Alumni Update:

Yassi is finishing her second year at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Her concentrations are International Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and International Communication. Last summer she interned with both Global Kids and DAI in Washington, DC/Bethesda, MD.

Fellow Bio:

Yassi (Georgetown ‘11) is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service and is from Queens, NY. At Georgetown, she majored in International Politics and also earned a certificate in African Studies. She was actively involved in campus ministry groups such as GU Sisters for Christ and GU Gospel Choir. Yassi has visited Chad and Central African Republic, where her parents are from, and studied abroad at the University of Cape Town in the spring of 2009. While there, she fell in love with the South African people, learned a great deal about the country’s history, politics, and culture and is excited to return and experience a new city as she works with Student Sponsorship Programme in Johannesburg.

Alumni Update:

Stephanie is a third-year Psychiatry resident at USC+LAC Medical Center. She hopes to be involved in global mental health upon graduation, ideally training psychiatrists in partnership with other universities.

Fellow Bio:

Stephanie (Middlebury ‘11) hails from London, England and is an International Studies major with a focus on Africa and History. At Middlebury, she worked as a hotline volunteer with WomenSafe, taught in local elementary schools, played rugby, and sang with the College Choir. During her spare time, Stephanie enjoys cooking foods from around the world with her friends. She spent the first semester of her junior year studying urban planning in India, South Africa and Argentina through the International Honors Program. During the second half of her junior year, she moved to Mali to study gender and community empowerment with SIT, where she did independent research on Mali’s industrialization. She is incredibly excited about seeing her Malian host family again, and looks forward to dancing to West African music and eating with her hands.

Fellow Bio:

Sheila (Princeton ‘11) is an economics major from Ghana. While at Princeton, she pursued a certificate in political economy, and was involved with Akwaaba and Voices of Africa magazine. Through Princeton, Sheila studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa and interned in Monrovia, Liberia. She looks forward to the prospect of bungee jumping in the coming year and filling up the pages of her passport through travels around Africa.

Alumni Update:

Rachel just started a two-year fellowship with the Global Development and Population Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in Menlo Park, CA. She will be coordinating the foundation’s post-2015 work, as well as doing some grant-making in the foundation’s strategic areas. Before Rachel moved back to the Bay Area, she was in Addis Ababa working for the UN World Food Programme’s Africa Office on an African Union project called the Cost of Hunger in Africa (costofhungerafrica.com).

Fellow Bio:

Rachel (Stanford ‘10) graduated with a BA in International Relations and in 2011 earned an MA in African Studies. Rachel has worked for the Flora Family Foundation and for Fair Trade USA.  She also spent six months in Tanzania in 2008. While in Addis Ababa, Rachel looks forward to eating tons of Ethiopian food and traveling around the region.

Alumni Update:

Niklas is currently living in Brooklyn, NY and working at Acumen, a nonprofit that makes long-term debt or equity investments in early-stage companies providing critical goods and services to low-income customers. Niklas has also been working on Acumen’s Business Development and Portfolio Teams since his fellowship ended in 2012.

Fellow Bio:

Niklas (Princeton ‘11) is a Woodrow Wilson School major from Spearfish, South Dakota. At Princeton, he was the President of the Undergraduate Film Organization, a DJ for WPRB, and the Advocacy Chair for the Student Global AIDS Campaign. Niklas is an avid photographer and also enjoys creating electronic music from field recordings. At Princeton, he had the opportunity to study abroad in Havana, Cuba and work for the Solidarity Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Niklas is looking forward to an exciting year in Ghana learning about the cocoa industry and getting to know local farmers.

Alumni Update:

Since her fellowship, Molly has moved back home to the Washington, D.C. area and has been working at USAID for the past couple years (as the Public Affairs Advisor for USAID’s Office of HIV/AIDS), traveling back to Africa as much as she can! She’s very excited to be getting married this June, and she and her fiancé are currently planning a yearlong trip around the world!

Fellow Bio:

Molly (UVA ‘10) is a graduate of UVA’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and hails from Arlington, VA. While an undergraduate student at UVA, she majored in sociology and African/African-American studies. Through Alternative Spring Break at UVA, Molly traveled to South Africa on a service trip to build a school in Venda. After graduation, she interned at the US Embassy in Lilongwe, Malawi for the US Department of State. While a graduate student at Batten, Molly traveled to Botswana, Swaziland, and South Africa as a consultant for the World Bank and served as the Senior International Editor for the Virginia Policy Review.

Fellow Bio:

Michael (Princeton ‘11) is a Woodrow Wilson School major from Fargo, ND. At Princeton, he was Academics Chair of Whitman College Council, a member of Princeton Chapel Choir, and a member of Cloister Inn. He enjoys water sports, including swimming, kayaking, rowing and water tubing. Like many North Dakotans, he is an avid sportsman, enjoying fishing, hunting, and hiking. Through Princeton, Michael worked on health policy at the Center for Rural Wealth, University of North Dakota, and studied abroad at the University of Cape Town. While in Lesotho, Michael hopes to learn more about the psychosocial factors surrounding HIV/AIDS, make new friends form Lesotho and all over the world, and bike through the Drakensburg.

Alumni Update:

After recently completing his MBA at MIT Sloan, he joined a leadership development program at Mastercard (Corporation) based in New York where he is focusing on developing new financial products for emerging markets.

Fellow Bio:

Mark (Tufts ‘10) graduated with degrees in International Relations and French. While at Tufts he ran the Hip Hop for Social Change Organization, was a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity, and played trumpet in a band. In the past, he had the chance to work and study in Cape Town, South Africa and Dakar, Senegal. In Zambia he is looking forward to getting to know new people and a new city, and working with the Kucetekela Foundation scholars.

Fellow Bio:

Leah (Princeton ‘11) is an English major from Montclair, NJ. She also earned a certificate in Spanish and studied in Spain through the Princeton in Toledo Program. While in college, Leah spent a semester at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and studied at the University of Leeds in England during the fall semester of her senior year. At Princeton, Leah danced in the Expressions dance company and interned at Princeton Alumni Weekly. While in Uganda next year, she hopes to travel, take African dance classes, and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro without passing out.

Alumni Update:

Laura is currently a 2nd year veterinary student at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, located in Davis, CA. Last summer, she was able to return to Mpala to conduct research on camel milk quality and production. It was wonderful to return and catch up with many friends from her year in Mpala.

Fellow Bio:

Laura (Middlebury ‘11) is a Biology major from Hinesburg, VT. While at Middlebury she was involved in theatre as a stage manager and set builder. She was also active in the Mountain Club, Quidditch Club, and is an international Quidditch champion. Laura spent six months in South Africa’s Kruger National Park studying abroad with the Organization for Tropical Studies. She is passionate about wildlife and conservation biology. Laura is excited to play soccer, learn Swahili, and once again be surrounded by some of her favorite wildlife while she is in Kenya this year.