May-June 2024

During my time at the Lwala Community Alliance, I have been fortunate to be embraced, loved, and held by humans I expect to hold in my heart for the rest of my life. When I began my fellowship, I knew that I would gain a lot professionally from working here. 

I have been supported by an encouraging team who are always in my corner, pushing me to grow and thrive. What I didn’t expect was to find people so willing to consistently take me in as a friend, a support system, and a shoulder to lean on. There is a common saying here that people use when they haven’t seen you in a while: “Umepotea,” which is Swahili for “You have been lost.” I especially love this saying because it’s a subtle, yet clear way of someone expressing that they have missed you—that you have occupied so much space in their heart and mind that they care about your absence. I have been able to build connections at Lwala where that saying demonstrates how my relationships have been nurtured, and how the people I have come to know will never be lost in my heart.

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Malaika (right) and her co-Fellow at ELF-Africa, Idongesit Ikpang (left).

Malaika leading a yoga flow at Flow & Glow in Nairobi.

My decision to join Emerging Leaders Foundation-Africa (ELF-Africa) was driven by my desire to pivot my career towards more people-oriented work. I wanted to broaden my perspective of education systems beyond the US, and this fellowship has created a great platform for this kind of exploration. In my role, I lead our youth entrepreneurship program and support our youth employment initiatives.

My role at ELF-Africa has been one of the most exciting ways to immerse myself in Kenyan culture. My focus on youth entrepreneurship has provided a unique lens for understanding the nation’s challenges and opportunities. I’ve had the pleasure of attending and engaging in several events: Kenya Innovation Week, Youth+ Festival, stakeholder meetings for Kenya’s Creative Economy Policy, just to name a few. One of my biggest accomplishments? Organizing VenturePlus, an event to bring together entrepreneurs, investors, change-makers, and other ecosystem collaborators across Kenya!

Outside of my fellowship work, I’ve cultivated amazing relationships with my Nexus co-fellow Idongesit, the other Nairobi fellows, and Nairobi’s most brilliant creatives. I have also found avenues to engage in wellness and mental health initiatives in my local community! Most recently, I co-hosted a wellness experience, Flow & Glow, in partnership with ORGANIKA Kenya. I led attendees through a beginner-friendly yoga flow, followed by a body scrub-making workshop led by ORGANIKA’s founder, Kymberli. My fellowship has been a life-changing experience, and I’m so blessed to call Kenya home.

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Maya and a colleague from PSI at a malaria intervention in Seguela, Cote d’Ivoire.

Maya exploring the outdoors in Cote d’Ivoire.

My name is Maya, and I serve as a Fellow with Population Services International in Cote d’Ivoire. In the last 10 months since I arrived in Abidjan (wow, does time fly!), I have grown in countless ways both professionally and personally. In my role with PSI, I contribute to communications, overall project management, and research on a multi-country malaria prevention project. Serving on a dynamic project across many different work areas has allowed me to develop several skills and figure out what niche I want to occupy in the global health sector in the future. I have also gained responsibility very quickly and now oversee the project’s quarterly newsletter, external webinars, a research study in Benin about clients’ experience of care, and much more. I’m grateful to be a PiAf fellow because it has presented me with unique opportunities to learn about many different work streams within this space, collaborate with teams across the African continent, and get exposure to the operations of a global NGO with a local, national, and regional perspective.

I’ve had some particularly enriching experiences through my work, and recently went on a work trip to Seguela, Côte d’Ivoire, during World Malaria Day to provide an information and education campaign on the intervention we implement. Over three days, we drove through towns and villages on a mobile caravan to conduct community engagement sessions and listen to clients’ experiences with receiving preventive malaria care. It was really eye-opening to hear about the challenges to public health at the local level and reignited my passion to continue addressing these barriers. Outside of work, I have loved exploring my host country and discovering other countries on the continent with some of my co-fellows. Here’s to the last two months of taking advantage of all that Abidjan and Cote d’Ivoire have to offer!

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Hannah Zaveri (2023-24 PiAF Fellow at Rwanda School Project) and Sewenet in Domboshawa, Zimbabwe.

View from Sewenet’s house in Marondera, Zimbabwe.

Hello everyone! 

My name is Sewenet and I am the Princeton in Africa Fellow at USAP Community School. USAP is an A-level boarding school for low income high achieving students from all over Zimbabwe. At USAP, I teach Research Methods and Capstone to 11th and 12th graders. Most students enter the school with no background in research and leave having conducted a year long research project. They use their new research skills to tackle pressing issues in their communities: water, sanitation, education, energy, gender inequality and more. It has been exciting to guide them through each step and to watch

 their projects take shape! Over the past 10 months, I have gained more confidence as a teacher and helped my students successfully apply to colleges all over the world. The passion, determination and joy my students exhibit on a daily basis is inspiring and humbling. 

Although living in a rural setting comes with its challenges, it has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I enjoy living in a tight knit community and being immersed in nature on a daily basis. The relationships I’ve formed in Zimbabwe have been the highlight of my fellowship and have helped me adapt to my new environment. 

I am forever grateful to USAP and Princeton in Africa for enabling me to fulfill my lifelong dream of living and working on the continent so early in my career. 

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Renee on a trip to Senegal.

Golden hour in Mbabane, Eswatini.

At Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) Eswatini, I have loved the opportunity to work at a global health NGO, and I am especially grateful that I have a range of responsibilities that allow me to grow and build new skills. As Resource Mobilization Officer, I am the chairperson of the Resource Mobilization Committee, and I am responsible for grant writing andreporting. In addition to my resource mobilization role, I am responsible for BIPAI Eswatini communications, I assist with teen club sessions and the global network wellness program, and I also am working on an evidence synthesis study with some of my global colleagues. Since I am in the Programs Department, I have enjoyed tagging along to site visits and getting involved in the massively influential projects the foundation embarks on for their pediatric HIV patients. Outside of work, I enjoy the stunning mountains in Eswatini through hiking groups and solo adventures. There are often farmers markets and music events throughout the month, and I love meeting new people at each of them. The last weekend of May is particularly exciting because of Bushfire, a multicultural music festival that attracts people from outside the country. This year I have had some amazing experiences, and I love how I have been pushed outside my comfort zone to try so many new things!

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Sinnah at work with IRC Kenya’s communications team.

Hi! My name is Sinnah Samuella Lamin, and I am currently a 2023-2024 Nexus Fellow at the International Rescue Committee, supporting communications and advocacy. In my role, I lead all internal and external communications for the Kenya country program. This encompasses everything from press trips, newsletters, content collection to policy work in Disaster risk Anticipatory action plan, education and sexual and gender-based violence.

This quarter, I’ve been focused on crafting a communication strategy and guidelines for our exciting new education project, TeachWell—the IRC’s pioneering education program. I also had the privilege of leading an IKEA Foundation delegation trip with the Rebuild team, providing valuable insights into our urban livelihoods programming in Nairobi. Two standout moments of my fellowship have been conducting communications training for Rebuild in Kampala and Nairobi in March and April and leading a press and communications delegation to Lodwar for the US Ambassador’s visit in January.

My time at the IRC has been incredibly rewarding, as it has allowed me to develop a great understanding of humanitarian work while growing my skills in communications and, most notably, in leadership. This experience has pushed me beyond my comfort zone and shown me the impact I’m capable of making.

On a more personal note, this journey has been an eye-opener, teaching me the essence of truly living. While I’ve cherished my work, I’ve treasured most are the connections I’ve made and nurtured—with every meal, laughter, and heartfelt conversation.

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