Meet the 2023 Pan-Africa Youth Leadership Program Participants!
During this program, 20 high school aged students and 5 adult mentors develop leadership and civic engagement skills, learn about U.S. history and culture, and build a network of Pan-African emerging leaders, forging bonds between youth from the African continent and Washington State. The participating countries are Angola, Botswana, South Africa, South Sudan, and Mauritius. U.S.-based Student Ambassadors will communicate with African students to learn about one another’s culture, discuss shared topics of interest, and build new international relations. The program begins in Atlanta, Georgia for the first few days (April 8-12) and concludes in Seattle (April 12-25).
FIUTS produces this program through a contract with Meridian International Center, and the program is fully funded by the U. S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Keep reading to get to know the participants and their mentors!
Meet the mentors:
Felisberto Chamuanga is a seasoned educator and entrepreneur with a strong background in mentoring. Felisberto is the founder and director of Chamuanga Group, a set of institutions devoted to holistic education combining instruction with civic values and leadership skills in order to maximize students’ potential. Chamuanga Group is also responsible for an English immersive experience where students spend a weekend in English-only environment while discussing contextualized topics and seeking for solutions to ordinary community problems. Through this business, Chamuanga provides employment for youth that otherwise would not have access to the job market with few employment options. Participating in this exchange will provide him with the opportunity to interact with international audiences, helping him to build relationships with key partners in United States and in the African region, in addition to allowing him to interact with Angolan youth from diverse backgrounds. Moreover, since Felisberto is based in Bie, a province that seldom benefits from Public Affairs programs, and has the ability to effectively replicate what he will learn as a mentor, this opportunity will definitely provide him with the tools and human capital needed to better advance ICS goals promoting prosperity and education outside of Luanda.
Mandisa has worked in the Department of Education for 20 years. She is a Senior Education Specialist and is passionate about education and impacting the young lives through it. She has worked with the young learners at the Maths and Science Leadership Academy (MSLA) since it opened in 2006. She believes that she is not only sharing her knowledge about Maths and Science but also building future leaders. She has worked with the nominated applicants at MSLA.
Roda Aloysius is Embassy Juba’s nominee to serve as an adult participant/mentor/chaperone to accompany a cohort of young South Sudanese for an upcoming Pan-African Youth Leadership Program (PAYLP). Roda currently serves as a mentor and English language teacher for the Embassy’s English Access Microscholarship Program (Access), which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. The Access program provides secondary school students with two years of high-quality English language education that build and refine language skills for academic and professional success. Roda was a mentor and teacher for the first iteration of the Access program in South Sudan that concluded in 2021. Based on her strong performance, the Embassy recruited her again as a teacher for Access.
Ms. Roda’s participation as a mentor/chaperone for PAYLP will provide her with firsthand exposure to U.S. culture, society, and values. This experience will be invaluable once she is back in South Sudan, and has the multiplier effect of also benefitting the Access students.
Danielle Zelin is well-known to the Embassy, being an alumna of the Online Professional English Network and having collaborated with Post on various English Language and youth programs. Danielle has been an educator for over 25 years working with the youth on different educational community programs. As a certified National Geographic educator, Danielle has spearheaded different community projects such as the Oceanic project, the Coral Squad program inspired by the National Geographic Learning Framework and ‘Zistwar Nou Losean’ (Our Ocean story) Mauritius 2021 and ‘Zistwar Nou Losean’ Global Youth Collective 2022. Through English Language learning, Danielle has contributed significantly to creating awareness about ocean ecosystem, preservation of coral reefs, climate change and developed innovative strategies to encourage the youth to protect the environment and reduce pollution. Danielle is actively involved with youths from various age groups and communities in Mauritius both as an educator and a social project coordinator. Post is confident that with the experience and knowledge gained in the PAYLP, Danielle will be well placed to lead and motivate the youths to be more engaged and make meaningful change in their communities.
Tatenda is a high school teacher in Botswana. She teaches Literature in English. She studied English language for her BA and Education as a post graduate study. After this, she received her MA degree in Literary studies. Gender based violence is a huge concern in her area and it thrives because of low self-worth among women. She is passionate about empowering girls and women to thrive in various careers and to believe in themselves so that they will not bend to various forms of abuse. She also works with the police on anti-substance abuse awareness campaigns to rid our community of these lethal substances. She would like to share facts about the traditional socio-political structures. She will also share great nutritious recipes, songs, dances, language and attire-including fancy ways to tie a headwrap! She wishes to encourage enterprise and self confidence so that people can use their creativity skills to solve challenges within their immediate communities.
