Anya Lewis-Meeks

Anya is a recent Princeton University graduate. She majored in the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs with a certificate in Creative Writing. She wrote two theses—one an analysis of the history of IMF activity in Grenada and Jamaica, and the other a short story collection of Caribbean folktales re-imagined in the present. Her interest in racial and ethnic identities took her to Italy and Poland, where she participated in a seminar that allowed her to study these identities in global and historical contexts. These interests later inspired her to study in South Africa in her Junior Spring, where she took classes at the University of Cape Town and participated in a task force along with other Princeton students. Her junior paper completed as part of that task force discussed the provision of extra-curricular activities by NGOs as alternatives to gang violence in township communities in South Africa. In her spare time at UCT, she was a Tutor at SHAWCO Education in Kensington Township, teaching weekly English lessons to sixth-graders. She spent the summer after her Junior Year as an intern at Jubilee USA in Washington DC, where she was able to explore her interest in the debt crisis in many African countries due to odious debt agreements, illicit financial flows, and Vulture Fund activity. She is looking forward to returning to Southern Africa and to teaching, and is beyond excited that Princeton-in-Africa is giving her the opportunity to do so. She’s especially excited to learn about Botswana’s History and Geography as part of her teaching post at Maru-a-Pula. She isn’t that familiar with it yet, but is certainly up for the challenge!