies) that are discriminatory.

The inspiration to have done that - and I would do it again - came from the very Quest University which encourages its students to be agents of change. That inspiration has led me to fight for the rights of women in my country and founding Liberia's first LGBT news outlet.

I did not think I would find myself in Canada many moons later, not to attend school, but to seek safety. And the news of Quest shutting its doors is devastating to those who attended as well as the ones in faraway places that once aspired to.

Against this backdrop, the idea of doing this fundraiser popped up - I've got to see Quest - to complete my quest by buying a ticket from Montreal to Vancouver and handling accommodation to see Quest University.

Against this backdrop, kindly help me complete my quest.