Meet the students:
Dumbo comes from a very adverse background. Growing up in a coastal area with high unemployment poverty rates, he showed his commitment to create the change he envisions for the next generation by improving the traditional practice of phishing. . Dumbo is attending the National Institute for Oil and Gas and works to educate his community about the ecological impact of their activities and sustainable management of resources. He has the skills and experience as a leader and entrepreneur, accumulated by being a class prefect and working in accounting at his family’s restaurant. He will use the PAYLP experience to improve his leadership and entrepreneurial skills what will reflect on his existing phishing project. Dumbo’s phishing program is focused on creating a savings and investment culture, accounting capacity and engaging young generations into the practice to prevent rural exodus. Dumbo plans to work with the local government to maximize the reach and impact of his ecobusiness.
Poliana Pinto wants to attend Med School and become a surgeon, and her interest in humanized health care, development through education and grassroots empowerment is already on display as the leader of a project at her church that aims to fight illiteracy and develop English competencies. Poliana is as well a trained nurse, despite her young age, and trains her colleagues to guarantee that they build a relationship of proximity with the patients in her hometown, Kuito, outside of the capital. Poliana is smart, committed and has a clear vision for her return to Angola. She plans to cascade knowledge to fellow community activists and spread her efforts across her province.
Melvio Andre is a STEM enthusiast with a heart into community development through affirmative educational actions for inclusion and diversity. Melvio stood out in his clear commitment to education empowerment when he lobbied to guarantee that a Chemistry teacher would be hired for his school after months of lacking an adequate teacher for this subject. One of Melvio’s projects includes providing tutoring classes at his own home for classmates. Melvio managed to secure a venue where he is working to implement a project in support of youth at risk. Melvio display strong leadership features, great conflict resolution competences and empathy toward people with access to less opportunities.
Celton Dala is a captivating young man with strong leadership skills and a deep interest in social causes. Celton leads and participates in several initiatives aiming at closing the financial gap through entrepreneurship and by educating audiences on a community-based program focused waste management. He is the school prefect for his ability to be vocal, advocate, and engage fellow students. An example of his leadership and problem solving was to design a program to provide supplementary Mathematics classes to his peers. For next year, Celton plans to merge adult mentors and young people in a program to transfer skills and make youth employable in a form of youth center.
Taytim is a 16 year-old girl from Kimberley, South Africa. Taytim attends Emmanuel Secondary School. She is passionate about technology, science and health, and wants to study towards being a physiotherapist, cardiologist, neurologist or pathologist. Taytim’s passion for technology and youth was shown when she participated as a mentor to young children in the 2022 Kidz Teaching Kidz outreach program at MSLA.
Taytim believes that one of the biggest problems in her community is the lack of a breast cancer awareness especially knowing the early signs and understanding the importance of testing and early detection. She is has a passion for children and has noticed that within her community there is a growing number of homeless or under cared for children. Taytim would like to conduct a clothing drive for the children. She would also like to host cancer awareness workshops and meetings where professionals share information and to reduce breast cancer in her community. Through PAYLP, Taytim would like to meet new people, learn about different cultures and develop her public speaking skills.
Tlotlo is a 16-year-old girl from Kimberley, South Africa. Tlotlo attends Northern Cape High School. She is passionate about science and health and would like to become a gynecologist. Tlotlo is very active in her community and shows her empathy for her community through her work with the Rotary Interact Club. With Rotary she has volunteered at various senior citizen homes as well as children’s homes. Tlotlo believes that one of the biggest issues facing the youth in her community is the alcohol and drug abuse. She would like to run workshops to explain the physical effects of alcohol abuse and drug use in youth. She believes that the youth would consider a different lifestyle if they knew what it did to their body. Tlotlo would also like to have youth from rehabilitation centers speak to the youth in her community to explain how their lives were affected by alcohol and drug abuse and how to make better choices. Through PAYLP, Tlotlo would like to develop her leadership skills and would like to learn more about different cultures and share about her culture.
Parsons Mxinzeleli is a 16 year old from Kimberley, South Africa. He attends Kimberley Technical High School. Parsons is passionate about math and physical science, he hopes to study Astrophysics and work in a lab or become an astrophysics professor. Parsons is involves in various community and extracurricular programs and one of his biggest achievement is in debating. He is part of his debate club at school and has successfully competed in four district and provincial competitions and one national level debate competition.
Parsons believes that one of the biggest issues facing his community is pollution and homelessness. To address the issues of pollution, he participates in “clean up” days in his community and at his school.
Through PAYLP, Parsons would like to meet new people and learn from the others on the program how they address issues in their community and share more about his community to find collaborative solutions.
