Citizen Profile: Sean Conforti, Student Volunteerism Brings Clarity and Vision

Sitting comfortably on his bed, amidst posters on his walls of illusionary artist Sandro Del-Prete and calligraphy by artist John Stevens, alongside the music of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur and Bob Marley, a map of Africa and pictures of his old dog, Sean Conforti reminisces about his childhood and plans his future.

This past summer, Conforti flew from his home in Toronto, Canada, to East Africa for a month to volunteer with Ethiopian orphans. A definite step away from the comforts of home, Conforti sees the adventure as a clarifying step in what was once a blurry future.

The Carleton University humanities major is now succeeding in school, but it had not always been that way. "Junior high sort of, um, ruined high school for me. It was really easy. I didn't do any work. I went to high school and tried to do the same thing, but didn't work so well." he says, twisting a dreadlock.

In Grade 12, Conforti "missed tons of classes" and failed half his courses. After that, he switched to a Catholic school, where his grades began improving. "My philosophy teacher was amazing," he says. "He taught it so, so well. He turned me towards philosophy. I had sweet English classes, too."

"Everything kind of went up after Catholic school. I was focusing more on myself and making all the devotion my parents had shown me worth something," Conforti says.

Unfortunately college also had its challenges. "First year university was a giant leap backwards," he says. "I was dedicated in the beginning with schoolwork, but then I smoked too much pot and didn't do much work."

The volunteer trip to Ethiopia, however, would soon set him back on course. "After coming back from Ethiopia, I thought about things and I kind of acquired a new clarity…I wanted to do something more for the world."

Conforti spent a large part of his time in the old capital of Ethiopia, Gondar, teaching and accompanying the children in one of the many orphanages in the city. After a morning of teaching, he spent his afternoons playing with the kids.

Why did he choose Ethiopia? "I'd just gotten dreads and it's kind of one of the Rastafarian homelands," he laughs. His expression then becomes serious. "There's just so much history there. It struck me as ironic that one of the earliest places of humanity is one of the poorest countries in the world."

Conforti wasn't too worried about being thrown into a culture that's staggeringly different to what he was used to for the past 21 years of his life. "The neighbourhood I grew up in was probably one of the wealthier neighbourhoods in Toronto," says Conforti. "I knew there would be a culture shock. But it was actually worse coming back to Canada." For him, it was hard getting reacquainted with a culture that "takes things completely for granted."

A short time after returning from Ethiopia, he was hospitalized for a week due to an abscess that grew on the side of his neck to almost the size of a baseball. After CT scans, getting a needle jabbed in his neck to drain the fluid, countless IV injections and antibiotics, the abscess finally went away.

"Once again, I was shown my neck abscess was nothing compared to what other people are going through," Conforti says, referring to the extreme poverty he witnessed in Ethiopia.

"I try not to say overstated things anymore, like 'Oh, I'm starving' or 'I'm broke,'" he adds, reflecting on his experiences. "I try not to complain as much."

Keeping in line with his love of writing and literature, Conforti wrote about his trip and kept journal entries during the month he was there. When asked if he'd ever return to Ethiopia to teach and volunteer, Conforti has no hesitation: "Absolutely. Any kid there would have loved to have the advantages of education that we do."

After university, Conforti wants to travel, teach and do work, similar to the kind he did in Africa this past summer. Where? "Everywhere," he says.