Mentoring: On a Life Journey Together

REI Blog | By Ron Wiley, Regional Director, Central Asia

An email arrived today from an old friend. And when I say “old,” I mean it: It’s not every day that a 101-year-old woman writes to you.

Joyce writes to my wife Jeanine and me about once a month, maintaining a relationship that began more than 50 years ago. Her messages are always filled with encouragement, that’s just who Joyce is, and she never fails to remind us that she is praying for us, just as she has faithfully done throughout all those years.

As I reflected on her email, two thoughts came to mind. First, if my dad were still alive, he would be approaching his 101st birthday, too. Then I remembered how I first met Joyce.

My dad had known her husband, Wayne, who became the new head of the university department where my dad had studied and where I would later follow in his footsteps. That connection led to a part-time job in the department, Wayne becoming my academic advisor, and eventually my pursuit of graduate studies.

Along the way, Wayne became much more than an academic advisor. He became a mentor. And he and Joyce became dear friends to Jeanine and me, and later to our daughters, who also studied at that same university.

Jeanine Wiley co-presents a workshop at a university in Almaty with a training mentee who serves as a faculty member at a university in Astana.

Mentors. Lifelong relationships. A journey shared.

Now, having reached my 70th birthday, I find myself reflecting more often on the people who have shaped my life. Wayne and Joyce are two of those people. Their influence has extended far beyond the classroom or university, reminding me that mentoring is about more than passing along knowledge. It is about investing in another person over time.

I’m also reminded of how many opportunities we have to do just that through REI’s work in Kazakhstan.

Mentoring Happens in Both Directions

Every member of our REI-Kazakhstan team – both full-time resident staff and short-term professional volunteers – has opportunities to mentor others and to be mentored in return.

Even our younger staff members, who are pursuing graduate studies at Kazakh-American Free University (KAFU) here in Oskemen, are investing in others. Some mentor younger students in the dormitory, helping them develop practical life skills. Others help classmates strengthen the study skills they themselves have mastered.

Several REI staff members and volunteers serve as formal mentors to participants in the university’s servant leadership program. Some of us advise Kazakhstani and international graduate students as they work on their theses. I’ve mentored fellow faculty members in grant writing, and I’ve learned from others whose experience and success in securing grants far exceed my own.

Whether the subject is intercultural awareness, self-leadership, interpersonal skills, conflict resolution or entrepreneurial startups, mentoring takes many forms. Sometimes our REI staff and volunteers from the United States and Singapore are the mentors. At other times, we find ourselves learning from our Kazakhstani friends, colleagues and professional counterparts.

Three KAFU instructors trained and mentored by an REI team lead a When Cultures Meet workshop, sharing their knowledge with others.

This is what makes the exchange so meaningful. Mentoring is not a one-way transfer of expertise. It is a relationship in which people learn from one another, share experience, and grow together.

As we invest in others, we discover that we still have much to learn ourselves.

When You See the Impact, You Understand the Investment

I experienced a special reminder of mentoring’s lasting influence today.

What began as a university department’s celebration of my 70th birthday took an unexpected turn when the dean began to speak. She shared about the impact REI has had on the university during the years of our partnership. Then she singled out one of the students I had been mentoring over the past year.

“His life has been turned around,” she explained. “He’s grown and developed so much that he was able to do an internship in the United States, and now he’s one of our graduate students.”

Her words caught me by surprise.

It was one thing to know that I had been spending time with this student. It was another to hear a university leader describe how that investment had helped change the trajectory of his life.

Moments like this remind me why mentoring matters. Its influence is not always immediately visible. Growth takes time, and the results may emerge gradually, in ways we could never have predicted. But when someone receives encouragement, guidance, and the opportunity to develop their abilities, the effects can reach far beyond the original relationship.

Three KAFU instructors trained and mentored by an REI team lead a When Cultures Meet workshop, sharing their knowledge with others.

Building People to Build Nations

Teaching a classroom or lecture hall full of students is a significant contribution made by REI’s resident staff and professional volunteers. The knowledge and skills shared in those settings matter.

But the relationships that develop beyond the classroom can be just as important—sometimes even more so. Through mentoring, we have the opportunity to encourage emerging leaders, strengthen professional skills, build confidence, and help people recognize and develop their potential.

And those individuals, in turn, can invest in others.

That is how influence multiplies. One person grows, then helps another grow. Skills and wisdom are passed along. Leaders become better equipped to lead, teach, serve, and mentor the next generation.

For more than 35 years, REI has worked to build people who can help build their nations. Mentoring is one expression of that commitment: walking alongside others, sharing what we have learned, and remaining open to what they can teach us.

The journey is rarely ours alone. And its greatest impact may be found not in what we accomplish individually, but in the people who grow because we chose to walk alongside them.