Over 700 people under the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders Initiative are wrapping up their six-week intensive coaching and training in various fields in the USA. They are eager to implement all the acquired knowledge and skills despite challenges back home.
About 42 Zimbabweans are part of the leadership program, a brainchild of America's first black President Barack Obama. The fellows acquired knowledge and skills in business management, community engagement, governance, engineering, and other fields at various universities in USA. Abigail Gumpo is an engineer at Mutare Municipality in Zimbabwe. She was at Rutgers University in New Jersey where she obtained many skills in engineering and community engagement.
“I leant about business even though I am in the public sector because I’m a civil engineer by profession and I’m a certified project manager and currently I’m the project engineer for the City of Mutare. I chose the leadership in business track because it is my intention to learn how I can merge STEM, that is science, technology, engineering and maths and sustainable business together with social impact … I was grateful to interact with other young African business leaders and engaging with the businesses that they do home and how I can tailor them and apply them back home.”
She is itching to go back home and implement the knowledge she learnt in the United States.
“Going back home, I realize that I work in a very technical field and we tend to not know how to create sustainable businesses out of that. So, the first thing I will like to do is to really foster public/private partnerships, engage with the private sector in partnering with the public so that we may effectively provide services to our communities.”
Her colleague Trevor Ncube, project manager for Trans Research, Education, Advocacy and Training, is bubbling with confidence after acquiring new community engagement skills at Drexel University.
“This experience has been absolutely life changing for me. There is a lot of value lessons that I learnt particularly about how to organize communities and how to impact your community. I know that I’m going back home a completely different leader, an impact that will be felt by the community that I serve.”
Ncube says the YALI program is interesting.
"I was actually telling my coordinators that I don’t remember a time when I got bored. Every time was so perfect and valuable for me. The biggest thing that I gained was self-knowledge as a leader. They let us go through what they call CLC and the leadership development curriculum. What this did was taking time for us to get to know what our strengths are as a leader. We took a survey online in which I got to know my strengths.
“So, what this did made me understand my own actions as a leader, how I can interact with others in the community and how to bring out the best not only in myself but also in other people. Therefore it was the biggest takeaway. I had never taken the time before then to fully focus on understanding myself so that I can be of better service to the rest of the community. It gave me six weeks of nothing but focusing on myself.”
Start-up Green House Academy director, Phindile Gosha, who specializes in business networking, is raring to go home and implement skills acquired in the six-week program. She was at Purdue University.
“I gained leadership skills on how to be an inclusive leader, not moving alone but moving with the masses and not leading from the front and yet and leading from the back so that whoever falls I will be able to see quickly and pick them up.”
She is aware that some people back home may not be keen to adopt and implement her newly-acquired knowledge and skills.
“When I first arrived in the US, I thought I wasn’t going to cope and I found out that if you put effort its quite easy to adapt. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to make it easy for people back home to adapt to what I have learnt.. I’m going to make them feel as if they were with me during the sharing of knowledge. So. I’m excited and looking forward to it.”
Ntombikamama Moyo, a novelist, screen writer and creative director of Ntombi Moyo Film Company, who was at Texas University in Austin, had a life-changing experience in USA.
“I leant so much about the film industry and I’m going to bring the knowledge back home so that I can grow the film industry in Bulawayo and Zimbabwe as a whole as we do our drama shows that showcase our culture and the nice things about us Zimbabweans.”
She is aware of some problems she may face in Zimbabwe.
“I think just readjusting to the country because I have been away for so long. This has been the longest time I have been away home. So, may be readjusting but at the same time, I’m excited about going back home.”
Like all programs, some fellows had challenges with cultural shock and items to excite their taste buds. Ncube noticed differences in the taste of meat that he enjoys in Zimbabwe and American beef.
“Meat was over processed. It didn’t feel like home meat. That’s perhaps one thing that I didn’t enjoy but I found a Nandos somewhere here. It tastes like home Nandos. That was a good buzz but otherwise when we were at pre-orientation they did advise and walked us through those experiences. I didn’t sulk about it. I ate what I was given, I ate what I could find. I took it as part of the America experience.”
The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders has over the years taken care of over thousands of young African leaders, who acquire knowledge and various skills in USA.
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