700 fellows. 48 sub Saharan African countries. 3 days. 1 incredible experience. To say that the past two weeks working at IREX has been an adventure, would be an understatement. On July 29, all of the 2018 Mandela Washington Fellows from 27 institutes across the country descended onto downtown Washington DC for the annual Mandela Washington Fellowship Summit to close their fellowship experience.

Keynote speaker, Masai Ujiri, speaking at the Summit

This summer, my internship working with the YALI (Young African Leader Initiative) team involved pouring over spreadsheets, looking through passports and tax back forms, and running errands all over the city. While I learned tons from my co workers, especially with technical skills in excel and salesforce, I eagerly awaited getting to meet our fellows in person. Last Sunday, all of the YALI team packed our bags and moved into the Omni Shoreham Hotel, where the Summit was to take place. The days were long and tiring starting at 7 am everyday and not ending until the late evening. After welcoming the fellows Sunday afternoon into the night, we started Monday with the opening plenary followed by keynote speaker, Masai Ujiri, President of the NBA team, the Toronto Raptors.  Masai is Nigerian and connected well with the fellows. He spoke of how the press often boast that he is the only African to ever reach the highest position in professional sports in North America. Masai saw this differently, he saw this as a place of improvement, because he should not be the only one. That theme kept on throughout the summit, that people under cut the value of Africa, and the importance of Pan Africanism and the potential for countries to work together.

Between ushering fellows through the maze of the old Omni hotel, I got to time keep and microphone run which allowed me to sit in on several sessions. The session that by far stuck out to me the most was the ignite talks. Select fellows were chosen to stand up in front of their peers and tell their stories. These fellows had overcome great struggles such as persecution from Albinism, being a refugee in a war torn country, becoming blind at a young age, and trying to raise a family in poverty. Here were people from all different countries that were only between the ages of 25 and 35 that had already lived through so much, but here they were in Washington DC, having the power to tell their stories.

After several other incredible sessions from a panel on empowering women to a congressional panel with Senator Chris Coons and other representatives, the final activity was the talent show, Wednesday night. This was my favorite part. Fellows dressed up in their traditional dress and preformed, ending in an all out dance party. It was a great way to end a jam packed three days.

Fellow YALI intern, Camille, and I in front of the #mymandelalegacy pledges

The theme for the Summit was “Living Mandela’s Legacy”, in honor of Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday. We asked that everyone make a pledge on their personal Mandela Legacy. For me, my Mandela Legacy is to take all I have learned this summer through the CAPS program and to continue to work to invest in people at Valpo and as I hopefully continue to work in international development for many years to come. One of Nelson Mandela’s most famous quotes is “It always seems impossible, until it is done.” And while my internship is nearly done, there is still so much to do.

Last summer at the end of my internship my coworker told me her favorite quote, “One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested”- E.M. Forster. But as a I packed 28 boxes filled with cell phones, insurance cards, and hundreds of papers, to be sent to universities across the country earlier this week, I could not help from thinking that maybe 40 interested people may actually be useful. In all seriousness though, that quote has really stuck with me over the past year as I traveled abroad to Namibia and now as I have begun my CAPS placement at IREX in Washington DC.  

IREX is an international nonprofit that focuses on development. In the past I have worked with several very small NGOS, often with a local staff of 2-3 people. IREX though has a staff of over 400 world wide and 178 locally, so when I walked into the skyscraper in the heart of the DC business district, I knew this was going to be a very different experience than any others that I have had before. I immediately questioned how these people can be maximizing the work they do, but I quickly found that the larger the organization, the larger the possibilities for great impact.

IREX’s moto is “investing in people, inspiring change.” Over my time at Valpo, I have taken several classes that discuss the dangers of the white savior complex and unhelpful outside intervention. It is for this reason that instead of infringing on other countries, IREX finds local people with passion and invests in them so that their dreams can be achieved. This summer, I am working on the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders which is a program part of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). This program brings 700 African leaders (who were selected from over 40,000 applications) from every sub Saharan African country to the United States for a six-week program at some of the country’s top universities. Following this, they all convene in a summit in DC so that ideas and opportunities can be shared. Following the summit 100 of them are chosen to participate in a professional development experience (PDE) at local NGOs, businesses, and government offices all over the country. Clearly, planning and implementing requires an immense amount of logistics and coordination. It is my job to help specifically with PDEs and helping to plan the summit. So far, my team of 16 has been incredible and it is great to see how much each of them care about all the fellows, even though often it can get overwhelming.

IREX alumni Faten Ghriss and I after IREX’s 50 anniversary alumni panel

This week IREX is celebrating its 50-year anniversary and with that they had a large celebration and brought back several alumni of their programs. While a good part of my job involves sitting in front of a computer screen for most of the day, getting to listen to the panel of four alumni talk about what they had achieved because of the work of IREX was inspiring. The first guest was Mohammad Al Abdallah, Executive Director to the Syria Justice & Accountability Centre. Once a prisoner in Syria, he spoke out against the injustices of their government and IREX stepped in and helped him conceptualize his organization. Secondly there was Alice Sayo, Founder of Nasaruni Academy for Maasai Girls, Kenya, a school that empowers girls to stay in school and avoid being married off at a young age. The third Alumni was Aferdita Saracini Kelmendi the General Manager of RTV21 in Kosovo and Macedonia who spoke out against the government almost 20 years ago in favor of freedom of speech. Lastly there was the youngest panelist, Faten Ghriss, the Co-Founder of Young Tunisian Coders Academy, which empowers youth to work in the tech industry in Tunisia. These people each were all from widely different backgrounds, with very different struggles which just showed to me the scope and reach that one organization can have. Each one of these people was filled with passion for their cause and and just needed a little help to be agents of change.

While working takes up a majority of my time, I still have found time to explore the city, which has an overwhelming number of free events and someone waiting at every metro stop to talk politics. From attending the Pride parade to walking around Arlington cemetery on Memorial Day, to going to the congressional baseball game last night, I must say that the DC cohort (there are only two of us) has been crushing it.

Jesse, our roommate Katie, and I at the Pride Parade

While I am for sure still learning the ropes at both IREX and navigating the metro, I have already had such an incredible time here. I am beyond excited for the many adventures yet to come in the next two months as I continue to meet and work with people with passion, while I work to figure out a passion of my own.