Kamohelo is a 16-year-old boy from Kimberley, South Africa. Kamohelo attends Dr. EP Lekhela High School. Kamohelo is passionate about technology, science and health, and wants to study towards being a cardiologist or an astronomer. Kamohelo participated in the MSLA 2022 Kidz Teaching Kidz outreach program and is also involved in the Atlegang in Nature youth organization that participate in living and sharing a healthy lifestyle. The youth organization place an emphasis on assisting households in their community with planting vegetable’s in their gardens so that they have a food source. Though this activity they also volunteer to clean up the yards. Kamohelo believes that one of the biggest issues facing his community is substance abuse. which is related to many other problems, including gender based violence. He would like to run a project called Anti-Substance Abuse Program (ASAP). He believes that through facilitating conversations with youth in his community about the dangers of substance abuse, youth would understand the consequences of their actions. He would like to bring in youth from rehabilitation centers to share their stories and ask youth to pledge to transform their lives through support centers.Through the PAYLP program, he would like to improve his leadership skills, meet new people, and learn from others on the program.
Charity Gore is from South Sudan and has impressive leadership skills. She is involved in the school environmental club and recruits' students to plants trees to keep their school environment green and clean. She plans to use knowledge gained from the program to expand the environmental club.
Juan Pierre has an extensive record of participation in diverse extra-curricular activities where he has shown a strong commitment to lead and engage in several organizations and programs (National Forum for Colleges Mauritius, UNESCO Club, Eco Club, Student Council, and various sports amongst many others). Juan has a vision and objective to find innovative solutions to issues such as inequality, discrimination, racism and promote more equity and empowerment of marginalized communities. Juan also demonstrates a strong interest and motivation to encourage the youth to have a more active role in their community and the society.
Kerry Anne has been an active member of the Interact Club of her school since 2018 where she has served as President for the period 2021-2022. As part of her achievements, was the ‘Save to Educate and Educate to Save project aimed at encouraging a saving culture among students of 100 classes of primary schools of the Rodrigues Island, where the money was used for a social initiative. Through this initiative, Kerry Anne demonstrated a strong ability to lead and motivate her fellow students to participate and implement the project. Kerry Anne also organized and coordinated other community service projects such as visits and activities for a children's shelter and reaching out to sponsors to help a deprived child in her village. she participated in an educational and cultural trip to Seychelles as well as in the Rotary Youth Leadership Award in 2020 where she had the opportunity to interact, network and exchange with diverse group of students in the Indian Ocean and showcase her culture. Kerry Anne is interested to learn more about the social realities of the U.S. and best practices to implement community service projects as well as develop her youth network.
Nikhil Sewpal is the President of his school's Eco club where he spearheaded fund-raising activities so as to support the environmental projects and initiatives of the club. As an executive member of the National Forum for Colleges Mauritius, Nikhil participated in different activities such as COP 27 forum and the youth summit. Nikhil indicated that his participation in the PAYLP will enable him to develop an action-based plan to reduce carbon emissions in Mauritius. During the interview, Nikhil also expressed a serious commitment to find solutions to address youth unemployment in Mauritius through the set-up of a non-profit organization which would link firms and educational institutions and help better match job requirements with the skills set of job seekers.
Jehane Muhammad has been participating in various extra-curricular activities since the age of 13 years old where she had the opportunity to acquire life, interpersonal and leadership skills. Jehane is the President of the benevolent club of her school and has initiated community service projects such as helping animals in distress, helping the homeless, fundraising activity for the society for the welfare of the deaf and organizing a Christmas lunch for orphans. She intends to work on community service projects to address issues such as drug abuse, poverty and helping the underprivileged through the creation of a social enterprise.
Lewa is a high school student from Botswana. He enjoys spending time in nature with his family and playing chess and football. His favorite subject is physics and hopes to study quantum physics in the USA in the future.
Tasha is a high school student from Botswana. She likes hockey and netball Her favorite music genres are Indie-pop and Indie-rock, with her favorite artists being 'Girl in red' and 'Mitski'. She would like to get a Private Pilot License before going to university to study aerospace engineering.
Nyasha Dzimba is a high school student from Botswana. Her dream is to study in a European country to become a doctor. She is interested in providing eco-friendly feminine hygiene products for people in less fortunate situations. She looks forward to visiting Seattle and learning about the local culture.
Sesentle is from Botswana. She enjoys english literature and enterprise. She hasn’t decided completely what she wants to study, but is thinking something along the lines of law, business and culinary arts. She likes to go shopping, hang out with her friends and read novels.
Agot is from South Sudan. She created a “zebra crossing” in her living area to promote traffic safety/protection of pedestrians. She enjoys doing arts. She also volunteers in the fight for children's rights in "Save The Children.”
Philip Baraka is from South Sudan and is passionate about sports as a uniting force among different communities. He would like to work with orphans and promote inclusion. He enjoys playing football and spending time with friends and family. He hopes to continue to volunteer for large organizations.
We hope you enjoyed reading more about the PAYLP participants and their mentors! We are excited to welcome them to Seattle on April 12th. Want to get involved in the program? Apply to host a student!