Empowering Zambian youth to lead positive change

Welcome to Our Moon's first report since becoming a member of the GlobalGiving community and welcome to the Our Moon family! 

Our Young Leaders (class of 2024-25) started with us in April after a rigorous selection process. They worked on their critical reading, academic writing, identity, developed presentation and debate skills, can now use IT very well, and have been involved in community projects. Currently, they are busy with university applications, having made their first applications to the US in time for Early Decision. Before applying to university, they completed research essays where they investigate a global issue of their choice analysed through a Zambian lens. The students have covered a vast array of topics, from how social media and poverty impact the mental health of young people in Zambia, to the extent to which traditional Zambian medicines can be used to improve health in the country. We are grateful to teachers at Ecolint in Geneva for their mentorship throughout the process. 

Our breaking news is that two of our students, John and Eddie, have just been offered places with full financial aid at Dartmouth and Swarthmore Colleges respectively! John will study Environmental Science. He comes from a very poor farming community in Luapula Province of Zambia, deeply impacted by climate change and poor farming techniques. Dartmouth is the perfect place for John to study this more fully as it has its own farm and has recently been given a large donation to do more research into climate change. I am sure his experiences will make him an interesting student in Class of 2029. He hopes to bring back his learning to benefit small-scale farmers everywhere.

Eddie comes from the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, the main mining area of Zambia. His community doesn't have electricity and he researched the extent to which Zambia's economic development is hindered without access to electricity. He will study engineering. His hope is to find ways to use engineering to contribute to development in his country. 

I am sure you want to join us in congratulating them on their amazing accomplishments. Neither could go to university in Zambia as their parents simply couldn't afford for them to go even if they were to get a full scholarship. 

All our students are continuing with their applications to the US by the end of this year and will continue to apply to universities outside of the US during the beginning of next year. More exciting for them is the prospect of their upcoming internships. To prepare, they have written CVs and cover letters for the companies we hope they will intern at. These internships are really important to our students before they go as it shows the students there is meaningful work being done in Zambia in professional organisations. We hope they will return at the end of their studies (and perhaps after some work experience abroad), and we believe that internships ease that transition home as they start to build their business connections. 

The next few months are busy for us too. We will start selecting our 2025-26 cohort in February. We are always excited to be working with new students and having the opportunity to make a wider impact. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading our short report and learning more about Our Moon's work. Thank you all very much for your very generous donations - we wouldn't be able to achieve all this without your support. I hope you will continue to contribute to Our Moon and our Young Leaders' progress over the next year. Please watch our students' video here.

This leaves me with the happy task of wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a joyful 2025! 

Love and peace

Helen

Links:

• Link to thank you video