Faces of FIUTS: Meet Erickson

Faces of FIUTS is a social media campaign that collects personal stories from individuals who are part of our work. This week, meet Erickson!

Where are you from?
I am from Luanda, capital of Angola, where we speak Portuguese mostly but we have our traditional languages like Kimbundo, Umbundo and among others that I would like to learn, a very rich and beautiful place, it is really the place that I am happy to call home.

What's your FIUTS story?
Through contributing to my community by donating to hospitals and homeless people and also for fighting for equal rights, I was selected by the American embassy in my country to participate in the SUSI on civic engagement. FIUTS training made me comfortable to explore my creativity without barriers. It did not matter to them your physical appearance, for them the important thing is your mind and your heart and to become the best person joining both.

How will you change the world?
Promote equal rights, inspire people to have empathy, help with more access to things like education and information so that we can break social and economic barriers and become better as a community. I believe that every action has a reaction that will result in action as well, so I do my best to convey what I can by writing.

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Erickson Carvalho is an activist and law student at Universidade Catolica de Angola. He was a participant in the Study of the U.S. Institute (SUSI) on Civic Engagement with Student Leaders from Southern Africa in January-February 2017, hosted by FIUTS and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Faces of FIUTS is published every two weeks on the FIUTS blog, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Read past posts collected here!

Interested in being featured as a Face of FIUTS? Contact Ellen Frierson at ellen@fiuts.org.