Women Leaders Transforming Southern Africa

Dear Supporter,

Several of our Graça Machel scholars are featured in the Trust's 30th anniversary publication, Dreaming in Colour: Canon Collins Trust 1981-2011. During the last three decades, the Trust has supported over 3,000 individuals to access higher education. The publication asks 30 of them to describe their vision for the next 30 years in Africa, and the developments they hope to see in their field.

Among the thirty are Zelma, Sibongire, Ester, Morine and Tiwonge, whose studies were all supported through the Graça Machel scholarships. Their specialisms range from wireless technology to ornithology, and each of them is making her own unique contribution to growth and development in her country.

You can read the publication on the Trust's website at this link:

http://www.canoncollins.org.uk/documents/30thanniversarypublication.pdf

Thank you very much for your generous support.

Best wishes,

Esther

Links:

• Dreaming in Colour: Canon Collins Trust 1981-2011

Dear Friend,

I would like to share with you a recent Radio 4 appeal made by Graça Machel on behalf of Canon Collins Trust. The appeal was broadcast on 20^th March but is still available on the Radio 4 website if you have a chance to listen. Graça Machel tells her own story of how a scholarship transformed her life, and enabled her to become the inspiration and role model she is today. It is a strong endorsement of the power of education, and I do hope you enjoy listening to it.

By visiting the Trust’s website you can read more about the women you are helping to support. You can also watch a short video of one of the scholars, and read our Chief Executive’s account of his experiences of recording Mrs Machel.

Please follow the link below to hear the appeal on the Radio 4 website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zjcx7

Please follow this link to read more about the women you are helping to support:

http://www.canoncollins.org.uk/InternationalWomensDay.php

Thank you once again for your generosity, which has been much appreciated by Graça Machel and all the women whose education has been supported.

Yours sincerely,

Esther Grieder

Canon Collins Trust

Links:

• Radio 4 Appeal
• International Women's Day

Graça Machel Scholarships Update

New Scholars for 2011

It is the start of the new academic year in South Africa, and we are delighted to welcome new scholars to the Graça Machel network! With your support we are sponsoring women from all over southern Africa in a fascinating range of fields.

Kaylianne Aploon Zokufa (South African)

MPhil Education, University of Cape Town

Kaylianne is passionate about youth and finding ways to make young people’s views and ideas central to educational research. Her undergraduate research project looked at students’ perceptions of school and its value. As someone who has grown up in Cape Town’s poorer area of Mitchell’s Plain, she is able to engage with the reasons why young people from disadvantaged backgrounds sometimes do not see education as the solution to all their problems. Kaylianne’s goal is to use her experiences as a pupil, teacher and researcher to become a curriculum advisor and create an education ‘that will empower kids during and after their schooling – an education that will help them make choices for their lives.”

Boipelo Freude (Motswana)

PhD Rural Development, University of Pretoria

Boipelo believes in the ‘Right to Food’, and by association each person’s right to cultivate sufficient nutrition for themselves and their families. In her role at the African Institute of Democracy, she advocates for this right to be widely recognised, and develops training and campaigning programmes to assist rural people to be self-sufficient. She is committed to ensuring that women are fairly represented on agricultural projects, to ensure that they have equal access to the skills and materials to feed themselves. Through her studies, Boipelo aims to see agricultural projects within the wider context of rural living, looking at how small farmers can be supported to generate a surplus and meet the costs associated with education, healthcare and saving for the future.

Zyangani Chiramba (Zambian)

MA Resource Conservation Biology, University of Cape Town

Zyangani is a Fish Culturist and specialises in improving rural livelihood through sustainable fishing. She has worked extensively in Malawi and Zambia, where the lakes are a key food source, to improve breeding and fishing techniques. Zyangani has observed that rural communities lack access to capital which could be invested to grow their businesses. Their reliance on the lakes and inability to diversify can lead to overfishing, the long term result of which is hunger and scarcity. Zvangeni has chosen her degree in order to investigate how rural communities can generate livelihoods from fishing without long term environmental damage.

“My work revolves around livelihood improvement initiatives such as fish-farming. I have seen communities faced with despondency and hopelessness become revitalised and begin to chart a path for self-survival and reliance.”

Kaluba Gloria Kaulungombe (Zambian)

LLM Commercial Law, University of Cape Town

Kaluba works at the highest levels of Zambia’s Ministry of Justice. She wishes to specialise in Commercial Law in order to protect her country’s interests within the context of the rapidly globalising economy. It is Kaluba’s perception that developing countries are at the mercy of their richer neighbours in terms of international economic and trade agreements, and that expertise is required for the less influential nations to negotiate in the post-financial crisis environment. Specifically, she points to a series of agreements with mining companies which promoted international business needs over that of the Zambian economy and cannot now be renegotiated. Kaluba aims to give Zambia an informed voice in international institutions such as the World Bank and the African Union, and represent developing countries’ agenda more effectively on the world stage.

