Rehema Bona Abiyo

Rehema Abiyo, from the Tana River region of Kenya, is the first girl from her village to obtain a university degree. Rehema is currently studying for a PhD in General Linguistics at the University of Stellenbosch. Her focus area is on Education and the literacy practices of her multilingual homeland. Rehema has dedicated her career to her education, working and volunteering tirelessly within her community. For instance, as a result of her creation of Mother Tongue books, children are now able to access the school curriculum in a language that they understand. In the future, Rehema aims to become a leading Education Researcher across the economically disadvantaged rural regions of Africa. Kenyan nomadic lifestyles are becoming less viable, in no small part due to climate change, and local communities are seeking alternative ways of living. A quality education is essential. Going beyond rote learning of the ABCs, Rehema’s holistic vision includes new teaching strategies, parent involvement and holds the potential for the creation of a formal literacy program.

“I’m doing this for children […] to reach as many as I can […] The ultimate goal is to empower learners [and] break the poverty cycle through access to quality education.”

Fungai Chirongoma

Fungai Chirongoma is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in Theology/Religious Studies at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Her dissertation will examine the interventions of faith based organizations in addressing violence against women in Cape Town. To enhance her experience, she is volunteering at Ihata Shelter for Abused Women. She is 27 year old whose birthplace is Zimbabwe where she grew up with a single mother who worked hard ensure her children received education despite economic hardships in Zimbabwe. Her future goal is establishing a shelter for abused women in Zimbabwe impact the lives of women through addressing the scourge of violence.

Jane Chinyere Ezirigwe

Jane Ezirigwe is pursuing a PhD in Public law at the University of Cape Town. Her home country is Nigeria where she grew up in a family of six. She joined the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies where she is teaching, engaging in research, the publication of research findings and policy formulation. Jane is a published author who is working with the local NGO on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence - Women Aid Collective (WACOL). After her studies, she intend to continue to engage the media and policy actors on these issues to ensure that the new laws do not also discriminate against women, as evident in the new laws made in Benue and Taraba states.

Joanna Daniela Glanville

Joanna Glanville from South Africa, is pursuing a Masters in Theatre Making and Scenography at the University of Cape Town. After having experienced first-hand the transformative healing power of art as therapy, Joanna is passionate about using film and theatre to facilitate conversations about taboo subjects. Joanna has previously used creative facilitation as a tool to discuss and confront subjects such as, healthy sexual practices, self-esteem and gender-based-violence. Her current research seeks to explore how scenography (set design, prop making, etc) can be used as a means for creative facilitation or trauma rehabilitation. For those whose pain is still too acute for on-stage performance, scenography offers an interesting, behind the scenes, alternative to role-playing drama therapies.

“The power is in transferring a painful inner landscape outside of yourself; where you can manipulate and respond to it […] allowing the spaces [you are] creating to absorb all of [your] trauma …so it doesn’t gnaw at the inside of your body.”

Stella Elikplim Lawerteh

Stella Lawareth is a 2020 South Africa Program grantee and master’s student in Public Health at the University of Cape Town. Stella is Ghanaian and is the female physiotherapist to be commissioned as an officer in Ghana. She works as a pediatric physical therapist at a military hospital, where she trains the parents and caregivers of children living with disabilities and runs a clubfoot clinic. She is currently on leave to develop low-cost assessment tools to measure physical fitness of children living in low-income urban areas in Ghana.  During postgraduate studies in South Africa, she became acutely aware of the gap in the standards of physical therapy being applied in the two countries. She became passionate about raising the level of physical fitness of Ghanaian children and helping turn around the growing incidence of non- communicable diseases linked to their being obese or overweight. Through her study she has already reached several hundred children and is looking to scale up significantly by partnering with schools once she completes her master’s. Stella volunteers as an exercise instructor for pregnant women, as well as with a non-governmental organization that treats children with clubfoot.

Susan Chenai Mutambasere

Susan Chenai Mutambasere is a 2020 South Africa Program grantee and PhD student studying Law at University of Pretoria. Susan is Zimbabwean and a lawyer whose focus has been on human rights working in both the public and private sector and serving as a Board/Founding Member of Cradle of Hope Trust. Her passion is driven by seeing girls drop out because of the belief that their only value was in marriage. Her thesis is looking at how culture, customs, and traditions affect the implementation of the Maputo Protocol on reproductive rights of married women in Zimbabwe. She plans on carrying out research, and consultancies, as well as teaching with a view to supporting sexual and reproductive rights on the Africa content. She has a dream of assisting in the establishment of a specialist Master’s program in sexual and reproductive rights at a university in Zimbabwe.

“I have more than a decade experience as a human rights lawyer, and i have worked on civil and political rights in a non-profit set up, as well as different types of rights in a private sector set-up. I have also engaged in consultancy, working with different types of organisations whose mandates focus on an array of rights. In all these activities which i undertook in my country, I realized that sexual and reproductive rights remain an underdeveloped area of human rights. Given that i have worked in various sectors, my next career goal is to enter the academic arena as a researcher and teacher.”

