September is the month of new beginnings for many. Despite the challenging year this has been, we have kept to our traditions (such as hosting our annual opening ceremony – Taalu), and have just welcomed ALA’s Class of 2020 – all virtually. Say hello to ALA’s Class of 2020!
This year, the class features 125 new students from 30 countries across the continent. From candy floss creators and entrepreneurs, to climate change advocates and app developers, this class is filled to the brim with young, talented and compassionate changemakers. We cannot wait to welcome them in true ALA style when they arrive on campus in early 2021.
Meet some of the changemakers in the Class of 2020:
Ifeoluwa Ohikheme Aigbiniode (Nigeria)
Ifeoluwa is a STEM enthusiast who co-created Not Alone – a mobile app that offers support to people experiencing depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in Nigeria at no cost. Not Alone also provides friends and families of patients experiencing depression, PTSD, Dementia and other mental disorders with information to help them to provide support and encouragement as needed. The app was named the “Most Impactful App” at a startup competition and will be on the app store soon.
Nour Aldeen Mahmoud (Egypt)
Nour is an eco-warrior who is passionate about raising awareness on plastic waste. He created an awareness campaign with his friends that has resulted in the creation of symposiums involving a number of NGOs in Egypt. The first symposium was a success and Nour is gearing up to host the next one in December 2020.
Wema Wanjiru Mwangi (Kenya)
A budding art enthusiast and practitioner, Wema identified the need to revitalize the art club at her former school. In order to raise much needed funds to revitalize a fully operational art club, Wema organized a fundraiser selling artwork to her community. In her spare time, this young leader volunteers at an NGO that empowers teenagers with life and entrepreneurial skills.
Abdul Kudus Alhassan (Ghana)
After noticing a lack of engaging recreational activities for the youth in his neighbourhood, Abdul decided to turn his father’s backyard into a football field (he even planted the grass himself and saved his pocket money to purchase a football) to keep his peers productive – to much success! This football field is now a great source of joy for many in his community.
Morgan Pelser (South Africa)
Morgan is the owner of Morgan’s Candy Floss, a business that makes sugar free candy floss. She created the company after realising that many of her peers and members in the community are diabetic. Morgan spent 6 months perfecting the recipe with a chef – the creation has since won her first place in the South African SAGE business competition.
Mike Amon Masamvu (Zimbabwe)
Mike is the founder of Pillars of Young Investors, an organization that funds the education of disadvantaged youths using funds donated by members of the community. So far, the organization has financed the schooling of 15 children – successfully covering tuition, stationery, uniform and tuck money for each of them. Mike’s aim is to make this organization an international organization so that it may fund many children across the globe.
Roux-Ché Kahireke (Namibia)
From her regular visits to shelters and orphanages, Roux-Che saw that many of these homes lack the financial resources to cater to the basic needs of their residents. From that, she founded Reservoir of Hope, a charity drive that collects clothes, food, toys and books annually to give to the less fortunate. She also connects the women and their children to social workers to provide free counselling to help them rebuild their self-esteem and become independent.
Amanuel Erkyihun Bekalu (Ethiopia)
Passionate about public health, Amanuel leads a team called Mariamawit that addresses various health issues that arise in his society. The group volunteers in nearby hospitals and also runs awareness campaigns. Most recently, the group ran a successful HIV awareness campaign, targeted at young people in his community. Amanuel hopes to make more impact in the future by finding other reliable African solutions for the prevention of HIV.
Yassmine Boualam (Morocco)
After conducting research with multiple schools in her area, Yassmine realized that many students lacked textbooks for their studies. As a result, she spearheaded a book recycling initiative to distribute used manuals to students who cannot afford to purchase them. The team managed to collect 174 books to distribute and hope to collect many more in the initiative second book drive.
Kamuskay Kamara (Sierra Leone)
Kamuskay is involved in a range of activities in his home country. He is the president of Voice of the Children (VOC) Culture Radio where he uses his platform to engage and inspire people to envision a better society for all. He also created a campaign to combat drug abuse in his neighbourhood. The campaign, titled “This is Not Me”, proved very successful with approximately 60% of the schools targeted responding and participating positively.
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