Alumni Impact: Zacarias Chicuio
Alumni Impact is a social media campaign that recognizes the excellent work being done by FIUTS alumni all around the world. This week, meet Chicuio!
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Zacarias Chicuio, 2020 SUSI alumn and student of ELT (English Teaching Course) at Universidade Licungo - Extensão da Beira, Mozambique.
My name is Zacarias Filipe Chicuio from Mozambique. I participated in the SUSI program on Civic Engagement in early 2020.
In the SUSI program, I discovered that when I engage myself toward something and use all my strengths, I can certainly make change. I also discovered that I am capable of tackling community concerns and engaging others to fight for a cause.
Through site visits, time with my peers, and workshops like Fortunato Vega’s networking workshop, I built many skillsets. I learned to be more patient and open to learning new things. I learned skills in team building and management, including stepping up and stepping back, listening, public speaking, and working well with a group. All of these skills are summarized in one thing: a good social servant.
When I was in the U.S. I discovered many interests, especially in the education sector. I plan to study a Masters degree in Education and would enjoy studying in the U.S so that I can learn more about the society and community itself and deepen my relationships with people in the U.S.
I am putting these new skills to use in my Community Action Project, Love For the Others – a project which aims to end discrimination and inequality affecting people with disabilities. Activities will be carried out in order to achieve this goal including discussions and workshops with community members and university students. Furthermore, there will be radio debates that the volunteers from our organization will conduct after being trained on disability related issues. All these activities are to mitigate societal misconceptions about disability.
Zacarias Chicuio (pictured above and farthest right in both lefthand photos), taking part in community service and community building initiatives. His community action project is titled “Love for the Others” and aims to end discrimination and inequality for people living with disabilities.
SUSI will certainly play a major role in the implementation of this project and future projects that I will take on. The team-building, networking, and time management skills I learned during my SUSI experience will be useful to fulfil the project goals. The skills are so important for me because they help me identify any problem, the roots of the problem, and how to build possible methods to tackle the situation. Additionally, I feel better equipped to deal with cultural diversity in my work.
Participating in the SUSI program on Civic Engagement has brought me the real version of my leadership skills and competence. After SUSI, I have a different perspective on how to make decisions that I did not feel comfortable making before due to a lack of experience and skills. With newfound patience, motivation, focus and determination I can see myself leading people to make positive change in our communities. The SUSI program serves as a guide towards solving the issues affecting our society.
SUSI programs promote a better understanding of the people, institutions, and culture of the United States among international students, teachers, and scholars. Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSIs) are short-term academic programs for groups of undergraduate leaders, educators, and scholars from around the world. Hosted by academic institutions throughout the United States, these 5- to 6-week Institutes include an intensive academic residency and an integrated educational study tour. Extracurricular cultural and community activities help to broaden the participants’ understanding of U.S. society. Learn more about SUSI programs here.
Guest posts on the FIUTS blog represent the experiences and views of individual writers. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FIUTS or any organizations or institutions affiliated with our programs.