“In countries where an intricate understanding of commercial law has been lacking, commercial entities have taken advantage of these less developed countries much to the detriment of their citizenry. Should less developed countries like Zambia not develop their competencies in good time, such injustices will be perpetuated and increase in intensity.”

Making Education Inclusive Conference, University of Malawi, September 2010

Eight Graça Machel scholars who specialise in education attended the Making Education Inclusive conference hosted by Canon Collins Trust in partnership with the University of Malawi in September 2010. Six of the scholars are studying Masters in Education Leadership, Policy and Planning in Malawi, whilst two travelled from South Africa to attend the event.

Scholars Zelma Mokobane and Dinah Katonda both presented at the conference, to an international audience of sixty educationalists and students. Zelma presented her experiences of tackling stigma associated with disability in South African classrooms, whilst Dinah presented her evaluation of a Malawian government programme to reintegrate drop-outs into primary school.

Learning through Literature, London Book Fair, May 2010

In May 2010 Graça Machel scholar Ret’sepile Makamane joined a panel of southern African authors at a London Book Fair event organised by the Trust. The event, which marked 25 years since the publication of Journey to Jo’burg, was chaired by Michael Rosen with a panel including Gillian Slovo, Njabulo Ndebele and Beverley Naidoo, the author of the book. Ret’sepile Makamane is currently writing her first novel, and was recently shortlisted for the Orange/Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Competition.

Graça Machel Scholars on film

Graça Machel scholars Kundai Chinyenze, Morine Sithole and Ret’sepile Makamane recently took part in a project to make short films about the individuals the Trust supports. Specialising in Public Health, Wireless Systems Engineering and Gender and Media respectively, the three women were a stark demonstration of the assortment of expertise required for effective development. The films will be available in the new year.

 Thank you for your support for the Graça Machel programme, enabling women from rural backgrounds to access postgraduate study and giving them a voice at the highest levels of their societies.

Links:

• For more news, visit the Trust's website.

Dear Friend,

As a supporter of the Graça Machel Scholarships I thought you would be delighted to know that the programme was recently featured in both the New York Times and Financial Times.

In partnership with Edinburgh Business School, the Trust is providing the chance for fifty Africans each year to study for a Masters in Business Administration by distance learning. The partnership means that African entrepreneurs can study at a prestigious institution and simultaneously implement their ideas within their own economic context.

A handful of the women supported through the programme are also Graça Machel scholars. Identified by Mrs Machel as showing inspiration and leadership skills, they benefit from a personalised programme of mentoring and support, devised by the international stateswoman to help them reach their full potential.

I do hope you enjoy reading the newspaper articles – please click on the links below. Thank you once again for your support.

Financial Times Article

New York Times Article

Yours sincerely,

Esther Grieder

Canon Collins Trust

Dear Supporter,

Thank you so much for your generous support for the Graça Machel Scholarships programme, which provides educational and professional opportunities to women of rural origin to enable them to become leaders in their fields. Each of women supported has shown significant inspiration and initiative at local level, and by accessing higher education can have an even greater impact, whether in the area of health, education, human rights, agriculture or economics.

Alda Ester Chongo is just one of the women who has been supported through the programme. Because she works in an incredibly specialised area of medicine she was supported to study in the UK at the prestigious London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Alda Ester is now a Medical Researcher, and here she talks about the difference the opportunity for further study has made to her life:

“The one thing that this scholarship has really emphasised is what I have always believed: that after working hard enough for something that we really believe in, there will always be positive signals, and the universe will always be in favour, and dreams can become reality for everybody.

I was born in Mozambique and I studied Biology as an undergraduate in Maputo. I have just finished my MSc in Immunology of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Not very long ago I was just one of many people in Mozambique with a big dream - to have the chance to continue my studies abroad. The scholarship has changed my life, has made my dream a reality; it was simply one of the best things to have ever happened in my life.

The MSc gave me understanding of how our immune system deals with a broad range of pathogens, so that I will be able to improve vaccines and develop new vaccines against diseases we face in this century. I am now capable of contributing to research involving tuberculosis, HIV and parasitic infections such as malaria. Only with tools will we be able to deal with the problems that we face.

My contribution will also be focused on teaching immunology to undergraduates. The MSc, for someone who is involved in science, is just the beginning of the scientific world and has inspired me to go even further and join with other young Mozambican pioneers. With other young Mozambican scientists, I plan to establish a new research laboratory. I am certain this dream will come true and this will have significant impact, as more students will be interested in joining the scientific environment. It would help in furthering the understanding of infectious diseases within Mozambique and would be a huge step forward in developing our capacity to tackle challenges.”

Thank you once again for your support, which is enabling inspirational individuals like Alda Ester to gain the expertise needed to drive positive change in southern Africa.