Jasantha Odayar

Jasantha Odayar is pursuing a PhD in Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town. Jasantha grew up in rural South Africa during Apartheid in a community with extremely poor access to health care, high morbidity and mortality rates. She performed exceptionally well academically and was one of a limited number of black women admitted to UCT in the late 1990s. Dr Odayar’s chose to work in pediatrics at a public hospital because she was acutely aware of the extremely high numbers of ‘HIV orphans’ due in to part to the absence of antiretrovirals (ART) but also because of a lack of adherence to treatment programmes. She spent two years setting up and running the first paediatric ART clinic in the town where she was born. She is passionately committed to keeping HIV-positive women and children in care and adherent to treatment. She is currently a project manager on the Postpartum Adherence Clubs for Antiretroviral Therapy (PACART) study. The study focuses on post-natal care and adherence to ART for HIV positive women and children. She has been instrumental in setting up ART adherence clubs which are run by lay health workers in the community, emphasizing social support and adherence to ART treatments.

“Mobility has long been viewed as a male phenomenon. However, female mobility is increasing in South Africa. My goal is to improve access to care for HIV-positive women and children who are mobile and require treatment at multiple facilities. I believe that the health system should make it as easy as possible for patients to remain in care and live fulfilling lives.”

Thabang Ramakhula

Thabang Ramakhula (29) from Lesotho, is pursuing her PhD studies in Law at the University of the Free State in the area of Women’s Political Participation in Lesotho. Personal experiences and observations led to her passion around the protection of vulnerable women and children through the law. Through her studies she has come to a deeper understanding of the power dynamics that affect women and children’s rights, and the inclusivity or lack thereof of the legal process and ideas around how cultural and religious beliefs seep into women and children’s rights’ work. Through her engagement with various NGOs and other stakeholders, she has traveled all the districts of Lesotho speaking on women and children's rights issues, disseminating gender laws and policies to communities and mobilizing women and children in communities on issues and laws regarding their human rights violations and the impacts of such violations. Thabang’s future career plans center around dismantling the societal and structural discrimination against women in government, in Lesotho and beyond; she wants to effectively contribute to social justice in Lesotho, Africa and globally.

“My goal is to expose and dismantle the false narrative created and perpetuated by custom and culture that women are incapable of efficiently occupying and excelling in political leadership roles.”

Francoise Dudu Rubgega

Francoise Rubega is pursuing a Master’s degree in Medicine/Nursing at the University of Pretoria. Francoise grew up in a small town called Lobatse in Botswana. She learnt the value of hard work, discipline and education though her upbringing. She began developing a strong sense of independence when she left home to attend university. At university she witnessed a number of young girls experiencing unwanted pregnancies and saw first-hand the health and emotional challenges they experienced. This strengthened her resolve to work in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (OBGYN). She “fell in love” with Obstetrics and Gynaecology in her third year as a medical student. She felt excited every morning as she woke to begin her daily training and was unequivocal that she wanted to commit her life to caring for women and their unborn children as well as women with gynaecological problems. On the completion of her specialisation in South Africa she will return to Botswana and the Ministry of Health where she will join the very small number of OBGYNs in the country (currently 6). Her work will be located in the public hospitals and district clinics in Botswana.

“On completion of my training, I plan to return to Botswana to serve my nation. There is indeed a great need for Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. I believe every woman who needs specialist care deserves to have it, regardless of their colour, economic status, or geographical area.”

Hannah Simba

Hannah Simba is a 2020 South Africa Program grantee. She is pursuing a PhD in Public Health at the University of Stellenbosch. Hannah is Zimbabwean and brings a strong multidisciplinary background in biology and environmental studies to her current and planned research into the etiology of cancers that have a severe impact on women and children in Africa. Simba realized early the crucial role of mentoring and guidance for African girls, if they are to realize their potential. For 8 years she has been an energetic leader and participant in empowerment activities for high school girls through STEM tutoring in schools, and organizing girls’ camps and workshops focused on programming and reproductive health. She has managed to reach hundreds of girls, and has trained around 20 university students as mentors, working as Chapter Leader in WAAW (Working to Advance STEM education for African Girls), as well as through an organization she co-founded.

“I am only one,…..I can’t do everything, but I can do something” are the words I live by. I have found my purpose in medical research and the empowerment of women. I want to change the status quo. Throughout my undergraduate studies where I had 28 courses, I was lectured by only one female professor. This bothered me. We need locally trained female scientists who will sit in critical decision- making bodies and represent women. When women lack mentorship and guidance….. they fail to reach their full potential. Since 2012 I have been involved in programs and campaigns for mentoring and empowering women and girls.”

Faatima Omarjee Ebrahim

Fatima Ebrahim is a 2020 South Africa Program grantee. She is pursuing a Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy at the University of Cape Town. Faatima Ebrahim is South African and a clinical occupational therapist with 20 years’ experience serving the disabled community primarily in pediatric practice, and in a public health managerial capacity. Having a special needs child opened her eyes to the heavy burden on - almost exclusively female – caregivers, and radically changed her views on the role of the therapist. Ebrahim returned to university to better equip herself to research and advocate for caregiver engagement in therapy, as well as promoting inclusive communities, where those with disabilities can integrate and thrive, in collaboration with relevant NPOs.

“I grew up in apartheid South Africa. It was only in my first year at university that I was exposed to other cultures and communities within my own country. My parenting journey of a child with special needs has been a significant influence on the way I view my work. My own lived experiences of discrimination have empowered me to own my identity, and created a yearning for me to create and build the capacity of other women and children.”