Life-Changing Mentorship for Tanzanian Girls

Kisa Scholars learn about leadership, in part, though stories of great leaders around the world. One of the leaders they learn about is the great Nelson Mandela. We use his leadership principles in our Kisa Curriculum, including:

• Courage is not the absence of fear – it’s inspiring others to move beyond it.
• Appearances matter – and remember to smile.
• Lead from the back – and let others believe they are in front.

After two years of training, the students get a chance to start writing their own leadership stories by helping their communities solve different challenges. This program is called the 2 Day Challenge. On their own, scholars are required to research their communities’ challenges, come up with a project, organize the community members and do the project with them.

This year, the Kisa graduates did 37 different projects in communities throughout Tanzania. These projects included: fighting drug abuse, combatting Malaria, addressing issues of early marriage and early pregnancy, motivating other students to read different books, and tackling environmental issues, just to mention a few.

For these girls, it was their first time to do something like this. They had fear inside them, but that did not stop them from planning the projects, introducing themselves to the community leaders and stopping strangers on the street asking them to join the projects. They learned that Nelson Mandela was once scared on many occasions, but he overcame the fear. He believed that “courage is not the absence of fear, but overcoming the fear and in turn inspiring others to do the same.”

Like any other situation where you are doing something for the first time, the Kisa Scholars faced lots of challenges, but they persevered using the lessons learned in the Kisa Classes on Nelson Mandela. One group helped secondary school students prepare for their exams by educating them on self-awareness and time management.  Their approach was to let the students first come up with possible solutions to this challenge. At the end, the Kisa Scholars concluded by giving them their suggestions. They applied the Mandela principle of “leading from the back” to show the students that they have solutions for their problems inside themselves; they only need to think deeper and work together.

Nelson Mandela has been an inspirational leader to many people, including our young Kisa Scholars.  They use his principles to bring changes in their communities – and to become outstanding women.

Links:

• Learn more about AfricAid by visiting our website.

End of Year One Presentations are done by Kisa Scholars after they conduct community assessments during their school breaks. The aim of the Year One Presentations is to see to what extent Kisa lessons have impacted Scholars in terms of their confidence, public speaking skills and, importantly, the ability of giving back to their communities.

During the school break last September, Kisa Scholars conducted community assessments and came up with several challenges facing communities. These included challenges such as drug abuse, early pregnancy, female genital mutilation, poverty, road accidents, polygamy, lack of toilets and the position of women in the society.

Kisa Scholars also identified the existing assets which could be used to address those challenges. This process is one of the first steps towards their leadership careers. Supported by their Kisa Mentors and the Kisa Curriculum, Scholars were able to come up with win-win solutions and sustainable social entrepreneurship projects.

On 30^th January, 2016 the presentation event was conducted for Kisa Scholars at Moringe Sokoine and Orkeeswa Secondary Schools. The venue was Moringe Sokoine Secondary School in Monduli. The event was conducted in two sessions. The first session was about the Scholars presenting those challenges along with their creative solutions in front of the two judges and ten audience members in each room. Judges were AfricAid friends from different NGO’S in Arusha, and audiences were friends of presenters, including both boys and girls.

The second session was a small celebration that was conducted in the school hall, during which the judges gave feedback on Scholars’ presentations. Most of the judges spoke about personal development within the Scholars, such as improved confidence. Judges also complimented the Scholars for being creative with the solutions they proposed to address the challenges. One of the judges said “it is such an inspirational thing to see young women, being upfront to find out what are the challenges facing our communities and come up with unique solutions”. The judges also selected the best Scholar from each room.

A representative from Moringe Sokoine Secondary School, Mr. Haruna, provided Certificates of Completion to the 26 Scholars who did their presentations. He congratulated the Scholars for being active and committed not only to Kisa but also their studies.

Links:

• Visit our website for more information!