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“How do you convince a male-dominated field to accept women?” It started with one game, and then another. Soon we had two national teams participating in international games. Don’t think about what anyone else is doing. Start by looking at your community and the needs that they have,” she said. “Then think about how you and your skills come into play.”
“Imagine loving education and not having access to it just because you are an orphan, or not being able to eat hot meals, not having new clothes, and living in a world where you don’t exist. There are so many children like me who are struggling on their own. Whether in an orphanage or abandoned by their parents, they all face the same pain. Being an orphan is like serving for a crime you never committed,”
“I don’t just want to educate my peers about these goals, but I also want to help them create the innovations to achieve them,” Oluwayomi says.I hope my YALILearns session motivated participants to be innovative, to broaden their thinking and to better understand the problems in their society.For Oluwayomi, an inspiring leader is interested in building others up, in highlighting their strengths and in helping them to overcome their weaknesses.
“I learned over the course of my session, for instance, that a lot of the attendees had never come across a code of ethics in a business context. They also saw networking as collecting business cards, rather than developing personal relationships.”To address this, Javnyuy used his session to teach others about the value of writing a code of ethics and of building meaningful relationships with others, not just to expand their business network but also to create lifelong ties.
“I found that the topic sparked critical thinking and engagement among my participants,” Josaphat says. And though his was an in-person session, a virtual YALILearns webinar would work just as well, especially with stay-at-home orders in place.“My favorite part of the session was listening to the different businesses that these participants have and how they maintain them.I learned that any business can sustain you as long as you are passionate about what you do.”
“I got interested in financial development in 2015 when I began job searching,” Ngang says. “I saw around me in Mutengene food insecurity, theft, and other issues, and decided: I want to be the change. I could be a job creator for myself.”So far, 50 people have benefited from these trainings,” Ngang says. “We’re also sharing accurate information about the virus and how to slow its spread. It takes persistence to change minds, but it’s worth doing; it’s the only way to keep ourselves and our communities safe.”
“One of my favorite memories growing up was when my dad would take the whole family out to celebrate me or my siblings getting a good grade,” Elfi Kashori Martial says. “That or spending an entire day biking and playing soccer with my friends.”Elfi, a 2019 Mandela Washington Fellow and the founder and chief executive of the Empower People Network, is working today to build his community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, inspiring his peers along the way.
“I work with girls aged 10 to 19 to teach them basic literacy and business skills in a weekly format,” Christine says. “We aim to empower and inspire them. We talk to young adults about setting goals, about being leaders, and about understanding their rights,” Christine says. “We discuss harmful cultural practices and how to overcome them.”
“A few years ago, I was working on a project in a children’s center sheltering survivors of SGBV,” Gloria says. “We spent time with the girls we met there and helped them to battle the consequences of their abuse, but I always thought: I want to do something more for them.”Gloria, whose work includes content production and advocacy in equal measure, is adamant about placing the needs of others ahead of her own, a philosophy that characterizes the whole of her career.
Among Koffi’s primary concerns growing up was gender inequality and ensuring that his female peers had access to the same opportunities he had. In April, Koffi decided to organize a YALILearns session on the topic using the YALI Network Online Course Understanding the Rights of Women and Girls, a resource covering women’s rights from a business, social, and communal perspective.
